bike lanes are white lanes

My good friend is moving to Portland, OR and told me about a new controversy there regarding bike lanes. Portland has its share of racism and gentrification problems and a proposal for new bikes lanes has ignited a new discussion about bikes and race. A proposal for bike lanes to go through a Black neighborhood is turning into a bigger fight than anyone in the bike community imagined.  I find this totally fascinating for a few reasons: 1. Bicycles are usually not theorized as being a "negative" technology. Bikes are supposed to save the earth, save your body, and save you money!  Yet, the theory that bicyclists are a form of gentrification has been gaining steam recently (and one that I am exploring in my dissertation). 2. A Black community is being very vocal about the negative impact bicycles have on their community and are also making the mostly-white bike community question its demanding of space for mobility. For example, one Black community member proposed space for wheelchairs. And 3. the fact that most bicyclists in urban settings are white is a longstanding fact, but it something that people have been very afraid to talk about. Well, not anymore!

For more on this, check out this story:
http://bikeportland.org/2011/07/21/racism-rears-its-head-on-williams-project-56633
"The project has touched a nerve for some in this North Portland community who have deep distrust of the City and anger borne from decades of institutional racism and ongoing struggles in the community."

Riverwest 24: Hate the Playa not the Game

This blog post is aimed at people familiar with a Midwest bicycle race. Those who are not familiar with the race but know a thing or two about urban bicycle culture will pick up on the arguments here quickly.

For the past four years, the Riverwest 24 weekend has been my favorite time of the year. The neighborhood I lived in for 6 years comes alive in ways unimaginable to outsiders. For 24 hours, the bicycle becomes more than a tool for mobility. It becomes a community builder, a moving block watch, and a friend maker. I was first drawn to the Riverwest 24 (RW24) because it was simply yet another crazy thing to do in Riverwest and my new roommate wanted to ride in it. So we spent the greater part of 24 hours biking around the neighborhood. I will not bore you with lofty musings of my time with the RW24. We get enough of that walking around Riverwest. But I want to make clear that I simply adore the RW24, its organizers, the neighborhood, and the people I have ridden alongside with.

For the past four years, the RW24 weekend is also a moment where various groups of cyclists merge in a working class neighborhood—and this merging is an experiment every year. Spandex weekend warriors, bike messengers, leisure riders, grocery getters, commuters, and casual cyclists all show up and ride the same course. At the beginning of each year’s race, one of the organizers holds a “riders meeting” where he explains the race rules, the vision of the race, and any changes to how the race operates (it follows a similar pattern every year). While I could paraphrase what the organizer says to the crowd, I think the RW24 history and goals found on its website portrays a similar message:

“The RW24 was born through community block watches throughout Riverwest. It is a way for our neighborhood to welcome new people, strengthen relationships within the community (and beyond), and show everyone why Riverwest is amazing.” (http://riverwest24.com/about)

What this blog post is about is the frustration many riders, volunteers, and neighbors have in observing particular people’s disregard to the RW24 vision. I want to take the time here to expand on some arguments that have been shouted during the race, in exhausted rants post-race day, and most recently online (gotta love those Facebook posts). While I understand my role in picking a huge fight with people I would call friends, or at the very least fellow bicycle community members, I continue to be baffled by the ability for these people to ignore some basic tenants of the RW24. I also want to make clear that while my voice carries louder than most, what I argue here are not original arguments. These are arguments I have heard over the past four years that I think need some more attention than a brief mention during the riders meetings or in a bar down the street. Still, I take full responsibility for these arguments and in no way do I speak for the RW24 organizers unless I have heard something straight from their mouths (and thus noted). And so,

THINGS THAT HAVE TO STOP:

