Activism Log V

*Note: Spring break week skipped!*

Rachel Miles
Jeannina Perez
WST 3015 (Introduction to Women’s Studies)
21 March 2010

Activism
Tabling was canceled this week because of Equal’s participation at a rally in Tallahassee. It was disappointing, but it also left me more time to collect signatures on my own. I actually spoke about the initiative in my creative writing class. My professor was extremely supportive of the project and allowed me about ten minutes at the end of class to explain it, the reasons/need for it, and to pass around a petition sheet. Not everyone signed, which I expected, but I was not met with any open hostility; in a nice turn of events, everyone seemed generally interested and receptive to the idea, even if it wasn’t something they ended up wanting to support.

Reflection
This week’s readings and class discussion covered a wide range of material, but as best I can summarize, they tended to focus on feminist conceptions of family and defining lifestyles. The article that struck me as most interesting was Ettelbrick’s “Since When Is Marriage a Path to Liberation?” In it, Ettelbrick discusses her rejection of the gay marriage equality movement. For her, obtaining equal marriage rights would only perpetuate other systems of privilege, such as race, class, religion, etc. It would also do nothing to address underlying social heteronormativity; instead of celebrating the differences inherent in queer lifestyles and challenging perceptions of heternormativity, Ettelbrick feels gay marriage would only increase the presence and power of heteronormativity by forcing queer couples to “end up mimicking all that is bad about the institution of marriage in [their] effort[s] to appear to be the same as straight couples” (318), and as such worthy of the same privilege. Ettelbrick presents here another complication of passing, which is an issue facing much of the LGBT community, but particularly the transgendered population. Because society so viciously stigmatizes transgenderism, the temptation is strong to pass for cisgendered and gain social acceptance. But as Ettelbrick discusses, the cost of this social acceptance is, like in all cases of passing, a loss of identity and fundamental connection to a supportive community. Ultimately, is it worth forgoing support and total acceptance to be tolerated in spite of your differences, rather than acceptance because of them?

Reciprocity
I was definitely disappointed in the lack of tabling this week, but I do feel that the success in speaking to my class about the project has helped boost my esteem regarding my fears of soliciting support for this cause. It showed me that people may easily prove more accepting than I had initially assumed going into this project, which alleviates my stresses about tabling a bit.



Works Cited
Ettelbrick, Paula. “Since When Is Marriage a Path to Liberation?” Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 317-320. Print.