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Rebecca Sawyer is a queer hapa feminist/activist living in the Washington, DC area. She is one of two co-chairs for the DC chapter of NAPAWF.
When I received the email to guestblog for NAPAWF on feministing, I immediately volunteered to write on issues impacting queer Asian Pacific Americans (APAs). As a queer hapa feminist and one of several frequent commentators on all things queer for NAPAWF-DC, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to educate others on queer APA issues. Then, as I mulled over it a bit more, I realized, damn, that's a lot to cover.
And if you think about it, it really is. If you, like the fierce women of NAPAWF, understand that reproductive justice is a queer issue, just as ending employment discrimination is an APA issue, and that passing hate crimes legislation is a feminist issue, just as immigration is a queer issue, etc., etc., etc., you realize that I could present an encyclopedic volume on precisely all those issues facing queer APAs. Instead, I'd like to talk a little bit about the importance of defining our work and our communities.
I received an email just the other day announcing the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is releasing a new study on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer APAs. The press releases says the study, Living in the Margins (released on May 10), found "75 percent of respondents reported experiencing discrimination and/or harassment based on their sexual orientation and 85 percent reported experiencing discrimination and/or harassment based on their race or ethnicity." [Check out the full report online at the Task Force's website.]
This does not and should not come as a surprise to anyone. Especially when one considers the recent racist and homophobic remarks of the likes of Rosie O'Donnell and Isaiah Washington.
From that email, this stood out: the study's author, Alain Dang, states "these findings and others add to the growing body of evidence that support the need not only for community introspection but also for legislative intervention."
I agree. As a community working towards social change, we need to think about what's working and what's not.
For one thing, we're still not making that concrete individual impact. On top of all that activisty jargon of ensuring intersectionality in our work to create social change, we need to learn how to speak plainly about what this means for your ordinary, run-of-the-mill person. We need to share our stories with other people. We need to share our experiences as domestic workers (as the women from Casa de Maryland did with members of NAPAWF-DC recently), as queer APAs (as the women of Asian Pacific Islander Queer Sisters did with advocates at Asian Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project), and as immigrants (like Larry Chang, a gay Chinese-Jamaican man and a political refugee, did with members of the DC community).
For me, it means sharing my story as a proud, out, hapa feminist. It means telling my story of where I come from, where I am, and where I'm going.
I give Newsweek credit for recently coming out with a lengthy piece on transgenderism, and how the movement is not only making us question gender, but also recognizing its fluidity. However, I couldn't help singling out this statement:
"Still, even the most diehard feminist would likely agree that, even apart from genitalia, we are not exactly alike. In many cases, our habits, our posture, and even cultural identifiers like the way we dress set us apart."
But just because a transgender boy wants to wear a dress and nail polish doesn't mean that proves the inherent nature of what it means to be female; he is just falling into the same social gender role as a non-trans girl would. Another person interviewed continuously talked about his "femininity"; but is it really a natural femininity or a conditioned femininity because he biologically identifies as a woman? In other words, being as marginalized as they are doesn't mean that they still can't fall into gender stereotypes.
I just find it interesting that when the mainstream media discusses queer issues, it often keeps them under the feminine (flamboyant gay/ bi man, transwoman) and masculine (butch bi woman/lesbian, transman) binary umbrella. There are also straight "masculine" women and straight "feminine" men, "feminine" lesbians and "masculine" gay men, as well as many people who don't fall into either category.
Then again, how "fluid" can we expect the media to get when it's the biggest perpetrator of gender stereotypes?
New Jersey Senate President Richard Codey introduced legislation on Thursday for New Jersey to be the first state to require both pregnant women and newborns to be tested for HIV.
The bill would make all pregnant women get tested twice; once early in their pregnancy and a second time in the third trimester. Newborns would be tested as well.
While I’m all for offering pregnant women an HIV test (which is the current law in NJ), I’m also for women making their own medical decisions about their pregnancy; an actual mandate interferes with that right, as well as opens the doors to even more policies that could invade those rights further. I don’t like it.