1. The hyper-competition among a small group of riders.

Every year there are a few men teams that compete very heavily with each other. I will not go on my rant about white men dominating every other bike race, but boy is it annoying for them to dominate this one too. And domination is not always in sheer numbers but also in the symbolic space one takes up. These male riders who ride very fast and dangerously close to slower riders without any warning are the exact people the organizers are talking to when they say, “Slow down. Don’t ride fast. This isn’t a race; this is more of a ride.” The organizers ask at every year’s riders meeting for people to slow down while biking, but a few teams refuse to listen. These men also rush volunteers to punch manifests, verify bonuses have been completed, and in getting needed information about the race. One organizer specifically spoke to these riders at this year’s meeting when he said, and I paraphrase, “The volunteers are not going to follow you with your manifest so you can keep riding.” Yes, these riders think it is ok to keep biking and have volunteers run after them to get their manifests back. Yes, after the organizers explicitly asked all riders not to. While these few teams may argue that some inner-competition is not hurting anyone, let me tell you that when riding on the route it is very annoying. The danger in silently speeding past riders is absurd. The rudeness of cutting off other riders to get a manifest punched is absurd. The total lack of disrespect for the organizers to make volunteers follow a rider with their manifest is absurd. The general aura of anxiety and impatience kills other people’s happiness. While riders stand in line to complete some silly task to get bonus laps and they are bombarded with competitive riders complaining about the line and how worthless the task is—well, that just sends a real nice message about how they feel about the race and Riverwest now doesn’t it? Calm down. Enjoy the neighborhood. Cherish the time you are spending with all these wonderful, dirty, smelly people, will ya?

2. Subverting rules

There are six rules in the RW24. One is to wear a helmet. Thank goodness. This rule is especially powerful this year as a Riverwest resident had to skip the race due to severe brain damage caused by a helmet-less collision with a motorcycle. Still, as a volunteer this year, I had to ask someone to put on their helmet while racing. This person actually argued with me. They asked me, “are people giving you a hard time about wearing helmets? Why are you so upset?” I responded, “no you are the only person who isn’t wearing a helmet.” Even telling them the story of our fellow brain-damaged neighbor barely moved them enough to think about putting their helmet on. I had to literally block their path because they tried to ride past me after our conversation, still without their helmet on. I do not think I have to extrapolate on how offensive it is to a. argue with a volunteer and b. ignore a simple rule intended to keep you from dying. Beyond the obvious, there are smaller rules that riders have to follow to earn laps. Bonus checkpoints are an easy way for people to gain laps. You do a fun activity, you earn some laps. The idea behind the bonuses is to show riders the various community spaces in the neighborhood or to connect riders with really amazing neighbors. Still riders try to find ways to quickly get through the bonuses. One bonus asked riders to bring back two vegan snacks. I watched people steal food from a volunteer in hopes of getting quick laps. During another bonus, I watched people pretend to go do a yoga session (it takes 10 minutes, not 3 minutes, I am not an idiot). The organizers established the bonuses in large part for one safety reason: to slow riders down. Because they don’t want a high speed race, they force as many riders as possible to calm down at least once every hour. Yet particular riders ignore the point of the bonuses and try to get out as fast as they can. Real cool.

3. Obsessing over winning.

Honestly, no one cares if you win. Especially the people who keep winning. We really really don’t care. We extra don’t care if you aren’t from Riverwest. The organizers made ice trophies this year (yes, that melted away). If that doesn’t symbolize “we don’t care” then I don’t know what does. The prizes (which are totally gendered/sexist by the way) are not worth competing over. While other races give out bicycle frames, the RW24 gives out bike photo books and tattoo gift certificates as prizes. So I don’t know why you are obsessing over winning. And yes, I am sorry, but it is not cool for people who have never lived in at least Milwaukee to win. It is just not.

4. Letting people get away with it

This one goes out to all the volunteers. When the organizers say to slow people down who are being rude and/or riding too fast through the course, then slow them down. When the organizers threaten to give penalty points to people who are rude and/or break rules, then give them penalty points. I personally had to call one rider in this year because I was sick of hearing people complain about the rider’s attitude. When an organizer forced the rider to apologize to the volunteers, the rider actually argued with one volunteer over the apology. Why that team has zero penalty points and the rider kept riding is beyond me. These rules and threats are worthless unless we all step up and enforce them. The organizers ask riders to maintain positive attitudes and respect everyone. But when the riders disrespect that request and we barely do anything about it, how will that stop this reoccurring behavior?

