Emily (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} uniquelysimilar) wrote,@ 2008-04-14 20:41:00 |
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Emily vs. the College Republicans
Today, I shut down an anti-feminist bake sale.
When I was walking to teach this morning, I saw a sign that said "anti-feminist bake sale" and I thought, "damn, that can't be right." So when they were still there after I got done, I went up to them and found out they were protesting "radical" feminism and raising money "for the troops," and were handing out these lists of quotes from first-and-second-wave feminists that were taken totally out of context to prove that feminism was anti-man, anti-family, and anti-reproduction.
This pissed me off.
So I went back to my office to drop my stuff off, trying to figure out how to even respond to this bullshit. I saw Em on my way in and was like "dude, they're having an anti-feminist bake sale. I so want to just go buy some chocolate and some poster board and sit out there next to them, giving away free candy as a counter-protest." And she was like "DOOO IIIITTTT" and gave me $3.
I went to Meijer, bought a little pack of poster board, a sharpie, and two bags of candy and made myself a sign that said "the real radical feminist agenda: 1. smash patriarchy 2. empower women 3. give away candy" then went back and set up on a bench near the anti-feminists (I wanted to be far enough away so they wouldn't come accost me when I was all by my lonesome) just after noon.
Almost immediately, another woman showed up, congratulated me on what I was doing, and told me "you should stand closer to the bake sale!" While she was there, two other women came up and said they supported me and decided to join our protest. They said that Vision (the LGBTQ group on campus) had tried to get a counter-protest going, but it was disorganized and in a bad location, so they were joining mine, instead. Within half an hour or so, Super Queer and the other people from Vision came and hung out with me and other people kept showing up. I got more poster board from my car, we bought more candy and more markers, and we had a pretty good-sized protest going by 1:00. And still people kept showing up, including more people with signs, one guy who bought almost a dozen bags of candy, and a girl who brought flyers. The campus newspaper came up and interviewed us around 1ish and just two hours after I started, the anti-feminists announced that they'd pack up and go home at 2:30 if we agreed to, as well.
So after 3 hours and $10, I pretty well smashed patriarchy's bake sale. I think the other three people who showed up early did most of the talking to the paper, but I'm fine with not taking credit for the idea. I'm just in awe that it actually happened.
It was amazing.
The best part was we were really friendly and nice and gave away candy, while the anti-feminists were kind of bitchy and confrontational and charged people for their food. I didn't see much commerce taking place at their table (like seriously, I think I saw 3 people buy their goodies after I showed up) and we gave away about 12 bags of candy (mostly small bags, but still) and got loads of smiles, waves, applause, and people who wanted to chat. The anti-feminists got yelled at and argued with and accused of not understanding what they were doing or why it was offensive. I think the last accusation was correct, because in an attempt to pacify us, they changed their sign to "anti-RADICAL feminist" and played up the fact that they're just against those radical feminists you always hear about. Which is a whole other breed of ignorance. While their depiction still likely remains the public perception of feminism, I think one of the best things we did was show people that feminists aren't surly, humorless man-haters and can actually be rather nice, funny women AND men. The stereotype persists, but maybe we did something to counter it today.
Here's the BG News article about the thing:
http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/stora
Here's another write-up: http://www.choiceusa.org/blog/?p=57
We're now on Feministing! http://feministing.com/archives/009
And there were two letters to the editor today condemning the CRs in the BG News:
http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/stora
and
http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/stora
I'm a little disappointed they chose to focus simply on the idiocy of the CRs and not on the positive fact that their fellow students actually responded civilly to the bake sale on the same day. But I think that simply stems from my latent disregard for newspaper articles as a means of social change, based on my experience as a journalism major/school paper columnist in college.
You can also Digg the Feministing write-up:
http://digg.com/educational/College_Rep
Another really positive blog entry, with pictures! http://progstraighttalk.blogspot.com/20
yaello donated $28 to Planned Parenthood in honor of the $28 raised by the "anti-woman cookies." I think this is a fantastic idea and I'm encouraging everyone to donate $28 to their favorite (preferably feminist) cause. $28 donations to the Yellow Ribbon Fund are also welcomed.
