VoxXYen a compilation of interests in feminist cultural politics. VoXYgen focuses on issues relating to feminism, popular culture, virtual culture, politics, pedagogy, generations X and Y, and a host of other things. It is based on the premise that power is everywhere and nowhere, that the codes defining our voices and identities can be identified and rewritten, and that critical voices and fresh perspectives are as necessary as the air we breathe.

What’s that word “Voxygen” all about?

UrsulaI made it up!! Then some telecomm company made it up. Mine is better. The Vox part of VoXYgen comes from Latin for “voice,” as in vox populi. Combine that with an interest in Gen X and Gen Y and that’s how I got the title back in 1996.

In my first version, the splash page had pictures of Ursula all over it and I quoted a line from The Little Mermaid: “What I want from you is … your voice.” That’s because at the time I was writing my dissertation on “woman’s voice,” whatever that is.  The site is now in its SIXTH version. I saved images of the landing pages for v2.0 – 5.0.

Why is your blog called She-blog?

The name comes from the 80s pop hit “She Bop” by the iconic singer, Cyndi Lauper. Presumably, She Bop is a song about jacking off (jilling off!), intimated by the video to the point of obviousness, but never explicitly stated in the song itself. Blogging is not much different from jerking off online; it’s public journaling. I get to say what I want for my own personal pleasure. It’s pure jouissance. I pretend that I’m writing to an audience, but in all actuality the audience is a population of readers who think exactly like me. I think my topic is amusing, interesting, important, and so surely the audience must too. Rewrite the song lyrics by replacing “she bops” with “she blogs.” So: “she blog, she blogs.” See?

Why is Heimlich your totem?

My favorite Disney character is Heimlich from A Bug’s Life. Heimlich spends the entire movie eagerly anticipating the day he will get his wings and turn from a caterpillar to a butterfly. On the day he actually chrysalises, his wings are tiny and he is too fat to get off the ground. So his friends lift him up while he flaps his pitiful wings, and he proudly proclaims: “My wings. Oh, they’re beautiful. I am flying!” There’s something about spirit and attitude in this image that I need to learn, I just know it.

I waited a long time to be a butterfly. And now that I have wings, I’m just too fat and my wings are pretty small, but I have some cool people who help me to fly, so I count myself very lucky.