It’s Asian-Pacific American History Month, so I’m going to this as an opportunity to celebrate the history of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women. API women started making history a long time ago. In fact, the United States’ first immigration law targeted Asian women—particularly Chinese women—with the enactment of the Page Law of 1875. (Note: The Page Law pre-dated the notorious Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the law that most immigration scholars consider the “first” U.S. immigration law.) Facially, the law prohibited the entry of Chinese prostitutes. In practice, the law acted to prevent most “Oriental” women from immigrating to the U.S. The law presumed that all Asian women seeking entry to the U.S. were prostitutes unless the woman could “prove” to immigration officials that she was not. You can imagine how many Asian women were actually certified and allowed into the U.S. (Answer: About 60 women per year.)
Unfortunately, the struggles of API women are still being minimized 133 years later. At NAPAWF, I constantly run into the problem of trying to advocate for a group of women that is often left out of the larger feminist picture. API women (and men) are plagued by the “model minority” myth. From an advocate’s perspective, this is problematic because it creates the impression that all Asian Americans are wealthy, educated, and healthy. The myth dismisses the reproductive health disparities that Asian and Pacific Islander women suffer, and masks the many barriers that we encounter when accessing reproductive and sexual health care. It also allows mainstream health providers and researchers to ignore the needs of API women and devote less resources and services to our community.
For a while now, all of us at Feministing have been talking about how to better link our work with all of the amazing feminist activism happening on the ground. There are so many incredible organizations--and incredible women!--doing national and grassroots work that it's difficult to write about all of it. Also, when it's other folks who are really the experts, it feels almost disingenuous to write about their work on their behalf. So we figured what better way to highlight activism in different communities than to let women speak for themselves.
This is where our new "Voices of..." campaign comes in. Every month (we're hoping), Feministing will feature a week-long series of posts gathered by a sponsoring organization or activist.
Today, we're kicking off our Voices of API Women week with help from Priscilla Huang at the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. All of us here are really excited about this project; we hope that it will not only shine a spotlight on different kinds of activism and help others promote their work, but that it will also make Feministing a better tool and forum for feminist thought and action.
Ministers in the UK may give all women the legal right to breastfeed in public as well as give breastfeeding breaks at work. Sweet.
The discussion has been brought up due to a memo signed by nearly 200 politicians, “The Breastfeeding Manifesto,” (awesome title) which brings up the health issues -- for mother and child -- that arise from women not being allowed to breastfeed during work as well as uses examples of breastfeeding women being forced to leave public spaces.
I wonder what our legislators would say if we brought them our own Breastfeeding Manifesto. I think “ha” might be the right word?
Most women who seek abortions in China aren't being forced to comply with the "one child" policy, they're young and single.
Giuliani, who said overturning Roe would "be OK" in the May 3 debate, is now supposedly a pro-choice candidate.
Papa Ratzi, on his papal visit to Brazil, endorses the excommunication of Catholics who endorse pro-choice policies -- with language so strong that the Vatican toned down the transcript of his speech
Why the former head of Catholics for a Free Choice, Frances Kissling, hearts Roe. And why she stayed silent on the issue of "partial-birth" abortion -- until now.
Dahlia Lithwick on why women shouldn't apologize -- or feel stupid -- for taking internet harassment seriously.
Feminist Souad Sbai calls for more rights for muslim women who immigrate to Europe.
Why aren't pro-choice Democrats pushing to repeal the Hyde Amendment?
Reviewing the latest model kidnapping-torture flick.
Randall Tobias, who pushed abstinence programs abroad and was revealed to enjoy "massages" from DC sexworkers, is not the first public abstinence advocate to violate the strict moral code he touted.
The divorce rate is at its lowest since 1970. Probably because people are getting married later, or choosing just to live together instead.
The Texas legislature officially overrules the governor's HPV vaccination mandate. And New Hampshire has avoided controversy by not making the vaccine required for school entry, but instead making it free. And the strategy seems to be working.
Plus, there have been conflicting messages in recent reporting about the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine.
Iranian women's rights activists are seen as "Trojan horses" of Western influence, which makes it hard for them to accept help from Western advocacy groups. It's also hard for the NGOs, which don't want to be seen as pushing for military intervention for regime change in Iran.
Kansas nixes abstinence-only sex ed. And Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick calls for an end to abstinence-only education in his state.
A poll commissioned by a national abstinence organization shows that parents would rather see sex ed that emphasizes abstinence but also teaches about contraception. Which is... comprehensive sex ed. The no-sex-until-hetero-marriage crowd is erroneously touting this as public support for abstinence-only programs.
