femcaucus-blog

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(via bell hooks | Sexism)

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Really awesome feminist quote from the show Fringe.

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Feminist caucus leaders 👍 (at Altman Building)

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Feminist caucus! (at Altman Building)

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Feminism is for EVERYONE. Spread this brochure around!

What does feminism mean to you?

Thanks to our amazing community organizing students at CUSSW: Tao-Yee, Estrellita & Mae for designing and creating this brochure :)

Cover picture by @soirart

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Created by miriamdobson.wordpress.com !!

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Why Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" Video Makes Me Uncomfortable... and Kind of Makes Me Angry

So this video started going around my facebook today, with about a dozen of my female friends sharing the link with comments like, and “Everyone needs to see this”, and “All girls should watch this,” and “This made me cry.” And I’m not trying to shame those girls! I definitely understand why they would do so. And I don’t want to be a killjoy. But as I clicked the link and started watching the video, I started to feel a slight sense of discomfort. I couldn’t put my finger on why that was, exactly, but it continued throughout the whole thing. After watching the video several more times, I have some thoughts… 

Read More

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What does health care reform mean for our clients? Come and find out from activist organization Raising Women’s Voices and Health Care for All NY how you can bring word to your clients – and your friends! – of the benefits of the new Health Care Reform Law, with a focus on women’s access to health care. Raising Women's Voices (raisinwomensvoices.net) is a grassroots organization advocating for appropriate health care for all women. RWV is spearheading a state-wide campaign aiming to maximize the enrollment of low-income women and women of color in particular in the new and complex health care exchanges system starting in September 2013. Food and drinks will be provided! Room 312 at 1PM on Tuesday, April 23rd. Any questions about this event? Please contact us at femcaucus@gmail.com or alice.cini@gmail.com 

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How many of you can relate to these thoughts?:  "Ugh... Queer Caucus only does white people things!" .... "I'm lesbian and feminist, but I feel alienated by the feminist movement." ... "Why don't straight people come to queer events?" ... "Why don't white people come to people of color events?" ...  Join the Queer Caucus, Feminist Caucus, and Latin@ Caucus on Wednesday, April 17th at 8:00 PM in room C05 for a panel discussion around intersectionality at CUSSW. Students and alumni will come together in a panel format and discuss mapping safe space in our school community. Students will respond to panel conversation with their own thoughts and ideas around queerness and other intersectional identities at CUSSW. Food will be provided! With support from: Black Caucus, API Caucus, and Transnational Caucus

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Join the Feminist Caucus as we Take Back the Night on Thursday, March 18th at 7:30PM, starting in Room 404 and then circling around the Columbia campus.  Tonight is a night of unity. We march as a community to demonstrate our solidarity against the violence that affects all of us, as survivors, and as co-survivors who share the pain of our partners, our friends, our families and our community members. We march because we recognize that only together can we break the cycle of violence. With rage we march and with strength we speak.  Take back the day. Take back the night. Take back our bodies. Take up the fight. The greater Columbia community will be marching from main campus and we will join them at West 120th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Meet us at 7:30 PM in Room 404 for dinner and poster making before the March. Here is the route if you would like to join the March later in the night:http://i.imgur.com/P81lvxK.jpg Chants: http://i.imgur.com/ic8u7RB.jpg

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On April 10 at 8:15PM, join the Feminist Caucus of Columbia University School of Social Work for a viewing of the documentary film Very Young Girls by the organization GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services). Very Young Girls is an exposé of the commercial sexual exploitation of girls in New York City as they are sold on the streets by pimps and treated as adult criminals by police. The film follows barely adolescent girls in real time, using vérité and intimate interviews with them, documenting their struggles and triumphs as they seek to exit the commercial sex industry. The film also uses startling footage shot by pimps themselves, giving a rare glimpse into how the cycle of exploitation begins for many women. The film identifies hope for these girls in the organization GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services), a recovery agency founded and run by Rachel Lloyd, herself a survivor of commercial sexual exploitation. See the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fX6EaHuRCg On April 17 at 12:00PM, join the Feminist Caucus for a training with GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services) on CSEC (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children) and domestic trafficking. This training is designed to raise awareness about CSEC and domestic trafficking and how these issues relate to our current field placements or future social work positions. Specific issues that will be focused on include the identification of CSE youth, engagement, outreach, and use of motivational interviewing with CSEC and domestic trafficking victims GEMS website: http://www.gems-girls.org/

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To begin, it’s crucial to recognize—and underscore and shout from the rooftops—that being a woman who matters does not mean being a woman who does it all. On the contrary, building a life of consequence demands a certain narrowing of vision, a commitment to excelling in one area, perhaps, but not all. Men do this all the time, and we applaud them for it. Take Steve Jobs, for example, truly a person of consequence. Was he a perfect father and husband? A buff athlete who volunteered regularly at community bake sales? I have no idea, because stories about him rarely touched upon these aspects. Ditto for Warren Buffett and even Barack Obama. We know that these men have lives beyond their jobs; we know they have children and spouses and lawns that occasionally need mowing. But we don’t question their manhood when we evaluate their careers, or pry too deeply into the inner workings of their homes.

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From Lindy West’s post for Jezebel, “If I Admit That ‘Hating Men’ Is a Thing, Will You Stop Turning It Into a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?”, a list:

Feminists do not want you to lose custody of your children. The assumption that women are naturally better caregivers is part of patriarchy.