5. Sneaking into the race

This is a new issue. As the RW24 has grown tremendously over the years, people from out of town have rightfully wanted to participate. And last year the organizers made that a possibility by opening up online registration. The online registration seemed to be a huge headache for the organizers due to technical difficulties. The online registration did not exist this year. The result? Very few people from out of town showed up. Now, I cannot confirm this, but I would guess that one reason that the online registration does not exist (beyond stopping headaches) is to keep people from out of town coming in. I say this because if the organizers wanted out of towners to participate they could have easily set aside some spots. But instead they watched locals snatch up every spot in under six hours. Yet somehow people from out of town managed to sneak into the race. I chose to volunteer this year before I knew about the registration situation. Living in Minneapolis, I would have been unable to register anyway. Or I would have had to find some way to get my registration down to Milwaukee. I chose not to race this year because I know how quickly it sells out. I wanted to open up a spot for people to race who haven’t before. I wanted to give back to the race I partook in for three years. Ok, this sounds a bit high and mighty. My point is, the organizers made it pretty obvious they just wanted locals to register this year. But out of towners were there. And some of them even won! Even more out of towners won the year before. Yeah, local registration. For a reason. If people from out of town are really excited about this race I would suggest volunteering for 24 hours. A Riverwest resident and RW24 rider makes this point better than I ever could:

“I welcome anyone to the riverwest family that is there for the community involvement. I regret that I did not see out of towners that I perceived were interested in integrating and celebrating the neighborhood. It is my understanding that I am not alone in wishing that those participating were participating with the community first in mind. It is what makes Riverwest so special and unlike anyplace I have ever known or visited or been. If people want to ride a bike race, there are so many options for them to do so. In my mind and the organizers minds, RW24 is a community event before anything else, and it saddens me that douchebags (ppl only only interested in winning a race) crash the celebration.”

6. Caring?

At this point some readers may be asking themselves, man why does she care so much about this dumb race? I am admittedly putting a lot of emotional and literal time into this. Why I care is twofold: 1. I love Riverwest more than any other urban space. I have been choked up so many times being a part of the RW24. The pride I have in that neighborhood fills my heart. Huge events (whether positive or negative) in Riverwest elicits emotional responses from a lot of neighbors. It is not the neighborhood where people smile and keep walking or yell and move on with life. We embody what happens in this neighborhood. Because we care. And 2. I loved the RW24 from the beginning because it wasn’t run by typical urban bike people and because people who don’t typically do bike races surrounded me. I rode a race that wasn’t competitive, that was small, and that was filled with my neighbors. It is not that anymore. I watched a race turn very quickly from a neighborhood party to a neighborhood party with jerks trying to crash it. It is so sad I have to even type those words. I know I sound like some weird, obsessed RW24 police force. I just wish people would sit back, think about who they are and what they represent, listen to the organizers, and choose your actions wisely. Riverwest 4eva.

photo: 24 hour volunteers Robert & Me

For ethical research purposes: I am working on a PhD dissertation that looks at how bicycles are used as a form of activism, including community building and crime prevention. RW24 may be a prominent case study in my dissertation. My involvement with the race has never been for research purposes as I have just recently decided to include the RW24 in my dissertation. With that said, conversations about the race may impact my research and I am grateful for this space to share my thoughts and ideas outside of the oppressive ivory tower.

i am not a kick ass graduate student anymore

Over the past two years I have excelled in graduate school. I took my course work seriously, presented at numerous national academic conferences, and for one semester managed to work as a union organizer on top of my teaching job at the university. Last summer I juggled auditing a media course, a research fellowship, and my union activism. My friends and acquaintances often told me I was the busiest yet most organized person they know. They would also marvel at my ability to hyper-focus on my school work at seemingly all hours of the day. I would not disagree with any of these reflections, but to me these traits I perform are not always compliments. I tend to thrive on full schedules and feel alive and productive during my self-imposed 14 hour work days. Healthy? Not really. Fulfilling? Pretty much.

And then…this summer came upon me. I am done with coursework. I am not a union organizer anymore. I have a fellowship that graciously funds my preparation for prelim exams set for the end of June. I have a few friends, a few activist projects I dabble in, and a whole lot of free time.

The structure and schedule of a busy graduate student assigned to read 200 pages a week while also preparing original research is wiped from my life. And now I am utterly lost. The first week after the semester ended I waffled between enjoying all my free time and lying comatose in bed watching three seasons of Weeds (not my proudest moment). Interpersonal moments that I usually brush off with ease were eating away at me. Suddenly I had emotions that were not just tied to a scholar’s argument or a graduate worker who hated unions. I had to deal with interpersonal things; interpersonal things were impacting my emotional state. On top of that, my own feelings about myself and my life were suddenly in the forefront of my brain. Um, what? Where did all this come from!?

The graduate school assignment I have been given over the next month is relatively simple. Read a bunch of books, answer a bunch of fairly vague questions about my research interests and methodologies, memorize those answers, and finally type them out in a small classroom over a three-day period. To me, that is like the easiest assignment ever. Lounge around and read some books, write my little heart out, memorize my main points, and then type them all out again in a controlled space? Sure, why not? This assignment is nothing compared to the standards I set for myself for the past two years.