Meanwhile, a Florida school -- which contracts with a crisis-pregnancy center to provide its sex ed -- brings in an abstinence-only speaker, then releases a flier calling it an "abstinence rally." Parents are pissed.
The high cost of America's hyper-masculine culture.
Plan B has been over-the-counter (kinda) for nearly a year, but has access really expanded? ACOG reports access varies greatly from state to state.
A new Iranian film is about women who dress up as boys in order to be allowed in to watch a soccer match.
Parents of Down syndrome children are reaching out to other parents who find out (via a prenatal test) that they are pregnant with a Down syndrome child. Dana responds here, and Salon's Peter Birkenhead weighs in with a moving post about he and his wife's decision to abort.
From left to right: Make/shift founders Jessica Hoffmann, Stephanie Abraham and Daria Yudacufski. Photo by Christopher Bazin.
The first issue of Make/shiftmagazine is now out and about. Founded and created by Jessica Hoffman, Stephanie Abraham and Daria Yudacufski, make/shift creates and documents contemporary feminist culture and action by publishing journalism, critical analysis, and visual and text art.
Based in Venice, California, make/shift is produced by an editorial collective that is committed to anti-racist, transnational, and queer perspectives. According to the magazine's mission statement, "We know there’s exciting work being done in various spaces and forms by people seriously and playfully resisting and creating alternatives to systematic oppression. Make/shift exists to represent, participate in, critique, provoke, and inspire more of that good work."
The second issue of make/shift is in the works and will be released this fall. Here's Jessica, Stephanie and Daria...
You gotta love how the media just loves to throw the word feminist around just because someone said something that is slightly pro-woman. In the post-Imus fall-out Snoop Dogg did manage to emerge as a spokeperson for women in hip-hop videos (which is both frightening and endearing). I mean Doggystyle is one of my favorite positions albums, but I don't exactly look to Snoop for political commentary, what with his own connection to GGW and a clearly misogynistic attitude throughout his music and public personality.
So I was surprised to read that he has been defending "video ho's," a term that has gained fluency, but is nonetheless degrading and inappropriate.
The rapper is insisting the semi-naked girls in his videos are simply 'following their dreams'.
Snoop waxed philosophical as he told MTV.com: "Who's to say that these women in videos are hos? They are classy women. Not every girl in the videos has sex with the rappers. A lot of these women do this as a means of modelling or being appreciated for their looks."
"The women allow themselves to be in these videos. We don't force them to be in these videos. They want to be seen, and they have calendars, portfolios, headshots, cards."
I do agree with him on one level. I don't like the way "video vixens" are talked about, as opposed to talked too. And I think it is good to counter the belief that these women will do anything to get to the top, sleep with the rappers, appear naked for free, etc. It feeds into inaccurate stereotypes about women of color's sexuality and self-esteem. I do bet that a lot of these women are savvy and recognize what they are doing and why.
But I don't think this gets to the heart of the issue. The misogyny for me in "video ho" culture is not that the women are choosing to do this, but the question of a) what other choices do they have for careers and b) ultimately where does dancing take them? It is not some utopia where you will dance in one video and then you will make it in a career in modeling, acting or dancing. It is really competitive and when you are already seen as a "video ho" I am thinking it is much harder to break out.
Everyone wants to make dancing in videos a morality issue. Should these women be "allowed" to dance this way, should our children be "allowed" to consume these images? Ultimately, for me it is a labor issue. Are they getting paid what they should, especially in comparison to the rappers that make the videos and are they getting any kind of longterm benefits?
I feel like I could write a much longer post on this, but some initial thoughts?
Due to some technical difficulties (namely my lack of internet access at home), there's no video this week. However, I do have a little story, and a follow-up question for everyone.
Last night I went out with some friends to celebrate an engagement. Good times. At bar number two, randomly, some guy (I'll call him White Linen Pants, or WLP for short) came over and hugged and kissed by friend on the head. Awkward! Later, we were dancing, and he came back again. And again. And again. Awkward the first time. Vaguely funny the second time. Irritating the third time. Seriously pissing me off by the fourth time. And this shit happens all the time. Nothing rare about it. This is not behavior I see women engaging in.
