WHEN REGULAR GUYS RAPE THE PROGRESSIVE W O M AN'S QUARTERLY

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Developed by the Family Violence Prevention Fund ©1987 1001 Potrero Ave., Building One, Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94110. Fall 1993 FEATURES 10 WHEN "REGULAR GUYS" RAPE: The Trial of the Glen Ridge Four: A firsthand account by Christine Schaaek McGoey 15 TALKING FEMINIST Reflections of a Feminist Mom byjeannine O. Howitz 17 SHE JUST DOESN'T UNDERSTAND The Feminist Face-Off on Pornography Legislation by Ellen Levy 21 A BODY OF STORIES JDance Theater, Healing, and Empowerment —A review by Eva Yaa Asantewaa 24 Living in the Trenches: A CELEBRATION OF CAROL A Photo Essay by Helen M, Stummer

SPECIAL SECTION 30 IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, SHOOT 'EM The Murder of David Gunn Was Just the Warning Shot by Neil deMause 32 THE ABORTION ISSUE: There Is No Choice Without Providers by Norine Dworhin 36 CLINICS UNDER THE GUN Blockades, Firebombs, Murder—A frontline report by Mary Lou Greenberg 38 "RACIST, SEXIST, ANTI-GAY" How the Religious Right helped defeat Iowa's ERA by Heather Rhoads 43 SEX CRIMES, CIRCULATION, AND SALES » E P A R T M E M T S An interview with Helen Benedict Front Lines—2 by Fred Pelka Win Some»Lose Some—7 Columnists A BODY OF STORIES Choice Books—4-6 Merle Hoffinan—3 Feedback—58 The Holocaust Museum: Inside the Outside of History

Elayne Rapping—5 Oscar "Honors" Women? Front Lines

VOL.II NO.4 FALL 199n3 PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF Looking Backward Merle Hoffman EXECUTIVE EDITOR Beverly Lowy EXECUTIVE EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Movine Forward Linda Gutstein ASSOCIATE EDITOR Laurie Ouellette The time has come for me to say good-bye. ASSISTANT EDITOR Karen Aisenberg Nearly 10 years have passed since I came to On EDITOR AT LARGE the Issues, which had just published its first edition: Phyllis Chesler A small newsletter produced for the patients and CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Eleanor J. Bader staff of CHOICES Women's Medical Center. Jill Benderly Today, after many evolutions, it is a respected Charlotte Bunch alternative press publication with faithful subscribers, Vinie Burrows Naomi Feigelson Chase and available in bookstores and on newsstands Elayne Clift throughout the country. Until 1989, Merle Irene Davall Hoffman and I were the sole editorial staff and we bell hooks Roberta Kalechofsky published twice yearly. Today we have two Flo Kennedy additional editors and publish quarterly. Among Fred Pelka Elayne Rapping the little-known, remarkable things about On the Issues: The editorial staff is only part- Helen M. Stummer time and the art directors are off-site. ART DIRECTORS Despite the operational challenges, we have had many firsts, including: Three Michael Dowdy Julia Gran articles on women and AIDS before AIDS was considered a woman's issue; an in- ADVERTISING AND SALES DIRECTOR depth piece on lesbian healthcare when no one discussed the subject; and a spectacular Carolyn Handel CIRCULATION/BUSINESS CONSULTANT interview with the late Petra Kelly. We have also had a number of exclusive firsthand Warren Braren accounts: Carlos Wilson on the plight of the Saharawis and how the indomitable MUSIC/ARTS ADVISOR women made an oasis in the desert; Amy Goodman on the abortion war in Guam; Camille M. Barbone Patricia Golan on the effect of the SCUDs on Israeli family life...I could go on and ON THE ISSUES The Progressive Woman's on, but let's move forward. Quarterly: A feminist, humanist magazine of critical thinking, dedicated to fostering collective responsibility In this issue there are also firsthand accounts such as that of Christine Schaack for positive social change. McGoey who monitored the infamous Glen Ridge rape trial every day as a member ON THE ISSUES The Progressive Woman's of NOW. McGoey brings you right into the courtroom in the way no newspaper Quarterly (ISSN 0895-6014) is published quarterly as an infonnational and educational service of CHOICES article could. We also have Mary Lou Greenberg's report on how the staffs of Florida Women's Medical Center, Inc., 97-77 Queens abortion clinics refuse to be intimidated by the murder of Dr. David Gunn; Helen Boulevard, Flushing. NY 11374-3317. M. Stummer documents in photos and prose the story of a remarkable woman who Unsolicited Manuscripts: All material will be read by the editors. For return, enclose self-addressed, rises above her desolate, crime-ridden world to benefit the lives of those around her; stamped envelope with proper postage. Articles should andjeannine O. Howitz discusses how the denigration of stay-at-home mothers not be more than 2,000 words. All editing decisions are impacts on everything considered "women's work." at the discretion of the editors. Feminist cartoons are also acceptable under the same provisions. ON THE Although I am moving on, I know that in the years to come On the Issues will ISSUES The Progressive Woman's Quarterly does not continue to advance and I anticipate its steady growth. So keep up the fight, old accept fiction or poetry. Advertising accepted at the discretion of the publisher. friends; we've weathered a lot of storms together and sometimes we wondered if we'd Acceptance does not necessarily imply endorsement. make it to shore, but — all in all — it's been exhilarating. PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The opinions expressed by contributors and by those we interview are not necessarily those of the editors. ON THE ISSUES The Progressive Woman's Quarterly is a forum where m women may have their voices heard without censure or censorship. Subscription Information; 1 year S14.75; 2 years Beverly Lowy $25.75; 3 years $34.75. Institutional rate: Add S10 first Executive Editor year; S5 each additional year. Add S7 per year for Canadian orders; $7 per year foreign (surface mail) or S20 per year foreign (ainmil). Send to ON THE ISSUES The Progressive Woman's Quarterly, PO Box 3000, Dept. OTI, Denville, NJ 07834. Second-Class Postage Paid at Flushing, New York and additional mailing office. Postmaster: Send address changes to ON THE ISSUES The Progressive Woman's Quarterly, PO Box 3000, Dept. OTI, Denville, NJ 07834.

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 THE I S S E S n the day I enduring face. And the question of would be visit- whether a museum dedicated to chroni- ing the newly cling the murder of six million Jews was dedicated Ho- the appropriate vehicle to express a per- locaust Mu- manentjewish presence in Washington's seum, I awoke memorial culture. at 4 a.m. and For, in this time of intense seculariza- found myself tion coupled with varied styles of spiri- waiting for the sun to rise. It was as if tual journeys seeking meaning, the Ho- observing such a daily miracle could act locaust has become an experience of as some sort of emotional or spiritual | Jewishness that everyone can relate to. innoculation against the assaults I antici- "Never again." pated. Nonetheless, as Elie Wiesel reminds us I had been keeping up with the politics, about the Holocaust, "Not every victim challenges and questions that riddled this was a Jew, but all Jews were victims." particular project since the announce- My journey begins as I step out of the ment of its inception over 10 years ago. taxi and face a concrete wall with words How, tor instance, to enshrine pure evil that admonish me to "stare this evil in the without turning the monument into a face" for only then "can we be sure that Holocaust theme park or a multi-media it will never nse again." I read quickly as event. How to avoid having it denigrate I enter the building and have to retrace into pure kitsch — how to bridge the my steps to discover who wrote them, distance between memory and history, only to find it was Ronald Reagan. To between those memories that remain me it signified a strange but ironic con- personalized and mutable, and those nection between Nazism and Reagan's which become collectively reified — policies on reproductive freedom. I re- how to portray the Holocaust as some- called that one of the first official acts of thing "outside history" as Elie Wiesel the new Nazi regime was to ban abor- describes it, a pathology apart from and tion. It was a connection not easily erased outside of any known human parameter by Reagan's tribute to the victims; Reagan but at the same time showing its most - the same man who stood at their quintessentially human (as in man's ca- killers' graves at Bittburg. To insure pacity for evil) and therefore potentially bipartisanship there is a quote fromjirnmy Carter: "Never again will the world fail Every visitor is given the identity card to act to prevent this terrible crime of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum of an individual who was caught up in genocide." the terror of the Holocaust. Never again? As I write, Bosnia still convulses from genocidal and nationalistic violence while the world debates the merits and riskso f intervention. Bosnia is not Auschwitz, but then, what is? As Peter Schneider wrote in the New York Times in May: "If Auschwitz is our standard of measure- ment, there's no point intervening any- where in the world because none of the crimes currently being committed against human rights attains the scale of Auschwitz." Once inside the museum I am sur- 1896 shelling and more than 5,000 of us are rounded by tourists dressed casually and wearing sneakers. I feel that they, and not I (I am dressed all in black), are out of place in this place. I am directed by a guard to stand on line to get my "identity card." Every visitor is matched by age and sex with a real individual who lived during the Holocaust. The card is meant to be updated twice during the visit and is supposed to attempt to change die

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 3 number six million into one so that the end of the exhibit. Scenes ofNazis devastatingjewish busi- Holocaust gains some understandability Every corner a new pain, or a familiar nesses and synagogues are juxtaposed through reduction. sad image like the Roman Vishniak with clips of American religious leaders My "victim" is Channa Morgensztern, photos of the inhabitants of a destroyed condemning the violence. The results bom in 1896 in Kaluszyn, Poland where Polish village. There are no ambiguities of a 1938 poll appear on the screen — she lived with her five children until at here and I find poignancy in the oddest 94 percent of Americans polled disap- 46, in 1942, she fled with her family to places, like the exhibit of old tooth- proved of Germany's treatment of the escape deportation. I never did discover brushes taken from the victims before Jews but only 9 percent favored making Channa's fate as the machines on the they were gassed. a safe haven in America for Jewish other two floors were broken. She was The museum is relentless and unlike refugees fleeing the violence. Other most likely gassed at Treblinka; I'll never others there is little if any eye contact polls taken by Roper in the late 1930s know now, but I do know I'll keep the with fellow viewers. I feel a need to showed 60 percent thought Jews had card. touch something, but almost everything objectionable qualities while as many as I enter an elevator with a television is behind glass or wire. The only interac- 20 percent said they would sympathize screen that shows footage of the libera- tion allowed is with the machines and with an anti-Semitic campaign. tion of the camps at the war's end. As the videos. I am moving through a dimen- Another turn brings me face-to-face doors open I am facing an eight-foot sion of technology and distance and with an extraordinarily high wall of mural of a mass burial pit at the Ohrdruf death. People walk as if in a trance and memory. It holds hundreds of photo- Camp. I turn and see a green neon sign the almost total silence is punctuated graphs of the residents of a 900-year-old that tells me there are three minutes to go only by sharp intakes of breath. The Lithuanian shtetl. All the inhabitants of until the next showing of the documen- structure forces you to interact with it this vibrant village were murdered in tary, "The Rise of the Nazis to Power." and not with anything else. Your eyes, two days by the German' 'Mobile Death Death and technology — the pillars of mind and consciousness are held hostage Squads" in 1941. I am accosted by the Nazi genocidal vision—become the by the onslaught of the images. Real images of the inhabitants, captured by leitmotif of the exhibit. people distract. four shtetl photographers before the As I exit the filming, a glass case full of A placard faces me: "A desire forknowl- slaughter. A face — a young woman the meager blue-and-white striped cloth- edge for its own sake, a love of justice with long dark hair holds a mandolin ing the death camp prisoners wore faces that borders on fanaticism, striving for and gazes intensely into the lens. Here is me. I instinctively picture myself in one personal independence. These are the the Holocaust reduced to one, again. of them. I move along a now very aspects of the Jewish peoples' tradition And the children, the children — crowded corridor with both walls full of that allow me to regard my belonging to eternal images caught here with a toy things to read and see. Here some Nazi it as a gift of great fortune." — Albert horse, there with a ball, here sitting on propaganda, there banned books, a vio- Einstein. papa's lap — tentatively, expectantly. lin, a gypsy cart, a steel vice-like device I think of this gift as I look at the body Here, more than in any other exhibit, used to "scientifically measure Aryans" restraints used in the Bumbuerg psychi- people tend to be the most interactive by the size of the skull — placards and atric unit where 9,800 mentally and with each other, pointing to a face, placards of copy — so much to read that physically disabled inmates were gassed. sharing a reaction. A young woman a guard keeps repeating that "If you read I now find myself in a corridor of TV, with a camera poses her boyfriend against everything here it will take over five videos. Technology, I reflect, allowed this moment in time — full face, he is hours—you can always come back.'' He this particular genocide to be committed smiling as if he were on the deck of a politely asks us to please "keep moving." in the most disciplined and detailed man- ship—his backdrop comprised of other I find that I want the place to myself. I ner. Now a benign and ubiquitous tech- smiling faces becomes a surreal prop for have already incorporated the design, I nology brings me its imagery. The menu this strange souvenir. I've had enough feel the place, I feel oppressed, crowded allows me to touch a screen and view and start to leave but stop again in front in, inexorably moving along to the next one of fiveprograms . I choose the 1936 of an arrestingly beautiful photo of three horror. Olympics and learn that despite wide- youngwomen. Are they friends, school- In the end I didn't "see"' the architec- spread protest in this country, we did mates, sisters? They are so alive in their ture in the usual sense. Even though I had compete in Munich, but bowing to the dark poetic beauty, so gracefully un- read so much about the brilliance of Nazi madness we benched two Jewish aware of the closeness of death. I find James Freed's design, of which Cathleen athletes. myself crying with longing—anticipa- McGuigan wrote: "He has made a space I have been here one hour only and tion — dread — sorrow for life — for of terrible beauty, created a place that find that I am already exhausted and life? tries to embrace the enormity of the somewhat overwhelmed. I learn a new I am now on the third floor and see the nightmare — an echo of a world gone phrase, "Bibliocaust," as one American words FINAL SOLUTION. There are mad," and Freed himself said "I wanted newspaper described the German stu- strange sounds around me. Air rushing to make a scream." I didn't see it until I dent book burnings. They even burned through small spaces, echoes of muffled realized why. There was in that museum Helen Keller — how extraordinary. cries. I cross a wooden bridge made to only one interior space and that was my Another touch of my fingertips brings resemble those in the ghettos. A mir- mind, my head, the sound of my heart- me "Kristallnacht" (the night of the rored wall has the names of all the beat in my ears, the feel of the dryness of broken glass), the history of the massive ghettos destroyed. Lodz, Warsaw, etc.,etc. my mouth and the palpable mounting state-sponsored pogrom against the Jews pressure of the journey through to the of Germany on November 9, 1938. continued on pg SI

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 C O L IP I S T

he announcement, rable industry j obs ranging fromth e most last winter, that the illustrious to the most mundane. One Academy ofMotion reason, of course, is that most Holly- Picture Arts and Sci- wood movies these days target children, ences was planning men or morons as audiences. On the to make " Oscar Cel- week the nominations were announced, ebrates Women and for example, the top 10 box office draws the Movies" the theme of their 65th included only one film, "The Crying Tannual awards ceremony nearly knocked Game," that wasn't either a cartoon or an me off my chair. It was bad enough that action/adventure. the rest of the media had conspired to So medieval is the film industry in its create the widespread illusion that 1992 attitude toward women that at a time had been "The Year of the Woman" when women now hold important jobs primarily (as far as I could tell) because we as writers, directors, producers and cam- had elected a president who admitted he era operators in television, it is still pos- valued his wife's abilities, and defeated a sible to name on a single hand the num- vice-president who couldn't win an ar- ber of women allowed to direct Holly- gument with a sitcom heroine. wood films. And of those few, the most At least some strides were made in the prominent — Penny Marshall, Barbra realm of electoral politics and television Streisand, Jodie Foster — gained their drama. The movie industry, in shocking clout through their longstanding contrast, has rarely had a worse annual bankability as stars, hardly a necessary record for its treatment of women. And apprenticeship for men. that is really saying something for an This has all been true for some time, of industry that is, even compared to such course. But what made 1992 the most Oscar "Honors" less-than-egalitarian institutions as Con- bizarre choice of a year to celebrate Women? gress and TV, a dinosaur in its commit- women were the Oscar nominations ment to retrograde, patriarchal policies themselves, which revealed just how far and its near blindness to rising conscious- the shaky ground upon which women ness amongwomen audiences. Talkabout have always stood in the industry has guys that "don't get it," these guys have recently sunk. Of the five films nomi- never even heard about it. nated for Best Picture, the two with In Hollywood today, women play only strongfemale roles, "The Crying Game" 34 percent of the roles in studio films. and "Howard's End," were foreign. (It is Across the board, they earn 33 percent worth noting, now that the "secret" is less than male counterparts for compa- surely known by everyone who might care, that even in this category, the The most daring "female" role went to juiciest, most politically daring feminine a man in "The Crying Game." role went to a man.) As for the other nominated films, the ones with the huge budgets and promo- tional campaigns—"A Few GoodMen," "Scent of a Woman" and "Unforgiven" — were all old fashioned, macho genre pieces produced by, for and about the most traditional male audiences and he- roes. In fact, there were so many such features last year, starring lots of men and boys and supported by mostly marginalized females and animals ("Glengarry Glen Ross," "ARiverRuns Through It," "Hoffa," "Malcolm X," "Chaplin"), that there weren't enough nomination slots for all the major releases to fit into. As for the women's roles, to make the comparison is to invite tears of frustra- tion. Two of the five leading actress nominees came from foreign films,

5 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 "Indochine" and "Howard's End." As statement, didn't even balk at being for the others, each played in a film so made to read lines in which women's small and limited in distribution and roles were described as "to tease, to promotion - "Passion Fish," "Love seduce, to flirt, to ..." — well, you get Field," "Lorenzo's Oil" • - as to make the picture. them negligible. Some industry apolo- Which brings me to the matter of the gists (and there are way too many of famous "Hollywood Left" the main- those, about which more below) took to stream media has been so agitated about exclaiming that it was "just wonderful" lately. If we are to believe the New York that "at last" independents and art films Times and its lesser satellites, we are in the were being honored. Don't bet on that grip of a wave of "politically correct" interpretation. The truth is there were so popular culture orchestrated by the very few major roles tor women in big bud- powerful likes of such Hollywood activ- HELLO, get, blockbuster, highly-promoted films ists as Geena Davis herself, a prominent last year that the Academy was forced to member of the Hollywood Women's look outside the commercially viable to Political Committee and ardent crusader HILLARY? find any women at all to nominate. for the Clintons. The industry's real attitude toward in- We have already seen how preposter- RECENTLY, thousands of our dependents and art filmswa s loudly her- ous the claim that Hollywood movies customers called Hillary Rodham alded in the Supporting Actress category. reflect "left" political biases really is. But That award went to the only nominee that is not to say that the stars themselves Clinton to express their views on playing in a mainstream Hollywood fea- are not, in fact, serious activists. Or is it? health care—and didn't pay a dime. ture, the young, inexperienced Marisa The behavior of these much-touted "radi- Tomei, running against a slate of accom- cals" at this so-called feminist event raises We're Working Assets Long plished, remarkable actresses in far meatier, questions. There are many stars who, in Distance. Every Monday we mosdy independent or foreign, roles: their private lives, spend much money Vanessa Redgrave,Joan Plowright.Judy pay for our customers' calls to and energy in the service of progressive Davis and Miranda Richardson. That causes, some of tjiem feminist. That they government and corporate these women were all, amazingly, passed have the cash and the visibility to do this over in favor of a relatively unchallenging leaders. Because we believe is commendable and should not be un- performance in a really trivial film was derestimated. Stan carry great weight free speech should truly be free. enough by itself to make the awards with fans and their endorsement of posi- ceremony a travesty. Of course, we also save you tions to the left of center, such as repro- But wait, it gets worse. The ceremony ductive and gay rights, helps to shift money on calls to ordinary folks. itself was an exercise in sheer tastelessness public attitudes in more liberal direc- And every time you use our fiber and gall. As the celebrities were ushered tions. into the sumptuously-appointed hall, for Nonetheless, as the Oscar debacle made optic lines, we send money to example, the orchestra played a rousing clear,these celebrity "leftists" and "femi- groups that fight for social and rendition of "Thank Heaven for Little | nists" have a tar more marginal role in Girls." And it was downhill from there. environmental progress...at no cost progressive politics than one might as- The people who put this thing together sume from all the hype surrounding to you. (So far we've given over $2 were so confused or desperate in their them. And what little influence diey do search for female role models, on-screen million to groups that lobby have may in certain instances do more or off, that they actually chose the job of harm than good. Certainly the many Hillary and other powers-that-be.) editing as the place where women, his- momentous pronouncements from the torically, were supposed to have shone. So join our network (now over stage, jewel-encrusted AIDS lapel pins, We were subjected to an embarrassing and after-hours "benefit" parties associ- 100,000 strong) and let us make montage of images of women slaving ated with the Academy Awards cere- your voice heard where and when over editing machines, cutting and splic- mony bear this out. The Hollywood Left ing images of cowboys, gangsters and believes its own PR, sees itself as political it counts. On our dime, not yours. Marines. If they had gone on to show the and even noble and heroic. But when women who ironed the costumes, typed called upon to do something even mar- the scripts and mopped the floors, it ginally threatening to the actual work- might actually have passed as a political ings of the industry that pays and glam- statement about industry sexism. WORKING ASSETS orizes them so excessively, such as calling L o n g D i s t a n c e And so it went. Only Barbra Streisand, attention to the treatment of women in who had a personal axe to grind for being Hollywood, their behavior was neither slighted last year in the directorial nomi- noble nor heroic. nations, even dared suggest that the hype To be sure, empassioned political about honoring women was premature. speeches were heard. The power brokers 1-800-CITIffiN Geena Davis, on the other hand, given thejob of making the opening thematic continued on pg 52

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 Win Some

STUDENTS HIT in feminist politics by fighting HOMER—TEACHER for equal sports facilities for STRIKES OUT girls and boys. Sheila Thomson, NY AndreaBerek,12, addedher Newsday: The teenage girls of own lesson on discrimination Markham Intermediate laws, penning a letter to the School in Staten Island, NY principal with the petition, declared a turf war. which was handed in with 88 Ever since Markham opened signatures, mostly from girls. 34 years ago, the boys' physi- "I looked up discrimination cal education Softball class in Black's Law Dictionary,'' said had sole access to the large Andrea, whose letter said: "If Softball diamond, complete we do not have access to the field, with dugout and painted it is considered discrim- baselines. The girls always had ination. . .As we see it we're be- to play on a field half the size, ing denied ourrights under the with faded baselines and no laws of discrimination." benches. Now, thanks to a The girls' gym teacher, petition initiated by 13-year- Debbie Slara, said she was old Felicia Stocco and a group happy the girls won the right of friends in the seventh grade, to the bigger field. When asked girls and boys will share the if she had encouraged the girls, same ground. sheadded, "I'mnotinto equal "We learned that if we don't rights, politics orfighting. The stand up for what we believe girls asked for the field and in, we wouldn't have gotten they got it. They deserve it." what we wanted," said Felicia, who had just made her debut And the teacher deserves an "F."