Then why, pray tell, am I barely able to open up a book, let alone read it? Why does it take all my energy to type out a mere summary of a book I have read before? Why I am barely even motivated to write out a 500-word conference proposal?

I can say with ease that no one warned me about this moment. Graduate students warn each other about a lot of stuff. What classes we should avoid teaching, those lazy professors who won’t email you back, the shitty job market, the copy machine that doesn’t work as well as the other one, the coffee in the office which kinda sucks but will get you through the day, the low pay, the stress of coursework. But never in our collective moments did anyone say, “Hey you will absolutely lose your sense of self when you are done with coursework! Good luck!” When I ask people for advice now the reply is typically, “Oh yeah, I remember that moment. This is how it is now. Just get used to it.”

Like anyone suffering any kind of pain, sometimes it is unclear what you need. Your mind is clouded by what pains you and that is not the most accurate time to request specific help that you know will get you out of the pain you are enduring. And goodness, in no way do I want to argue that my life is, like, painful. I am so lucky to have the life I do. I am grossly privileged. But that does not help my retched mental state. Guilt awash with no motivation awash with disappointment awash with a caffeine headache…ok and more guilt.

Let this serve as an announcement to anyone embarking on a career that has forecasted abrupt shifts in your work. Let this serve as a serious warning to graduate students that after coursework things get a bit…weird.

I know that I, along with thousands of other graduate students, will figure this out. I will find new ways to motivate myself. But, from the looks of it, it will not be easy. I have to admit to myself that I am a kick ass graduate student some of the time. And now is just not one of those times. 

Orgasm, Inc. and PORN

I sat in on a Politics of Sex class (follow on Twitter at #posex2011) at the University of Minnesota the other week to watch the screening of Orgasm, Inc. It is a documentary about the medicialization (and I'd argue capitalization, corporatization, and commodification) of the female orgasm. I want to discuss the usage of porn in the documentary. Before I do so I wanted to make something clearer that I think the documentary mentions but does not stress. The reason women are having issues orgasming is NOT due to something messed up with their bodies. It is due to horrible sexual education and a society that pushes male pleasure and discourages women from exploring their sexuality (I should mention here that all the women in the film appear to be heterosexual and are for sure all caucasian). The documentary makes the structural and social impacts on women's orgasms depressingly clear when an older women (at least in her late 50s) had her mind blown (no pun intended) when a person working on the documentary had to walk her through the idea that it is not normal for women to orgasm during intercourse. This older woman had the idea that "normal women" orgasm by a penis going in and out of her vagina. The older woman was so distraught by her inability to orgasm by a penis pounding on her cervix that she went and sought medical attention that resulted in a metal thing being placed on her spine (called the Orgasma-tron!) Yes. Ok. If you are a female-bodied person reading this and have issues with orgasms I highly suggest going to feminist sex toy stores like Smitten Kitten (Minneapolis) and looking through the books available there on female sexual pleasure.
On to my task at hand here: porn in Orgasm, Inc. There are two things I want to discuss. One is the images of porn seen in the documentary. The reason porn was even brought in was because the evil pharmaceutical and medical companies trying to produce medicine and metal things for women to get them to orgasm also used porn to test out their products. So, for example, during a trial for Viagra for women, they were shown porn. Funny thing is the women taking the placebo reported high sexual arousal when watching porn and "taking" Viagra. Ha, joke is on the medicine!! One company, Allista, commissioned a woman to make pornographic material for women to watch during product testing. The shots of porn shown in Orgasm, Inc. were fairly amusing. One was an early 90s porn of two women in obnoxious 90s style talking in a kitchen. Other brief shots included two heterosexual people having intercourse. And at various times there would be still shots of porn, one of a Black woman with her mouth gaping open in ecstasy, apparently. The images of porn in my eyes were generic, stereotypical, and boring. The viewer of the documentary should think about how pornography was depicted in the film on a more social level. A woman who runs a women's porn shop (whatever that means) was interviewed and talked about how women like all sorts of porn. Thus we can question the medical companies and their choice to "produce" porn and/or show particular kinds of porn. How do they know what kind of porn women like? Will the showing of particular kinds of porn impact the results they are recording when testing orgasm products? Here is a thought: porn IS an orgasm product!
The second thing I wanted to discuss is the assumptions built into women's porn. Interestingly enough I just read some research on women watching porn (especially porn made for women). A master's thesis written by Verena Chiara Kuckenberger and discussed here http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/mar/22/porn-women includes interviews with women after they watched five women's porn films. The results may be surprising: the criteria that makes women's porn just that (female desire stressed, natural lighting and bodies, developed plots) does not get all women off! In fact all the women found at least a few of the films undesirable. For example, a film that shows a woman being pleased by multiple people using multiple toys was marked as having low sexual arousal reaction by many of women. Why? For some it was because there was too much going on and it was hard to concentrate on the woman being pleased. So we could conclude there are some issues with producing porn for women and assuming that IS what women want. Female pleasure is not any easier to pin down than that pesky clit (I kid, I kid). For a political economy project I am working on, I am trying to track down audience data on feminist/women's porn; it is pretty hard to find. So right now no one can assume that it is just women who are watching porn made for them just as much as we can't assume it is just men watching mainstream porn. Until I can find some solid audience data I am reluctant to claim porn for women is watched by women; this claim being even more complicated by research that shows women are not always down with what is given to them in the porn world.
In conclusion, Orgasm, Inc. leaves much to be desired. The issue of women's orgasms being medicialized is a huge problem and the documentary just skims the surface of what is happening on a social and structural level. But I think the documentary makes a possibly unintended argument. Having issues orgasming because your partner is more worried about banging your cervix and/or getting a sweet BJ? Watch some porn! Having issues with orgasms because you think your pleasure is not important? Watch some porn! Having issues with orgasms because your fantasies are getting dull and predictable? Watch some porn! Want to have an orgasm? WATCH SOME PORN!*

