J. E. Lewis's Open Salon Blog

Gumtree Racism

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 11:08:16 -0400

This is what I found while looking for a flat on Gumtree in Johannesburg:

Looking for WHITE house mate

Price: R 3,000

Share Basis: Flat or House Share Bathrooms (#): 3 bathrooms Location: Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Date Listed: 04/08/2009

Nice big secure house to share, w&l, maid and DSTV incl.

Near the CocaCola Dome, Northgate.

Regret only white people please.

Please contact me.

Thanks

Jane

E-mail: mailto:janedt@ssi.co.za

Tel: 084 777 8049

Ok, Jane. I mean. SERIOUSLY? And you know what is so messed up? There were about 15 others just like it.

I’m not going to go into my whole schpeel about how the white peoples’ imprisonment and then fear of the blacks is fueling so much of the violence here. After all, I can’t say I understand enough to adequately. Certainly both sides are wrong. Violence in no way is acceptable. But this? Why can’t Jane see that her hatred is only fueling more hate. A Gumtree used for lynchings? But enough…

So here I am in Johannesburg. Much to my surprise, it’s freezing cold. So cold that I have taken to carrying around a portable electric heater, which I use to warm myself like a lizard.

I felt guilty for being so ignorant of Africa’s potential coldness. I felt like just another dumb white person who couldn’t possibly imagine an Africa with leafless sycamore trees and below zero nights. I mean, chilly, sure, but not frozen tundra. Ok. And since I am confessing my ignorance, I had also thought/hoped that there would be monkeys here. You know, any kind of monkey. Even mean monkeys. Baboons would also be fine. I pictured a garden where Jasmine could survive, maybe even Mango Trees, and rabid monkeys that would flay themselves onto my balcony to steal from me. Occasionally they might get electrocuted on the 10 ft tall electric fence, and yeah that would be awful, and smell like a backyard braai, but still, it was my fantasy. Don’t knock it.

So there are no monkeys and it’s cold. There aren’t any zebras either. Bummer.

In some ways, could we applaud Jane for her honesty? Is an out of the closet and in Go-Go boots racist better than a closeted one? I guess she could have screened her email, or phone interviews, or simply chosen a white candidate over a black one. No one would know her heart of darkness. But no. No. What am I even suggesting…NO. We cannot applaud Jane. Because its NOT ok to broadcast racism. We can call her though. Yes, lets.

Ugly Barbie

Thu, 4 Jun 2009 13:06:03 -0400

She’s drab, she’s dumpy, she’s nothing to write home about, and she’s going to make the girls of America feel like beauty queens.

On the cover of today’s The Onion was the story: “New Homely Doll to Improve Young Girls Self-Image.” This mock-article suggests that Mattel, the long-time manufacturer of Barbie, is trying to compensate for decades of setting unhealthy beauty standards for young girls. According to research by the University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, if scaled into real life proportions, Barbie would stand at 5-foot-9 inches, with the measurements of 36-18-33, and would lack the requisite 17 to 22 percent of body fat required to menstruate. The Onion proposes that Mattel’s new model, Plain Pamela, would be a “pale, unsightly plaything, which has a plastic torso scaled to the proportions of a 5-foot-4, 179-pound woman in her mid-30s” and that this will improve the self esteem of girls nationwide.

The “article” also suggests that beyond inculcating more “realistic” beauty standards in young girls, the doll would serve as something for them to feel superior to. Each doll comes prepackaged with various “unflattering and ill-fitting blouses to drape over her shapeless torso” as well as “stick on psoriasis spots.” Would-be buyers could also purchase various Mattel playsets and accessories including “the Plain Pamela Cramped Studio Apartment, complete with special Dinner-for-One Kitchenette and Depressing Stack of Old People Magazines.” The article suggests that girls might benefit from cultivating a delightful sense of Schedenfreude at an early age.

When I was young, I loved Barbie. I loved Barbie so much that I even made my male cousins love Barbie. We all played with her. It was THE THING to do. I thought she was *beautiful*. In speaking with my friends about the lass years later, I have found that what we loved the most about Barbie was giving her hideous hair-cuts, delimbing her plastic torso and making her have unsanctified sex with just about anyone. Most of the delimbing was somewhat accidental: Barbie kicked her leg too high when she was auditioning for the cheerleading squad; Barbie, while adept at flying, failed miserably when landing; Barbie just couldn’t handle the orgy at the beach, (aka. bathtub); Barbie wasn’t very resilient when poked into the spinning fan blades.

Yes, poor Barbie often wound up back in the bag with the others, naked, delimbed and disgraced. And probably when reassembled for another play date, she acquired the legs and arms of her comrades, never to be truly whole again. However, we NEVER sullied her with magic markers like other kids did, or gave her Mohawks, or made her bald. That was just wrong. Those kids were messed up. However, in the aforementioned acts, Barbie would, from time to time, become decapitated.

I salute Plain Pamela, in fact, I think it would be amazing if Mattel actually came out with a doll like this. But, for the meanwhile, girls across America can continue to deface the company’s prettier models.