NO JOB SECURITY, health or pension benefits. NO RETIREMENT The center polled 352 PLAN women across the country, HJ. Cummins, NY Newsday: mostly white and middle class. Middle-aged women recover The study focused on women remarkably well from divorce who were ages 40 to 70 and in every way but their finances, who were divorced after long according to a nationwide marriages. survey. In an otherwise encourag- Marriage: Tlie only full-time job ing report by the National without unemployment benefits. Center for Women and Re- tirement Research, women detailed financial problems so severe that most said they see no prospect of retiring. Among the findings: •Householdincomes dropped from an average of$40,000 to $45,000 before divorce to $10,000 to $15,000 a year later. •Two-thirds of the women could not afford to keep the family home. •Eighty-five percent got noth- ing from their husbands'

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 PAIN FOR tal, the weakened toddler died ANIMALS IS GAIN of pneumonia. Hana Ueno FOR SCIENTIST received the vaccination three AP dispatch: A former gov- years ago before her second ernment wildlife scientist has birthday. She contracted en- f been convicted of smuggling cephalitis. The child survived animal skins into the U.S., but is partially paralyzed and but the jury has cleared him of can't speak. misusing his job for financial The two families are among gain. many who have become vic- Richard Mitchell, a former tims of a disastrous govern- scientist with the Fish and ment effort to support Japan's Wildlife Service, was con- Pharmaceuticals industry. Al- victed in the Federal District though safe products were al- Court in Alexandria, VA. He ready available in the U.S. and could be sentenced to a maxi- Europe, the government, in- mum of five years' imprison- dustry and academic elite ment and fined up to $250,000 banded together to develop a at his sentencing in August. Japanese vaccine and promote Defense lawyers said they its use based in large part on planned an appeal. safety studies of a similar, but Mitchell was indicted aftera not identical, vaccine made five-year investigation into his by Rah way, NJ-based Merck connections with big-game & Co. and others. Studies hunters. He was working on showed that the Merck pro- temporary assignment at the duct has been used to Smithsonian Institute when innoculate more than 100 the investigation began. million children, with no con- The government accused firmed cases of serious side him of using his position as a efFects. government worker to orga- The issue has drawn atten- nize sport hunting for rare tion injapan because of charges animals, but the defense main- that the government contin- tained that his work, includ- ued to promote the vaccine ing his interest in hunters, was long after its dangers had be- scientific. come clear. What has yet to be reported is that the gov- Like how many rare animals can ernment promoted the de- be bagged in an hour? velopment and use of the risky vaccine even though it knew a better alternative had been MEDICAL available overseas since 1975. SLAUGHTER OF "Rather than use foreign THE INNOCENTS products, we wanted Japa- Leslie Helm, Los Angeles Times: nese products, because they Four years ago, Kyoko are of better quality," said a Kawabe took her 17-month- woman who answered the old son to the doctor for what phone at the Association of was supposed to be a routine Biologicals Manufacturers and vaccination. A few weeks later declined to be identified. he developed meningitis. Af- ter three weeks in the hospi- Of better quality than what?

WILL THEY ing epidemic of violence are prone to such behavior as by husbands or boyfriends DEVELOP AN against women. Dr. Mark adults, he said. each year, while up to one- ANTI-VIOLENCE Rosenberg, an injury-pre- Researchers also said nine of third will be physically as- VACCINE? vention specialist, said the 10 U.S. women who are saulted by a husband or boy- News dispatch: The U.S. CDC will assign 10 experts murdered die at the hands of friend at some time during Centers for Disease Control to the new program. men—half are killed by a hus- their lives, researchers said. and Prevention plan to launch Research shows that chil- band or boyfriend. a program aimed at curbing dren who grow up in homes And up to four million We wonder when they made what researchers call a grow- where mothers are battered American women are beaten these startling discoveries.

8 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 NO TIME FOR (GAY) ternational Planned Parent- FEMMES FATALES? who offs her mother's boy- SERGEANTS hood Federation indicates that Pamela Kruger, NY Daily friend in "Gun Crazy." In AP dispatch: A highly deco- abortions are more common in News: When women in re- most of these movies, the rated sergeant who publicly countries that ban or restrict the cent movies aren't being sold woman is assertive, single, acknowledged his homosexu- procedure than in those where or bartered, they are often childless, independent and— ality was demoted to Specialist it is widely permitted. cast as psychotic killers. "Fatal a vicious murderer. Given Four just three days after local In western Europe, where Attraction," the 1987 block- that most violent criminals in military officials in San Francisco abortion is legal except in Ire- buster directed by "Indecent this country are men, this new gave preliminary approval forhi s land, there are about 14 abor- Proposal"'s Adrian Lyne, is genre appears to be inspired honorable discharge. tions per 1,000. Abortion rates believed to have started this more by paranoid fantasies Army officials said the ser- are lowest in countries that not woman-on-a-rampage motif than facts. geant, Jose Zuniga, who was only permit the procedure, but with its depiction of a deranged As analyzed by feminist au- the Sixth Army's 1992 Sol- offer family planning and sex- single career woman who seeks thor Susan Faludi: "Any dier of the year, was demoted education services. revenge on her married lover time women go off socially because he wore a medal he Meanwhile,saying the right after he spurns her. sanctioned paths of had not yet been awarded. to life begins at conception, Since then, Hollywood motherhood Zuniga, 24, •wore a Meritori- Germany's highest court has produced nearly every and marriage in ous Service medal at the Wash- threw out an abortion law possible variation of the inde- these movies, they ington reception where he intended as a compromise pendent woman as become evil-avenging declared his homosexuality, between the liberal rules in mad killer. The ritches. The message said a spokesman, Lieut. Col. the former Communist east latest addition is underneath is if Steven Fredericks. and the more restrictive west- the lethal they only Zuniga said he was sure the ern practices. adolescent, followed the rules, award had been approved. He Liberals and women's groups typified by Drew they'd be happy." said he called the military per- criticized the ruling as a sign Barrymore as a sonnel office at the Presidio, that back-room abortions terminator teen Welcome to the male view where he is stationed and could return. ButBishop Karl in "Poison Ivy" and of cinema verite. somebody told him the com- Lehmann, head of the Ro- the disturbed daughter, mendation had been posted man Catholic bishops' con- in his record. Now, he said, ference, said, "The true win- people working in the per- ner is mankind." sonnel office are signing state- ments saying that conversa- And the true loser is womankind. tion never occurred. Fredericks said the medal had not been posted in Zuniga's record. GLASS CEILING— Zuniga said "I came out be- AND HARASS- cause I didn't want to live a lie. It MENT—STILL IN- dosen't make sense for me to He TACT about something as basic as one News dispatch: Women ribbon. I have five Army Com- working in advertising, pub- mendation Medals. Why would lishing and broadcast media I add one more and put myself say the glass ceiling is alive and through this horror?" well, but men believe women Fredericks said the action had have an equal chance to suc- nothing to do with Sergeant ceed, according to a survey Zuniga's homosexuality: "It was conducted by the Advertising dealtwith in anappropriate man- Women of New York. The ner. It would have happened if survey found nearly half the he was gay or not. Anybody women in upper management who links those two together have been sexually harassed on does not understand anything the job, but even more believe about the military." that systemic gender bias is a greater threat to their careers. Oh, we think the military has The survey also found that made itself perfectly clear. men continue to be paid more than women. Starting salaries are $7000 higher for men on LESS RESTRICTION average, and after 20 years the =LESS ABORTION disparity grows to $20,000. AP dispatch: A report pub- lished in England by the In- Hammer, anyone?

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993

When the trial of four of those men the jury as he yanked his client defendant closing hours of the trial and wiping began on September 21, 1992 nobody Kevin Scherzer by the arm and shoved away her tears with rosary beads she kept guessed that the " Glen Ridge case" would him up against the jury box, eye to eye conspicuously wrapped around her fin- run six months to verdict. Nobody would with the jurors. "What you see, because gers. To complete the picture, two men have wanted to believe that the case he is up close...is who I have been calling in clerical collars who identified them- would be tried on rape myth or that the a young man...I brought him up here selves as Episcopalian priests sat with the prosecution's hard-won convictions because yesterday [during opening argu- defendants' families on a regular basis. would be gutted by a sentencing judge ments] I heard Mr. Goldberg [the pros- (As witnesses, Susie and her family were voicing his concern for the defendants' ecutor] tell you that he is a heinous, barred by court order from the court- pain. The clues were there, however, for venomous person, that he is guilty of room until their testimony was com- anybody who wanted to look. first- degree crimes, which is a bunch of pleted and it was certain that there was no need to recall them to the stand.) The From the moment charges were filed crimes that are exceeded only by mur- implication was clear: God, family, and against the defendants, the public and the der." Kevin Scherzer, Querques was girlfriends stood behind these men; they media were captured by the case's so- saying, doesn't look like a rapist. couldn't be rapists. awful-you-can't-look-away quality: The When the jurors looked at the defen- extremely vulnerable victim, the be- dants Christopher Archer, twins Kevin There was only one problem with the trayal by those she trusted, the imple- and Kyle Scherzer, and Bryant Grober picture, and it was a big one. The defen- ments used in the rape. But as awful as they saw the raw material for a Calvin dants did not deny that the "sex" acts had those elements were, the root of this Klein ad — four tanned and 20-some- occurred. In fact, some of the 13 partici- horror-fascination went deeper: "Nice thing men with the hard, square shoul- pants had given police incriminating state- boys" committed this rape. Popular, well- ders of weight-lifting athletes. Archer ments. The defense out, in keeping with educated and well-to-do suburban, white appeared daily in a blue blazer, button- the myth, not only was that Susie con- guys from "good" families stuck a base- down shirt and tie, khaki trousers and sented to the assault, but that she engi- ball bat into a retarded girl's vagina for loafers. The Scherzers and Grober stuck neered it — all of which presupposed after-school fun and joked about it the to dark suits. All of the defendants and that the functional eight year old had the next day. The reality of who the Glen their attorneys quickly became friendly mental capacity to consent, a point con- Ridge rapists were slammed head on with the courtroom's male bailiffs. From tested by the prosecution. Since "nice" into one of this society's most strongly time to time, as thejurors filtered through guys wouldn't think of using objects to held and promoted myths about rape — the courtroom on their way to the jury rape a woman, Susie had to be a nym- that "regular guys" don't rape. That, as room, they could catch a glimpse of one phomaniac slut who deserved what she Robin Warshaw wrote in I Never Called of the defendants or their attorneys jok- got. She had to be blamed for her rape. It Rape (Ads. Magazine/Sarah Lazin Books, ing with the uniformed officers. The defense assault on Susie began 1988), rapists are dangerous strangers, The defendants also filled the firstthre e with opening arguments and quickly preferably from some minority group, rows reserved for their use on the "de- grew to dominate the months-long trial who ambush women from dark, se- fense" side of the courtroom with well- proceedings. Since each defendant was cluded places. dressed family members and friends. A represented by his own attorney, and The "regular guys" myth drove the few days into the trial, pretty young each attorney had the right to argue any defense and shaped its courtroom tactics. women with lots of hair and an abun- point as he wished and to fully question "Take a good look. Take a long look," dance of bows also appeared — one every witness, the defense attack was attorney Michael Querques challenged noticeably pregnant. Another of these multiplied four times. The effect was women, supposedly the girlfriend ofKyle staggering. Direct testimony ofprosecu - *Tlie name Susie is a pseudonym used throughout this article for simplicity's sake. Scherzer, took to weeping during the tion witnesses receded from memory

SEX CRIMINALS GET LIGHT SENTENCES linking the four Marines to the Aug. 1991 attack. According to a 1989 survey by the Department of Justice, • In Gouverneur, IMY, five men who admitted forcing sex the median sentence in state prisons for those convicted on an unconscious woman in a restaurant avoided jail of rape was 72 months, but the average time served was time. The five were each fined $750 after accepting a 29 months. Rape victim advocates said that the moderate controversial plea bargain in connection with the Oct. 26, sentences reflect the persistent doubt with which rape 1991 attack on the then-23-year-old woman. victims are regarded by judges, particularly when, as in the • In Lubbock, TX, a screaming confrontation between an majority of cases, the victim knows the attacker. Accord- enraged mother and a boy accused of raping her 13-year- ing to a study conducted last year by the National Victim old daughter has led to charges of assault and disorderly Center, only 22 percent of all rape victims are assaulted by conduct for the woman. Reiko Phillips said the boy was strangers. [NY Times, 5/2/93) harassing her daughter, "making fun of her and telling everybody that they raped her and that she liked it." Some examples in June alone: Phillips is scheduled to be tried on a misdemeanor assault • Four U.S. Marines charged with sexually assaulting a 12- charge and four counts of disorderly conduct. Each count year-old girl were acquitted in a Quebec court after a two- is punishable by a $500 fine. Phillips said two boys repeat- year trial. Judge Maximilien Polak told a packed court- edly raped her daughter at a neighbor's house. Under room that "the court absolutely believes [the girl's] story," Texas juvenile justice laws, the boys were allowed to plead but said there was no supporting proof and evidence not guilty and given probation. — The Editors

12 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 during the hours and sometimes days of shield on its head when he allowed dren — a full pout, eyebrow-scrunched cross-examination that followed. An- defense attorneys to introduce evidence confusion, head-rolling embarrassment. swers almost ceased to matter as the that Susie had been "sexually active" Her voice came out high and vacant, repetitive questions pounded out the since she was 12. Cohen refused to let the sing-songy and baby-like. On direct ex- defense's theme — a theme so over- prosecution show that the "activity" was amination, while she struggled to answer whelmingly presented that it virtually actually a sexual assault which took place prosecutor Robert Laurino s open-ended controlled the daily press coverage. two weeks before Susie's twelfth birthday. questions about what had happened, her Susie — a person who couldn't make By the time Susie took the stand in early eyes kept flitting over to the defendants. change or understand that everyone December 1992, the jury had heard Later, during re-direct examination, she wasn't her friend, who in earlier years weeks of testimony from teachers, family would tell Laurino that it was hard to had arrived home from play wirn her members, friends and experts about her testify with "the boys right here" because arms covered with welts from other mental limitations. Everyone in the court- "they're too close." children's pinches, and who had eaten room had heard that she blamed herself Susie described how Archer had tricked dog feces at the urging of the then-litde tor the defendants' predicament, believ- her into the basement crammed with Scherzers and others because she didn't ing mat they wouldn't have been "in young men, chairs set up "like the mov- know enough to refuse—was portrayed trouble" if she hadn't broken her "prom- ies." Grober told her to "suck my dick" as a dangerous, sinister temptress. The ise not to tell." Pressure from other and other defendants "stuck things up defense charged that she was a "full- young people to lie or drop the charges my vagina" while the men called her breasted," "devious," "sexually aggres- had only increased this feeling. Everyone names and urged one another on. She sive" "Lolita" who was "ready, willing, heard that Susie still considered the de- didn't tell them to leave her alone be- able, and anxious" to be assaulted and cause she "didn't want to hurt their "who would do it again." Susie's retar- The defense further feelings." She could hardly bear the dation supposedly made her "obsessed" embarrassment of telling the jury it hurt with sex and a danger to the defendants. argued that what to go to the bathroom after the assault. "What did you do," Querques demanded And when it came time to identify the of Susie's mother, "to protect the young happened in the defendants, she rose to her feet, wrung people, the young males, in die event basement was her hands, and literally begged Launno they touched her?" in a whisper, "do I have to do it? Pleeeze Witnesses were asked about every de- normal male sexual — puhleeeze, do I have to?" tail of Susie's private life. Did she ever talk The defense took her apart. During the about boys or about sex? Did she swear? expression two days of cross examination, each Did she smoke cigarettes? Did she display fendants her friends and accepted anyone defense attorney (except one whose op- any other "immoral" behavior? Was her as a friend who smiled or spoke to her portunity to question came last and de- family dysfunctional? Hadn't her sister politely. Susie was easily led and highly cided for whatever reason to forego), used drugs? And in "did you ever hear suggestible, would do anything for a stood close to Susie and spoke to her in diat..." or "isn't it true that..." form, friend, and was desperately ashamed of comforting tones. The physical closeness defense counsel continually insinuated, being retarded. Defense counsel used and friendly appearance were cruelly among other things, that Susie had bared diese limitations to continue to attack Susie calculated to allow each to use Susie's her breasts in school, had sex in a school in the courtroom, just as their clients had retardation against her. Querques, for tower, and was expelled from school for used them to rape her in the basement. example, approached and asked, sexual misconduct. (Susie's mother testi- Before Susie took the stand, the defen- "Can you tell I'm nervous?" fied that like a small child her daughter dants changed their seating arrangement. "You don't look it," Susie answered. had difficulty removing pullovers with- Throughout the month of prior testi- "I'm afraid to ask you questions," he out the T-shirts underneath lifting. The mony, the defendants sat along the south said. "Don't be afraid," Susie said, like she "sex" turned out to be a touch. A coun- wall of die courtroom, directly facing the was comforting a doll. "I'm a nice girl." selor explained that Susie was never jurors. As Susie's testimony approached, "Let me tell you why I'm afraid," said expelled: She transferred because she the defendants took new seats behind Querques, "...Because [unlike the pros- needed special classes. The counselor their counsels' tables, facing the judge ecutors] I'm not your friend." believed that another student had posed and the witness stand, approximately 20 "You're not my friend?" Susie asked in a rape threat to Susie.) feet away. The defense also packed the surprise. New Jersey's rape shield law as inter- first two rows of spectator benches di- "Please, pretty please Susie," Querques preted by Judge Benjamin R. Cohen did rectly behind the defendants with big said, "will you try to be my friend for a nothing to prevent these types of ques- young men. When Susie finally took the couple of hours...?" tions. Nor did it stop the defense from witness stand, she faced rows of young "Ya, sure...," she said. plumbing Susie's medical, psychological men staring her down, not unlike what Once he had her confidence, the attor- or gynecological records and arguing she must have seen in the basement on ney asked strings of leading questions that her use of birth control pills proved March 1, 1989. which suggested yes or no answers. Susie promiscuity. (Susie's mother testified that Susie's limitations were abundandy clear fairly predictably supplied the answers she obtained birth control pills for her the second she began to testify. Her plain, sought by her new friend. Yes, she wanted daughter and hid them in her food after pudgy face registered emotions in re- to go to the basement. No, nobody Susie's vulnerability to sexual assault be- sponse to questions with the kind of forced her. Yes, she wanted to do "it." came apparent.) Cohen also turned rape directness and intensity typical of chil- And in a particularly ugly exchange with

