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I like it without pinkwashing

By ~LS~ On October 6, 2010 · 17 Comments · In Feminism, Politics and tagged Tagged With: Capitalism, Consumption, Facebook, Fashion/beauty, Gender, Pop Culture, Science, Sexism, Slacktivism, YWCA

This week I received many Facebook messages urging me to tell my friends “where I like it” in my Facebook status. I’ve seen my friends post such mysterious statuses as “I like it on the chandelier” and “I like it on my car seat.” This morning I posted, “I like mine without pinkwashing.” Many people didn’t understand my status or why the meme makes me so angry. I have two simple answers:

1. I hate pinkwashing.

2. This is nothing but Facebook slactivism.

Put differently, I do not believe that if I post an “I like it…” status on Facebook, I have done something significant to advance women’s health.

Instead of pinkwashing, send a $5.00 check to the YWCA who will spend it helping poor women, primarily women of color, get free mammograms.

What is pinkwashing?

pinkwashing is the commodification breast cancer. I’ll let Wikipedia explain (quoting the [...]

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Institutional racism or acts of meanness?

By ~LS~ On July 17, 2009 · Add Comment · In Feminism, Politics, Race and Racism and tagged Tagged With: Baton Rouge, Feminism, Louisiana, Politics, Race, YWCA

Recently I’ve been working a lot with the YWCA Dialogue on Race again. The dialogues have frustrated me for as long as I’ve been a participant. I think the process is invaluable and important. Necessary, even. But I also think it is highly problematic – beyond the problems and tensions that /any/ dialogue on race necessarily entails.

First off, the conversations about race that I’ve had with sympathetic people (of all races) in Louisiana are generally very flat. Conversations here don’t broach essentialism and intersectionality or question identity politics. While racism in Louisiana feels much more entrenched and deep-seated than in other places I’ve lived, the general understanding of racism here lacks nuance. Of course, some might say, “what is there to understand?…racism is racism. The people who are suffering under the burden of racism already understand. They’re oppressed. They live it. Simple as that.” But [...]

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Sweet Honey in the Rock and Some Political Thoughts

By ~LS~ On June 18, 2009 · Add Comment · In Capitalism, Feminism, Race and Racism and tagged Tagged With: Capitalism, Consumption, Louisiana, Music, Politics, Race, YWCA

Sweet Honey in the Rock is one of my all-time favorite musical groups. I got to thinking about Sweet Honey the other day when I was donating my clothing and I wrote about the politics of second-hand clothing. In learning about what actually happens to donated clothes, I was left with a sick feeling about my own consumption and how easily I succumb to buying things. I regularly feel guilty about going to Wal-Mart despite full awareness of why shopping there is so utterly wrong. I haven’t reflected on this problem the way I used to in women’s studies classes — the hopeless, damned if you do, damned if you don’t feeling you get when your consciousness is raised about consumption. I don’t want to donate my clothing to exploitative rag-making multinational corporations. I don’t want to toss my clothes in a landfill, either. So the only [...]

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Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Dangerous Negro

By ~LS~ On June 9, 2009 · 1 Comment · In Politics, Race and Racism and tagged Tagged With: Obama, Politics, Race, YWCA

Today in the Huffington Post there’s an article saying that Rupert Murdoch called Obama “dangerous”:

“I think Barack Obama would describe himself as a pragmatic leftist but he’s not an extremist,” Murdoch said. “I think he sees himself as a president for change and that involves bigger government. He’s made no secret of that. I think that’s dangerous.”

This statement reminded me of something I read in the YWCA Dialogue on Race reading packet. I first heard this phrase of “dangerous negro” in an article called “Struggle and Transformation: The Challenge of Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Vincent Harding, written in the mid-80s. Vincent Harding is a Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at Illiff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, he was an adviser to SNCC, and he was a speechwriter for King. In his article, Harding reminds us that the FBI called King [...]

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Let the water hold me down – One Book, One Community

By ~LS~ On September 7, 2007 · Add Comment · In The Quotidian (yadda yadda) and tagged Tagged With: Bush, Gratitudes, Louisiana, Threes, YWCA

When I was an undergraduate, my friends called me “Apocalyptic Laura” because EVERYTHING was a crisis. I was constantly in crisis mode and my life was filled with drama. I don’t know if it’s age, drugs, or Steve’s influence, but my life is calm and steady now. I suspect it’s all three, actually. But a steady, drama-free life doesn’t leave me much to blog about.

I finally finished reading _Breach of Faith_ (by Jed Horne) for the One Book One Community dialogues that are going on. The man is an amazing writer. His ability to evoke images is impressive. One of the librarians here said in regard to the BRCC book club discussion of the book that most people found the first part of the book compelling but they didn’t like the second part. The second part is where he gets political. Not in a ranting sort of [...]

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Into the silent water – Summer Doldrums

By ~LS~ On July 5, 2007 · 2 Comments · In The Quotidian (yadda yadda) and tagged Tagged With: Katrina, YWCA

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I like it without pinkwashing

Institutional racism or acts of meanness?

Sweet Honey in the Rock and Some Political Thoughts

Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Dangerous Negro

Let the water hold me down – One Book, One Community

Into the silent water – Summer Doldrums

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Catch me if you can!

I like it without pinkwashing

Institutional racism or acts of meanness?

Sweet Honey in the Rock and Some Political Thoughts

Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Dangerous Negro

Let the water hold me down – One Book, One Community

Into the silent water – Summer Doldrums

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Archives

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Recent Posts

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Meta

Catch me if you can!