Sure, drunk people tend to be more friendly with strangers, which is fine. Maybe we'll talk to a group of people, but I've never seen a woman repeatedly return, touching, and physically pushing her way into a group like that. Here's what bugs me about it. At least two of the times WLP came to visit, none of us even talked to him. I certainly didn't say, "Hey, come over here, WLP. Put your arm around me, too." Don't even get me started on the woman he held on his shoulder and asked us to give "birthday spankings" to.
Before starting to write this, I took a little survey of some of the women I was with, and asked them, after the numerous visits, why didn't anyone tell him to go away. I got a few different answers. Some said because WLP wasn't really near them, or dancing with or hugging them individually, he wasn't bothering them. Another said she thought he was funny. And another said it never even occurred to her to ask him to go away. That got me thinking. Because I did think about asking him to go away. But I didn't. Not because I wasn't adamant about him leaving, but because I was worried about how it would seem. I didn't want to be the angry, mean girl. I didn't want to "spoil the fun." Except this guy's presence was spoiling some of the fun for me.
Instead of just having a great time with my friends, every time he came over, he was the center of attention, and I was annoyed. Along with the hangover, this left me thinking, especially about my very cool, feminist friend who didn't consider the option of asking this guy to go somewhere else.
I swear this isn't a plug, but one thing that has been sticking with me from Jessica's book is how important it is to analyze the things we do from a feminist perspective. Not to follow any sort of rules, but to really think about the reasons behind behavior. So that's what I'm doing.
Now, you help. What do you all think? Why didn't anyone say something (at least among those of us who wanted WLP to fuck off)? Was it the booze that made me want to put being "nice" to someone else above my own good time? And if, as someone just suggested to me, you think I'm "overreacting," why do you think so?
She went to bed one night, in the bedroom she shared with her boyfriend, and a man she thought was her boyfriend got into bed and had sex with her. It turned out the man was her boyfriend's brother who pretended to be her boyfriend...Is that rape? The Massachusetts Supreme Court says no.
Lovely, huh? Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that consent for sex obtained through fraud or deceit isn't rape. The court said that MA's law defines rape as intercourse "by force and against [the] will" of the victim and that "fraudulently obtaining consent to sexual intercourse does not constitute rape as defined in our statute."
Our girl Celina has a great piece up at HuffPo about her Abuelita, make sure to check it out. Here's a snippet:
I remember worrying about losing my Abuelita shortly after the concept of death really sunk in. I would wake up crying after a nightmare, with fear and rage storming inside my little body. I must have been 5 or 6 years old. I think Bambi did the trick. I figured I still had a ways till my parents died, given our age differences; knock on wood. But me and my Abuelita, there was a 67-year age difference between us! What chance did we have of sharing a long life together?! But how could I live in a world without my Abuelita?
Because women can never feel bad enough about their bodies. The New York Times had an article yesterday about the latest in "hot" bodies: a "well-chiseled clavicle."
That's right ladies, not only do we need skinny waists to be pretty, we need skinny collarbones.
I think Emily at Gawker put it best: "Stay tuned, Styles readers, for the inevitable follow-up story—'Is Clavicle-Whittling The New Labioplasty'?"
Now all you anti-woman folks please write that down and repeat. It doesn't matter to whom they are addressed, regardless of a woman's politics or her position in society, rape threats are never OK. Several readers sent in this horrible radio clip today (warning: it is REALLY offensive) and I am truly disgusted.
I may not agree with Condoleeza Rice's or Laura Bush's politics, at all, but under no circumstances would I think it is OK to threaten them with sexual violence. What is up with all the verbal rape threats to women lately? Is this some kind of paranoid misogynist trend because so many (not that many) women are gaining access to power?
Something that has really been on my mind lately is the way that younger women--younger feminists, in particular--are being "blamed" for (what I think is) a largely media-created craze about girls "gone wild." This came up recently on a feminist listserv that I'm on--actually it comes up there a lot--so I've somewhat edited (and added to) an email I sent around for posting here...
I think what I find most frustrating about this conversation—whenever it seems to happen—is how young feminist discourse about sex somehow always gets compared to, and talked about in relation to, the very trendy Girls Gone Wild theme.
I feel like there’s a tendency in these conversations to conflate the probably not-very-thought-out (or drunken) actions of girls “gone wild” and young feminist actions surrounding sex—like certain burlesqueshows or events. Sure, there are conversations to be had about both kinds of performance, but talking about them as if they’re the same thing seems very dismissive to me.