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 13 Querques, who demonstrated a special ted in the basement. Susie "wasn't being as adults and were over 21 at the time of flair forinflictin g injury on a retarded rape mistreated." She wasn't being "physi- trial, Cohen sentenced them as Young victim, Susie even conceded that she cally injured." The question was whether Adult Offenders to indeterminate sen- wasn't retarded. the jury would buy into the myth too. tences not to exceed 15 years in a Youth "Some people say you're retarded, but The case finally went to the seven Correctional Facility. Failure to set a that's not true is it?" asked Querques. woman, five man, racially-mixed jury minimum means that the length of the "A lot people call me that at school," on March 4,1993.In an inspiring victory defendants' sentences are totally within Susie answered, hanging her head. for the prosecution and for Susie, the jury the discretion of the Department of "But you're not retarded...If you were rejected the "regular guys" defense. The Corrections and the Parole Board. As retarded you couldn't answer these ques- jury convicted Chris Archer and Kevin Essex County Prosecutor Clifford Mi- tions, right?" and Kyle Scherzer of first-degree sexual nor explained at his extraordinary April Susie vehemently agreed. Querques assault (rape) and second-degree con- 23, 1993 press conference expressing then pointed to the prosecutors. Those spiracy in connection with the assaults outrage at the sentences, "theoretically people, he told Susie, the ones you think are with the implements. these defendants could apply for parole yourfriends, they're telling "the whole world" These convictions were especially strong the day after they are incarcerated and be that you are retarded. Susie went white statements. At trial, Judge Cohen had out in six months." with pain. allowed the jury to hear testimony that To add insult to injury, Cohen also The contrast between Susie and Paul first- and second-degree crimes carried refused to revoke bail pending appeal or Archer, defendant Christopher Archer's "substantial" prison terms. The admis- to set bail higher than $2,500. Cohen brother and the only maj or witness called sion of that evidence was hotly con- stated mat he didn't believe the con- by the defense, could not have been tested, since juries are usually sheltered victed rapists posed a threat to the com- greater. Paul Archer moved with the from sentencing information to prevent munity, despite the fact that a second easy confidence of someone convinced them from deciding cases on sympathy. woman had submitted an affidavit stating of his own good looks. He turned his Even though the jury was keenly aware she had been raped by Archer. Cohen blue eyes on the jurors and told them that its convictions meant prison time for dismissed the affidavit as a "mere allega- Susie had not been tricked into the three defendants, it did not hesitate. tion," even though the woman was basement. Instead, Paul said, Susie of- The jury, however, only convicted prepared to testify at sentencing and had fered to give Grober a "blow job." Bryant Grober of a third-degree con- subjected herself to civil and criminal Grober accepted against the advice of spiracy charge—a probation offense. The liability by swearing to the affidavit's Chris and Kevin who told him, "You're defense seemed to have raised enough truth. As described in court papers, the crazy." The oral sex supposedly made doubt about this more "normal" sex act sealed affidavit described an eerily similar Susie so "homy" that she then begged for to prevent the jury from convicting. As rape during which Archer proclaimed intercourse. Since none of the men were one juror reportedly explained to the that he was a rapist. Unless a higher court willing to comply, Paul claimed that she press, he thought that if Susie had been overturns Cohen's bail ruling, die con- then "asked to have something put in- open to performing fellatio in the past, victed rapists will remain on the streets side. She asked for a beer bottle, but Kyle she might have done so willingly again. and won't serve even their lax sentences refused." Kevin helpfully suggested a On the other hand, on a TV morning for years. The sentences were designed broom, which she allegedly inserted into show the day after the verdict, juror to sound good, but to ensure that the herself. "She was moaning," Paul claimed, Michelle Grimes stated that the convic- men would serve no time. Cohen gutted "saying this feels so good...I want some- tions were about "respect." She ex- the jury's verdict and gave the "regular thing bigger...she asked for something plained that the jurors felt you just couldn't guys" a pass. bigger," and was given a bat. (Paul's do that to another person and get away It is hard to imagine Cohen designing testimony contradicted the statements with it, no matter who you were. Unfor- such a sentence if the defendants were he had given at his in-court plea bargain tunately, the judge didn't see it that way. not privileged, white males. Harder yet where he said that Kevin and Chris "The defendants are young men, not to imagine him going against what pros- inserted the broomstick and Kevin at- hardened or vicious, not without re- ecutors report is standard procedure by tempted to insert the bat.) deeming values," Cohen said just prior refusing to remand such defendants to Stretching the myth, the defense fur- to reading his sentence. "I understand custody immediately upon conviction ther argued that what happened in the the pain of the defendants and their for a first-degree felony. Unthinkable basement was normal male sexual ex- families as well as the victim's." His that Cohen would refuse to consider pression. It was an "erotic episode" ac- sentence, however, showed that he gave evidence that another type of defendant cording to Thomas Ford, Archer's attor- much more weight to the defendants' had raped again while his case was pend- ney; boys "taking license with their pain than to the crime committed against ing. friends" according to Querques. Re- Susie. Under New Jersey's sentencing The lesson from the Glen Badge case is member, Querques told the jury, "boys guidelines, the first-degree convictions simple: As long as rape myth controls will be boys." "You people," he asked, carried 10- to 20-year sentences with a rape trials, rapists will walk free. Judges, "are you going to forget about the girls presumptive term of 15 years. The sec- if not jurors, will see to it. • [you] knew in high school who were ond-degree convictions carried 5- to loose and the boys took? Are men going to 10-year sentences with a presumptive Attorney, writer and activist Christine Scliaack forget, hey, I got a girl who is loose, do you term of 7 years. Cohen crafted a sentence McGoey daily monitored the Glen Ridge, want to join me?" As Paul Archer put it, in that evaded these guidelines. Although New Jersey rape trial as an Essex County his opinion, no crime had been commit- Archer and the Scherzers had been tried NOW member.

14 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 TALKING FEMINIST Reflections of a Feminist Mom By Jeannine O. Howitz

am seven months pregnant, slithering along my even by many feminists. They are a sinister trap, imprisoning women in feel- kitchen floor.The ruler I clutch is for retrieving small ings of inadequacy about whatever roles obj ects lost in the dustjungle beneath my refrigerator. we have chosen or been required to After several swipes I come up with a pile of dirt and perform. The same process that forces a woman a petrified saltine, so I get serious and press my cheek to say "I don't work" when she performs against the floor, positioning my left eye just inches 12-to-16 hours of unpaid labor every from the target zone. I spot it — the letter "G," a red single day at home ultimately transforms most female-dominated professions into plastic refrigerator magnet."Here it is!" I cry, hoisting mere chores that women and men alike myself up to offer this hard-won prize to Sophie, my come to consider less desirable and im- momentarily maniacal toddler. Her face collapses portant than other types of work. Once stamped with the kiss of death "women's into a sob as she shrieks,"NOT THAT ONE!" work," we can forget entitlement to the Sophie is 22 months old, and in the final positioned my work in the home, I have same respect and fair wages a man would stages of potty training, which I remem- encountered the judgments, however get for equivalent labor. ber as I feel a gush of warm and wet on unconscious, of those whose definition Before motherhood, I sold advertising my outstretched leg. Wet clothes bring of work excludes most of what I do. The at a newspaper, with hopes of working more tears (hers, not mine), and I quickly same system that discounts my labor my way into editorial. However, my strip offher clothes, then pull offmy own scoffs at its rewards, which, like my sales performance exceeded standards, with one hand while I slice and peel an productivity, are impossible to measure and I was quickly promoted to a well- apple with the other. I might have barely by conventional standards. By limiting paying position in managment which enough time while she eats to run up- our view to one which allows only for required me to build a classified depart- stairs, grab dry clothes, and toss the dirty paid employment, and usually only that ment from the ground up. I forged ahead ones into the basket before I'm urgendy located outside the home, to be included until my daughter was bom, when, after missed. in the understood meaning of the word reexamining our options, my husband That was how I came to be standing in "work," we support the process through and I decided one of us should stay home the middle of my kitchen with the which all that we do and all diat we are wim her. Although he was happily work- magnificence of my naked abdomen as women is ultimately devalued and ing in his chosen field, John's income as hanging low and wide on a clammy June despised. a schoolteacher was half that of mine, afternoon. The sweat ofm y exertion had Like most labels applied to women's which rendered him the financially logi- just begun trickling between my breasts roles, "working mother" is extremely cal choice for at-home parenthood. But when the phone rang. It was an old inaccurate and defeating, because it fool- it was I who jumped at the chance, albeit friend, with whom I'd been out of touch ishly implies that there is another type of scary, to shift the gears of my career and for a while. I panted hello, eyeing Sophie mother: The non-working variety. Be- of my life. as she climbed up and out of her booster ing a mother is work. On the other hand, When my maternity leave was up, I chair to totter precariously on the table it is equally absurd to call mothers who told the publishers that I wouldn't be top. "What are you doing home?" my are not employed outside the home returning to the office. Surprisingly, they friend wanted to know. "Don't you "full-time mothers," as this unfairly sug- offered me the chance to bring my work at all anymore?" gests that employed mothers are only daughter to work with me. I was thrilled; Don't you work at all anymore? Again and mothers part-time. Ridiculous as they those long days at home with an infant again since entering the life phase which are, these labels go largely unchallenged, weren't exacdy what I had imagined. I

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 15 had discovered that although I didn't opportunity to have my daughter on- that is going to work for me long after my always enjoy my job, I did enjoy the site. My employers and I finally agreed to children are grown. Like the many recognition it provided me — some- view my departure as the beginning of an women who grow home businesses while thing I had found was not a part of the indefinite unpaid leave that left the door growing young ones, I've discovered package for home-working moms. While open for my possible return at some meaning in my personal work that was my sister spoke with unveiled envy about unpredictable future date. previously absent. all the reading and writing I would now A two-month notice allowed me to These days, since I do perform paid be accomplishing, in reality I was lucky finish up the last big sales project of the work from home, I could have an easy if I brushed my teeth. So I took the deal. quarter, while my daughter was cared for answer to "Don't you work at all any- Seven weeks old on her first day at by a neighbor. I got an unforgettable taste more?" I could say that I am a freelance work, Sophie fascinated the staff as only of the superwoman syndrome, rising at 5 writer, working at home. It's true, and a newborn can. A two-minute trip to the a.m. and dashing out the door by 6 to since I know based upon my own re- copier often turned into a half-hour drop Sophie off and commute an hour to search that it gains me a great deal more social ordeal as one person after the next the office for a grueling nine-hour day. respect in the eyes of the asker than stopped to exclaim over her. She was a This was followed by a long drive in saying that I'm home with the kids, I'm great diversion for a young and predomi- Minnesota winter rush-hour traffic to tempted to offer it up. But I won't, nantly single staff. I had no idea, as a new pick my daughter up and go home, and because every time I do, I'm perpetuat- mother, how fortunate I was to have an ing a system that defines work only in extroverted baby. It was my own intro- terms of what men have traditionally verted nature that suffered from the con- Like most labels been paid to do, and discounts most of stant sensory bombardment. I was uncom- what women have traditionally done for fortably aware of my special status, and fight- applied to women's centuries. ing a losing battle to hide how much time it roles, "working I have to make perfectly clear when I actually took to care forSophi e on the job. say that I work at home, I'm talking In a culture where women feel guilty to mother" is extremely about the childcare and the home main- call in sick to work when a child is sick, tenance activities which utilize my tal- it was tremendously difficult to be in an inaccurate and ents as a manager, nurturer, healer, wise office setting, drawing a full salary, and to woman, acrobat...and retriever of small say, "Sophie's crying now — this phone defeating objects lost in the dust jungle beneath my call, this meeting, this project, whatever refrigerator. Otherwise, people automati- it is, will have to wait." In a society that topped off with a couple of frantic hours cally dismiss these activities, and conjure expects workers to give 150 percent that my husband and I spent getting up a false image of an orderly day spent dedication to the job, and considers everyone fed and Sophie bathed and to at the computer doing paid work. This motherhood a terrible detriment to pro- bed so that we could start all over again strain toward clarity requires a lot more ductivity, it was incredibly stressful and after what felt like a quick catnap. Relief effort than calling myself a "full-time even painful at times to experience such overcame me as my last day at the office mom," or proclaiming that I'm taking a personal conflict in a very public setting arrived, and I packedmy diaper bags for good "time off" to be with my kids (mother- when the two worlds collided. Our plans had always included my hood is not a vacation), or, wont of all, For six months, I toted a baby, a brief- return to full-time paid employment concurring that no, "I really don't work case, and a diaper bag back and forth from upon our children's entry to school, at all anymore." It demands concentra- home to my office, which at firsthouse d which meant that, for the benefit of our tion and patience, but it can be done. the crib and swing, after which came the financial solvency, we should have an- We must find new words, or new walker, the play gym, and the toy box— other baby quickly if at all. We chose combinations of and meanings for old not to mention the breast pump equip- "quickly," andshortly after our daughter's words that more accurately reflect our ment and mini-diaper pail. I couldhardly first birthday I was pregnant again. reality. When we don't —when we see my desk, let alone get to it. Not that I started stringing for our local newspa- resign ourselves to the old words that it mattered, because by that time, I wasn't per, rushing out to city council and apportion us less worth than we deserve doing any work that required a desk. It school board meetings as soon as my because it's less awkward and just plain had gotten crazy, and I knew it. The circles husband dragged through the door at easier — we are validating a description under my eyes and my continued weight loss seven o'clock. I got paid a measly 25 of ourselves that we know to be false. told me it was time for a change. dollars a story, but since the meetings This danger is like that of looking into a I explored every alternative I could were at night and I could write the stories fun house mirror, without challenging think of, from researching and visiting at home, I didn't have to pay for childcare. the falsehood of the contorted stranger daycares to negotiating with my em- Moreover, it was the first time I saw my staring back at you. Eventually, you're ployers for a part-time or home-based writing published, and it signaled a turn- going to believe what you see is you, and position, or a combination of the two. ing point for me as I finally made the leap that twisted version of yourself becomes However, my key position on the man- from advertising to editorial. the only truth you know. • agement team required a full-time pres- Since then, I've stuck to what I'm ence in the office. passionate about as I navigate the uncer- Jeannine O. Howitz is a Minnesota-based Offering my resignation was an ex- tain waters of these transitional years. I've writer and home-based working mother of two. tremely difficult decision, particularly in redefined my priorities, and am using this Her articles have appeared in many publica- light of my gratitude for the progressive time to lay the groundwork for a career tions, including the Ladies' Home Journal.

16 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 SHEJJUSTDOESNTJ UNQERSTAINd The Feminist Face-Off on Pornography Legislation By Ellen Levy

listening to feminists wage war The debate has driven a deep wedge the feminist anti-pornography debate over anti-pomography legislation is a bit into the feminist community. Anti-por- has been read through a liberal lens as a like watching characters face offin David nography feminists are derided as neo- clear-cut conflict between censorship Mamet's controversial new play Puritans, by their Second Wave sisters, and free speech. Yet this framing masks "Oleanna," in which a student accuses while those who oppose legislation are the fact that the two sides are in fact herprofessorofsexual harassment: Plain- labeled "First Amendment fundamen- grounded in radically different concep- tive and impassioned, both sides seem talists" and "Uncle Toms." As Patricia tions of justice and conflict. Anti-por- unable to understand each other. On Ireland, president of NOW, has said, nography proponents argue for law based one side are anti-pomography feminists "They can't even agree to disagree." on an ethic of care and harm, while their who contend that pornography is sex Relevant to understanding this face-offis opponents argue on the basis of rights. discrimination, and want civil legisla- the often overlooked work of feminist Opponents of pornography legislation tion which will allow women to bring philosophers Monique Wittig and Carol argue that we must choose between suits against producers and distributors Gilligan, who have critiqued binary absolute freespeec h and censorship; pro- ofsexuall y explicit works that "subordi- models of conflict and argued the need to ponents ofth e legislation deny that it is an nate" women, if they can prove they reexamine the very assumptions on which either/or choice. have been harmed by the materials. On the legal system is based. For anti-pornography adherents, con- the other are feminists who fear such For while the struggle over porn testi- stitutional rights do not represent abso- legislation will inhibit constitutionally- fies to the complex intersection of sex, lute, universal principles protective of all protected speech without addressing symbols, and speech in our culture, it equally, but specific historical inscrip- the root causes of gender inequity and may also be compounded by a misread- tions of power. "Highfalutin legal prin- violence against women. ing of the issues. With few exceptions, ciples have masked and protected privi-

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 17 lege, dominance, and exploitation," as- defined pornography—which currently and political factors," they wrote, "and it sert author Andrea Dworkin and legal has no definition under the law — as sex is these that need addressing." scholar Catharine MacKinnon in their discrimination, and made provisions for "To demand censorship is the wrong primer of anti-pornography legislation, women to file civil suits for damages. Its strategy for giving women the power Pornography and Civil Liberties: A New principal innovation was to shift the focus and right to make decisions in the area of Day for Women's Equality. "Our Consti- of obscenity law from a vague notion of sexuality," says Leanne Katz, executive tution was designed to protect slavery "injury to morality" to a specific recog- director of the National Coalition Against and to keep women chattel. The 'rights' nition of harm to women. Censorship and coordinator of its Work- guaranteed to white men were grants of The federal bill represented a merger of ing Group on Women, Censorship and freedom that established a civil and social the feminist model with a conservative "Pornography." "Sex education, infor- dominance over Blacks and women." agenda. Unlike the Minneapolis model, mation on women's sexuality, and les- This stance reflects the poststructural it did not mention sex discrimination and bian erotica, are all constantly under understanding that meaning is constructed the traditional definition of "pornogra- attack as pornography. Suppression has through language. As cultural critic and phy" as obscene material and child por- never served women's interests and it's Rutgers University professor Catherine nography was maintained. MacKinnon not about to start." Stimpson argues, "If language constructs and Dworkin were not active in this Even psychologists Edward Don- our world, the old binary distinction legislative battle, although legislators did nerstein and Daniel Linz, whose labora- between word and deed, speech and consult them years ago when the bill was tory research on the effects of pornogra- conduct, blurs and threatens to dissolve." first being developed. phy was cited in the Senate bill as support This perspective, argues cultural critic The Pornography Victims Compensa- for the bill's provisions, are critical of the Wendy Kaminer, denies "the First legislation. Writing in the Chronicle of Amendment the transcendent value that Sex education, Higher Education, they cautioned that the liberal belief in a marketplace of ideas "the wrong material...is targeted in the has always awarded it." On the contrary, information Victims Compensation Act. Sexual ex- explains Kaminer, "legal principles, like on women's plicitness per se is not a causal agent for those protecting speech, [are seen as] antisocial behavior in any research study mere rhetorical power plays: Without sexuality, and that we have examined. Rather, vio- any obj ective, universal merit, prevailing lence, whether presented in a sexually legal ideals [are] simply diose privileged lesbian erotica explicit or non-explicit context, seems by the mostly white ruling class." are all constantly to be the crucial variable." But the anti-porn stance also reflects Despite the eventual defeat of the Por- feminist skepticism of justice in a society under attack nography Victims Compensation Act, that has been decidedly unjust to women. as pornography which died on the Senate floor last year As critic Deborah Cameron asserts, "the without coming up for a vote, its passage problem ofpornograph y is not reducible tion Act was not the first time the by the Senate Judiciary Committee has to questions of censorship. It is part of a MacKinnon/Dworkin model was enhanced the legitimacy of such legisla- broader and deeper cultural politics — adopted by the Right. In 1983, a modi- tion and helped fuel a wave of third- the politics of meaning and definition." fied version ofthei r model ordinance was party liability bills across the country The feminist debate over pornography introduced in Indianapolis by an anti- which aim to use victim compensation renewed last year with the battle over the ERA, antichoice, Eagle Forum city legislation to fight pornography and os- Pornography Victims Compensation Act, councilwoman. And the following sum- tensibly win women rights. a federal bill which would enable victims mer, in Suffolk County, New York, In the first five months of 1993, bills of sex crimes to sue the producers, dis- conservatives so thoroughly adapted appeared in state legislatures in Missouri tributors, and sellers of obscene materials the Minneapolis model to a rightwing and California which would hold sexu- or child pornography adjudged to have agenda that even MacKinnon and ally explicit materials responsible for caused the crime. Introduced in 1991 by Dworkin opposed the bill. crimes. Assembly Bill 490, introduced Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY), The recent federal model attracted this spring in the California legislature, Charles Grassley (D-IA), Strom strong opposition from many feminists. is even more restrictive than the Por- Thurmond (R-SC), and Robert In a Valentine's Day letter to the Senate nography Victims Compensation Act, Packwood (R-OR), the bill in its origi- Judiciary Committee, some 180 mem- because it would allow suits against nal form would have allowed suits against bers of the ad hoc Committee of Femi- producers and distributors of "material sexually explicit materials. However, in nists for Free Expression — including harmful to minors" — which has a an effort to appease opposition and get Adrienne Rich, Betty Friedan, Jamaica looser standard than obscenity — as the legislation through committee, its Kincaid, and Elizabeth Murray — spoke well as "hard core" pornography. Backed language was amended to apply only to out against the bill as a distraction from by the National Coalition Against Por- so-called "hard core" porn — obscene the substantive issues affecting women's nography, an Ohio-based alliance of materials and child pornography—which lives. In their letter they argue that the bill religious and private organizations, the do not have constitutional protection. "scapegoats speech as a substitute for bill is another example of the rightwing The bill was the latest incarnation of action against violence" and promotes a appropriation of the MacKinnon/ model legislation first introduced in Min- "porn made me do it excuse for rapists Dworkin model. Meanwhile, Senator neapolis in 1983 by MacKinnon and and batterers." "Violence is caused by McConnell is considering reintroduc- Dworkin. The Minneapolis ordinance deeply economic, family, psychological ing the federal bill.

