Showing posts with label girlpower. Show all posts

ARMOR



ARMOR - SARA BAREILLES

please please please go listen to this song right now.
I got chills the first time I heard it (let's be honest, every time) and have been listening to it basically non-stop since then.

Carry on, sisters.

• W O N D E R • W O M A N •


** may contain spoilers ** (but not major ones)

I saw Wonder Woman last night. It was amazing and empowering and I need to find the words to express how much I loved it and why it meant so much to me. I'm sure many of my thoughts are not original as I have already seen many a think piece about the new Wonder Woman film (though I haven't read any yet, wanting first to see the film for myself and then allow my thoughts to percolate). My fellow feminists and I likely notice and applaud the same types of things but I still have so many thoughts and feelings of my own which I wanted to get down in writing.

I've never been much into superhero stories. Sure, I love Emma Stone's Gwen-Stacy-business-casual as much as the next girl, but given a choice between an action movie and something else, I'd likely settle for something else. I have a Wonder Woman mug (a gift from M for a visual pep talk), but before then I had known little to nothing about Wonder Woman. I commented to my sister about this present and she launched into a fascinating briefing on the history of Wonder Woman—the creator, William Moulton Marston, was inspired by matrilineal and matriarchal cultures and created a superhero based on some of these traditions. I love this quote from Marston which captures it all: "Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."

And that's just what this story did. Diana, princess of the Amazons, was raised in an idyllic paradise, surrounded by a matriarchy of strong women, unafraid in their strength and power, unabashed to show love and nurturing. The relationships between these women were beautiful and remarkable (a Bechdel test shoo-in) and there were several heart-breaking moments early on in the film.

It was powerful to me that Diana was called by her name throughout the movie—beginning to end, no titular line to be found. Women are so quickly and easily marginalized by omitting their names or focusing on the periphery—a woman's appearance or name-dropping of her significant other. Notable, recent examples (unfortunately) abound. The Presidential Inauguration coverage in January included photos acknowledging several U.S. Senators—the men, named; Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota simply noted as "a woman." Amal Clooney, after delivering a powerful speech at the U.N. about genocide, was featured in headlines only noting her outfit choice and baby bump—all good things, but ultimately distracting from the crux of the matter and undermining of women in general. Obviously things like pregnancy and wardrobe choices can be used to make powerful statements—Michelle Obama is a powerful example of this. She holds two Ivy League degrees, has an impressive resume, and as First Lady, championed significant and important issues, but she is also savvy to the political statements which can be implied through her clothing choices. 'Fashion diplomacy' doesn't end with Michelle; Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, is known too for her sartorial statements which underscore her public service and diplomatic relations. I wholeheartedly support acknowledging and celebrating women's unique accomplishments—like Serena Williams's Australian Open win as she hit the 20-week mark of her pregnancy!!!—but when the acknowledgments are limited to only the superficial, or fail to do justice to the amazing women they celebrate, these are the moments where I take issue. That Wonder Woman as a film celebrated Diana as a character and not her character's title underscored so many other messages of the film in a subtle, significant way.

Wonder Woman was not just any ordinary superhero[ine] movie; this film gets down to the nitty gritty truths and portrayed them in such a beautiful manner. One of my favorite books is East of Eden by John Steinbeck; I love its allegorical nature and Steinbeck's treatment of agency as a major theme in the novel, among other things. I felt Wonder Woman echoed many of the same characteristics that draw me to those types of stories; the film addressed agency and choices in a similar manner. The Biblical themes and the parallels to the story of the creation were so moving—Diana is quite obviously an Eve character. LDS theology teaches about the nobility of Eve and the many parallels to the familiar story of the creation were so beautiful and empowering.

Most moving of all to me were the moments in which Diana spoke an assertion of her identity and destiny: "I am Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons." The similarities to Moana's mantra, "I am Moana of Motunui...," an element in another powerful female story which moved me deeply, are no mistake. For both of these characters, particularly Diana, when she reminded herself and others of her identity and asserted her place in the world, she was untouchable. Gal Gadot/Diana is stunning, but her self-worth and her identity came from within—from her inclinations to help those in need, to notice others, and to fulfill her mission to defeat the god of war. This reminded me so much of a favorite rupi kaur poem (below). I think most women, beyond the widely acknowledged artificial and unrealistic societal expectations, want to be beautiful and loved, but women are so much more than that—our worth and our knowledge of ourselves runs so much deeper. Women are strong, resilient, loving, trusting, searching, unstoppable—wonder women.


P.S. DID I MENTION THIS IMPORTANT TRIVIA BROUGHT TO YOU BY IMDB?! COSTUMERS MADE A GREEN SCREEN FOR GAL GADOT'S BABY BUMP SO SHE COULD DO HER OWN STUNTS AT 5 MONTHS PREGNANT. GADOT IS ALSO TRAINED IN MARSHAL ARTS. AMAZING. All caps for emphasis because this just puts it over the top. AMAZING, I tell you.

WOMEN'S HERSTORY MONTH [belated]

A few years ago, I threw a Women's Herstory Month (in March) party with my roommates. One of my cousins showed up having never heard of Martha Washington (HOW??!)—thenceforth it became an annual tradition.

This year's [at the time of writing; this draft has languished so now this should more accurately state "last year's"] party was a while ago, but I made this Powerpoint presentation at the time, which played on repeat during the party. Symbolically, there is no conclusion to the Powerpoint, as it is not an exhaustive look—women's herstory is on-going!! In this same vein, I figured it is better late than never to post it here. It also took me some research to figure out how to embed the PDF file in the manner I had wanted (many thanks to these directions).



Don't worry, it may have taken me a year to post this, but I've already begun working on this year's PowerPoint!

1000BlackGirlBooks


Marley Dias is my new literary heroine! She is an 11-year old school girl from New Jersey (represent!) and was frustrated that her fifth grade language arts curriculum was made up only of books about "white boys and dogs."

She wanted to read books with viewpoints more representative of her race and experience—now the center of her book drive: #1000BlackGirlBooks. She is collecting books to donate to a library in her mom's Jamaican hometown featuring black female protagonists—not side or supporting characters, but main characters.

Here are a couple of articles with more information (and the address to donate/send books to!!), plus a video from the local news on Marley's and her friends' website. Love love love.

I also contributed to this growing list on Goodreads and I've added several books to my to-read list in my research: Her Stories: African American Folk Tales, Fairytales, and True Tales; Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters; The Girl Who Spun Gold; and Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons.

I was so delighted to learn about this amazing girl and her incredible vision and verve—the media is so full of garbage about people who don't deserve attention or laud, so I wanted to raise my voice and share my support of Marley's amazing project. Our world needs more people like her.
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