Get It Off My Chest: “Stand By Your Man?”

Jen Gregory is the first member to sound off in our Get It Off My Chest series. What do you think? Write your comments below. Do you have something you need to get off your chest? Email it to wmnblog [at] gmail.com and we’ll post it!

I am intrigued by the wives who stand next to – actually, slightly behind – their prostitute-using husbands at the podium at national “Oops, I Got Caught” press conferences. I am not arrogant enough to think I know what is best for the Spitzer’s marriage, and I do not like to speculate about what is only hypothetical; BUT, if my husband were the “John” in this case, I would not under any circumstance stand anywhere near him while he admitted his crime and begged for forgiveness. I ache for Silda Wall Spitzer and her three daughters. I really do. And I don’t mean to be judgmental. She must have had her reasons, right? I guess I am wondering how other WMNers feel about the “Stand By Your Man” trend in American politics. Please share your thoughts.

-Jen

Discount Tickets… Our Favorite Kind

WMN Member Tiffany Zientz Heckler is sharing a discount on tickets to two fantastic programs from four women artists: an on-stage roller dance, a sexy burlesque circus, live music with baking and a dance about sleep. Go see Miami Light Project at the Arsht Center! Save $5 off the standard ticket price for opening night (two programs on March 12th and two programs on March 13th) by clicking here for a pdf with detailed instructions and our discount code. Offer expires March 10 and only works for online purchases.

More about the program…

March Madness… aka Women’s History Month

So every organization and its mother has a Women’s History Month activity planned. Email other events you know about to wmnblog@gmail.com and we’ll add them to the list.

Women’s History Coalition of Miami-Dade County has a list of many of the luncheons, fundraisers and award ceremonies this month for women leaders in Miami. These include events like the In the Company of Women Awards Ceremony, Women of Impact XX, and Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami (FANM)/Haitian Women of Miami Gala.

Here’s some conferences, art exhibits, panel discussions and more:

All month: Lowe Art Museum – Women Only! In Their Studios (“an eclectic assemblage of works by 20 of our great, culturally diverse, women artists, who broke through the glass ceiling, in fact shattered it, but are not yet household names”) and Labors of Love: Women Artists from the Permanent Collection

March 2: WMN Voting Vixen Meeting (not Women’s History… more Women’s Future), FREE

March 7: Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami (FANM)/Haitian Women of Miami, 2nd Annual Conference Women and Reproductive Health: “Breaking Barriers and Building Coalitions”

March 7: Women’s Park Documentary Screening, 6:30 p.m.

March 8: Miami-Dade Public Library, Women of the Drum by Alexis Caputo, 3 p.m. (Performance artist with”a piece that combines elements of theater and artistry designed to encourage women to pursue their dreams”), FREE

March 13: Historical Museum of South Florida – Celebrating Herstory (a panel “discussion about the influential women featured in Beyond Julia’s Daughters, 1975-2000, a book honoring these women and their contributions to Miami-Dade County”), 6-8 p.m.

March 16: Historical Museum of South Florida – Julia Tuttle, Mother of Miami: Walking and Metromover Tour, (“experience the story of 1890’s Miami pioneer Julia Tuttle, probably the only woman to found a major American city”), 12 – 2 p.m., $25

March 22: WMN Miami Open House Brunch! Come eat and meet and greet with the lovable gals of Women’s Movement Now Miami!

March 28-April 6: Women’s International Film Festival

Free documentary screening at Women’s Park

The Miami Women’s Park and Red Chemistry (the folks behind Romance in a Can) are celebrating Women’s History Month with a free screening of the 2001 documentary film, House of Love about a group of prostitutes in Namibia. Afterwards, guest speaker Lorna Owens will lead a discussion on prostitution and its effects on women.
Date: Friday, March 7 | Time: Doors open 6:30 p.m., film begins 7:00 p.m. | FREE and open to the public |Location: Women’s Park | Call Lisa Fernandez, 305-480-1717 for more info.

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Did you even know that Miami-Dade has a “Women’s Park”? There’s a gallery space and classroom. A good place to keep in mind when looking for locations to hold women-focused events!

Young Activist Training… this weekend!

WMN member Natalie Kline wants to invite us all to attend Planned Parenthood’s FREE Young Activist Team Advocacy Institute… a comprehensive, one-day program for South Florida activists to learn how to make change locally and statewide through public speaking, community mobilizing, and working with elected officials. ACT FAST… it is this Saturday, February 23, 2008 from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 a.m. at the Miami Planned Parenthood Office. View the flyer for RSVP info.

FIU’s Women Who Lead

Suzanne Onorato, Associate Director of the Women’s Center at FIU wants you to attend Women Who Lead, a one day conference on Friday, February 29. The keynote speaker is Erin Vilardi from the White House Project. Check out the full schedule of events.

February Meeting Topic: Primary Politics and Feminism

Or “Are media personalities being fair to Hillary Clinton?”

We are facing the most competitive, and lengthy, primary process for both parties in decades. As you know, WMN is a progressive feminist, but decidedly non-partisan, organization. We endorse political participation, not individual candidates.

The Florida primary has come and gone and our votes will (most likely) not count toward our candidate’s ultimate delegate count.

That said, regardless of which candidate you are supporting, let’s discuss the complicated role gender is playing in this election.

Suggested Reading for the February 19th Meeting:

Robin Morgan at the Women’s Media Center – “Goodbye To All That (#2)”

Erica Jong in the Washington Post – “Hillary vs. the Patriarchy”

Media Matters (liberal media monitoring & research group) on MSNBC’s Chris Matthews

If you want to watch some of these clips for yourself:

MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson “interviewing” Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation in November

Then… there is the David Shuster “Pimping out Chelsea” controversy.

Basically, David Shuster (of MSNBC) said “doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?” regarding her calls to celebrities and super delegates on behalf of her mom. The Clinton campaign is outraged. A lot of others feel that the Clinton’s are overreacting, etc, etc.

If you have any additional suggestions for reading/viewing, please leave a comment! Again, I would like to reiterate that we plan to talk about potential sexism in the coverage of the campaign and not engage in a discussion for or against Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama. All opinions and observations are always welcome, so we’ll see how the discussion evolves.

Leonard Pitts, Jr. on the F-Word

In today’s Miami Herald:

I asked my 17-year-old daughter if she considers herself a feminist. She responded with a mildly horrified No. This, by the way, is the daughter with the 3.75 GPA who is currently pondering possible college majors including political science, psychology and . . . women’s studies.

“Rejecting feminism makes no sense” by Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Welcome WMN Miami!

This is going to be a place to post news articles of interest, meeting announcements, political issues to watch, and more. Soon 2-3 editors will be posting your contributions, links, and favorite articles. Right now this space is in development. In the meantime, please check back and comment on the progress. Bookmark us! www.wmnmiami.wordpress.com