18 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 So far the MacKinnon/Dworkin model our First Amendment rights, we'd have Anti-pornography feminists maintain has found lasting success only in Canada, been shut up," says Stimpson. that legislation would not dismantle con- where the Canadian Supreme Court in "MacKinnon and Dworkin's work stitutional protections but force the jus- February 1992, ruled unanimously in would replace constitutional protection tice system to take women's experience Regina v. Butler to allow the cri- with the law itself." into account in making law. "Pornogra- minalization of pornography in order to But not all American feminists accept the phy is a reality in our society," says promote gender equality. In the Butler assertion that one must choose between Mahoney. "What is different under But- case, the entire inventory of a Winnipeg the First Amendment and cen- ler is that the analysis has changed." porn shop — which included depictions sorship. MacKinnon and Dworkin Now, she says, the effect ofpornography of rape and bondage — was seized and note that constitutional rights have been on women's lives is becoming part of the the owner prosecuted under Canada's infringed before without being destroyed. law through judicial interpretation. She obscenity law. The shop owner, Buder, Desegregation, they assert, did not de- cites a recent case in which, to produce argued that the law violated his funda- stroy the First Amendment right to free- photographs, a minor had been bound mental right to expression guaranteed in dom of association, as white racists charged and penetrated with objects. In the ab- the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights it would. And many exceptions exist to sence of Butler, the judge could have and Freedoms. The Supreme Court ac- the First Amendment rightt o freespeech , found the defendant guilty under moral- knowledged that Butler's speech was which does not protect bribes, threats, ity-based obscenity laws. With the pre- infringed, but found that pornography's fraud, or conspiracy. cedent in place, the judge "took those harm to women's equality, self-esteem, Feminist philosopher Monique Wittig concepts in Butler and gave [the dynam- and physical safety justified the regula- is among those feminist philosophers ics ofth e case] some explanation," assess- tion. "This classification in the law is ing the images "in terms of women's and historic," states Kathleen Mahoney, the Violence is girls' equal rights to respect and dignity in University of Calgary law professor who Canadian society." argued the state's case before the Su- caused by deeply Debates about speech rights "keep the preme Court. "For the first time, the economic, family, discussion on a very abstract level," says Supreme Court of Canada has linked the Mahoney. "We want to look at the law obscene wim that which subordinates or psychological in terms of a context of harm, in the degrades women rather than that which and political context of the reality of women's lives." offends some notion of sexual morality." It is this emphasis on harm rather than The ruling does not outlaw sexual factors and it is rights which distinguishes the anti-por- expression, Mahoney points out. "Ex- these that need nography position and signals that a quali- plicit sex which is neither violent, de- tatively different perspective may be at grading, nor dehumanizing will not be addressing work. considered obscene unless it involves the Listening to the anti-pornography de- use of children," she notes in a recent whose work calls into question the lib- bate, it often seems the two sides are not article in Law and Contemporary Problems. eral framingo f anti-pornography legisla- speaking the same language. And per- Even those materials deemed violent and tion in terms of censorship or free speech. haps they aren't. In 1982, Carol Gilligan's dehumanizing are acceptable under the In her essay "Homo Sum," she analyzes research on moral development, pub- decision if the "depiction is necessary the distortion imposed by binary opposi- lished in her book In A Different Voice, for artistic purposes or for the serious tions such as male/female, and good/ described a different moral voice among treatment of a meme." bad. "Certainty that everything is either females. Though not peculiar to girls or "Any legislation can be used against black or white," she writes, "are all women, and affected by educational lev- anybody/'Mahoneyacknowledges. "All symptoms of what I have called...the els, this different voice nevertheless testi- of our criminal code can be misused." straight mind. And they have shaped our fies to the existence of two qualitatively The question is "how much risk are we concepts, our laws, our institutions, our distinct conceptions of morality and jus- prepared to take, given the harm that is history, our cultures." As alesbian, Wittig tice between the sexes. In her research, going on? It is always a question of argues that this paradigm cannot account Gilligan found that females by and large balance. You have to weigh the harm to for Sapphist experience, forwomen who assessed situations in terms of harm, women against the risk of improper law do not take their meaning from a rela- which is an ethic of care, while males enforcement," she says. tionship with men. appealed to abstract rights. Gilligan was careful to point out that this "different "We can't have a perfect law. Language For Wittig, as for MacKinnon and voice...was characterized not by gender is too imperfect," asserts Mahoney. "For Dworkin, there can be no simple oppo- but theme," and she did not suggest an example, we operate the whole law of sition between reality and representa- "essential" female morality. "The con- negligence on the basis of "reasonable- tion, or speech and censorship, orviolent trast between male and female voices are ness." That is a very vague notion, but image and violent act. "Alas for us," presented," she wrote, "to highlight a we know we must have Paws] to move writes Wittig, "the symbolic order par- distinction between two modes of ahead on a principled basis. Our prin- takes of the same reality as the political thought and to focus on a problem of cipled basis is the Charter of Rights and and economic order. There is a con- interpretation rather than to represent a Freedoms which entrenches sex equality tinuum in their reality, a continuum generalization about either sex." as a fundamental guarantee." where abstraction is imposed upon ma- Not everyone is willing to take the risk. teriality and can shape the body as well as The split over pornography legislation "Many of us know that if we didn't have the mind of those it oppresses." in many ways conforms to the division

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 19 Gilligan describes. On one side are those even potentially be used to silence honest Canadian coalition which is fighting arguing the primacy of abstract speech sex talk could be a death knell for Third censorship and Butler— asserts that the rights, on the other, those arguing an ethic Wave feminists, who have come ofag e in incidence of Customs seizures "has in- of care andharm. As Gilligan has explained, the era of AIDS. "AIDS and HIV, as creased a thousand-fold" since the rul- "While an ethic of justice proceeds from sexually transmitted diseases, forced me ing. Whereas in the past lesbians and gays the premise of equality — that everyone into talking about safer sex and I can't talk were targeted as a vulnerable minority, should be treated the same — an ethic of about safer sex unless I talk about sex," now, according to Walsh "about half of care rests on the premise of nonviolence— says lesbian videographer and activist Canada's bookstores have been harassed" that no one should be hurt." Catherine Saalfield. Saalfield helped or- as "Customs has gone after political Like Gilligan's different voice, the dif- ganize the sold-out "LUST" (Lesbians dissidents" in general. ferent perspective of anti-pornography Undoing Sexual Taboos) conference last The anti-pomography legislation pro- proponents may signal the existence of year, the first women's sex conference posed by Dworkin and MacKinnon an alternative to the oppositional model since the Barnard "Toward the Politics of would not target queer material accord- of conflict and the difficult choice be- Sexuality" conference 10 years ago. ing to Pornography and Civil Rights, since tween valuing rights or limiting harm. "People are hungry to talk about sex," under the ordinance "harm cannot be a "By positing...two different modes," moral one." But neither would it offer Gilligan speculates, it becomes possible any special protection to lesbian and gay to develop "a more complex rendition of An ethic materials that blend sex and subordina- human experience" — and potentially a of care rests tion or violence. more complex rendition of law as well. Ironically, some feminists believe that The intersection of these different voices on the premise pornography itself could be a key to is predictably problematic because the winning women's equality. As the late fact that they are different may go unrec- of nonviolence— British author Angela Carter argued in ognized. that no one The Sadeian Woman and the Ideology of Gilligan believes that the failure of Pornography, "Sexual relations...always social scientists to recognize this different should be hurt render explicit the nature of social rela- moral voice stems "in part from the tions in the society in which they take assumption that there is a single mode of says Saalfield. "People like porn. We live place and, if described explicitly, will social experience and interpretation" — in such a repressive, anti-woman, anti- form a critique of those relations, even just as it has been assumed, in the battle sex society, we need all the venues we can if that is not and never has been the over pom, that no viable alternative get for honest, open, safe discussion about intention of the pornographer." exists to liberal legal discourse. sex to increase our own honest, open, For Carter, pom provides a unique Clearly there can be no perfect corre- and safe sex play and practices." She is arena for the analysis and reinscription of lation made between Gilligan's psycho- particularly concerned about the ramifi- sex and power. As she imagined it, logical research and the current legisla- cations of anti-pomography legislation pornography could provide a map for tive battle over pornography, but for lesbians. "We're the ones who are sexual equality, the key that unlocks a Gilligan's work does offer the possibility goingto be targeted," says Saalfield, "Be- sexual Utopia. "The moral pornogra- of a less antagonistic reading of the issues cause we're the people with [recognized] pher," she proclaimed, "would be an by feminists on both sides. Rather than sexuality in this culture." And given the artist who uses pornographic material as provoking enmity, their differing per- limited imagery available to lesbians, the part of the acceptance of the logic of a spectives could provide the ground for loss could be significant. world of absolute sexual license for all new feminist legal theory that combines In Canada, for example, police raided the genders, and projects a model of the the strength of the "rights" approach Toronto's lesbian and gay bookstore Glad way such a world might work." with the compassion of an approach Day Bookshop on the heels of the Butler Whatever the future of anti-porn leg- based on care. decision and confiscated the lesbian maga- islation in this country, one thing is However, it remains to be seen whether zine Bad Attitude. The bookshop fought certain: The debate around porn is forc- this different voice even would be heard the confiscation in court, but lost in the ing a reconsideration of legal and philo- once installed in U.S. courts and legisla- end when one story in the magazine — sophical premises and as well as the tures. The brief history of the a rape fantasy — was deemed illegal. function ofimages, words, andlawin the MacKinnon/Dworkin model offers Mahoney maintains that discrimina- construction ofmeaning . Arguments on ample evidence that its principles are tory law enforcement, not Butler, is re- both sides of the issue have driven home readily adapted by those with anti-femi- sponsible for the confiscation of lesbian the point made by professor Anita Hill in nist agendas. There is also the possibility erotica. "There has been a homophobic a speech earlier this year. As she stated, the law would be used to silence feminist response to this material since time im- "Who gets to tell a story and how it is analysis. After all, Kate Millett's memorial," she says. The ACLU ac- told, who tells it and who listens, is a groundbreaking treatise Sexual Politics knowledges that confiscation of sexually matter of power." • opens with a rape scene a la Henry explict materials by Canadian Customs Miller, and Dworkin makes use of sexu- without due process or judicial determi- Ellen Levy was formerly managing editor of ally explicit texts to chart the intersection nations of obscenity was commonplace The Independent Film and Video of sex and power in her incisive literary longbefore the Supreme Court decision, Monthly. Her writing has appeared in critique Intercourse. yet notes an increase since Butler. Bruce The Nation, In These Times, and And to put in place laws which could Walsh, a member of Censorstop — a many other publications.

20 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 %x/rfwwerm&rf By EvaYaaAsantewaa

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar: The child is born at midnight, a time of no time between the dark shores of two distinct days.Tlie young mother can't understand why she is being badgered to choose a proper birthtime for the certificate — 11:59 or 12:01 ? She just wants to know if her baby, the child she will soon give away, is a boy or a girl. Exhausted, she finally settles on 12:01. Moving forward means hope. Supported by the members of her per- In its bravery, Womb Wars may remind formance troupe, Urban Bush Women, some viewers of Alice Walker's searing Jawole Willa Jo Zollar tells a theater novel, Possessing Tlie Secret of Joy, a cru- audience her bittersweet story of giving sade against the practices of female geni- this baby girl up for adoption and re- tal mutilation and infibulation. Womb uniting with her many years later. In Wars takes up women's cry against sexual LJfeDancelll... The Empress (Womb Wars), violence, medical butchery, and the de- Zollar explores issues of women's op- nial of women's rights to control our pression and empowerment. The Afri- own bodies. Zollar made the choice to can-rooted way of life, so often evoked go public with personal experiences be- in this African-American company's cause, she says, "the stories I tell are other work, here again forms the basis for women's stories, more women than I'd compelling, kaleidoscopic theater inte- ever imagined. I think women have grating the personal and the political, thought 'This is something that's hap- the ancestral and the contemporary. pening just to me, and I have to cope

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 PHOTOS TOM BRAZIL 21 with it.' Every woman I know has been requiring a spiritual process — some rite House) and performance artists Laurie through some kind of sexual abuse. It of passage, of mourning and releasing. Carlos and Robbie McCauley. Last used to be a dirty, deep, dark secret." "The antiabortionists imagine that year, Zollar and her ensemble re- Zollar's JJfeDance series takes its inspi- abortion is a flip thing," Zollar says. ceived a BESSIE (New York Dance ration from the Major Arcana of the "They imagine a woman thinks, 'Oh, and Performance) Award for their entire Tarot. This latest installation, Womb Wars, I'm pregnant! I think I'll go have an body of work. Through extensive tour- derives its vision from The Empress, a abortion!'" But proponents of choice, ing to perform, teach, and offer interac- matriarchal symbol of divine spirit in she feels, fear giving antiabortionists tive community engagements, the en- matter, expressed in the fertility and ammunition. She hopes that otherpeople semble has won national and interna- diversity of the natural world. In Zollar's who support a woman's right to choose tional acclaim. Tarot readings, The Empress kept com- will not misunderstand her meaning, her Here in New York City, Urban Bush ing up reversed, a sign she related to interest in the complexities behind the Women performances are always eagerly unresolved issues around her abortions. decision to abort a fetus. anticipated, especially by those who value "I started reading about the tradition of "I don't see the political and the the company for its vision of women's the abiku [a Nigerian religion that has spiritual as being separate," she ex- strength, creative brilliance, compassion, influenced many spiritual and cultural plains. "Among people of color and sensuality, and solidarity. In an intriguing beliefs and practices throughout the Af- within feminist spirituality today, it's section of Zollar's Nyabinghi Dreamtime rican diaspora] in Yoruba. The abiku a political act to be aware of yourself — a work-in-progress which dips into spirit is born to die, does not want a full and to carry your spiritual traditions the non-linear, spiritual consciousness of life. If you are at all ambivalent about with you." die Nyabinghi Rastafarian tradition of carrying life, this kind of spirit might be Launched in 1984, Zollar's group Ur- rural Jamaica — the choreographer sug- drawn to you." ban Bush Women has become known gests the existence of an unknown 13th In Womb Wars, Zollar calmly but firmly for its celebration of the survival of Afri- tribe descended from the Biblical Jacob. counsels a friend to perform her own natural can culture throughout the diaspora, The source of this line, she was once told, abortion—using herbs and accupressure— manifested in religion and folklore as well is not one of Jacob's sons but, rather, a and to spiritualize it with candles, crystals, as popular and theatrical dance, music, daughter. And the tribe, as Zollar might and chants. In this way, she advises, the visual arts, and the spoken word. Zollar have dreamed, is a tribe of women — woman may affirm the spirit's right to has worked with many noted figures in 13 — the number that inspires fear in leave and her own right to choose to help the arts—among them, filmmaker Julie all but those who honor the Goddess. it do so. It is a very African approach, Dash (who directed the film Daugh- Zollar wisely asks, "Now, what if Zollar realizes, stressing the nature of ters of the Dust as well as the nation- women were to reclaim that power, abortion as a transition like any other ally-televised film of Zollar's Praise the power of the 13th tribe?"

22 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 Soto explains. "All of our emotions are in our bodies, and we can channel that. There is a history of our bodies." The body must also be the site of emotional healing, as the dance suggests in its beautiful conclusion. A wave of dancers advance across thestage. Onememberofeachsame-sexpair holds and softly comforts the other, knowing and remembering and guiding the waking body with compassion. Like Urban Bush Women, Soto and Osorio make it a priority to work with communities, and their work thrives on public interaction and feedback. When they tour, they invite local performers to appear in their works, contributing their owninsights and material After performan- ces, they take the time to engage their audi- ence in discussions about what they saw. One male high-school student who saw the conclusion of Historias said, "I was totally disgusted when I saw two guys hugging each other, and then I tried to remember the last time my father hugged me. It made me realize we hadn't been close." Another member of the audience felt moved to speak out about being a victim of birth control experiments in Puerto Rico that had left her sterile. When one woman, bewildered by Merian Soto: As the performance begins, we are being forced to Historias, asked, "Is there no joy in Puerto Rico?" the artists took her ques- watch a graphic film of a surgeon cutting a woman open. Her fallopian tion seriously and thought it over. tubes — slick with blood — are pulled out of her body and quickly "But we decided that we would not change the piece to make it happier," Soto tied and cut. On-stage, in real time, a dancer puts on his doctor costumeasserts. "It's said [about Puerto Ricans] that and proceeds to roughly manipulate the body of his innocent patient like we're the people who save the best jokes for the wake. We face adversity with humor. a shop window mannequin. Each body part is an obstruction, a In this piece, we didn't want to do that In problem to be solved. He will not look her in the eye. like so many order to become whole, to move on, we others, she will end up flat on her back, sliced open, and changed. have to first work on the pain." Jawole Zollar notes that artists have Historias, a multimedia work by chore- pressure and intimidation, lack of ad- been speaking out more about experi- ographer Merian Soto and visual artist equate information, or lack of access to ences of child abuse, rape, and other Pepon Osorio, deals with controversial birth control options. The policy, initi- traumatic histories that were once cloaked features of Puerto Rican history such as ated in the 1930s, is widely regarded as in silence and shame. She wonders why slavery and police brutality, Soto says, "from the consequence of an attitude that blames it has taken dance so long to begin to tell the perspective of our amnesia as colonized poor women of color for the economic these stories. Both she and Merian Soto people." The work, developed last year in and social problems of their communities. demonstrate how artists — particularly several residences, has been seen either in its In the dance, the bodies of women artists who know and honor the body— entirety, or in condensed form, at many absorb a trauma while their minds have can reclaim the ancient, earth-rooted venues around the nation. been put to sleep. Like astral bodies, these role of healer as the shield of our indi- Recently, Soto and Osorio presented expressionless forms slip away from the vidual andsocietaldenialbegins to crack.H excerpts from Historias' concluding sec- flesh-and-blood objects thrashing on the tion in New York. This segment ad- floor. Recovering from their surgery, Eva Yaa Asantewaa, a freelance writer dresses the decades-long nightmare of the women seem haunted by the notion and dance journalist based in New York sterilization of the women of Puerto that something is very wrong about City, teaches writing meditation and stress Rico under the U.S. government's them. This evokes, too, the "amnesia" of management for people with HIV-AIDS, population control policy. It is estimated which Soto speaks. Historias is meant to women in shelters, and organizations in that 38 percent of all women of be a gift of awakening and remembering. the lesbian community, She is the found- childbearing age on the island have un- "I work a lot with improvisation, en- ing director of Spirit Center, holistic edu- dergone sterilization, many because of ergy modes, accessing emotional states," cation for women.

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 23

LIVING IN THE TRENCHES CELEBRATION OFCAROL For the past 13 years, photojournalist Helen M. Stummer has been documenting the people of the devastated Central Ward ofNeivark, NJ. During this time she has focused on a woman named Carol, her family and friends. Stummer describes Carol as being "a very important person"in the neighborhood. Carol strives to bring hope and convfort into the lives of those around her. She is a woman of courage and determination who firmly believes you can succeed against all odds if you keep on trying and never give up. Infanuary, 1994 Carol will graduate high school after years of attending at night. Her grades liave consistently been all As and Bs and she will graduate with honors. Photographs and Story by Helen M. Stummer

25 While on her way to Head Start with a sack of toys Carol takes time out to find a home for a stray kitten

In 13 yean, Carol has moved about 150 Carol, "that's his wife's. He has a clothes into piles for the neighborhood, feet — two rubble-fiHed lots and a razed Mercedes." her soft and soothing voice goes down building separating her former andpresent Since Carol lives in a basement apart- the list of people who will receive them. apartments. Maybe because I feel gray ment, she is isolated from the other "This is just Margo's size," or "Brittny days go with the Central Ward of New- tenants in the building. To get to her would love this," or "I'm gonna cook ark, or perhaps it's coincidence, the ma- door I must walk past a long line of this ham for Anthony's mother. She and jority of times I photograph in this area garbage cans, down a narrow sidewalk, a the children aren't well." the weather matches the bleak landscape: brick wall on my left and a cyclone fence Sometimes Carol struggles with a di- Foggy, rainy, cold or windy. Little grows on my right. The fence is supposed to lemma. Most of the people use the food here except weeds and some old broken keep people from dumping into the lot. to feed their families, but she is alert to the trees. Only a few desperate children play It doesn't work. The lot also includes a possibilities that some will sell the food in these lots where hundreds of rubber burned-out building, its skeleton silhou- for dope. In those cases, she cooks the tires have been dumped, or jump on etted against the sky. In front of me is an food first and then sends small amounts to mattresses alongside the abandoned build- old uprooted tree laying across the fence; the family, or she feeds the children in her ing, where carpets and blankets hang out beyond that, more empty lots and groups own place. of some windows and cover others. of people huddled together. In the dis- During the years I have seen Carol hug Because of the surrounding gloom, gar- tance, a few low buildings sit alongside dozens ofchildre n and I know these hugs bage, weeds and rubble, the place feels some that are burned-out. are remembered; hugs that are as filling as wild, dangerous and joyless. I'm no longer apprehensive when ap- the food she gives them; as filling as the This area was productive at one time, proaching Carol's basement apartment. words of encouragement she gave to 18- before the remaining whites fled. Now She told me that people were looking year-old Margo the week before. "I the landlords come in from the suburbs out for me. "They're anxious to see what worry about you! You hear! Don't you to collect rents that vary from $250 to you're bringing," she said. My car is ever run away again." Holding Margo, $550 a month. Maintenance is minimal always full of clothes, food, toys or furni- with tears running down her face, Carol and it is always jarring for me to see ture that others in the suburbs have given continued, "If you have another argu- Carol's landlord pull up in a Jaguar. "Is me to take to Newark. Later, as Carol ment with your aunt, come here, or at that his car?" I once asked. "No," said goes through the bundles, dividing the least let me know where you are. I was

26 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 Carol's "backyard"— where children play amidst garbage, weeds and rubble.

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 27 Carol's kitchen is filled with sacks of clothes and food that she will distribute to her neighbors.

28 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 Carol comforts Brittny one of the many neighborhood children she feeds, clothes and cares for.

crazy worrying about you. two-year-old Brittny and her Promise!" Margo was raped mother. "Don't worry," says by two men when she was Carol to the woman, "I'll take 10 yean old. "She's not like care ofBrittny for the month; a normal teenager," says you get on your feet. It's hard Carol. "There's something with a new baby and a new dead in her." place to live. "It's sad," Carol murmurs "Hello baby!" says Carol as after Brittny's mother leaves. she opens the door with her "There's so many mothers shining smile, hugging me overwhelmed with responsi- against her massive body, fill- bility. Some even use the little ing my heart with safety, money they have on drugs or warmth and love. She'swear- alcohol. The children go hun- ing a long black dress, her gry. They don't have proper head is wrapped in a colorful clothes. I love them to pieces. scarf and her red toenails shine I would take them all if I on her bare feet. At 33, Carol could. Actually, I'm thinking has always been large, but about taking in some foster when she moves is surpris- children—not for the money, ingly light and graceful. Her even though God knows I fingernails are always pol- need it — but because I feel ished red or black, her hands sorry for them." eloquent as they accentuate As the conversation contin- her stories. As Carol brings ues, I focus again on the neigh- me up to date on the goings- borhood. No one here knows on in the neighborhood, I the feeling of going out into notice her cat jumping in the backyard and quietly re- and out of a large hole in the laxing, or even taking a walk, ceiling. "That's her home," without plugging into their says Carol. "She stays there "survival record." This is the for hours." Hanging from record that' 'plays in your head the ceiling is one bare light every time you get on the bulb, next to it a full fly street," Carol explains. "Sur- paper. Knickknacks are vival is the click to every crowded into small spaces ghetto. It's like a jazz record and the light coming through the blue 10 and Kason, 8. Others are of her that you can hear and is drummin' every curtains gives a soft blue glow through- many godchildren and neighborhood day that you step out there. When I get out the room. The linoleum floor is old children she usually feeds, clothes and out on that street I know I better pump and uneven and the walls are finished takes care of. As I give her some photo- that survival music 'cause I know I gotta with Contact in an attempt to cover graphs that I had taken the last time I get home. You never put your guard hundreds of cracks and old layers of visited, Carol gets out her wide silver down. You can't keep your eyes down. paint. The clean kitchen is filled with duct tape, pulling off long sections to You need to watch everything. Only the boxes and bags of clothes that either need adhere the photos to the wall. "That's strong survive in the ghetto." • to be sorted out or are on their way to my frames," she says, as she puts the tape different families. Throughout the small around the photographs. "I love this Some sections have been adapted from the two-bedroom apartment with its iron stuff." book No Easy Walk/Living on the Edge window grates, it is dark, orderly and We begin sorting out the clothes into by Helen M. Shimmer (Temple University comfortable. sizes, putting some toys aside to give out Press, 1993). Stummer'saward-winningpho- Photographs of family and children fill to the neighborhood children at Christ- tographs have been exhibited at galleries, Carol's living-room walls. Many are of mas. As we make up packages of food, museums and universities throughout the her three children: Keisha, 12, Keonda, the iron door clangs. I get up and let in United States.

