Feminist Friday: She's 13

I wanted to share a mixed media painting I finished a little bit ago entitled "She's 13". I created this piece for Oklahomans Against The Trafficking of Humans to help raise awareness of the growing problem of human trafficking and modern slavery. Sadly, the average age a girl is recruited into commercial sexual exploitation here in the U. S. is 12 to 13. At twelve and thirteen, I was still playing with Barbies, exploring the outdoors, and reading Laura Ingalls Wilder. What were you doing at that age?



I really enjoyed the process with this piece, and I'd like to do more mixed media paintings in the future. It took me quite a while to decide how to tackle such an awful subject, artistically, but in the end I decided to lean toward the symbolic. Here is how I described the piece:

"The trappings of a normal, happy pre-adolescent girl’s life lie torn and ruined under layers of darkness and filth. What should be a time of carefree innocence before the onslaught of normal teenage pressures and changes has instead become a nightmare of sexual exploitation and bondage. Thirteen pairs of young girls’ legs wearing women’s high heels symbolize child victims of sexual slavery being forced into adult situations far beyond their years. These girls have become disconnected body parts, bought and sold for the pleasure and profit of adults. A tarnished gold “Dearest Daughter” seal meant for a funeral spray reminds the viewer that each of these girls is someone’s daughter and serves as a metaphor for the death of their innocence and childhood. This piece aims to impress upon the viewer how very young 13 is."

A Vital Force

"With the ballot in her hand woman becomes a vital force--declaring her will for herself." -Susan B. Anthony

Feminist Friday: Halloween Costumes

Dolls and guys, indulge me for a minute, if you will. I know I've focused only on classic country with these Feminist Friday posts until now, but since the empowerment of women and girls is a subject near and dear to my heart, I'm thinking of expanding the focus a bit to cover, well, pretty much anything relating to women's issues that I damn well feel like writing about. So pack that in yer pipe and smoke it! Anyway, I know Halloween is old news and we are on the downward slide to all things Christmas, but something has been on my mind: Halloween costumes, specifically the pervasive sexualization of costumes for women and girls over the last several years.

I'm certainly not the only one who's thinking about this. The Huffington Post recently ran an article with a photo slideshow showing the evolution of girls' costumes over the last couple of decades toward ever sexier outfits featuring super short skirts, bare midriffs, and corset styling. I have seen with my own two eyes costumes for very young girls that appear to be miniature versions of club and fetish wear. Clicking on the "Top Girls' Costumes" tab on a popular costume retailer's site turns up a staggering array of inexplicably sexual costumes. Sexy Oscar The Grouch and Elmo? Are you even for real right now? Now, just let me say right here and right now, I have no problem with a grown adult woman choosing to express her sexuality in any way she likes, at Halloween or on any other day of the year. If dressing as sexy Mrs. Potato Head floats your boat, more power to you, ladies. I myself wore a few sexy Halloween costumes back in my pre childbearing days. What bothers me and a lot of others who advocate for a childhood free of sexualization, is that young girls are incapable of understanding the kind of messages costumes like these send, and are incapable of making choices like these in an informed way. What bothers me more are parents buying these costumes for their daughters and either choosing to ignore that nagging voice that says, "something feels a little off here", or worse, parents not having that nagging voice at all because the sexualization of Halloween, childhood, and indeed everything in this country's sordid culture has erased boundaries that existed just a few short years ago.



When my six year old was having a hard time coming up with a costume idea a couple of weeks ago, inspired by this awesome little girl, I suggested that she choose a historical figure that she admired. Her immediate response was, "I want to be Helen Keller!" She had just read a book about her and was fascinated with her story. So, we pulled out a Victorian-esque sailor dress I had found at the thrift store earlier this summer, and I covered an old book with paper and wrote "Helen Keller" in Braille with embossing ink and powder to simulate the look of Braille type. Of course, we had to explain her costume to every single person we encountered, but it didn't faze her, and I was proud of my thoughtful little girl. Speaking of thoughtful costumes for little girls, have you heard about the amazing new resource that is A Mighty Girl? Take a look at the Halloween photo set on their Facebook page for some wonderful examples. And for thoughtful women, check out Take Back Halloween. I know it has gotten my gears turning for next year.

So, friends, what do you think? Have you noticed this alarming trend of skimpy, adult-looking costumes for little girls? What did you or your little ones (if you have them) dress as on Wednesday?

Feminist Friday: Hard-Headed Woman

A hard-headed woman is a thorn in the side of a man. This hard-headed woman will be seeing the legendary Wanda Jackson TONIGHT! I'm shakin' all over just thinking about it!

P.S. How cute is that fiddle player?

Feminist Friday: Heaven Help the Working Girl

Hello, sugar dumplings! I'm around, just running like a chicken with my head cut off. I know all you working girls can relate.

Feminist Friday: My Big Iron Skillet

Let's hear another from Wanda, shall we? I would like to say, for the record, that I don't advocate violence of any kind, but sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. It's best to be prepared for any situation that might arise, from needing to make sausage gravy, to dealing with a no good, low down, cheatin' man. And, I don't think I need to point out to you how amazing and ready to kick ass Wanda looks in this clip. She could probably hide that skillet of hers in that gravity-defying, coal black confection of a hairdo, whipping it out to strike the ass kickee while he or she was still dazed and reeling from the awesomeness and blinding light dancing off of her mini dress.

Happy Women's Equality Day!

On this day in 1920, the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote was added to the U.S. Constitution. The National Women's Party made this "Ratification Banner" based on their violet, white, and gold flag, adding a new star each time a state ratified the amendment. When the necessary 36th state, Tennessee, ratified the amendment by only one vote on August 18, 1920, Alice Paul unfurled the completed flag from the balcony at NWP headquarters in Washington DC.



