February 14, 2013
How can women emancipate themselves from gender expectations
and stereotypes? How do preconceived
notions shape us? Can we create new
standards of beauty based on character, talent and intrinsic human
equality? Explore these issues and more
at the first event of the new year for Salons at Stowe.
FEATURED GUESTS:
Donna Haghighat, Esq. is Founder and CEO of www.shoptimize.org and is the Grants and Programs Manager for the Women's Leadership Fund at the University of Hartford.
Mala Matacin, Ph.D., is
Founder and Faculty Advisor for Women for Change at the University of Hartford,
and Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Department of Psychology.
Shadia Siliman is on
the executive board of Women for Change at the University of Hartford and will
graduate with a double Bachelor's in Gender Studies and Psychology in May.
OPENING REMARKS:
Donna Haghighat
Is Founder and CEO of Shoptimize.com and thinks of herself as a "social change agent." Her background is in women's funds and works as the Women's Leadership Fund's Grants and Programs Manager.
When Donna learned that women make up 86% of the purchasing power in USA but only 14% of leadership power, she wanted to develop a way to use womens' purchasing power to bring about change and get more women involved in leadership. In response, she started Shoptimize, a shopping website that gives 1% of its after-tax profits to nonprofit organizations that advance and empower women and girls. All products are made by companies led by women.
Donna, Mala and Shadia are involved with Girlcott, a campaign to raise awareness around women and body image, and encourage women to go makeup free in March 2013 and donate the money saved to organizations that benefit girls and women in Connecticut. The campaign was initiated by Rabbi Donna Berman of the Charter Oak Cultural Center, and inspired by Eve Ensler’s statistics on women’s beauty products. Girlcott's exhibit, Revealed: Images of Women Leaders Who Bared to Make Changewill open at the Charter oak Cultural Center on February 28th.
Mala Matacin
As a Professor of Gender Studies, Mala teaches two course of particular relevance to the Salon's topic: Beauty, Body Image and Feminism and
Women, Weight and Worry. In 2008 she had a class of especially strong and powerful women who were inspired to bond together. She and the students started Women for Change at the University of Hartford, a group which focuses on the way women are portrayed in the media in order to help create change and tell a different story. Mala has been very active in performances of the Vagina Monolgues as well as V-Day, a global effort started by Eve Ensler to end violence against women and girls (www.vday.org). She shared information about Anne Lamott's movement Occupy Valentine's Day, Voices of Women Worldwide (http://www.womensvoicesworldwide.org), Women's Media Center (http://www.womensmediacenter.com), and Naomi Wolf's book The Beauty Myth. According to Wolf and others, women are driven to compare their insides with the idealized outsides of woman used in commercials, ads, etc. (thin, blond, white, accentuated figure) - rather than bond with each other, women compete with each other. The beauty myth works to keep women feeling ugly, so that they purchase makeup and items to make themselves look more beautiful. Women are now starting to unite and bond.
Shadia Siliman
Shadia is a student at University of Hartford and a liaison for Girlcott. She discussed her recent blog post for Girlcott about her desire to buy makeup when she is emotional (happy, sad, upset), even though she doesn't wear it every day. When she goes to interviews and meetings, she struggles with the decision of whether or not to wear makeup, and that she and other feminists often feel guilty wearing makeup: even though she tells women to love their bodies, she enjoys wearing makeup and worries about being a "bad" feminist. She believes that it is ok to be conflicted with yourself, and that wearing makeup does not make you a bad feminist. Women need to embrace the doubt and questions about themselves, as it means they are thinking things through and changing as a person. Women should “embrace the in between spaces.”
GROUP DISCUSSION (AUDIENCE QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS):
How are the statistics on the power of women
going to overrule the commercials and public pressure put on women?
An audience member requested a workshop on strategies of response (letters to the editor, Titter, Facebook, etc) for women. Women don’t hear about many movements and efforts to raise their voices, nor do they always have the confidence to speak out themselves.
An audience member discussed the need to start with social media early-on - teachers should use it in the classroom to encourage children, rather than fear it. Social media can become change rather than a tool for bullying. Those interested should check out Connecticut Technology Council's Women of Innovation Award.
An audience member said she could understand the inner dilemma of thinking
you are a bad feminist – her friend felt guilty after having a large, elegant wedding, and she herself felt guilty when she got married and changed her name.
Why did Univ. of Hartford want to cut
gender studies? Would it save money?
- Mala: Eliminating the gender studies major at the University of Hartford would not save money, yet the school has not said why they want to cut it. She believes they want to streamline the program since the department is small. The gender studies program resulted from merge with the Hartford College for Women 7years ago. If the school does cut the program, all courses would still be offered, but major would be non-existent.
- Donna: Women should use Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group’s searchable internet database of beauty products.
- An audience member mentioned that women who work in nail salons have the highest
level of birth defects, miscarriages, etc. because of the chemicals used in nail polish.
An audience member said that every time women take a few steps forward,
they fall back because there aren’t enough women who want to move forward; she feels
empowered after Salons, but then sees billboards and commercials that make her feel that she cannot make a difference.
-
Another audience member also uses her sexuality in
her predominantly male industry to be taken seriously.
Rabbi Donna Berman from Charter Oak Cultural Center discussed how "choice is a funny thing."
- If there is no overt oppression, women might think they’re free even though they aren’t.
- Why women make certain choices needs to be explored.
- Donna: perhaps "women's studies” would be less threatening than “gender studies” because “gender” sounds threatening to societal structure and hierarchy.
- Donna: Girlcott Makeup Sex Groups are being held to explore intimate relationship between women and the makeup they wear, and the topics have expanded to other womens’ issues; there need to be more face-to-face discussions.
An audience member commented that as a historian of social change, he has
found trends in spaces for discussion and conversation (Stowe’s time =
parlors, 40s and 50s = African American churches)…where is the space for women
to have discussions today?
- The Stowe Center, social media is very powerful and effective.
- Social media is not going away - women need to utilize it to make their voices heard.
- Women have gotten together much more easily than men – consciousness-raising groups in the 70s, going to movies, etc. – things men won’t necessarily do together.
- It is not a question of women getting together, but women comparing themselves to an idealized image and not moving forward through loving yourself.
An audience member stated that how you reach people comes down to how
much you love yourself - it starts with a one-on-one with someone else to begin a
dialogue which grows.
- Sadiha: There are multiple feminisms. You cannot cannot judge other women by their feminist standards (ie. not every feminist opposes makeup).
Inspiration to Action:
-
Work with other women to create positive change together - "together we have power."
- Be aware and check out organizations that support the advancement of women.
- Embrace the in-between space you have – don’t feel bad about who you are, or what you believe. Keep growing! Don’t feel guilty.
- Don’t give yourself a hard time about having a hard time.
- Use your voice and encourage other women's voices.
- Promote real facts about women and speak out against negative/false stereotypes.
- Tweet your disapproval – respond to things that bother you.
- Hold a workshop on how to use your voice to make a positive social change with social media.
- Be brave and don’t care what others think.
- CT Technology Council – Women of Innovation.
- Watch Annie Leonard’s “The Story of Cosmetics."
- Skin Deep –Environmental Group’s website.
- February 28, 6-8PM - Girlcott Revealed gallery opening at Charter Oak Cultural Center
- Makeup Sex on Feb 28 at Charter Oak Cultural Center.
Explore the links featured on our Takeaway Sheet for more information and ways you can take action!