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 29 National Center for the Pro-Choice Majority. Baker, who for some yean now has functioned as a sort of one- woman clearinghouse on antiabortion activities, has chronicled three separate attacks by gun-wielding clinic assailants prior to Gunn's murder, including the assault in Springfield, which left the clinic manager permanently paralyzed and forced the clinic to shut down. And doctors who provide abortion services have been prepared for even longer. Says Baker: "When I was in Wichita, the summer of the Wichita siege [in 1991], I walked up to Dr. George Tiller my second time back, and gave him a hug. And I thought, something has come between George and me — namely, his bulletproof vest." If You Can't Various explanations have been pro- posed for the rise in violence: The Su- preme Court's Bray decision in January, which may have been Beat 1m interpreted as giving a green light to antiabor- tion activism; the elec- tion of Bill Clinton ("the Antichrist," in antiabor- tion parlance), and his subsequent reversal of several Reagan-era an- tiabortion measures; the rise of new, more '•mili- The antiabortion protest was proceeding tant' ' groups fromth e ashes of Operation The murder as usual, with a handful of demonstrators Rescue (though these are invariably front swarming the sidewalk in front of the groups involving the same people, as was of David Gunn clinic. Inside, neither the doctor nor documented by the Washington Area clinic staffpai d them much mind—they Clinic Defense Task Force recently when was just the were by now accustomed to the com- they videotaped anti leaders telling sup- motion — until a man pushed his way porters to make checks out to "O.R. or warning shot in into the waiting room carrying a sawed- O.R. National — we can cash either off shotgun ... and fired. one" — evidence that helped pin a a right-wing This was not Pensacola, Florida; the $100,000 fine on O.R. National for doctor was not David Gunn. This was violating an injunction against O.R. campaign to Springfield, Missouri, last December 28, blockades). three months before Dr. Gunn's assassi- But according to Baker and other anti cleanse America nation by a member of Rescue America watchers, the current wave of violence is launched antiabortion violence onto the as much a response to the successes of of "abortionists^ frontpages. In fact the Gunn murder, say clinic defense efforts as anything else. abortion-rights activists who track such Violence had always been part of the anti activities, was not so much an isolated repertoire, of course: The first reported attack as the latest in a trend towards clinic bombings occurred in the 1970s, overt violence by the antiabortion move- and vandalism and harassment have long ment, most of it directed at doctors and been commonplace. But for several years clinic employees. It's no coincidence, after Randall Terry founded Operation some might say, that the antiabortion Rescue in a Pensacola Sizzler Steak House forces have become commonly known in 1986, the antiabortion movement had as the "antis" — English for contras. focused much of its energies on large- "There's been so much violence di- scale blockades of abortion clinics, rected at abortion providers for years that coupled with aggressive "counseling" of people simply were not surprised" when women entering clinics, to reframe their By Neil deMause Gunn was killed, says Ann Baker of the image as a sort of later-day civil rights

30 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 movement for the unborn. As Terry began proclaiming that "we had a gun with only two bullets in it?" As increasingly coordinated clinic de- have found the weak link" in abortion asks one cartoon. "Shoot the abortionist fense mobilizations were mounted, how- providers, the focus on antiabortion at- twice.") Life Dynamics mailed copies of ever, and jail terms and especially fines tacks shifted from harassing pregnant the Bottom Feeder to 34,000 medical built up, scattershot blockades began to women to open warfare against physi- students across the country in early Feb- pale as a tactic. The siege of Wichita in cians. "Wanted" posters featuring doc- ruary. 1991 —as O.R. forces took advantage of tors who perform abortions have been a The impact of such tactics can already a supportive mayor and police chief to staple ot recent campaigns — Gunn was be seen in Wichita, where, two years get arrested time and time again in front featured on one in the weeks before his after national O.R. and the national of that city's three clinics, ballooning a murder—as has stepped-up picketing of media left town, continued harassment few hundred demonstrators into head- providers' homes. (NAF figures show has forced one of the city's three clinics line-grabbing thousands of arrests - reported picketing incidents up nearly to stop performing abortions, and an- marked both the clinic blockade's 900 percent, from 292 in 1991 to 2,898 other may be soon to follow. Jean high water mark and its last gasp. When last year.) In a recent mailing, Operation Postleth-Waite of Wichita National last April's Spring of Life cam- Rescue National leader Keith Tucci Organization for Women recites the paign in Buffalo fizzledi n bragged about the by now well-known litany of harassment: "One doctor had the face ot massive statistic that 83 percent of U.S. counties all four tires slashed on his car. There was prochoice have no abortion provider, as well as the a woman doctor who was being ha- decrease in medical schools teaching rassed, and they threatened to harass her abortions. at her wedding. One of the doctors had Possibly the most bizarre salvo in their house up for sale, and the amis went this campaign in and left bibles at the open house. They have followed the children, they have gone to neighborhoods and told other children, 'Did you know that the person down there kills ba- bies?'" Under these resistance, it was conditions, the medical clearly the end of the road. resi- "The day of the large blockade is dents dead," agrees Gina Shaw of the National Abortion Federation. "What we're see- ing a lot more now are the really fright- ening guerrilla tactics, which include intense, localized harassment of physi- cians and staff. We're seeing a lot of what you might call 'war of attrition' tactics, where they specifically tar- get one particular clinic and focus all their efforts on it, hoping to drive them out of business." Bombings and arson have been part of the antiabortion repertoire since the 1970s - NAF records a total of 117 incidents at last count, the most recent being in Missoula, Montana in March. More re- cently, these tactics have been joined by such innovations as butyric acid, a nox- ious, foul-smelling liquid sprayed under a clinic's door or through a hole drilled in a wall. "We've seen an increase just in general vandalism — more broken win- dows, glue in locks, hoses being stuck is the Bottom who under doors overnight and flooding the Feeder, an anti- previously per- clinic," says Shaw. "But butyric acid abortion 'zine put out formed procedures at the accounted for nearly 50 percent of last by Texas-based Life Dy- clinics have been unwill- year's vandalism." The week of Gunn's namics that consists of a deluge of ing to continue. Nation- murder, six San Diego clinics and doc- childish jokes and cartoons ridiculing "abortionists" and suggesting what to do ally, says Shaw, no NAF tors' offices were hit with butyric acid. with them. ("What would you do if you member clinics have All this was a direct result of efforts by found yourself in a room with Hitler, anti leadership to focus their movement's Mussolini and an abortionist, and you continued on pg 55 efforts on doctors providing abortions.

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 cities, prochoice women will turn out by the thousands to keep clinics open when Operation Rescue threatens to blockade them. But, in too many small metro and rural areas in this country, while clinics remain open, there simply aren't enough doctors willing to perform the proce- dure . According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, as of 1988, 50 percent of all urban counties and 93 percent of all rural counties had no identified abortion pro- viders. In many ways, the reluctance is under- standable: No other medical procedure comes with so much politically and so- The Abortion Issue: cially flam- mable bag- gage as abortion. There is Certainly physicians in other fields are not routinely picketed outside their hospitals, nor are their faces plas- tered on "wanted" signs, their families or patients harassed, their offices trashed — nor do they face the very real threat of being Without Providers murdered. Early on, antiabortion groups For a moment, after 12 years of Ronald targeted doctors as the weakest link in the No other medical Reagan and George Bush's antiabortion prochoice community, and doctors have policies and their winking, indulgent buckled under the pressure. Recently, procedure comes attitude toward antiabortion groups' vio- two doctors quit the Aware Woman lence against abortion providers, it looked Clinic in Melbourne, Florida after Op- with so much like the prochoice community had fi- eration Rescue began an intensive pick- nally gotten a break with the Clinton eting and harassment campaign. The politically and administration. Just moments into office, antiabortion movement's greatest suc- Bill Clinton repealed the Title X "gag cess is that they have succeeded in bully- socially flammable rule," reversed Reagan's 1982 Mexico ing an entire generation of physicians City policy — that any monies allocated into not providing abortions — or, if for international family planning could they do provide them, not to publicize it not be used for abortion or information — no matter how the government safe- on abortion — and lifted the bans on guards a woman's right to choose. abortions performed in military hospi- In much the same way that many artists tals, the importation ofRU-486, and the and art institutions began censoring them- use of fetal tissue in research. But senti- selves with regard to "objectionable" art ment about abortion simply won't be after harassment from Sen. Jesse Helms legislated, as indicated by the shooting of (R-NC) and the Rev. Donald Wildmon, Dr. David Gunn outside an abortion the medical community in many in- clinic in Pensacoloa, Florida, just two stances has closed its ranks to abortion months after Clinton's actions. providers. According to notes from a The problem runs deep — and it starts 1990 symposium sponsored by the Na- in the medical community. Volunteer tional Abortion Federation (NAF) and clinic escorts stand in freezing cold and the American College of Obstetricians sweltering heat to shepherd clients past and Gynecologists: "Some state medical aggressive antiabortion "sidewalk coun- boards have pursued their oversight and selors" who shove photos of burned, peer review functions more zealously by Norine Dworkin mangled fetuses in their faces. In some with abortion providers than others, and

32 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 some hospital boards have disaffiliated the need for abortion providers has never Likewise, another young woman ob/ with physicians because they perform before been this great. "For a long time gyn, also recently out of her residency abortions." there was a sense that safe, legal abortions and now in private practice in south Such pressure has, understandably, taken were being done by a subset of doctors, Florida, stated that she, too, would only its toll. Patricia Anderson, special projects and if that's being taken care of, why perform abortions for longterm patients. director at NAF, first noticed a shortage should I do it? That's been fine up until Not wanting to link her prac- of doctors willing to perform abortions recently." tice with in 1988 when NAF members began Thomas Easterling, associate professor abortion's at- calling, looking for doctors to staff their in the ob/gyn department at the Univer- tendant con- clinics. At the time, Anderson remem- sity ofWashington in Seattle, agrees. troversy, bers, calls were coming in at a rate of "As we got an influx of people this doctor perhaps one or two a month. A notice- doing abortion in the spoke able trend then, she says. Now it's gotten communities, pat- only on worse. These days NAF fields such calls terns of care got t h e once or twice a week. condition Some attribute the current shortage to that her name the "graying phenomena" - — the aging not be used. and retirement of sympathetic phy- The sensitizing of ob/gyns sicians who witnessed firsthand and the training of abortion pro- the life and death effects viders is a complex issue, apart from of botched, il- the antiabortion timbre of the Reagan/ legal abortions Bush era and the scare tactics of antiabor- and dedi- tion groups. This probably owes some- c a t e d thing to the centralization of abortion themselves services in clinics, away from the learn- to provid- ing ground that hospital-based residency ing safe programs provide, as well as to low abortions to prestige and payment factors that may women in stem from abortion's illegal past — that need. By it was something' 'abortionists,'' not phy- itself, estab- sicians, performed. this lished. You knew Even more alarming is the disquieting "gray- who the providers were, lack of interest on the part of many ing" would not be so and there wasn't the driv- faculty physicians and ob/gyn residents, worrisome. It's to be ing need [for more]. This who perceive abortion as a relatively expected that a gen- was being taken care of. simple, rather humdrum procedure and eration of doctors will Things were too good to want to move on to more "exciting" eventually retire. The be true." surgeries. problem is that as these Now, however, many "By the end ofyour residency, it gets to doctors leave their prac- new ob/gyn physicians be routine to do abortions, and it gets tices, younger ob/gyns seem to be put offby pushed offto other people," says Bruder, are not stepping in be- the accompanying who during her residency at a New York hind them to take up the harassment. "It's hospital did the requisite number and slack. seen as a threat moved on. "It's not that difficult. They're to the rest of quick to do, and there are a lot more The Shrinking Pool of the practice be- fulfilling and exciting things to do than Abortion Providers cause of commu- abortions." The subject has found a nity pressure," MacKay But the fact is that first trimester abor- wide forum from the pages says. "They don't want to lose tion, even more than second trimester of Self to Family Planning patients because of pickets or articles abortion, is actually complex. Seemingly Perspectives and has been the in the paper." simple, the first trimester procedure, topic of many physician seminars. Now Karen Bruder is recently out of her which accounts for 89.4 percent of all that the country is seemingly on a more residency and now in private ob/gyn abortions according to the Alan liberal backswing from 12 years of con- practice in Newport News, Virginia. Guttmacher Institute, is fraught with servative rule, how is the medical com- She says that although she is prochoice, subtleties that experienced practitioners say can confound beginners. According munity going to address this glaring hole she will only perform abortions for estab- to Easterling, the first trimester learning in women's healthcare? lished patients who are using responsible birth control. And she keeps it on the q. t. curve flattens out at about 500 to 1,000 According to Trent MacKay, an asso- procedures, while the second trimester ciate clinical professor of obstetrics/gy- In her location, she has no wish to become known as an abortion provider. abortion learning curve is about 25 pro- necology at the University of California, Then, Bruder says, her practice would cedures. He described "more subtle, Davis, who firsthand "dealt with death consist of nothing else. intuitive, kinesthetic" nuances that can and complications from illegal abortions, 33 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 make learning to do first trimester abor- essential service that has to be available to healthcare, not just pregnancy termina- tion difficult to pick up. Plus, research women in a legal and safe manner, but I tion. In fact, she says that many of her conducted by Philip Damey, director of think it should be an option for the abortion requests come from older the family planning clinic at San Fran- person training as to whether they want women whom she says were originally cisco General Hospital, indicates that to do it or not." refused tubal ligations. "A lot of gyne- complication rates are higher when resi- "It's astounding when people tell you cologists will say, "I'm here to produce dents perform first trimester abortions that, because abortion is the most com- life, not terminate it," says Karlin. "Folks than when experienced doctors perform mon outpatient surgery women have," on medical school faculties don't look them. "That says to me that training is says NAF's Anderson. "You wonder toward the health of the mother, but to helpful," Damey says. what they're [learning]." a narrow view of gynecology. It doesn't Many attending physicians and resi- Easterling shed some light on the situ- occur to them that abortion is a natural dents also believe that if residents are ation: "[Abortion's] not felt to be at the part of life, unfortunate or not, and it taught D&C techniques to deal with core of ob/gyn. The core is normal and needs to be done and done well." miscarriages, they can then extrapolate high-risk obstetrics and outpatient and Training in abortion is actually re- the skills to perform abortions. Accord- operative gynecology." quired of all ob/gyn residency programs ing to experienced ob/gyns, that's not Liz Karlin, an internist in Madison, seeking accreditation, according to particularly accurate. States Damey: Wisconsin who performs first trimester Bruder, a former junior fellow on the "D&C is a lousy way to do an abortion." abortions, agrees. "What residents are Residency Review Committee for Ob- Says Easterling: "It's the same proce- learning is hysterectomies, cryosurgery, stetrics and Gynecology. The trouble is, dure for dealing with miscarriages, so in cancer operations, chemotherapy — the language of the ob/gyn specialty theory they have the skills. The problem requirements states that ob/gyn residents is you need another set of skills to be an The need for demonstrate proficiency in "family plan- effective, safe abortionist. It helps to have ning." There is no mention of abortion, the training. It's perceived as a simple abortion providers and the language is vague enough to procedure, but there are real risks. Plus, allow programs to skirt the issue. "It's the physical part of doing the abortion is has never before meant to include abortion, but it's not only half of it. The other part is emo- specific," Bruder says. She adds that if tional — dealing with loss, the guilt, been this great programs leave out abortion, that simply hopelessness is at least half of what's opens the door to begin leaving out important when teaching abortion." operation-based specialties. Residents other components of medical practice Yet despite its complexities and the fact don't see abortion as a prime area." that residents either aren't interested in that abortion remains women's number So, how does the number one women's learning or doctors don't feel like teach- one outpatient surgery, a recent survey outpatient surgical procedure vanish from ing. "If you're going to be an ob/gyn, conducted by MacKay revealed that as of the teaching curricula? Simply put, lack you need to know the whole breadth of 1991 (the last year for which data is of motivation on the part of ob/gyn the specialty, even if you're not going to available) only 12.4 percent of respond- program faculty to institute training and do it later." ing ob/gyn residency programs provide teach the procedure. According to Fam- "Every residency program in ob/gyn first trimester abortion training as a rou- ily Planning Perspectives, a survey con- should not only offer it, but make it a tine part of study. MacKay had sent out ducted shortly after abortion was legal- routine part of training," Darney says. 268 surveys and received an 85 percent ized revealed that many university de- "They should not force it over religious response. This reflects a 53 percent drop in partments had not fully integrated elec- objections, but also not simply require the number of programs offering routine tive abortion training into their pro- the person who wanted it to do it in their first trimester training since 1976 when grams. A follow-up study done fiveyear s spare time. Residents work 80-100 hours 26.3 percent of programs provided it. later reported litde improvement. That a week. There is no spare time." MacKay's study also discovered that study revealed that 20 to 40 percent of all But because the RRC is not a punitive 56.4 percent of ob/gyn programs offer ob/gyn residents had no clinical experi- body, it can only cite programs for being optional training in first trimester abor- ence in first trimester abortion. delinquent if they do not offer abortion tion, a 14 percent increase since 1985 "After 1970 when New York legalized training. And although the RCC can when the last data was collected. At first abortion and 1973 [when abortion was rescind a program's accreditation, which glance, one might say optional training is legalized nationwide], hospitals were not means the resident's work with that certainly better than no training at all. eager to add abortion to their curricula," program will not count toward her or his However, another study conducted in says Alex Sanger, president and CEO of board requirements, according to Bruder, 1987 by Darney indicates that when Planned Parenthood of New York City. it takes a lot more than the absence of training is optional, rather than required, "The staff objected. There's a small mi- abortion training to lose accreditation. residents tend to opt out. nority of gynecologists who have strong Interestingly, abortion is the only medi- Catherine Budd is a first-year ob/gyn prolife feelings. And doctors being a cal procedure taught that residents are resident at Thomas Jefferson University collegial club, those who are prochoice currendy permitted to excuse them- Hospital in Philadelphia and a mother of don't want to offend them." selves from learning. And moral dilem- two. Budd says that although she is Apart from simple antiabortion senti- mas aside, directing an ob/gyn residency prochoice, she is personally uncomfort- ment, Karlin says she's experienced a program in which abortion is not offered able with abortion and is not interested in pervasive "pronatalist attitude" that cuts at all or merely as an optional component learning the procedure. "I think it's an across all facets of women's reproductive of the study of women's reproductive