Today, I shut down an anti-feminist bake sale.
When I was walking to teach this morning, I saw a sign that said "anti-feminist bake sale" and I thought, "damn, that can't be right." So when they were still there after I got done, I went up to them and found out they were protesting "radical" feminism and raising money "for the troops," and were handing out these lists of quotes from first-and-second-wave feminists that were taken totally out of context to prove that feminism was anti-man, anti-family, and anti-reproduction.
This pissed me off.
So I went back to my office to drop my stuff off, trying to figure out how to even respond to this bullshit. I saw Em on my way in and was like "dude, they're having an anti-feminist bake sale. I so want to just go buy some chocolate and some poster board and sit out there next to them, giving away free candy as a counter-protest." And she was like "DOOO IIIITTTT" and gave me $3.
I went to Meijer, bought a little pack of poster board, a sharpie, and two bags of candy and made myself a sign that said "the real radical feminist agenda: 1. smash patriarchy 2. empower women 3. give away candy" then went back and set up on a bench near the anti-feminists (I wanted to be far enough away so they wouldn't come accost me when I was all by my lonesome) just after noon.
Almost immediately, another woman showed up, congratulated me on what I was doing, and told me "you should stand closer to the bake sale!" While she was there, two other women came up and said they supported me and decided to join our protest. They said that Vision (the LGBTQ group on campus) had tried to get a counter-protest going, but it was disorganized and in a bad location, so they were joining mine, instead. Within half an hour or so, Super Queer and the other people from Vision came and hung out with me and other people kept showing up. I got more poster board from my car, we bought more candy and more markers, and we had a pretty good-sized protest going by 1:00. And still people kept showing up, including more people with signs, one guy who bought almost a dozen bags of candy, and a girl who brought flyers. The campus newspaper came up and interviewed us around 1ish and just two hours after I started, the anti-feminists announced that they'd pack up and go home at 2:30 if we agreed to, as well.
So after 3 hours and $10, I pretty well smashed patriarchy's bake sale. I think the other three people who showed up early did most of the talking to the paper, but I'm fine with not taking credit for the idea. I'm just in awe that it actually happened.
It was amazing.
The best part was we were really friendly and nice and gave away candy, while the anti-feminists were kind of bitchy and confrontational and charged people for their food. I didn't see much commerce taking place at their table (like seriously, I think I saw 3 people buy their goodies after I showed up) and we gave away about 12 bags of candy (mostly small bags, but still) and got loads of smiles, waves, applause, and people who wanted to chat. The anti-feminists got yelled at and argued with and accused of not understanding what they were doing or why it was offensive. I think the last accusation was correct, because in an attempt to pacify us, they changed their sign to "anti-RADICAL feminist" and played up the fact that they're just against those radical feminists you always hear about. Which is a whole other breed of ignorance. While their depiction still likely remains the public perception of feminism, I think one of the best things we did was show people that feminists aren't surly, humorless man-haters and can actually be rather nice, funny women AND men. The stereotype persists, but maybe we did something to counter it today.
Here's the BG News article about the thing:
http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/stora
Here's another write-up: http://www.choiceusa.org/blog/?p=57
We're now on Feministing! http://feministing.com/archives/009
And there were two letters to the editor today condemning the CRs in the BG News:
http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/stora
and
http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/stora
I'm a little disappointed they chose to focus simply on the idiocy of the CRs and not on the positive fact that their fellow students actually responded civilly to the bake sale on the same day. But I think that simply stems from my latent disregard for newspaper articles as a means of social change, based on my experience as a journalism major/school paper columnist in college.
You can also Digg the Feministing write-up:
http://digg.com/educational/College_Rep
Another really positive blog entry, with pictures! http://progstraighttalk.blogspot.com/20
yaello donated $28 to Planned Parenthood in honor of the $28 raised by the "anti-woman cookies." I think this is a fantastic idea and I'm encouraging everyone to donate $28 to their favorite (preferably feminist) cause. $28 donations to the Yellow Ribbon Fund are also welcomed.