I keep seeing these threads where folks say that young feminists somehow think that Girls Gone Wild is “empowering” or “feminist.” What young feminists—or even young women—say this?! I don’t think that anyone is trying frame drunken performances for male pleasure as feminist. And I think that if you talked to the young women participating in GGW or similar things, most would say that they do it because it’s “fun.” (And it would pay to have conversations with, rather than about, these young women about why they think it’s fun and what that says about what girls are learning about pleasure.) But even if the occasional young woman did use feminist rhetoric to explain “going wild,” it’s not because of third wave feminism—it’s because of the mainstream appropriation of feminist language.
It just irks me to see that just because young feminists want to have a conversation about things like GGW without finger-wagging at the girls involved and while recognizing that all sex and sexual performances aren't exploitative, we’re somehow seen as simply okaying it using feminism. The truth is much different, and much more complex.
Yesterday brought some bad health news: According to a new study, certain strains of HPV could cause throat cancer.
A reader sent in the above screenshot of a Google News headline and accompanying picture related to the story. Cause nothing says oropharyngeal cancer like a sexy, lipstick-ed, slightly-opened women's mouth.
Oh, and I'd like to point out that--despite the misleading pic--the study linked both fellatio and cunnilingus to an increase in throat cancer occurrences.
Quick Hit: Irish teen will travel to England for abortion
Finally some good news on this case. The teen girl in Ireland whose fetus is terminally ill has (finally) been granted permission to go to England to get an abortion. But not, of course, without going through hell first.
Pope Benedict issued a warning to Catholic politicians, saying that they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they are pro-choice.
It was the first time that the Pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him on a trip to Brazil, dealt in depth with a controversial topic that has come up in many countries, including the United States, Mexico, and Italy.
The Pope's comment comes after Mexican Church leaders' threats to excommunicate legislators who voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City.
Quick Hit: Somali forces banning and burning Muslim women's veils
Wow. Reuters reports that Somali security forces are taking and burning Muslim women's veils in an attempt to stop Islamist insurgents from disguising themselves as women.
...One girl, 17-year-old Iftin Hussein, said she had left her veil at home to avoid encounters with the police. "Yesterday, I was forced to run away to escape from being unveiled. This is wrong, but we cannot do anything, we are powerless," she said.
Ever since Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem gave Stephen Colbert a little "ice cream threeway", feminists have had a special place in their heart for Colbert. And now a new blog, Feminists for Colbert, makes it official.
And since it seems a bit serendipitous that the shirts featured on so much of the blog share a name with my book, I figured this would be a good time to mention that I'll actually be on The Colbert Report on June 5. (Giving me just enough to build up a puke-inducing amount of nervousness.)
"The state should not be in a position to put pressure on one industry's competitor,'' said Diane Fell, the executive director of Astoria's Door of Hope. "We are competitors for Planned Parenthood. It's like Coke saying to Pepsi, 'You can't be on my block, go away.'''
Tracking abusers: Should GPS monitoring be used to protect women?
Maura Kelly at Slate has an interesting article about the electronic surveillance of batterers.
Just as GPS can find a lost driver, it can also alert cops and targets whenever a domestic-violence offender enters a restricted zone, like the area surrounding a woman's home or office. Police put an electronic bracelet on the batterer that sends a signal to computer servers at headquarters if he goes anywhere he shouldn't. Then, if he violates a restraining order, they can call the woman to let her know that he is on his uninvited way. The idea is to buy women crucial time, even if it's only minutes, so they can get away. The notification loop also kicks in if the offender tries to remove or deactivate the bracelet.
Eight states have laws in place that allow for the electronic surveillance of abusers--a preventative (and punitive, obviously) tool that former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey calls "a no-brainer." This is something that could save women's lives.
Kelly notes that tracking abusers isn't a cure-all: it doesn't protect victims from emotional or long distance abuse (like harassing phone calls, etc), it could (like restraining orders tend to do) simply piss abusers off more, and while few people Kelly spoke to seemed concerned about this--there are clear civil liberties issues.
It's hard for me to be concerned about these other issues when so many people are killed by abusers--shouldn't their safety be a priority? What do you think?
This short film from the VC Film Festival is really good. It made me think about a lot of different things about the way we assume, talk about and just blatantly overlook the experience of transgender folks.