Sometimes I think it's easy for us to picture these women as mere names in a history book, instead of women like ourselves, like our mothers and friends.



Women like you and me who were arrested, jailed, and beaten for picketing peacefully. Women who were placed in psychiatric wards and force fed raw eggs when they went on hunger strike to protest their deplorable treatment and the injustice of being denied their rights. I am in awe of their resolve and their sacrifice.

"I think, with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all in public has been earned." -Lucy Stone

Feminist Friday: The Box That It Came In

This is one of my favorite Wanda Jackson songs. Hell, it's one of my favorite songs, like, ever. In the world. That was ever recorded. It's that good. From the sinister, murderous implications, to the way my fellow Okie manages to add an extra syllable to the word "down", this song is completely badass. The message is clear: do her wrong, and you're comin' home in a box. Chills, ladies. I have chills.

Feminist Friday: Just Because I'm a Woman

You know what they say. "The higher the hair, the closer to God." Preach on, Sister Dolly, preach on.

Feminist Friday: Single Girl, Married Girl

The Carter Family's 1927 version of the folk song "Single Girl, Married Girl" is probably one of the oldest recorded songs that I would classify as dealing with feminist issues, and boy does it ever. The lyrics seem radical, even by 21st Century standards:

Single girl, single girl

She's going dressed fine

Oh, she's going dressed fine
Married girl, married girl

She wears just any kind

Oh, she wears just any kind

Single girl, single girl

She goes to the store and buys

Oh, she goes to the store and buys

Married girl, married girl

She rocks the cradle and cries

Oh, she rocks the cradle and cries

Single girl, single girl

She's going where she please

Oh, she's going where she please

Married girl, married girl

A baby on her knee

Oh, a baby on her knee

And with those few lines, the writer cuts right to the quick of the modern liberated woman's struggle to "have it all". Not such a modern problem, it turns out, though obviously, we are fortunate to have many freedoms that were unavailable to women when this song originated at least 150 years ago. While we may have more choices today, the isolation and sacrifice that motherhood brings is a universal truth spanning the ages.

Feminist Friday: Goodbye, Kitty Wells

On July 16th, we lost the Queen of Country Music, the woman who paved the way for Loretta, Tammy, Dolly, Reba, and a whole host of female country stars, and a Country and Western feminist ahead of her time in many ways. I had the privilege of standing in her presence as a child (somewhat ominously, apparently.) I'll always admire Kitty Wells for the courage it must have taken to sing some hard truths in an era when the darker side of American life was glossed over and spit shined, and for staying strong in the face of controversy when "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was released in 1952. Banned by numerous radio stations and the Grand Ole Opry, the song was an answer to Hank Thompson's "The Wild Side of Life". It seems 1950's America could handle songs about loose women, but when a female singer dared suggest that the blame for broken marriages and illicit affairs be equally shouldered by men, people lost their damn minds. (Fun fact: the song was actually penned by a man.) I wish we had progressed far, far beyond that in 2012, but recent attacks on women's rights suggest otherwise. There are those today who would happily return us to the time when Kitty sang, "It's a shame that all the blame is on us women".

Thank you for your music. Rest well, Miss Kitty.

Feminist Friday: One's On The Way

Oh, Loretta, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. You wrote songs that tackled women's issues and faced some ugly truths, head on, before that was a thing. You made people uncomfortable, and you didn't apologize. You brought feminist concerns into the living rooms of the Grand Ole Opry set. You were and are incredibly brave for that. Also, the hair.

Feminist Friday: I Didn't Jump The Fence

I'm baaa-aack. Let's trot this son of a gun out for another drunken joyride which will likely spin out and crash into the guardrails of apathy in about two months. I'm just shooting you straight. You know it's gonna end in tears and stained undershorts, but maybe we'll have a laugh, you know?

 So, yeah. Turns out, two kids keep you busy. Plus, I started a Girl Scout troop since last we chatted, and that has been a lot of work, but pretty rewarding. I also had one of my biannual where-the-hell-am-I-going-with-this-thing? crises. I still don't really know the answer, besides motherin' these little girls and generally being kick ass. I want to be an artist/designer/author/musician/songwriter/astronaut/archeologist/well-paid expert/farmer/beautician when I grow up, and I don't think that's too much to ask. Or maybe it is. I'll figure it out one day. So, let's just jump straight into something that might become a regular feature here called "A Feminist Look at Classic Country Music" or A.F.L.A.C.C.M. Huh...Ahflackem.....Okay, we're just gonna call this thing "Feminist Friday", kids. Check out this ridiculous song by Red Sovine, singer and dramatic reciter of many classic truck driving songs, the most famous being the diesel-drenched tear jerker "Teddy Bear".



Now, this is pre-"Teddy Bear", about a decade before Red had really hit his stride and found his long haulin' niche. "I Didn't Jump The Fence" is a little ditty about cheatin' with the neighbor's wife. Only the neighbor's wife is apparently an apple tree with loose morals. Basically, she and her hoohah are pieces of fruit to be stolen and fought over between neighbors. It seems that when her husband's out of town, she dangles her ripe fruit over the back fence like a wanton hussy. She may also have an out-of-control 60's bush that needs to be trimmed, but I could be misinterpreting something. Red's attitude is all, "Hey, don't get mad at me, man. Your apple tree's a total slut. You should cut it down a notch if you don't want me groping your whore apples." So what have we learned today? The 60s were a time of offensive sexual double standards and weird, sorta gross, fruit metaphors.