34 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 healthcare sends a disturbing message end result is that hospital-based residents general and the medical community in that abortion is not an important proce- actually have little opportunity to prac- particular will go a long way toward dure, especially when the control of tice the procedure. The logical solution helping retain abortion providers. "It's one's reproductive life is considered a is to send the residents to where abor- going to be easier if there's a sense of core tenet of women's self-actualization tions are performed — clinics. organized support," says MacKay. "Not and liberation. The responsibility lies According to Darney, however, many only has the federal government been a with the faculty doctors and program program heads also object to their resi- negative factor, but the American Medi- heads who create and staff the curricula. dents moonlighting in abortion clinics. cal Association, which might have been According to the south Florida ob/gyn, "Residents should be given opportuni- supportive, has not been supportive." receiving training in abortion "depends ties to work in freestanding clinics if And restructuring the clinic model so on whether the doctors in the program that's where the training is available," he that doctors have more than minimal are providers. You do what the doctors says. "Programs should develop relation- contact with the patients, may alter the on staff do because you learn their cases. ships with these clinics." perception that abortion is unfulfilling If they do abortions, you do them." Planned Parenthood of New York work, not worthy of a physician's time If attending physicians lead, residents City has developed such a program. and interest. "Part of the gratification will undoubtedly follow. In fact, Darney's Started in September 1992, at the cost of you get is realizing how much you're study also revealed that if program heads approximately $300,000, it's certainly helping the person involved. And you expect their residents to participate in not the first to provide links between don't get that when you do it in a factory abortion training, most usually do. But hospitals and abortion clinics — Ver- mode," Easterling says. "You're the one again, it goes back to a desire to teach the mont Women's Health Center, and for that hurt them and all you did was hurt procedure. MacKay says that of the 268 them. You're the most obvious person ob/gyn residency programs in this coun- There's been a to transfer emotions to. The counselors try, only 20 to 25 have doctors on staff get all the strokes." with a "real serious interest in abortion." resurgence of But if ob/gyns continue to avoid train- The good news on this front, however, ing in and then performing abortions, is that the Accreditation Council is con- self-help groups there may be other medical and lay sidering changing its specialty require- people who will shoulder the load. Says ments to include the words "induced years many private practices have offered Karlin, "Eventually, if gynecologists feel abortion." According to Bruder, this residents the opportunity to moonlight that it's not their area of interest, family discussion has come up from time to time to gain abortion training. But with its practitioners will take over, and they're over the last two years. But when the solid network of clinics, Planned Parent- more receptive to this as general RRC met in January, she said the com- hood is in a position to provide other healthcare. The presumption is mittee discussed it at length. "The RRC opportunities as well. According to [abortion's] a filthy job and someone has wants programs and residents to know Sanger, the program is open to third- got to do it, but it's far more rewarding that we consider abortion a necessary year ob/gyn and family planning resi- and exciting than internal medicine." part of training. This gives it the force to dents and provides both "didactic and Physicians' assistants have been per- state it specifically." clinical training." Residents spend one forming abortions at the Vermont "We are discussing making the lan- week or four Saturdays in Planned Par- Women's Health Center for more than guage more explicit to get the message enthood clinics. 20 years and teaching others to do it across that we think abortion is impor- Sanger admits a week isn't a long time. through a two-month community rota- tant," confirms Paul O'Connor, a Chi- "Having someone for a week doing 50 tion at the center. The University of cago, Illinois ob/gyn and a member ofth e procedures is a start. The idea is to have Vermont, which has no on-site abortion Accreditation Council. "It's an evolu- them continue when they get back to training, uses this clinic as a training tionary process, and we're slowly turn- their residencies. And if hospitals refuse ground forks second-year residents. The ing it around. But the committee is to go along, residents have to take mat- 1990 NAF/ACOG symposium also rec- reluctant to change without discussion, ters into their own hands." Sanger added ommended training mid-level clinicians, and it takes time." that residents are always welcome in nurse practitioners, andmidwives in abor- tion to replenish the pool of providers. Which brings us to the question of Planned Parenthood clinics, which have, Too, there's been a resurgence of self- adequate learning opportunities—some- along with many other clinics, felt the physician shortage, frequently having to help groups. These women-only groups thing that Damey found were severely cancel appointments if they cannot find tend to be involved in total healthcare, of lacking in many hospital-based ob/gyn replacements when doctors call in sick. which gynecological healthcare is a part. residency programs. It's not surprising. "Residents are part of the staff and from They are teaching themselves to perform Centralizing abortion in specialized and an administrative standpoint, we really menstrual extractions — early removal certainly more cost-effective clinics has need the doctors there." of the uterine contents using a home- meant that hospitals provide fewer abor- Three residents have already been made suction-aspiration device — as a tions. Only about 10 percent of abor- way of ensuring their independence from tions are currently performed in hospi- trained through this program. On June 18 the program was launched on a large- the frequently fickle medical establish- tals, while outpatient clinics handle ap- ment. proximately two-thirds of the proce- scale basis and Sanger hopes to train dures. Although Darney maintains that approximately 35 residents a year. Meanwhile, although the situation still this was not strictly economics, but also But in addition to training, seasoned a response to antiabortion pressure, the ob/gyns say support from the public in continued on pg 60

35 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 affiliate organizations deem to be a more receptive (i.e., more socially conserva- tive) climate. In fact, 83 percent of counties in the U.S. have no abortion provider. The right to abortion may still exist on paper, but if abortion is not accessible, that right means nothing. To- day, for millions of young women faced with parental notification or consent laws, poor women who cannot get Medicaid funding, and women who live in those vast stretches of the country with no abortion provider, the right to abortion is a crueljoke. And O.R., et al., has declared its intention to increasingly target providers. In January 1993, O.R. set up a training school in Melbourne, on Florida's mid- Atlantic coast. (Other O.R. boot camps have been scheduled for other parts of the country.) The 12 women and 10 men ranged in age from 16 to 67 and tried out their newly-learned harassment tactics on clinics in a Blockades, Firebombs, Murder 150-mile radius. These tactics in- In Pensacola, Florida March 10, for the cluded picketing the homes, churches Only by our "crime" of providing abortions for and hangouts of doctors and other clinic women, antiabortion protestor Michael workers; stalking and harassing clinic massively mobilizing Griffith shot Dr. David Gunn in the back workers and "counseling" their children as he was about to enter the Pensacola about the "morality" of abortion; and against the "antis" Medical Services Clinic. Gunn's murder, getting information on staff and patients while a leap in the level of reactionary by sifting through public records. will their attacks violence directed at women and those Melbourne's Aware Woman clinic was who assist them in their reproductive the target for many of their field exer- be stopped choices, was on the same continuum as cises. firebombing clinics, stalking providers, On Easter weekend, typically a time blockading medical facilities and assault- for major actions by the antiabortionists, ing women who try to enter them. these trainees were due to "graduate," In the wake of the murder, I traveled to their final exams being clinic blockades. Florida to participate in clinic defense Prochoice forces in Melbourne, assisted efforts and learned firsthand about the by the Fund for a Feminist Majority, state of siege which besets these clinics called on people for clinic defense. So, at and their staffs every day. I also met some 6 a.m. April 10, I found myself linking truly heroic women and men who are on arms in a human defense line with se- the front lines of the abortion battle and veral hundred other women and men who are determined not to give an inch. outside the Aware Woman clinic. I While somewhat concentrated in talked to a blond 13-year-old youth Florida, the situation is similar in a num- whose mother is a family-planning edu- ber of places, particularly smaller and cator at the clinic. He told me how he medium-sized cities where there are fewer had been accosted at a Burger King abortion providers to begin with, a less restaurant by several O.R. women who developed and active prochoice move- told him his mother would "bum in ment, and where there exists what Op- hell" for working at the clinic. His family By Mary Lou Greenberg eration Rescue (O.R.) or any of their has also received numerous threatening

36 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 phone calls. "But I support my mother," still petrified. been under another siege. While Gunn's he said, "and she supports me coming Sometimes O.R. has tried another tac- murder sent shock waves everywhere, in out here to defend the clinic." tic to intimidate patients. In Florida, Pensacola it had an immediate chilling Medical personnel in white uniforms anyone evidently can get a car owner's effect. When the president of Escambia came out to bolster the defense lines, and name by calling an office and giving the County NOW (which includes I asked one nurse what her reaction had license plate number. When a man drives Pensacola) announced plans for a dem- been to the news that Gunn had been a woman to the clinic, the antis quickly onstration, she received threats on her killed. She paused, then said, "I still can't get this information, print the man's lite and resigned. John Baumgardner, a talk about it, it's too upsetting." She said name on a placard, and hold it up while grand dragon of Florida's Invisible Em- she was particularly concerned for her the woman is still inside! Also, Baird- pire of the Ku Klux Klan, told the children. One day her nine-year-old Windel's clinic is one of the 60 nation- Pensacola News Journal that he "under- daughter opened the door to two well- wide which have been sprayed with stands" why an abortion opponent would dressed people. "Your mother's a killer," foul-smelling butyric acid, requiring the kill to "defend his beliefs." "If Christians they told her. "She murders babies. You clinic to close and everything to be really believe abortions are murder," must make her stop." But this nurse, like thoroughly cleaned to get rid of the Baumgardner said, in not-so-subtle other clinic personnel on the lines that smell. encouragement to his fol- day, was determined not to back Despite a strict injunction which sup- lowers, "they need to

down. She pointed at the "antis" who were beginning to gather on the other side of the street and said, "All this just makes me stronger. When clinic owner Patricia Baird- Windel came out to speak to the defenders and to the press, she was ac- companied by a bodyguard. She said that since February 7, the clinic's 800 number p o s e d ly had been jammed with some 10,000 prohibits O.R. from blockading, crank and threatening calls. On the day leafleting or getting within 36 feet of Gunn's murder she got several phone of the clinic or personnel, O.R. has threats, including one from a male who not been deterred. In fact, they pur- said, "God is going to get you. You're chased a house across from Aware going to get waxed tonight." "I don't Woman for $48,000 cash and have know what 'waxed' means," she said, announced plans for a "counseling" but "I presume he meant I was going to center there. The only thing that pre- be killed." One man called pretending to vented them from blockading Aware be a reporter for USA Today to try to get Woman over Easter was the massed information from her. strength of several hundred clinic de- While Baird-Windel remains firmly fenders. Across the country, experience committed and has vowed to do every- has proven that only by massively mobi- thing possible to keep her clinic open, lizing against the antis, by stepping up to the front lines to defend clinics and the do something about it — not just chain several doctors who worked there quit themselves to a door." after Gunn's murder, and some of her women who go there, will O.R. attacks be stopped. John Burt is head of a group called patients have begged to have their medi- Rescue America which was demonstra- cal records destroyed out of fear that From Melbourne to Pensacola ting outside Pensacola Medical Services O.R. will break in and steal them. North and west from Melbourne into "There's no way they can get them,' continued on pg 54 Baird-Windel said, but the women are the Florida panhandle, Pensacola has 37 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 IACIST, SEXIST ANTI-GAY tf How the Religious Right Helped Defeat Iowa's ERA By Heather Rhoads

38 paign organizer Cynthia Terrell. "Polls indicated that the majority of people voted against it simply out of uncer- Pat Robertson tainty, not necessarily out of a belief in sent out his now infamous the rabid agenda of the Eagle Forum or fundraising appeal for the Stop ERA Pat Robertson." Committee last summer declaring that Terrell asserts that the equality cam- feminism "encourages women to leave paign tactic of presenting Iowans with rch-conservative their husbands, kill their children, prac- personal stories of discrimination was Phyllis Schlafly and tice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and quite successful. "Voters seem to have long-time ERA propo- become lesbians," the Iowa Women's really responded to the material on the nent Ellie Smeal came Equality Campaign hurriedly faxed cop- wage gap, the fact that a [male] high head-to-head in Iowa ies of the letter to the national press, school drop-out makes more money on last year, where "shock- feeling certain that publicizing what they average than a female college graduate," ing" commercials of considered "absurd" accusations would she says. "That kind of thing if we had gay men embracing marked the shifting help their cause. more time and money we could have put landscape in the century-old struggle for But like the anti-gay fight in Colorado, out there more in the media and door- women's equality. provoking homophobic hysteria proved to-door canvasses." "Homophobia defeated us," concedes to be a winning strategy for the Religious Still, the lesbian-baiting, along with Harriet Trudell of the Feminist Majority Right. Although polls initially showed charges that the ERA would "destroy Foundation, one ofth e several women's Iowa's equal rights clause with more than the family" and lead to gays kissing in the organizations campaigning for the pas- 80 percent approval, by election day talk streets, contributed significantly to its sage ofthestate'sEqual Rights Amend- of gay marriages, adoption rights, and defeat, as Iowa feminists were either ment. "People were terrorized by even "hiring quotas" under the ERA unable or unwilling to address those the whole litany that the Robertson- succeeded in catching the spotlight and arguments. Officially attempting to keep Schlafly forces said would happen stirring up enough fear to kill the refer- the debate focused on discrimination when 'those degenerates' took endum 52 to 48 percent, a difference of against women, ERA campaigners as- over." a mere 45,000 votes. sured voters "those things wouldn't hap- As the first public ERA refer- pen" but avoided challenging the mis- endum in the country in six Same-Sex Marriages Under ERA? representations and stereotypes of lesbi- years, Iowa's vote rejecting While the Stop ERA camps declared ans and gays. women's inclusion in the state victory (and even sang "Ding dong the "I was working with older women, constitution was a grim re- wicked witch is dead" at its Des Moines and a woman at Meals-on-Wheels told minder of how easily the headquarters election night), feminist me her minister said ifthe y supported the , Right uses anti-gay senti- organizers pointed out that their share of ERA, homosexuals would take over her i ments to block women's votes increased substantially from the church," Trudell recalled. "I certainly k liberation — and a signal state's last voter ballot on the issue—a 44 told her that would not happen." i that the feminist move- percent approval rate in 1980 — in some Many campaigners, she said, consid- ment must confront rural countries gaining more than eight ered the whole anti-gay sideshow a' 'prob- ihomophobia both percentage points. The pro-ERA forces lem area." Promoting gay rights through L within its organizations did amazingly well considering Iowa is a the ERA was seen as risky, and at the \ and in the larger soci- major Christian Coalition stronghold— time legally suspect, Terrell noted: "There L ety if any real gains for with a base built on Robertson's primary was no legal precedence for any gay \ women are to be win here in his 1988 Presidential bid. marriage being legitimized by ERA, so Lmade. "We won handily in most of the major intellectually we couldn't say 'Yes, this is going to help gays and lesbians.' That When the Rev. cities," notes Women's Equality Cam-

39 created the tension." accusations would become the women in their homes, about incest, But a recent ailing by Hawaii's Su- campaign's focus. Oregon's "No on 9" about child abuse. They're attacking re- preme Court that the ban on gay mar- campaign worked to create an atmo- productive rights, public support for riages violates the state's ERA could sphere where people who were strongly childcare programs, parental leave, and "change the whole landscape of the anti-gay could still vote against the mea- equity for women." debate," says Ronnie Podolefsky, coor- sure by promoting the messages "no on The Religious Right now occupies a dinator of the Northeast Iowa National discrimination," and "it's a danger to us particularly good position to attack the Organization of Women. The 3-1 de- all." In$l million worth of media adver- gains of the women's movement, the cision calling marriage a' 'basic civil right" tising, the campaign never used the words lesbian and gay movement, and the civil could have implications beyond Hawaii, "lesbian" and "gay," because polls showed rights movement through its political since each state recognizes marriages they couldn't win as a lesbian and gay issue. ascendancy in important second- and performedin otherstates. "It won'tmatter "This gave the appearance that we had third-tier governing levels throughout if a state has an ERA because lesbian and much to hide, that we were afraid to talk the country. Christian conservatives have gay couples will be able to go to Hawaii about real issues," notes Suzanne Pharr, won hundreds of seats on school boards, to get married," she notes. author of Homophobia: A Weapon of Sex-neighborhood advisory committees, city More importantly, the decision finally ism. "What you have to do is education: councils, and state legislatures, establish- shows that ERA-backers cannot con- You have to change the hearts and minds ing key power bases state by state. Al- tinue to deny the connection, much like of people so they understand that it's ready, school systems from New York how the 1986 Connecticut case uphold- about gay men and lesbians, and it's about to California are throwing out ing state funds for abortion legally linked multiculturalism, sexual development equal rights for women to reproductive Unless they want a courses and evolution. rights. While the women's movement Even Republicans are feeling the Re- has faced homophobic attacks for de- church state, they're ligious Right's growing control within cades in its struggles for everything from going to have to get out the party. In addition to taking strong pay equity to ending sexual harassment anti-ERA and anti-gay positions last year and abuse, middle-of-the-road feminists there and fight back — marking a shift from the party's century have historically been reluctant to openly of official silence on such issues — the embrace lesbian and gay rights,an d have democracy, and it's about civil rights for GOP adopted the toughest antiabortion even worked against having abortion everyone, and it's about attacks against platform plank ever, even forbidding and gay rights "lumped together." affirmative action, and it's also about ending pregnancies due to incest or rape. In fact, Iowa legislators wording the attacks against reproductive choice." "These people are diehards," warns ERA amendment attempted to avoid Ann Stone of Republicans for Choice. the gay rights debate by referring to The Rising Right "They are well-organized, and all they equality based on "gender" rather than Iowa's ERA defeat is a perfect example do is fight. We have to get people to "sex." But Evan Wolfson, an attorney of how the Religious Right's intensify- understand that unless they want a church with the Lambda Legal Defense and ing crusade against lesbians and gays is a state, they're going to have to get out Education Fund working on the Hawaii strategy to advance their broader there and fight back. Forget about gay case, argues that an ERA should provide agenda—abolishing reproductive rights, rights and abortion rights in the kind of protection from discrimination based on ending affirmative action programs for society they have in mind." sexual orientation, since gender discrimi- people of color and women, maintaining The Religious Right's resurging suc- nation is one of the forms heterosexism Eurocentrism in academia and an "En- cess vindicates the 1988 decision by the often takes. glish-only" society, cutting funding for Christian Coalition — Pat Robertson's Podolefsky admits that the pro-ERA public education and libraries, censoring $13 million, 725 chapter, 400,000 mem- forces haven't "tackled the issues" well books and art, mandating prayer in ber political empire — to shift its drive enough. Feminists who are afraid of schools and government, and teaching from presidential to local elections. Join- muddying up the waters and who think only abstinence and creationism. ing forces with other right-wing "fam- they don't understand lesbian and gay The New Right has recast itself as the ily" groups such as the Eagle Forum, the realities have "tip-toed around" too new oppressed minority; its leaders as Traditional Values Coalition, and Citi- much. "This same thing has been fought revolutionaries seeking to recreate the zens for Excellence in Education, the over and over again, and people knew world they imagine existed before femi- fundamentalists have created a religious that arguments were going to be used nism and the civil rights movement. junta to mount their escalating attacks on against it," she points out. Adds Terrell: "While gays and lesbians represent a lesbians, gays and feminists — which "We needed to have a more creative, wedge for the Religious Right to pen- Robertson calls the "Second Civil War." positive response." etrate the mainstream and to build their As much as a third of the U.S. public is Last year's Colorado and Oregon cam- official entities and institutions, the point evangelical Christian, and the far right is paigns against anti-gay ballot measures of that wedge is racism and sexism," working hard to convert their "wor- have come under similar criticisms. asserts Scot Nakagawa, organizer of the ship" into active political participation. Colorado's Equal Protection Only cam- National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's In Iowa, it was simply a matter of the paign decided not to respond to such Fight the Right campaign. Religious Right turning out large num- inflammatory condemnations as gays When fundamentalists talk about up- bers at precinct meetings to take control being "promiscuous pedophiliacs" lead- holding "traditional family values," he of the state's Republican committee and ing a "diseased lifestyle," fearing the says, "they're talking about the battery of platform, thereby making it the most