*I do not suggest watching any and all porn. I once again suggest checking out places like Smitten Kitten that are committed to selling "ethical porn." Sexy, hot porn that doesn't abuse anyone on the set! Do it up! 

why me and my research ain't special at all

I just read bike snob: systematically & mercilessly realigning the world of cycling in like one day. Ok it took a few days, I had to nap and eat and stuff. But I certainly read it fast. Ok this is not a bragging post about how fast I can read a popular culture book on vacation.

I really like this book. I really like this book because it makes fun of me thirty percent of the time and forces me to ground my research. “Bike Snob NYC,” is a blogger turned author (I think they are one in the same), who basically tears apart any moment in which cyclists try to find authenticity and/or pride in their bicycles. In other words he makes your little circle of bicycle friends seem totally unimportant and lacking any sort of ground breaking-ness.

The Urban Cyclist is not a new phenomenon by any means…the Urban Cyclist undergoes a complete aesthetic reinvention every decade or so depending on the Zeitgeist…the cycling Zeitgeist is currently track bikes and fixed-gears. (p. 67)

BSNYC goes on to list characterisitics of the Urban Cyclist that pretty much sum me up. As for dress, “The Urban Cyclist look is evolving, but presently it is still an appropriation of three distinct subcultures.” One being the “squatter punks” in which the Urban Cyclist appropriated tight black jeans, the canvas sneakers, the ratty sweatshirt, the sleeve tattoos, and the studded belt and/or exposed keys.

Ummmm, aka my daily uniform. Ok but let’s be real here. I never thought I was pulling off anything subversive. I know I look like every other Urban Cyclist in town. Hey it is NOT my fault that a bike messenger decided I was cool enough to join the gang. And, FWIW, BSNYC declares the bicycle messenger another appropriated group for the Urban Cyclist to pounce upon.

Ok so whatevs, he has pinned us down. He even has a section about the “Righteous Cyclist” (guilty as charged). And dissects that brand of cyclist all the way down to what they are righteous about (being able to move a couch with a bicycle, saving the environment, etc.).

Although he lets us all down slowly with hilarity, what did kind of pin-prick my heart is his chapter, “Look at me, I’m original too!: The myth of a ‘bicycle culture.’”

Ouchie.

 So, you see fair weathered readers, I just took a semester to theorize about bicycle feminism, rooted in an urban bicycle culture. Yet BSNYC reports, “While I searched intrepidly for bike culture, I haven’t really found it. What I have found are small groups of bike enthusiasts who call themselves the bike culture.” (p. 131) Blah blah blah. He goes on to argue that what exists are subcultures of cyclists but argues that subcultures are about something that is “usually unimportant to anyone outside of that subculture…they’re cliques with a mission statement.” (p. 133)

Ok already!