Fistula, Childbirth and GBV

Tue, 19 May 2009 16:05:23 -0400

Wubete, A Walk to Beautiful

Last year I saw A Walk to Beautiful, a gorgeous documentary about the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, and the women in Ethiopia who travel for days to reach it. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital was founded in 1974 by obstetrician-gynecologist, Drs. Catherine Hamlin, and her late husband, Reginald. The pair restored the lives of over 32,000 women who were otherwise outcast from their communities. Today, Catherine runs the clinic, and 2,200 women a year continue to be given free care.

Obstetric fistula is a hole in the birth canal primarily caused by prolonged labor without prompt medical intervention, often in countries that practice female circumcision. The WHO has called fistula “the single most dramatic aftermath of neglected childbirth.” However, in places like the Congo where rape is being used as a tool of war on a massive scale, the result is often traumatic fistulas. In fact, 80% of all fistula cases in the Congo are due to Gender Based Violence and not childbirth. Holes are formed in the bladder, vagina and rectum that are caused by traditional gang rape or its new incarnation, attack using bayonets, wood and even guns.

The woman is left with chronic incontinence. The smell of leaking urine or feces, or both, is constant and humiliating, often driving loved ones away. Often, a woman in these circumstances is referred to as “the one who attracts flies.” One woman in A Walk to Beautiful was made to sleep in a lean-to outside her home, normally reserved for livestock. A simple surgery can usually repair the injury, with success rates as high as 90% for experienced surgeons. Sadly, most women with the condition do not know that treatment is available, or they cannot afford it. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital offers hope for many women who, prior to reaching the facility, had believed themselves to be simply waiting to die.

The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo

To learn more about Gender Based Violence in the Congo, another gutwrenching documentary is called The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo. This film includes testimonies from both rape victims and the rapists themselves, who seem to be unafraid of being seen on camera, proclaiming things like: “If she says no, I must take her by force. If she’s strong, I’ll call some friends to help me.” For me, the most poignant part of this film was one woman’s description of her attack. A group of men came to her house, they killed her husband, severing him in three sections: head, torso, and legs. They then all proceeded to rape her. When they finished, she was in so much pain that she passed out on the floor, next to her husband’s legs. The film also tracks community outreach initiatives and grassroots organizations working to bring together these survivors for the exchange of experiences and healing.

A common experience in both rape and fistula is that a woman feels she is the only one suffering. She feels shame and fear and embarrassment for what has happened to her, and for her condition. Often, her society encourages these feelings of alienation, because they are unable to see her as a casualty, and assume she must have “done something wrong” in order to incur this situation. The overarching theme in these films is the beauty and power of connecting with other people. Through both of these initiatives, women know they are not alone.

Take THAT Craigslist

Wed, 13 May 2009 15:05:46 -0400

In your face Craigslist, in your face!

Craigslist has decided to remove the “erotic services” section of its website until they can replace it with a more adequately monitored category, “adult services.” This decision was apparently reached due to the recent murder of masseuse Julissa Brisman by Philip Markoff, a 22 year old medical student at Boston University. Prior to this decision, virtually anyone could sell anything on the site with NO moderation. This included the sale of sex acts by both pimps and sex workers, and even the sale of humans themselves, most frequently women and minors.

I became outraged after I watched a film on a young girl who was sold as a sex slave via Craigslist, and still, to this day had not been able to press any charges against the many men who raped her and held her captive over a 3 day period. I wrote a post on the subject. The lack of moderation on Craigslist has lead to countless accounts of the trafficking of women and girls, and is an absolute monstrosity. Due to the ease of use of Craigslist, many people not formerly associated with the sex industry, mainly those who might have trafficked drugs or guns, got on board. It turns out that it is easier and more profitable to export or make a profit on a commodity that is grown locally, such as human beings, especially if that one human could have multiple customers.

Without completely condemning the site, I can acknowledge that in some ways Craigslist could be liberating for sex workers who had formerly relied on pimps to find their clients. If a woman can find her own clients, keep her own profits and do this from the safety of her own home, than it is probably a better option than the traditional scenario. However, usually, despite the fact that she could post and respond to emails herself, there is still a pimp involved.

While it is great that the case of Philip Markoff has lead to the demise of this service, wouldn’t it have been wonderful if any one of the undoubtedly thousands of cases that DIDN’T involve an upper class medical student, had attracted as much attention or concern.

Regardless, it’s a great day. Craigslist, IN YOUR FACE.

The Male Pill

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:04:44 -0400

Ok.

Thanks to a provocative question on a previous post of mine, I have gotten to ruminating on the myth of the male birth control pill. Ok, maybe it was more like venting than ruminating, point being, I'm thinking about it, and now I want to ask others to think about it too.

1. If you are a heterosexual male, would you take this pill, were it to ever be a "safe sex" option?

2. Would you take this if it caused weight gain, mood swings, or possible temporary impotance and lack of sexual desire?

3. On what basis would you decide if taking a male birth control pill was a valid option for you?

Ok. Go.