40 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 reactionary in the country. This, in turn, things, even though their "average income" lesbians, gays and physicians who per- greatly influenced the ERA, local races, is $55,000 and they 're " 13 times more likely" form abortions would be subject to the and the Iowa state legislature—which is than straights to be Frequent Fliers. Even death penalty. And even heterosexual now stacked with Christian Coalition worse, according to the Right's most bigoted "adulterers" — anyone who has sex candidates. distortion, they are "targeting children." outside of marriage — would be im- The fundamentalists' fire-power lies in Many of these same scare tactics also led prisoned. their basic political organizing: Identify- to the demise of the last ERA referen- On the national level, Christian Coali- ing supporters, registering them to vote, dum. In 1986 in Vermont, the "ERA- tion leaders are already gearing up for and even taking them to the polls, ex- Gay-AIDS connection" slogan and dire 1994 mid-term elections, expecting even plains John Buchanan of People for the warings of homosexuals' blood in blood lower voter turnout and lighter press American Way. They typically organize banks played on the same fears as are now scrutiny to help their cause. Their candi- through churches, leafleting Sunday park- being used against gays in the military. dates and organizers typically obscure ing lots and prompting ministers to back The Right has also banked on unfounded their fundamentalist affiliations and avoid candidates fromth e pulpit. Detailed cam- threats of veterans losing their benefits public appearances and debate, admit- paign "war maps" at Oregon Citizen's under both the ERA and lifting the gay ting that secrecy is their best weapon. So Alliance attest to a vast network of genu- military ban. while the Religious Right claims its far- ine grassroots backing throughout die Such "holy war" tactics are particularly ranging conservative agenda represents mosdy-rural state. "It is the goal of die effective in channeling working-class the true American "mainstream," its lead- Christian Coalition to do that all over the discontent and raising funds for the far ers in fact realize that most Christians are country," warns Buchanan. unaware of the extent of their plans. Widi such a strategy, assisted no doubt Christian Anti-gay ballot measures have drawn by the $2-billion broadcasting ministry, open support from hard-line white su- the Religious Right will become "the conservatives have premacists. The Ku Klux Klan has rallied most powerful political force in the na- won hundreds of to "get all the gays out of Colorado," and tion by the end of this decade," declares Aryan Nation skinheads are urging "death Robertson: "Our mission is to mobilize seats on school for homosexuals" in many states. Al- Christians one at a time until we once though gay-bashing has skyrocketed, the again are the head and not the tail." boards and neigh- more extremist rhetoric is hurting the borhood advisory Religious Right's cause overall, notes Racist, Sexist, Anti-Gay... Amy Divine of the Colorado Springs- It is vital diat feminists see the connection committees based Citizens's Project. "Groups like between women's equality, reproduc- Colorado for Family Values are working tive freedom, and lesbian and gay rights, Right's broader agenda by positioning hard to separate themselves from that," for the fundamentalists surely do. Like it feminists, lesbians and gay men as scape- she says. "It's the moderate tone that is so or not, anti-woman forces will continue goats for the "moral and financial dete- dangerous and winning." to portray feminists as "men-hating baby rioration" of society. The Religious Progressive activists are realizing the killers," and ignoring the issue will not Right's current propaganda campaigns potential of exposing the far Right's make it go away. have clear parallels to Nazi stereotypes of stealth and true agenda. "They are like The dramatic similarities of the Stop Jews as rich, greedy merchants and cockroaches," said veteran prochoice ERA campaign and the Colorado and harken to the 1950s' lynch mobs and Republican Eileen Padberg, who helped Oregon anti-gay initiatives — and the racial slurs against African-Americans also oust Christian Coalition school board thinly-veiled racism underlying all the wanting "special rights." members in California. "When you shine rhetoric—reveal just how the Religious Pharrpoints out that the Right's careful a light on them, they scurry back into the Right ties die issues together. use of phrases evokes lingering racial fears woodwork." In Iowa, Stop ERA leaflets declared in white Americans. "It's not that people that the "militant feminists" were "so in this country are afraid that one, or 10, Calling All Clinic Defenders! rabid about passing die ERA" because or 50 percent of us are going to take their The women's movement has much to they want to "teach homosexuality in jobs," she explains. "Their terror is about learn and gain from the growing lesbian sex education classes without any indica- people of color and affirmative action, and and gay liberation movement. Likewise, tion it is wrong;" "force landlords to rent women and affimiative action, which also feminists survivors of the 1980s' backlash to [lesbians and gays] homes or apart- linked to that racist fear." and abortion wars can contribute impor- ments;" and get "taxpayer funding of Cloaked in soft-sell homophobia and tant insights to die current struggle against homosexual groups on college cam- anti-feminism for the 1990s are the deep the Religious Right. puses ." Women already have equal rights, roots of the Religious Right's ideology. Perhaps realizing defeat on die abor- ERA foe Phyllis Schlafly declared, but The fundamentalist "dominion theol- tion front, Operation Rescue's Randall the "femi-Nazis" want "special protec- ogy" spearheading the current political Terry has begun shifting his focus prima- tions" and are "recruiting" women from attacks are based in the "Recon- rily to attacking lesbians and gays. Anti- their loving husbands. structionist" movement, which seeks to abortion activists have long singled out "rebuild American government" with "militant homosexual groups" such as In Colorado and Oregon — and now laws derived from a literal interpretation ACT UP and Queer Nation as top throughout the country — anti-gay bro- of the Old Testament. Under the legal enemies, and clinic defenders are no chures assert it is the "militant homosexuals" system envisioned by Reconstructionists, strangers to lesbian-baiting. who want "special rights" to all these 41 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 In his first solely anti-gay action, Terry growing, and that's going to lead to more network in almost every state — the mailed out an election-time appeal to extreme and visible activity," says Di- Battered Women's Coalition. "What Christians to vote against Clinton, citing vine. In mid-March, key OR player Pat other group is represented in small towns scripture at length but mentioning noth- Mahoney and other Christian Defense or cities all over the country and has a 15- ing about abortion. Declaring Clinton Coalition leaders held a "war council" in year history of work against sexism, the "Anti-Christ," Terry recentlyjoined racism, and homophobia?" forces with the Christian Coalition in a One of the strongest organizing tactics movement he calls "the Resistance" to The New Right has to come out of the Oregon campaign, hold public anti-gay demonstrations recast itself as the new Pharr's outreach to shelters across the across the country. state helped create "Human Dignity" Just as the Stop ERA campaign very oppressed minority organizations in 33 towns which are still effectively mobilized Iowa's vast prolife working for justice and standing up network to distribute its anti-gay propa- Washington, DC to map out their "political against the Religious Right. Likewise, ganda, on a national basis the Religious terrorism" against lesbian and gay rights. the women's movement has been Right has already enlisted abortion foes Reproductive rights activists familiar strengthened in many ways by the Iowa in its full-force campaign against lesbians with the prolifers' tactics, strategies and ERA defeat, as feminists are challenging and gays in the military. With Terry networks throughout the country can their own homophobia and realizing more coming into the anti-gay "movement," use this knowledge in countering the and more that open support for lesbians and many activists predict Operation Res- Right's latest attack on lesbians and gays. gays will ultimately help the cause. cue-style protests against lesbians and During her work in Oregon, Pharr real- Pharr asserts that progressives of all gays. "The sense of moral outrage is ized that our side, too, has an existing stripes must now come together like never before. "We have to focus on building a movement, which means we VIDEO WARS have to stop responding crisis to crisis," she says. "We have to stop putting out Like the graphic fetus pictures of the anti- Truths" is a one-hour educational tape ex- brush fires, seeing them as isolated inci- abortion movement, Religious Right forces posing the fundamentalists' far-reaching po- dents rather than being pieces of some- are now using increasingly sophisticated and litical agenda and libelous hate propaganda thing connected with a vision, and leam harmful propaganda in their declared "holy and offering positive images of gay and lesbian how to use those crises, that kind of war" against lesbians and gays. "Shocking" youth, families, violence and religious com- publicity, all over the country." footage from gay pride parades — and scien- munities. The Colorado Citizen's Project, Di- tific vilification by "experts" — is featured in Activists "fighting the right" across the coun- vine notes, a predominandy heterosexual, commercials and videos appearing in every try have now jumped on the video band- pro-gay group, often has an easier time state facing pro- or anti-gay legislation. wagon, vying for cable access and coordinat- doing grassroots education and reaching Religious Right leaders sent one particularly ing "town meetings" to view and discuss the out to the mainstream than lesbian- and virulent anti-gay video, "The Gay Agenda," tapes. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against gay-identified groups. "People look at which portrays homosexuals as "disease-in- Defamation is distributing its 19-minute tape, us and say 'Why are you involved with fested child molesters," to every member of "The Fundamentalist Obsession," to "show this?' That's a natural platform, because Congress and the Joint Chiefs of Staff within Middle America the truth." The tape rebuts it's not vested interest based on person- days of Clinton's pledge to lift the ban on gays the Religious Right's sterotypes and lies and is ally being persecuted, but vested interest in the military. That tape was remarkably "clean enough for the local PTA." And a in civil rights." effective in Colorado and Oregon, where group of Hollywood producers have com- And heterosexuals are most needed in anti-gay organizers mass distributed more piled "Support and Defend: Homosexuals' helping to create a positive climate for than 10,000 copies to local churches, teach- Role in the Military," available through the lesbians and gays to come out, so they ers, community activists, legislators, neigh- Human Rights Campaign Fund. can begin breaking down the lies and borhood advisory committees and school Even MTV is doing its part, airing public stereotypes. "I've certainly always sup- board members. service announcements from the National ported the rights of gays and lesbians, but Fundamentalists are now nationally broad- Anti-Violence Campaign on gay bashing and I never made it a part of my conversation casting "The Gay Agenda" and have delivered hate crimes. "As more copies of "The Gay at cocktail parties with a mission, as I did it to almost every legislator in the country. Agenda" and other hate propaganda are cir- for the civil rights movement," says Touring with the tape town by town, leaders culated, the number of lies and distortions Trudell. "Lesbians and gays must stand of "family values" organizations have easily increase throughout the nation," notes up for their rights, but heterosexuals convinced millions of Americans that "gay GLEMC director Ann Northrup, a former must also stand and say 'for shame.' I power is growing" — and it must be stopped. CBS news producer. "We must meet the really believe that, and I'm now practi- Realizing the desperate need for a reply Religious Right on the media battleground." cing it. I came out of Iowa with that as tape, media professionals in collaboration The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's an absolute mission. That's what Schlafly with national social justice and civil rights 120-page "Fight the Right" Action Kit lists did for me." • advocacy groups formed the Gay Lesbian addresses for the above organizations as well Emergency Media Campaign in January to as many other resources. Contact NGLTF, Heather Rhoads has covered the Religious counter the escalating fear and violence. 1734 14th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009, RightforThe Progressive. She writes regu- GLEMC's newly released "Sacred Lives, Civil (202) 332-6483. — H.R. larly about women's issues and activism for the alternative press.

42 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 CRIMES, CIRCULATION AND SALES An Interview with Helen Benedict You can always sell a sensational story, but that doesn't mean you're actually satisfying the public By Fred Pelka

Helen Benedict wasn't able to cover sex You can find the other myths out there stantly having to deal with the macho crimes when she started out as a staff too, if you read your newspaper closely attitude. The women are often flirted reporter for Weekly News of London — enough: That women provoke rape, with and disparaged, and the men are it wasn't permitted. Crime reporting, that rapists are usually working class or tested. It's almost like the military, and after all, has until very recently been a men of color, that some women even when you're a crime reporter you've got man's job. deserve rape. The central thesis of to play that game. "The tradition was that women weren't Benedict's book is that the press, playing allowed to work on that beat, because it to these myths, divides survivors into Were there any particular news stories or was considered too gruesome for their two broad categories, despoiled victims events that sparked the writing of the book, or sensibilities.You're supposed to be able or deserving whores, and then imposes was it a more subtle process? to look at a mutilated body and not "a set of mental and verbal cliches on the Well, there were several things. Con- flinch." sex crimes they cover.. .forcing the crimes cretely, it was the Jennifer Levin "Prep- Benedict has spent the 15 yean since into proscribed shapes, regardless of the pie Murder" case that gave me the idea. then writing books and articles on crime, specifics of the case or their own beliefs." As I started to read about the case, and particularly rape, for publications as var- And so, for example, the survior of the how she was being covered by the New ied as Glamour, Quill, Ms., and the Soho Big Dan gang rape in Massachusetts York Times, I just became so angered at News. Her books, Safe, Strong, and became an alcoholic welfare mother, the bias against her that I began to really Streetwise; Recovery: How to Survive Sexual and William Kennedy Smith's accuser notice the language. The headlines in the Assault; and most recently, Virgin or Vamp: was characterized as a social climber. tabloids were obvious and predictable, How the Press Covers Sex Crimes (re- I spoke with Benedict on two occa- but the New York Times, which is sup- viewed in this issue), have earned her sions for a total of two hours. What posed to be more careful, was commit- accolades from both the feminist and follows is an edited transcript of those ting the same sins, in a more subtle and mainstream press. She is also a published conversations. insidious way. In an article on the lifestyle novelist {A World Like This, about life in of the two preppies Levin was described prison), and a noted literary critic and Fred Pelka: In what way is crime reporting as naive, implying the victim didn't know something she should have. But in a biographer {Portraits in Print). seen as a macho field? more general way I had already been I read Virgin and Vamp just as the press Helen Benedict: To be a police re- porteryou're supposed to be tough. And writing about rape and sexual assault for launched into its latest rape fad — false- many years, and trained as a counselor as memory syndrome — demonstrating it's very important to be able to get on with the cops, who themselves are a very part of my research for my firstbook , and the truth of Benedict's observation that had already been feeling strongly about all the old rape myths are still with us: In traditional male group in their values.... I send my students out to do police the various injustices to which sex crime this case that women (and now children) victims are subject. cry rape out ofspite , or simple gullibility. reporting every fall, and they're con-

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 43 I was struck by your comment on how, while the same old questions about the believ- advancing any agenda than goosing the de- we expect sports writers to know something ability ofth e victim that I talk about in the clining circulation figures of American daily about sports, and political writers to know book. And then Anita Hill happened newspapers. Do you see a major factor, or a something about politics, it seems as though after my book, which raised awareness in partial factor here? pretty much anybody can cover a rape trial, a lot of cases, and it also raised a defensive I think people tend to confuse the way knowing little or nothing about rape. Is that backlash.... publishers think with the way reporters the fault of journalism schools, or editors, or think. Reporters, and even editors, are tradition? It seems there are fashions or trends in press mostly concerned about the credibility It's both the fault of journalism schools coverage, for instance the issue of whether or not of their story. They're not thinking, "I'll and of newsrooms. A lot of journalists the press should publish the names of rape name this victim and it'll make more don't go tojournalism school. But aware- victims without their consent arises periodi- money." I don't happen to think that's ness of what sex crimes actually are, why cally. Why the naming issue in particular, of true, I think it's in the details of how the they happen, what they do to people and all issues around rape? story is done, how candid the interview- their families, and the games that the Well it came up when it did because of ing is; the name is actually fairly mean- lawyers play, the strategies that they use, Geneva Overholser [editor of the Des ingless. It is to the reader, anyway — of are not taught anywhere. Crime report- Moines Register]. In 1991 she ran an edi- course it's anything but meaningless to ing is very often the first beat that you're torial arguing why it was a good idea for the woman.... given when you join a newspaper, so it's One question that gets asked is that often the greenest reporters who are Reporters love with all this attention and sensitivity and doing it, and who are also scrabbling the carefulness being paid to the victim, hardest to get some attention and riseu p names more you're just making the accused man look the ladder. So they're working very hard, more and more guilty. And I do think they haven't got much experience, and than anything, that once you become the subject of a they've entered the tradition of the most news story, as someone who is accused macho type of reporting, other than because they're of a crime, you look guilty no matter sports, that exists on the paper. They always afraid what, just by virtue of being there. And have all those pressures, and nobody that even if you're acquitted, and the even thinking of training them about the that people will acquittal is written-up extensively, you points of view of the victim. So they still look guilty. But I think that being perpetuate all these stereotypes, and don't think they've unjust to the victim of the crime is not question things, and don't realize what the way to redress the injustices done to they're doing.... One of my suggestions made things up the accused. Punishing her doesn't help is that news reporters get some sensitivity rape victims to agree to be named, be- him, it just makes more people miser- training from the local rape crisis center, cause it helped expose the crime for what able. A lot of people see it as the victim that a rape crisis counselor be invited into it really was, and gave a face to the versus the accused, and that somehow the newsroom to do an in-service. In anonymous victim. And then because of you make things better for him by mak- some places that's already begun to hap- that, Nancy Ziegenmeyer, who was a ing things worse for her, but that really pen, for example at the Philadelphia In- rape victim, decided that she would come isn't the balance. For one thing, just quirer, where a woman reporter named forth and tell her story for the sake of because mere's an acquittal doesn'tmean Dianna Marder was bodiered by the way other victims. And so she did that, and the there wasn't a rape, maybe they got the the paper only covered the most spec- reporter who wrote up her story won a wrong guy, or maybe they didn't have tacular and unusual crimes, and missed Pulitzer for it, so there was a lot of fuss enough evidence. So the idea that some- the day-to-day reality of crime. I think about how this is a great thing. But the how if he's acquitted, then you can turn reporters also need to watch the vocabu- reason that story was so good is because the light on her and write more and lary they use, and to ask themselves: the woman was honest, and very graphic more unflattering things about her to Would I use this word for a man? And about what had happened to her, and the make him look better — this happened they need to do more background ar- paper allowed the reporter to give the in me Patricia Bowman case — is an ticles, instead ofjust breaking crime sto- graphic, realistic description of the rape, erroneous one. Rape is very hard to ries — to interview people who know and how it affected her marriage. The prove, and convictions are very rare. It's about rape, or even past victims who are name was a good thing too, but it wasn't just very important that a woman not be willing to talk about just how horrible it the reason the story was so good. But the further traumatized and endangered by is, how frequent it is, and what it does to media went "Aha, you see what happens the press, regardless — which is a sepa- people and their families. when a name is used — it makes it a rate issue from whether the man is guilty Pulitzer Prize-winning story, so we should or not. Have there been any more recent events or all think about doing that too." Report- ers love names more than anything, be- trends since you finished the book that you Some people have suggested that if we with- cause they're always afraid that people might want to comment on? hold the names of victims, we should also will think they've made things up. Well, the date rape thing really has withhold the names of alleged perpetrators, at taken off. I did get the Kennedy/Smith least until they're convicted. What's your case in there, but the whole furor about David Nyhan, who is a columnist up here in opinion on that? date rape on campus has really arisen Boston, wrote at the time that naming victims At the moment, sometimes they men- since then, and ofcours e that brings up all had less to do with removing any stigma or tion names of people being investigated,

44 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 and that can be very unfair to a man trators themselves, that behavior they see beingAre there significant differences between the who's innocent. I suggest in the book condemned might be behavior in which they've way the American press handles these kinds of that the names be withheld at least until indulged at an earlier time, date rape say, or crimes and, say, the European press? officially indicted, but I don't think that sexual harassment. For instance, during the Well, I haven't studied the European will happen in this country. And I don't Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings, when press very much, but what I do know is think it should be a matter of law, be- there was a spate of stories on sexual harass- that Europe on the whole is way behind cause once you let the law dictate to ment in the workplace, one of the workplaces America in its understanding of rape and journalists what they can't do in one that was almost never mentioned was the incest. Some places are more behind than place you're going very soon to have a lot newsroom. Do you see male reporters and others — incest got a lot of attention in of other restrictions, and freedom of the editors being threatened by the stop-rape move-England recently—but on the whole it's press is going to be seriously impinged. ment, by the thought of being suddenly held behind, and so I assume its coverage is Sol think it has to be an ethical discussion accountable for their behavior? behind too. The few stories I've seen, by the papers themselves, about this I don't like to say that. I don't think that people have sent me, have been very names business, when and where. that's fair, I really don't. For one thing, it much along the worst lines I describe. makes all men the enemy. It's like saying, The coverage is certainly behind when it Many reporters and editors try to justify the the reason you men don't like to face comes to women in general. There's a worst of what they do by explaining that that's rape is because you're all secredy rapists women professor I know, who was in what sells, it's what the public wants. How Europe with her husband, and they're important is that sort of self-justification to the The reason the same age, and she was raped, and in persistence of rape myths and bad reporting the news story he was described as an about rape? that story was eminent scholar, and she was written up It's a constant refrain on the part of as a pretty young woman. But that's all I editors and reporters, that we have to so good is know. I haven't really studied it. give the public what they want, ignoring because the all these polls that show how unpopular Do you have any other projects in the works the press is because of those things I woman was right now, any other books planned? mentioned. The press is seen as exploit- At the moment I'm writing a novel, ing people, as invading people's privacy. honest, very because I'm a fiction writer as well, and I mean of course reporters are also criti- so it's back to fiction for the time being. cized because they're often the deliverers graphic about I have two main specialities: One is all of bad news, which is an important role what had hap- this sex crime stuff, and the other is the that has to be done, but in ordinary life, literary world. It was my interest in just because you happen to be a victim of pened to her literature that gave me the idea of a crime, rather than being a politician analyzing the press through its lan- who's done something crooked, the yourself, and I absolutely refuse to go that guage. I took a literary critic's approach public isn't anything like as keen on [total far. No doubt there are some men I talk to newspapers and analyzed their sex disclosure] as the press is. The confusion to whose sexual behavior has been un- crime coverage in that way. But my comes because those stories sell well, and pleasant for women, but I have no way fiction is social realism, and focused what I always say is, you know you can of knowing which ones, and I prefer to on the nitty-gritty side of reality, so to put a box of donuts in front of people, have the attitude that this issue is an issue that extent the two tend to overlap. and they'll eat it, but that doesn't mean of rapists versus non-rapists. that's really what they want for dinner, or Finally, were there any major surprises while that's all they want. They can't resist it What would you see as the most effective way you were writing the book, anything that because it's sugary and easy to go down, for people who aren't reporters or editors to happened, or anyone you talked to who but that doesn't mean they don't want affect the quality of reporting on sex crimes?changed your thinking about the topic in a something more nourishing as well. You How can we have an impact on our local radical way? can always sell a sensational story, but that papers? I think the only surprise really, which doesn't mean you're actually satisfying They can certainly write in and point was a pleasant one, was how receptive the public. The opinion polls about the out offensive or biased language. Write most of the reporters were to my criti- press show that it's not satisfying them, letters to the editor, or call, and also write cisms, how open they were to discussing because the public is constantly criticiz- to the local papers to do more back- how they could have done better. They ing the press for not getting into the issues ground and explanatory stories about sex were very willing to be self-critical and to more, for exploiting people, for being crimes, their prevalence, the real dangers improve. Some of the New York re- vulgar, for dwelling on the wrong things, versus the mythological dangers, or ar- porters were more defensive, but the and so on.... ticles on educating children to not be majority of them were extremely pleas- sexist. If people wrote in to the local ant to talk to and very open minded, and media with stories they'd like to see, not it did actually give me some optimism, You talk about how editors and writers, during while I was doing the book, because I felt the Jennifer Levin case, in some ways almost only would editors love to have some fresh story ideas coming in over the that these were not consciously preju- identified with [Levin's murderer] Robert diced or bad people by any means. Their Chambers, but you don't go very muchfurther transom, but then you might be able to have an affect. I think that might be a intentions are good, and therefore that into how that might work, or the possibility gave me more hope for change. • that some reporters or editors might be perpe- positive way of approaching it. 45 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 J2 ChoiceBooks • ChotceBi RAPE: IT SELLS PAPERS and gender checklist will to a great o extent determine whether and how the VIRGIN OR VAMP: How The Press press will cover her story. o Covers Sex Crimes, by Helen Benedict Benedict's central contention is that (Oxford University Press, NY; $25 hardcover) the press divides all rape survivors into two broad categories: Victims or vamps. "[The murder of Jennifer Levin] was If a survivor is white, upper-class, and "a one of the most fun stories I've ever good woman," that is, if she doesn't Si covered, and I've been reporting for 11 deviate from patriarchal gender norms, or 12 years now. You'd see the words she is seen as a victim. If she is of a lower 'Preppie Murder' and jump for joy that socio-economic class than her assailant, you were involved in it. As a tabloid or the African-American victim of a newspaperman, you thirst for a story like white man, or ifsh e has a lifestyle outside this....Even if you're writing garbage, as the accepted norm, she becomes a long as people read it is the main thing." "vamp" — of limited credibility or —New York Post reporter Bill Hoffman even deserving of her assault. Much was made, for example, of the It's difficult to argu e with Helen Benedict "poor academic record" and "little wild when she writes, in her latest book, streak" of William Kennedy Smith's Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex alleged victim, while her success in mov- Crimes, that "the quality of sex crimes ing beyond her "modest working class coverage has been steadily declining" family"—due to her mother's remar- during the 1980s and 1990s. With the riage some 10 years before the assault— re-emergence of feminism in the 1960s was described in the New York Times, no and '70s, and the establishment of rape less, as a "leap up the social ladder." crisis centers and a stop-rape movement, The majority of the book is devoted to HIGHLIGHTS there was at least some willingness on the examining four specific cases that illus- part of the mainstream press to look at trate a particular aspect of the virgin/ Helen Benedict rape as a political and social issue. But the vamp paradigm. The Rideout case in on how the press covers backlash of the '80s and '90s has given Salem, Oregon, in 1978-79, was the first new life to the old myths and stereotypes widely publicized prosecution of a man sex crimes about sexual assault and rape survivors. charged with raping his wife, and thus a These myths, according to Benedict, radical threat to the view of women as bell hooks together with "the habits of the newsroom the property of their fathers and hus- have led the press to consistently cover these bands. The infamous Big Dan gang rape on the letters of Anne Sexton crimes with bias and, sometimes, even was quickly turned into an ethnic issue cruelty'' — as, for instance, when the Wash- when the press focused on the Portugese Judith Levine ington Post during its coverage of the Big background of the assailants (ignoring Dan gang rape in New Bedford, Mass, takes on the dilemmas the victim's Portugese heritage), the ran a story quoting speculation that the coverage of the Jennifer Levin "preppie of gender relations victim was a prostitute. murder" in New York emphasized the Benedict, a professor of journalism at upper-class status of both victim and killer, Columbia University, begins by listing and their "swinging" lifestyle, while the the common rape myths, familiar to rape/beating of the Central Park jogger anyone who's ever worked at a rape was seen as a racial incident in a city crisis center, for example: That "the already deeply divided along racial lines. assailant is crazy or perverted," "the Different rape myths were of varying assailant is usually Black or lower class," importance in each of the four cases. "women provoke rape," "women cry Greta Rideout was depicted by much of rape forrevenge." She also outlines eight the press, especially after her husband's factors that influence how the press will acquittal, as a lying hysteric, looking for cover a given sex crime: the race and the attention and a way to get back at her class of the survivor and the assailant, if a husband, while Jennifer Levin became weapon was used during the assault, if "a voracious vamp" whose sexual appe- the survivor "in any way deviated from tite drove Robert Chambers to murder. the traditional female sex role of being Even the Big Dan victim — gang raped home with family and children," etc. on a pool table — was transformed from How the victim rates on this racial, class the survivor of a brutal assault into a