One more reason not to watch American Idol tonight.
We've had the racist Halloween costumes. We've had the Disney movie. We've had multiple Hollywood flicks (including the most recent Brave New World, which I heard is horrendous).
Tonight at 8 p.m., PBS is airing a special titled "Pocahontas Revealed," a look at the woman's life from archeologists' perspective. Should be interesting.
I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for high heels; I love them. But after seeing this article and illustration (cropped version above) from The Washington Post, I'm rethinking my fashion sense. Ouch.
Doaa Khalil Aswad was a member of northern Iraq's Yazidi religious sect but, according to local officials, was murdered on April 7 by her brothers and uncles after she allegedly converted to Islam.
In the video - on the Kurdish website Jebar.Info and rapidly spreading on the internet - Aswad is shown lying in the road as men kick her and throw a large lump of rock or concrete at her head.
Her face is drenched in blood but uniformed and armed members of the Iraqi police stand by and do nothing to prevent the attack.
I don't want to write about this, because writing about it feels like an act of violence, but I don't really feel like I have a choice. As I discussed with my good friend Neela earlier, how do I engage in talk of 'honor killings' (which are really just displays of woman hate and have nothing to do with culture) without it turning into a "how can we bring democracy to such a backwards place" conversation. That said, I am going to have to agree with Twisty that this is just vile and Amanda about victim-blaming and the rhetoric used to support that. I couldn't watch the video and I am not going to post it here for a variety of reasons. Violence of this kind is a production of male ego and woman-hate and this truth is pitifully disguised when justified through religious or cultural circumstances. There is no cultural defense when it comes to mob mentality, woman-hate and violent murder. Unless, you want to talk about the global culture of patriarchy.
As I browsed articles, questions of whether or not the woman had converted to Islam, or whether or not it was just an honor killing, or if she fell in love with the wrong man, were used as possible explanations. As though any of those reasons can justify such a hideous display of violence.
Hundreds of women from various parts of Kurdistan Region took to the streets of Erbil on Sunday to protest the brutal killing of Du'a Khalil Aswad, a 17-year-old Yazidi girl, and Kurdistan government called for the murderers to be brought to justice.
"We do strongly condemn the killing of women under the pretext of honor and the killing and mutilating of the body of Du'a on April 7, 2007," a statement released by the protesters read.
The rally came as police in Bashiqa, a district northeast of Mosul where the incident took place, said that two arrests have been made in the murder, and four others who have been implicated, including two of the victim's uncles, have escaped.
Around 40 women and feminist organizations from various parts of Kurdistan Region organized the rally.
"Taking revenge on women under the pretext of honor is a terrorist act," read a banner carried by the demonstrators.
The protesters called upon the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to take decisive action regarding the incident, and work to stop honor killings and set a limitation for the power of tribal chiefs.
This one act of violence has prompted several acts of violence to follow. Don't tell me this is just about *them* and doesn't happen *here* (read-lynching, gang rape, etc. events quite indigenous to the "free world"). This type of culturally sanctioned patriarchal mob mentality woman-hate happens everywhere. And furthermore, don't tell me that the use of torture by US troops in Iraq as part of the campaign for democracy hypocrisy is not connected to the perpetuation of these not so isolated instances of disgusting glorified displays of violence.
According to a post left on Digg, when you search Google for 'she invented,' it asks you, did you mean 'he invented.' Not shocking I suppose, but no doubt one of the many ways that cultural and social norms get embedded in language. Adding 'she' confused the search engine, because it is assumed that an inventor is always he. According to the post and many of Digg's thoughtful comments from mini-misogynist D&D; playing teenagers it must be because women don't invent things and never have.
So our task here is double, first what did she invent? And if SHE didn't then what are the historical, social, racial, economic and gendered reasons for that?
And second, how do we resist sexist language? How about, don't call me a woman blogger, I would never call you a man blogger. Asking where women are in any number of settings (including but not limited to blogger, inventor, scientist, engineer or doctor) reestablishes that the normal archetype of these folks is gendered male. It is similar to saying male nurse. Certain work is assumed to be done by a certain genders so it surprises us when the wrong gender is doing the wrong work and it must be named, with he, she, male or female.
Now what this says about Google, well I leave that to you. . .
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