Menstruation Narratives

Things to consider in your narrative:

Consider a menstruation memory, whether it be your first memory or one that was formative to how you relate to menstruation:
What happened? How did you feel?
What about this experience is important to you? Did it shape the way you feel or felt about periods?
If the experience you want to describe is related to your first period, how did you know it was your period?
What did parents/friends tell you about it beforehand?
Was there secrecy surrounding the events in your narrative? If you told people about it, how did they react?
Were there any cultural traditions or rituals involved?
Was the experience how you would have liked it or would you have wished that it were different?
If the experience you are describing is not your first menstruation experience, what is it about the experience that makes it important to your relationship with menstruation?
The idea here is to speak about a formative experience you had with menstruation and take ownership of it (e.g. menarche (first menstrual cycle); there will be a space to speak about their current menstruation situations later on.
If you feel that you are unable to respond to this prompt, please come speak to us.



Bring notes with you. 1/2 page double-spaced equals a minute of talking time. We'd like if everyone could prepare a few minutes worth of talking.

One more thing...

P.S. If you haven't heard about the panel Kayla and I organized, there is a discussion next Tuesday in the SU Ballroom about T-Pain coming to RIC in a couple weeks, censorship, sexism, racism, and media representation of women and black men. The debate is from 4-6. Kayla is moderating the discussion, I am speaking on the panel and Kevin might be speaking representing Anthropology, Lesley Bogad (yay!) is on the panel, Marco McWilliams is on the panel, we are inviting T-Pain....it will be great. Be there!

Saturday...

I have sent a mass text with instructions for body image presentations. I am posting the assignment here in case anyone loses it.

For Saturday morning, please work on a body image project and come to section with a well thought out, physical manifestation (through movement, art, poetry, speech, photography, etc.) of what you are working on and be prepared to talk for five minutes about it. What you bring in doesn't have to be complete if you don't want it to be because we will revisit this later on, but it should be enough to represent your relationship with your body/body image. For inspiration, think about how your body *works.* What does it do for you, every day? How does it privilege you? Do you love it? Hate it? Take it for granted? How do you view yourself in the mirror? How do you think others view you? How do you want them to? Have you battled with body image "issues" or eating disorders? Dig deep...reflect. Remember previous exercises when you have said you wished you had thought about it more, and take the time to re-learn yourself and care about this aspect of you this week.

If anyone feels uncomfortable with having food at the workshop on Saturday, please text/call/email us so that we can let everyone know the brunch is a no-go and we are putting it off. In the past, some participants have found food triggering in this context and requested it not be present.

For the project...be creative! Take risks. In the past, people have put on performances in which they apply their makeup and go through their daily routine while speaking, made dance videos, taken off all their clothes and spoken about it, written on themselves and spoke about it, created visual art, written monologues, talked about a big transformation, performed strip teases, etc. You have unlimited options so please, have fun&&&do ya thang.
K&D

SATURDAY HERE WE COME!

For some mid-week inspiration.

I Am Becoming

by Jayne Relaford Brown

I AM BECOMING
the woman I’ve wanted,
grey at the temples,
soft body, delighted,
cracked up by life
with a laugh that’s
known bitter
but, past it, got better,
knows she’s a survivor­
that whatever comes,
she can outlast it.
I am becoming a deep
weathered basket.

I am becoming the woman
I’ve longed for,
the motherly lover
with arms strong and tender,
the growing up daughter
who blushes surprises.
I am becoming full moons
and sunrises.
I find her becoming,
this woman I’ve wanted,
who knows she’ll encompass,
who knows she’s sufficient,
knows where she’s going
and travels with passion.
Who remembers she’s precious,
but knows she’s not scarce­
who knows she is plenty,
plenty to share.

Inspiration and FemLove for Each of You.

BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak to US that WE feel included in and can understand in our own ways.

BECAUSE we wanna make it easier for girls to see/hear each other's work so that we can share strategies and criticize-applaud each other.

BECAUSE we must take over the means of production in order to create our own moanings.

BECAUSE viewing our work as being connected to our girlfriends-politics-real lives is essential if we are gonna figure out how we are doing impacts, reflects, perpetuates, or DISRUPTS the status quo.

BECAUSE we recognize fantasies of Instant Macho Gun Revolution as impractical lies meant to keep us simply dreaming instead of becoming our dreams AND THUS seek to create revolution in our own lives every single day by envisioning and creating alternatives to the bullshit christian capitalist way of doing things.

BECAUSE we want and need to encourage and be encouraged in the face of all our own insecurities, in the face of beergutboyrock that tells us we can't play our instruments, in the face of "authorities" who say our bands/zines/etc are the worst in the US and

BECAUSE we don't wanna assimilate to someone else's (boy) standards of what is or isn't.

BECAUSE we are unwilling to falter under claims that we are reactionary "reverse sexists" AND NOT THE TRUEPUNKROCKSOULCRUSADERS THAT WE KNOW we really are.

BECAUSE we know that life is much more than physical survival and are patently aware that the punk rock "you can do anything" idea is crucial to the coming angry grrrl rock revolution which seeks to save the psychic and cultural lives of girls and women everywhere, according to their own terms, not ours.