Now let’s be real again in this blog post. This dude is not writing in any academic fashion, so it is not like in my dissertation life I would have to debunk his argument to retain my academic street cred. Second, this is SO written by a white guy. I could have spent this time blabbing about how once again women are written out of bicycle culture only to pop up to be feminized and delegitimatized. BSNYC’s one mention and illustration of a woman is describing the “Beautiful Godzilla” cyclist who rides around on her cell phone, with a dog in her basket, and a purse hanging on her handlebars. (p. 75)  And WHY can’t a woman be described/illustrated as a bicycle messenger, mountain bike rider, etc.? The book is written to assume a male cyclist and male voice at all times. Otherwise, why would his “Brief Guide to Etiquette for Non-Cyclists” go on about the annoyance in being asked about one’s impotence when riding a bicycle? I eagerly turned the page in hopes he would write about not asking women cyclists if they need help when fixing a flat on the side of the road. But, um, nope. Must have been accidently left out, huh?

Anyway, even though this dude has left me hanging by a thread in my quest to research urban bicycle culture, now known as my clique with a mission statement, I still love this book. I love it because he is SO right. I may not agree with everything he says, like his argument that if people choose between a brake or a helmet to choose the brake, but he seriously grounded my lofty blabbering about bicycles. I get it. I do need to avoid the tiring cheesy romance so many cyclists exude when writing about their bicycle life. This dude’s all like, yeah…you really aren’t all that cool, Melody the Bike Researcher.

Ok now I am going to fold open the much shorter written piece, “Taking the Lane: Revolutions Every Damn Day,” a zine by and about women who ride bicycles.

the author's response

Hey lucky readers. I am all about transparency. So you can read my emails! From a defensive journalist...yawn. 


One thing that no longer surprises me is the quickness of reply you get from journalists. They either a. have no life or b. love getting mail. 


Here is the response I got from my Dessa letter minutes after I emailed him:


You should read the Artist of the Year package in yesterday's newspaper, for which Dessa was a runnerup -- and not to mention all the earlier things i've written on her (I think she'd count me among her earliest supporters) -- and then get back to me.

Her wardrobe change at the Blowout was significant and noteworthy: it symbolized the switch from her harder-edged hip-hop to the jazzier more songwriterly material on her album. I know she'd agree it was a noteworthy thing, or she wouldn't have gone through the unenviable task of changing clothes in First Ave's puny, musty backstage area.

Thanks for the comments, and for reading us ... there's a lot more to read on Dessa, though.


And a few minutes later: 


Also, the thing that ran in vita.mn was a shorter, edited version of a review I wrote online, which had more detail.


Ok. So. 
1. Any previous and future writings he does on Dessa negates anything questionable he writes in the present.
2. No, I did not remind him of previous critique he got. 
3. This sort of response is so typical of the privileged getting called out. Instead of engaging with me and discussing the many things I brought up, he shoved his latest article in my face as a way to signal he is ok. Look! I wrote about Dessa again. Thus, I am awesome and not sexist. 
4. Readers are not expected to make judgement about an article by reading everything else a journalist has written. That's like me asking my professor to read my previous work in case she doesn't like the way I write this month. Look! I am so much better when I write in the spring!  I am not sure how reading more about Dessa will absolve my query. Reading more of his writing about Dessa? Or just anything about Dessa? I am confused. 


Overall, I was not shocked by his defensive response. Especially when I had another writer's response to compare it to. Ok, full disclosure: in my feminist rage blackout, I sent the letter to a writer at the wrong publication (I know, I know). But she was very cool. Although she figured out I messed up, she took the time to explain that she was a feminist and took that sort of critique very seriously. She then went on to explain that her coverage could have been better. And I wasn't even talking about her writing! 


In summary, women journalists are better at emailing me.

What I have done with my winter vacation: Day #1

Like my free-formed summer, this winter I have three weeks to do a lot or a lot of nothing. Blogging may help keep things moving. Plus my friend asked me if I had a blog; something about liking my usual snarky banter. Well, yooouuuuu got it.

Today I want to post a letter I wrote to a writer at Vita.mn.  If you are in Minneapolis, pick up the print copy with the winter bicyclist on it to see what I’m talking about.