Feminists do not like commercials in which bumbling dads mess up the laundry and competent wives have to bustle in and fix it. The assumption that women are naturally better housekeepers is part of patriarchy.

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What are your thoughts on this event?

Dear Students,

Sexual Violence Response is preparing for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), April 2013!  On March 28th at 7PM, Sexual Violence Response is hosting the SAAM Kick-Off Event, “The Art & Science of Flirting” which is as follows:   "The Art & Science of Flirting" Flirting is a ubiquitous human activity - we do it from birth! The Art and Science of Flirting is an interactive, research-based workshop that will help you improve your flirting skills, increase your flirting confidence and help you avoid flirting disasters. *Keeping Sex Sexy Prize* Be one of the first 50 students to arrive and get a free gift! Date & Time: 03.28.13 @ 7 p.m. Location:: Altschul 202, Lehman Auditorium, Barnard Campus Presented by Jane Bogart, M.A., C.H.E.S. To get more information about upcoming SAAM events, please go to http://health.columbia.edu/events/svprp

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We've received a lot of negative feedback from our student body at Columbia University School of Social Work. Many of our students are frustrated and angry with the fact that flirting/dating and sexual assault are being brought together in this manner -- that this sends a message that by "avoiding flirting disasters" one can avoid sexual assault.

Thoughts? We met with the leaders of the event and we're sending out a email tomorrow about what they said to us.

What do you think? Is the event problematic? Fine? Beneficial? Something else?

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In support of Free The Girls, an organization whose efforts are concentrated in fighting against sex trafficking internationally, the Feminist Caucus will be hosting a Bra Drive to collect bras and help Free The Girls carry out their mission. The bras will go to survivors of sex trafficking to help them earn a living. Please see below to learn about the organization’s work, their story, and how they have collected over 80,000 bras to give hope and provide opportunities for survivors. What: Bra Drive When: April 2- April 4, 2013 Where: Columbia University School of Social Work 1255 Amsterdam Avenue NY, NY 10027 ---> Tuesday April 2 - Second Floor ---> Wednesday April 3 - Second Floor ---> Thursday April 4 - Front Lobby How: Just bring as many of your lightly used bras that you no longer need or use and drop them off in our “Bucket of Bras” that will be located at our event table. You can get other women and men involved by asking them to donate bras from family and friends as well. We will be doing the rest and sending off the bras to Free The Girls. COME SUPPORT!! ---------------------------------------------------- MORE ABOUT FREE THE GIRLS: WEBSITE: www.freethegirls.org  OUR STORY What if we gave the average woman the opportunity to partner with women who have been rescued from human trafficking?” - Co-Founder Dave Terpstra, 2010 So began the journey where an Emmy-award winning television producer (Kimba Langas) and a social entrepreneur (Dave Terpstra) walked away from their successful careers to try and change the world. SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM? Currently 27 million men, women and children are being held as slaves around the world—more today than in any other time in history. 80% of those slaves are women and girls. There are a number of amazing organizations that are helping to rescue these women out of a life of prostitution, but what happens after they are rescued? Many safe houses and aftercare facilities are doing great work in providing comprehensive rehabilitation and educational opportunities to survivors, but often their resources are limited. OUR SOLUTION By partnering with safe houses and after-care facilities, we provide an opportunity for women rescued from sex trafficking to earn a living selling second-hand clothing while going to school, getting healthy, and caring for their families. Selling clothes allows them to work as much or as little as their school schedule permits. The women in our program receive their starting inventory as a donation, and are then able to buy additional inventory from Free The Girls for below wholesale value to help maintain their competitive edge on the marketplace. Revenue from inventory sales helps subsidize overseas program costs. WHY BRAS? Let’s face it, ladies: the back of your underwear drawer is most likely a graveyard of bras you don’t wear anymore or that never fit right in the first place. By contrast, second-hand clothing is a profitable market in many countries around the world. Bras are sought after items. Some of the girls in our program are making 5x the minimum wage in their community by selling bras! And even better, bras provide an opportunity for these women to work with other women, since they have a history of being abused and used by men. OUR JOURNEY Free The Girls launched in August 2010, and to date we’ve collected over 80,000 gently used bras from women all over the world. In Spring 2011, working alongside our first safe house partner, Project Purpose, we launched a pilot program in Mozambique, Africa. The results of the pilot program were very promising—the women made 3-5x minimum wage selling bras. In February 2012, we were featured in a 3-part series of stories by CNN’s Freedom Project. The response was amazing, with an outpouring of support from all over the world! As a result, we shipped 32,000 bras to Mozambique in July 2012. Since the bras arrived, we’re happy to report that we’ve been able to replicate the results of our successful pilot program and add more women to our program, for a current total of 15. The women sell between 100-500 bras each per month. CNN aired a 30-minute follow-up documentary on Free The Girls on February 15, 2013 (watch online here). We are also in conversations to partner with after-care providers in four new locations in 2013.

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Honorees:

Feminist author and blogger Jessica Valenti

Girl Develop It, an international non-profit that provides affordable and accessible programs for women who want to learn software development through mentorship and hands-on instruction

Sanctuary for Families, the leading nonprofit in New York dedicated exclusively to serving victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking victims and their children

Wednesday, April 3, 2013, 7 p.m. at Hudson Terrace, 621 West 46th St