BECAUSE we are interested in creating non-heirarchical ways of being AND making music, friends, and scenes based on communication + understanding, instead of competition + good/bad categorizations.

BECAUSE doing/reading/seeing/hearing cool things that validate and challenge us can help us gain the strength and sense of community that we need in order to figure out how bullshit like racism, able-bodieism, ageism, speciesism, classism, thinism, sexism, anti-semitism and heterosexism figures in our own lives.

BECAUSE we see fostering and supporting girl scenes and girl artists of all kinds as integral to this process.

BECAUSE we hate capitalism in all its forms and see our main goal as sharing information and staying alive, instead of making profits of being cool according to traditional standards.

BECAUSE we are angry at a society that tells us Girl = Dumb, Girl = Bad, Girl = Weak.

BECAUSE we are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused and/or turned against us via the internalization of sexism as witnessed in girl/girl jealousism and self defeating girltype behaviors.

BECAUSE I believe with my wholeheartmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for real.

Thanks for putting up your blogs! Remember that only Kayla and I are looking at them and will be being interactive with you on them, so feel free to get personal. Don't share links with one another!
Much phe-line love.
K&D

how to make your blog private and your first blog post!!!

To make your blog private: go to your dashboard and press setting under your blog's name.  from there go the the link labeled "permission" and under blog readers mark off "only people i choose" and add deirdre and I's email to people who can view the blog.  
your first post should be an answer to the prompt that was sent out before the workshop began.  
How do you define sex and sexuality? How do you identify as an individual facing issues related to sexuality everyday? How do you view yourself in the context of *your* sexuality?


These are questions that are really important to think about during the first few weeks of the workshop and we will go back to both the questions and your answers throughout the workshop.  These questions allow you to begin to articulate your viewpoint and biases when it comes to sexuality.  Remember your blog is your private space so nothing you say is right or wrong or will be read by anyone other then your facilitators.  

Lovely phe-lines...

This morning yall have sent some lovely nag/brags...for the future Kay and I would like you to text them to one another...so here is everyone's contact information.

Sparkles: 4013306465,
Princess Boo Bear: 4016992593
Phoenix: 4013683081
Succubus: 4015295091
Kayla: 7749911250
Deirdre: 4012887969

Please save everyone's contacts in your phones. Today, we are going to put up blog directions so you can make your own blogger accounts. Make the accounts signing fake names (different from the ones above: i.e. shutterfly537 or something random, try to make one up that no one else will recognize). And e-mail Kayla and I at our joint e-mail account: fiercefemmes@gmail.com to tell us what your name is for the blog so we know who is who but none of the participants will.

To start your own blog, you will go to:

www.blogger.com


The big orange box at the top right of the page will direct you to creating your own blog on a site called blogspot.com. Follow the instructions to open up a free account. Don't forget your Username and Password!! You will need them to login everytime.

As you fill in the info, you will be asked to name your blog. This title will appear at the top of your blog. (Ours is called "female experience workshop")

Then, you need to choose an address:

http://_______.blogspot.com

This will be the web address associated with your site. you can call it anything you like. Be clever or simple (or both) -- it is up to you.

You will also need to choose a design template for your blog. Look through the options listed and see what appeals to you. You can change this later and can even find fun, creative templates at sites like PYZAM.

Once you have the account set up, you can start posting. A “posting” is an entry on your blog. (For clarification, you have one blog, but many postings). Give the post a title and then compose as you would any journal entry. When you are finished, hit the button at the bottom that says Publish Post. It will not appear on your blog until you publish it. You can always go back and edit old posts and create new ones.

When you are done creating your site, please e-mail us the name of yours and give us your workshop name. Some Tips and Helpful Hints:

• Once you are in your blog, look at the top right corner of the screen. If you click on the word DESIGN, you will be able to make design changes, create new posts, edit old posts, etc. (You can only do this if you are logged in to your blog.)
• Once you are in the DESIGN screen, you can do all kinds of things to make your blog a bit more interesting. Change your fonts and colors, edit a post, change your settings. See the tabs at the top of the screen for all kinds of options.
• Poke around online and make a list of websites related to education, diversity, social justice or anything else relevant and post them on your blog. You can add all kinds of things by ADDING A GADGET from your Design Screen.
• Just do the best you can with this. If you get stuck, don't fret... I am happy to help you anytime as you work on getting this started. Send me an email, come see me in office hours, or grab me after class. And remember: you can't break it. It is just a blog. Everything can be changed if need be!

Good luck!!

Video for Introductory Section

http://www.vday.org/anniversary-events/video/cunt

Questions for Group Discussion

What word(s) if any do you ussually use to refer to your genitails?

What word(s) have you heard today that surprise you? Made you uncomfortable? Empowered?

Why do you think you might be reaccting this way?

What word(s) would you like to use in the future?

Snowball Activity

Take out a slip of paper and respond to the following questions:

Why are you here?
Where are your particular interests in terms of female sexuality?
What topics would you like to discuss/learn more about?
How are you feeling before engaging in this four week workshop? excited? nervous? neutral? happy?
Make sure to not put your name on the paper and crumple it up after you are done with your response.