My letter was in response to the coverage of Dessa who played the Doomtree Blowout show at First Avenue. For you non-locals, let me interpret. Doomtree is a crew of hip hop artists who are very popular in Minneapolis (we have a famous hip hop scene to begin with) who played at a big venue in downtown Minneapolis. Dessa is a woman hip hop artist. If you know anything about the music industry, or androcentric society in general, you may guess where this is going.

I will let you read the damn letter. Here you go:

Hi Possibly Sexist Writer Who has been Called Out for This Stuff Before,  

I was disappointed in reading your Vita.mn version of "Doomtree spreads its wings for Blowout IV." My disappointment comes in how you (did not) cover Dessa. What is interesting about the coverage is you discuss what she is wearing more than what she performed. I note no discussion of what the men were wearing. The focus on them is all about the music. In fewer words, that is not fair (and from looking through pictures of the event it is obvious the men had on some threads worthy of reporting, too). And to say “well she was the only one who changed clothes!” is not newsworthy enough to take space away from reporting on her music (which is desperately needed in hip hop).

In all seriousness, I am wondering what is so significant about Dessa wearing a slinky dress and a muscle shirt all in one night. And what makes her outfit symbolic of being “butt kicker?” Is it because she was wearing clothing that is usually reserved for men in the hip hop scene? If you were attempting to make a feminist statement about her ability to transcend gender boundaries, then some clarification would have been nice. What is left, though, is a very sparse discussion of her actual music. This is dangerous because women in hip hop already get the shaft, and to perpetuate that by writing about what she was wearing is not helping any. Even words used to describe Dessa’s backup sits funny with me. While you refer to the men’s backup as “hyped up” and “auxiliary,” you refer to Dessa’s backup as a “cool little live combo.” I know this may seem like nonsense to you, but even subtle descriptive words like “little” pressed up against more powerful descriptive words used for the men can send powerful messages.  Moreover, the image used in the Vita.mn print coverage is interesting, too. Note how the men on stage are in powerful and engaged positions, reaching out to the crowd. And Dessa stands further back, disconnected from the action. That sends a very powerful message too.

I just wanted to point out the power your writing has in perpetuating sexist stereotypes. These stereotypes need to be actively fought against. One easy way is to employ the press to start covering hip hop differently. Perhaps you could use your power for good. Feel free to write back, I would love to discuss this with you further.

 END OF LETTER. COMMENCE BLOGGING. 

Now, a few clarifying remarks. 

One, the print version is published online through our local paper, Star Tribune. Overlapping ownership, obvs. 

Second, the photograph that was printed is not available online. It was a pretty bad picture for many reasons, but I wish you could see it in all its subtle sexist glory. But the picture that is posted online is not the best either.

Third/to be clear, I am not against women wearing whatever they want on stage and being sexy or crazy or cool or all of it or butch or drag-kingy. Whatever. What bothers me in this instance is that the majority of the coverage on Dessa was about her clothing. Not about how she has fought through a horribly sexist hip hop community and crafted some of the best hip hop in Minneapolis.

Fourth, for all you skeptics out there, thinking this analysis is way over the top, let me tell you that this writer has been called out before for his word choice and coverage of Dessa (Which, FYI, I did not know about until after I wrote the letter/got angry).

And finally, flipping through some photos posted on City Pages, my eyes were opened to the fashion show that was the Doomtree Blowout.  No offense Sexist Writer, but P.O.S. had on a DOPE shirt that said “Gamble & Gamble & Gamble & Die.” And Cecil Otter looks to be more like a hipster white douchebag that is BFF with Jason Mraz than a fresh hip hop star. There is so much fashion to cover!

                               Jason Mraz's BFF. Credit: City Pages

               Dessa in non-butt kicking dress. Butt kicking reserved for muscle shirts only.                                                             Credit: City Pages

Anyway, I just had to say something because a. that’s my job in life and b. I am so sick of women being trashed in the hip hop industry. I hope you all can be more aware, too, when reading music reviews about artists. It takes a minute to notice, but once you do, it will never go away. Oh the torture.

If you want to read more about gender, hip hop culture, empowerment, sexism, and so on, check out Homegirls Make Some Noise: Hip-Hop Feminism Anthology,  by Gwendolyn D. Pough, Elaine Richardson, and Aisha Durham

Also, on a posi tip, I will leave you with The Grio’s list of the Ten Least Misogynistic Lyrics of 2010 (Eminem and Drake? You know it). 

That is all for this edition of what I did with my winter vacation. Toodles!