46 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 oks • ChoiceBooks • ChoiceBooks drunken welfare mother who left her were few stories on Robert Chambers' even was perhaps necessary for Sexton's children to buy cigarettes in a bar (what cocaine addiction, his poor grades at creative vision to flourish. Luckily, we the press didn't report was that her school, and his propensity for lying to have evidence from her life; for one, the boyfriend was there to watch them). friends) to the paucity of women and reissued collection Anne Sexton: A Self "Each case," writes Benedict, "sym- people of color in America's newsrooms. Portrait in letters, edited by one ofher bolizes a critical factor in public opinion "The biases of race,class , and gender so rife closest friends Lois Ames and her eldest about gender roles. Marriage (the in the press now," she concludes, "can only daughter Linda Gray Sexton, to docu- Rideouts), ethnicity (New Bedford), be rectified if members of all races, classes ment just the opposite. Rather than class (Levin), and race (the jogger), are and genders work side by side in the news- "suffering" for her art, Sexton found revealing windows through which to room and on the editing desk, adding writing poetry to be one of the life- look at press and public attitudes toward their unique access and understanding of sustaining, healing forces in her life. Again sex crimes and women." Each case also their groups to the new pool." and again in letters, she writes that "the illustrates how the press consistently Benedict ends her book by suggesting thing that seems to be saving me is poetry." misses the point — focusing on anything ways the press might achieve more accu- This collection opens with an intro- and everything except rape as a form of racy and balance in its reporting on sex duction by Linda Gray Sexton that is a terrorism against women, and instead crimes. She recommends that reporters compelling confessional account of the imposes the victim/vamp dichotomy, be aware of their vocabulary (stop using difficulties she faces striving to maintain "like a cookie-cutter on dough." words such as "flirtatious" and "pert" to Sexton's poetic legacy. To do that she is One of the book's most astonishing describe survivors, for instance), that continually forced to move beyond features is that it conveys how objective newspapers invite local rape crisis coun- daughterly attachment and face Anne and unguarded some of the reporters selors to do in-service training for their Sexton, the complex and contradictory working on these four stories were when crime reporters, and that the press in woman. Linda writes that working with discussing their work. Many were able general should "stop disregarding femi- her mother's letters was a process "that to look back and critique their own nism" and feminists, especially rape cnsis was lonely and painful beyond descrip- writing, regretting that a lack of perspec- workers, who offer the most realistic tion." Organizing the letters, she read of tive, information or time led them to view of rape, rapists, and survivors. her mother's painful childhood, ofher stereotype and victim bash. Others tried Given the current intensity of the back- negative feelings about motherhood, of to explain the more cynical aspects of lash against feminism and the stop-rape her low self-esteem: "I read of my own their profession. New York Post reporter movement, most recently reflected in childhood, of a mother—my mother— Bill Hoffman described the Levin case as the spate of stories on "false memory who was capable of abuse, crippled by having "the three basic elements of the syndrome," it seems unlikely that the her illness, her immaturity, her worn classic tabloid story: Sex, good looking bulk of the press will adopt Benedict's emptiness. I read ofher infidelities to my people, money. When you combine proposals anytime soon. And so, well father, to our family. I read ofher elation those three elements, it's irresistible." intentioned or not, Benedict concludes: and desperation, her vibrant hates and Arthur Brown at the New York Daily "As long as the press is still stereotyping love, her burgeoning sense of self. I read News explained how "a sex-related crime sex crime victims as virgins or vamps...it ofher poetry, slowly raising its voice to with an overtone of class and wealth and will continue to do victims and the lift her beyond herself." It is the strength decadence sells," confirming Benedict's public irreparable harm." and power of Sexton's poetic voice, of observation that if victims are poor, her growth and development as a writer, that makes the letters compelling. working class, or African-American, they Fred Pclka is a freelance writer in the Boston remain all but invisible to the main- area and a Contributing Editor at O.T.I. They form a graphic portrait of a woman stream media. (In Boston, for instance, who was trapped in a psychic prison the rape/murder in a public park of A SOUL TORMENTED forged by her utter allegiance to patriar- Kimberly Rae Harbour, an African- chy and reactionary bourgeois notions of American woman, received tar less local ANNE SEXTON: A Self-Portrait female selfhood and identity. The por- coverage than the rape of the white in Letters edited by Linda Gray Sexton and trait of Sexton one sees from the letters is Central Parkjoggerin New York City.) Lois Ames (Houghton Mifflin, Boston; $ 12.95 a soul tormented by her struggle to live out the '50s idea of woman's role while And it isn't only tabloids like the Post hardcover) at the same time attempting to carve an and the Daily News that foster myths autonomous individual identity. Most of about rape. Benedict notes that the New Lovers of Anne Sexton's poetry have the letters reveal that Sexton was utterly York Times can bejust as punitive toward long been easily seduced by the passion and completely self-absorbed, that an all- survivors, as in its story describing the ofher artistry into an easy admiration and consuming narcissism ruled her life. Pre- "wild streak" of William Kennedy idolization of Sexton the person. Always occupied with being the traditional ma- Smith's accuser (featuring an interview ready to forgive her anything— extreme nipulative sexy woman who gains power with a disgruntled ex-boyfriend, no less). narcissism, neglect and cruelty to loved ones — both admirers and critics alike over others through seduction, the self In part, Benedict attributes this one- exposed in these letters is not an appeal- tend to support the idea that a certain sidedness (there were few comparable ing personality. articles on Kennedy Smith, just as there despair, anguish of spirit, and madness 47 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 Self-indulgent, demanding, consum- Who or what is responsible for us being ofou r humanity; from that look back we ing of friends, family, and peers, the here? Why do we attach to and mate with can glean why it was necessary for us to portrait of Anne Sexton that emerges is one another? Scientists, theologians, phi- develop physiologically, emotionally, and that of a ruthlessly ambitious, monstrous losophers, and artists never tire of grap- culturally the way we have. female ego, torturously adapting to a pling with these questions. Anatomy Of Because Fisher refers to the works of white patriarchal middle-class family Love, the second book by HelenE. Fisher, such famous anthropological predeces- norm. There are so many "I"s in these author of The Sex Contract, attempts to sors as Margaret Mead and the Leakeys letters that the reader cannot help but feel provide an understanding of human bon- in presenting her own theories of attach- that Sexton could have been a much ding and love. Where do the forces come ment and separation, it begins to seem as more interesting, healthier person if she from that motivate us to marry, procre- if her work is almost solely derived from had been able to relate in a more intimate ate, divorce, becomejealous, attractmem- secondary sources. Why does Fisher, a way to a world beyond herself. bers of the opposite or same sex, and seasoned anthropologist herself, not draw Indeed the only world she could make commit adultery? on more ofher own field experiences in room for was poetry. It is ultimately her As she pursues these questions, Fisher, a support ofher ideas? She mentions hav- conversations with other writers that give research associate in the department of ing lived for a brief time on an Indian these letters moments of profound thought anthropology at the Museum of Natural reservation, but aside from this event, and passion. Particularly, the correspondence History in New York City, leads us on a makes reference to other people's work, between Sexton and women writers — whirlwind tour of human behavioral from Darwin to Shakespeare to Jane Maxine Kumin, Tillie Olson, Erica Jong history. She asserts fromth e onset that, "I Goodall. An example being, '"It is gen- and Carolyn Kizer, to name a few — is am an ethologist, one who is interested in erally admitted,' wrote Darwin, 'that a marvelous account of the way mutual the genetic aspects of behavior. In my with woman the powers of intuition.. .are support and admiration affirms and sus- view, human beings have a common more strongly marked than in man.'" tains the writer as she pursues her craft. nature, a set of shared unconscious ten- Nevertheless, the second section of Overall, these letters show that Sexton dencies or potentialities that are recorded Anatomy Of Love does provide an almost was a conformist, that whatever hedo- in our DNA and that evolved because encyclopedic amount of interesting facts nistic tendencies she cultivated were not they were of use to our forebears millions regarding human and primate ancestry a radical opposition but rather rituals of of yean ago." She continues, "We are and brain development. Fisher tries to rebellion made by a female who lacked not aware of diese predispositions, but make the evolution of love a riveting the courage to challenge in any redemp- they still motivate our actions." tale, but her asides about human evolu- tive way the values and roles handed her Fisher opens the book with a discussion tion and science are much more fascinat- by a generation that wanted to confine of how and why humans, and other ing. She notes in Chapter 8 that "psy- and control women. It was Sexton's animals, are attracted to and repelled by chiatrist Michael Liebowitz theorizes allegiance to the status quo that pre- one another. She discusses ritualso f court- that the euphoria and energy of attrac- vented her from rinding sanctuary in a ship, infatuation, marriage, divorce, and tion are caused by a brain bath of natu- growing feminist movement. It might adultery in human cultures around the rally occurring amphetamines that pool have given her the strength to face reality globe from past to present. It's interesting in the emotional centers of the brain." and begin her life anew. The collection to note that "According to some recent Equally interesting is the anthropo- should be read by those of us who have estimates, over 50 percent of all married logical reasoning brought to bear on the forgotten the pain and sadness in women's Americans are adulterous." question of why humans are born in lives when they struggle to create self and While discussing courtship she claims, what amounts to an embryonic state: identity within thenarrowspacesprovidedby "Despite the obvious correlations be- "...At some point in hominid evolution a restrictive and oppressive patriarchy. Poetry tween the courting gestures of humans the brain became so large in proportion was the space ofher resistance. Through it and those of other animals, it has taken to the mother's pelvic birth canal that a Sexton was able to insist that her life not over a century of investigation to prove be seen as tragic for she left to bear woman began to have difficulty bearing that human beings around the world her large-brained young...Nature's so- witness poetic work that lets the world actually share many of the same nonver- know she was more than her pain. lution: To bear young at an earlier stage bal cues." Many of Fisher's observations of development and extend fetal brain — bell hooks about the similarities between human development into post-natal life." She bell hooks is a well-known cultural critic, and behavior and their animal counterparts also includes anthropologist Wenda feminist theorist. are supported by seemingly endless refer- Trevathan's theory that "regardless of ences to other anthropologists and hu- their 'handedness,' new mothers hold BIRDS DO IT, BEES DO FT... man populations. their infants in the left arm — direcdy Only after we have become well versed over the heart, probably because the ANATOMY OF LOVE: The Natural in human and animal mating rituals,doe s heartbeat soothes the child." History of Monogamy, Adultery, Fisher state her theory of how we can It is important to know about our and Divorce by Helen E. Fisher (W.W. explain our behavior: "The answer lies, I hominid and Cro-Magnon ancestors, Norton and Company, NY; $22.95 hard- think, in the vagaries of our past." Thus marriage rituals in both Greece and cover) begins Chapter 6, entided "When Wild China, and how the !Kung people of the in Woods the Noble Savage Ran." Ac- Kalahari Desert have sex, but much of As human consciousness evolved through cording to Fisher our questions regarding the information Fisher delivers some- the millennia, so too has curiosity about love and sexual comportment are best how falls flat. In her discussion on di- the human condition. Why do we exist? answered by looking back to the origins vorce, she begins, "Divorce rates were

48 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 very low through much of our agrarian confessed she dropped the term man- because she had a boyfriend/partner when past." Not exactly a fantastic hook, she hating because it "blinded" readers and she embarked upon the subject and was, then continues by offering examples of turned them offfrom reading the book at thus, immune from the label that she was divorce amongst and around "Teutonic all, thus defeating her purpose which a masculine, uniemme and very unat- peoples.. .pre-feudal Germany.. .pre-Christian was, in part, to document the ongoing tractive man-hater. What was her dis- Celtic..." The list goes on and on. presence and even salubriousness of man- may, then, when she split up with the Despite my reservations about how hating in the post-feminist age. boyfriend in the course of her work and useful Anatomy Of Love is in addressing More revealing and welcome in its had to look at herself as no different, age old questions about human and ani- honesty is Levine's confession that while finally, than the women she was fonnerly mal mating, or even in extending a she was pursuing a subject that raised examining with something like clinical cohesive overview of all the theories that eyebrows and hackles even among her detachment. Thank goodness for the exist on the subject, Fisher's presentation liberal friends, she somehow felt secure reader that she picked herself up, dusted of so much history has much to offer a from having a finger pointed at herself ofl her own self-conscious fears and con- person who knows very little about our evolution. You maybe hard pressed to read through the 120 pages of notes, bibliography and Sarah Lawrence College M.A. in WOMEN'S HISTORY index by the time you finish, but the THE M.A. PROGRAM IN WOMEN'S HISTORY AT SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE is committed to rethinking the role of women in society and to the exploration of new theoretical body of the book proves a satisfying jaunt and methodological approaches to the study of history. through our anthropological history. The curriculum stresses the new scholarship on women, with particular emphasis on race, class, —Elizabeth Fcrber and cultural diversity as issues of primary significance in social and cultural analysis. THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY OF SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE encourages students Elizabeth Ferbcr is a writer whose work to integrate theory with practice and thought with action. This is accomplished through small seminars, tutorials, group projects, independent course work, and regularly scheduled advis- has appeared in the New York Times ing, all of which are well suited to the goals of a feminist program. Special attention is paid to and the Washington Post, among other the needs of working women. publications. For information concerning course offerings, applications, financial aid, government loans, work/study programs, and the Gerda Lerner Scholarship, contact: Amy Swerdlow, Director, Women's History Program. Sarah Lawrence College THE ART OF MAN 1 Mead Way. Bronxville. NY 10708-5999 (914) 395-2405 HATING Sarah Lawrence College does not discriminate on the basis ot race, color, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin

MY ENEMY, MY LOVE: Women, Men and the Dilemmas of Gender by Judith Levine (Anchor Books; $ 12.95 pa- perback) The Lenses of Gender Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality The ad for Bodyslimmers' body suit shows Sandra Lipsitz Bern a shapely woman in a skimpy garment, from the neck down, her legs parted, her "Exactly the book we need. . . An exemplary guide to our thinking cleavage prominent. The text reads, about gender and its place in our past and future." —Catharine Stimpson "While you don't necessarily dress for men, it doesn't hurt, on occasion, to see one "Stimulating. . . Offers suggestions for revaluing the male 'standard,' for increasing social support of the bearing and raising of children, and for drool like the pathetic dog that he is." dismantling gender polarization. A thought-provoking study." This is the new male-bashing, a '90s' —Kirkus Reviews $28.50 version ofman-hatingperhaps, but a sign that the old gnashing-of-teeth anger at men has reached the mainstream. For author Judith Levine it would be one more signpost that the emotion towards the other gender which used to make of Mother-Infant Bonding its holder a social leper has achieved so A Scientific Fiction much acceptance and recognition, it is Diane E. Eyer now ready to enter the realm of humor! A milestone indeed! "Move over, Hillary: working mothers have a new heroine. She's Still, the very idea of man-hating re- Diane E. Eyer, whose lucid and dispassionate analysis of the bonding mains a taboo in our society, the man- mystique . . . punctures a hyperinflated theory." —Laura Shapiro, hater up there with that classic ogress of The New York Times Book Review $25.00 yore, the wicked stepmother. So danger- ous an idea is man-hating that Levine saw fit to change her hardback subtitle from Yale University Press "Man-hating and Ambivalence in Women's Lives," to the more tepid 92A Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520 subtitle above. Levine, in a new foreward, 49 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 tinued with the book as one of the girls. ingredients from pop culture, myth, an- Man-hating, Levine reminds us, was thropology and even botany. For in- SHOCK VALUE? not something invented in the '70s and stance, in the section on the male type an anachronism two decades later. She Levine calls "the slave" she explores the reminds us just how relevant and neces- corresponding female seductress, tossing sary the continuing battle of the sexes is into the mix fatales from Marilyn Mon- by citing a few public spectacles that took roe, Mae West, the destructive Hindu place even after the hardback publication goddess Kali, Salome, Eve, Delilah and of her book. They included the Clarence Potiphar's wife, some lore from the Thomas hearing, the date rape trials of insect world. "If my interview subjects William Kennedy Smith and Mike are any indication," she writes slyly, "the Tyson, and the near death of Roe v. mating habits of the black widow spider Wade. Man-hating need not be, she and praying mantis are common knowl- gently reminds us in this new forward, edge among American women. During the violent extremes of an avenging intercourse (or whatever you call it be- Valerie Solanis, founder of SCUM (So- tween insects) the female mantis ciety for Cutting Up Men); man-hating bucks and twists and bites off the is prevalent even when it's a whisper, as male's head: without his brain, his in the dismissive bumper stickers circu- ardor increases. After about a half lating around the Hill/Thomas hearings, hour (a long session for bugs), fertil- as in "They just don't get it." ized and sated, she eats him. Levine has tackled the subject of Sometimes, however, the point ofview women's hostility or at the very least is so relentlessly profemale, it irritated ambivalence towards men from a num- me, as when Levine brings on stage "the ber of different approaches. In the first Killer." Levine calls him the "bureaucrat part of her book she offers up a menu in of destruction" who "sits in the Penta- No value at all as millions of ani- pop terms of odious or unattractive male gon, looking adult and dignified, mals in experimental labs die annually types that comprise, more or less, the in vain. Those who live through the passionlessly eliminating portions of the trauma and cruelty of the "research" usual formula of generalizations about map, reducing populations, coolly redis- process are purposely destroyed. To our human species: the Mama's Boy, the tributing power. "Yet Levine insists upon keep them would be an expensive Brute, the inept Bumbler who's ex- the cliche of "war as a grand-scale circle liability, a waste of time. cused, finally, from doing housework jerk...the ritual of'ejaculatory politics.'" A WASTE OF TIME! What of the because he's simply so infantile and in- Her Killer is "driven by sexuality and vivisectors who stubbornly repeat use- competent that a woman becomes suffi- infantile desire" whether he is "Henry less experiments to no avail? Help us ciently exasperated to take over the jobs Kissinger, bespectacled ideologue of halt the vivisectors' relentless march to herself. war," or the "beefy, bullet-headed nowhere. These types — they range from those foin us and receive 11 eye-opening Norman Schwartzkopf' poised against issues of THE AV MAGAZINE. Facts who are the butt of women's humor and the "bloody-fanged Republican Guard" about the way it should be—humans contempt to the rapist-seducers who of Saddam Hussein. and animals truly benefiting one truly victimize women — are, like most In Levine's handling, the Killer's penis another. of the genre from which they spring, is his symbolic manhood translated into recognizable. But they are limiting and missiles. Bush is her penis exemplar, but FREE to New Members to some extent straw figures. What Levine our publication the whole symbolism of men facing off does to sweeten the pot here is to offer with their penises is too pat an answer. LETS LIBERATE SCIENCE women's responses and strategies to these What, one asks, do we make ofMargaret men. Thatcher's aggression in the Falklands? The American Anti-Vivisection Society Thus, in response to the so-called brute Or, how do we find the penis under 801 Old York Road, #204 — "the ogre under the bridge" — who Indira Gandhi's sari when she pursued Jenkintown, PA 19046-1685 rapes, she writes, "rape is a mind fuck militaristic policies against Pakistan and TEL (215) 887-0816 too," noting the harm it does to women China? Despite such drawbacks, the FAX (215) 887-2088 who have been indoctrinated " to conflate book's introduction alone is worth read- sex with love." For feminists, the naming D Membership dues $15 ing for its depth, seriousness and riveting of the brute — the exposure that comes exposition on the subject of the author's • Student or Senior $5 with an ideological attack on him and his candid revelations about her own gen- • Additional contribution to culture — is the first step in women's der ambivalence. Her summary of the fund non-animal research $ fighting back. history and the need, so to speak, of Levine's research and references to the man-hating in the face of the socially brute in literature and movies, where imposed gender differentiation in our women fight back and castrate men or culture — with its attendant devaluation simply romanticize the impotent man of women — makes it worth reading on City Zip with no perns or tool to hurt her, are Because we have the courage to try to influence its own. legislation, dues and contributions are not tax- prolific. She brings in a rich mix of But, there are other useful parts and deductible. But the insight you'll gain through 11 issues of The AV Magazine will be invaluable. 0 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 treatises in Levine's book as well, par- hold them, caress their rough edges as if want to scream to break into this ca- ticularly the section where she describes my gentleness could sooth them. I am cophony of pain and terror and add my the movement that sprang from daugh- torn out of my thoughts by a mother's voice to the "Voices of Auschwitz" ex- ters' rebellion against patriarchy and the voice speaking to her daughter, "...and hibit. Eye contact among those sitting to corresponding yoke of a mothers' com- these are the cars they used to take the listen to this is furtive. It's as if we were plicity in that system. Fathers, we concur Jews to the concentration camps." A caught in the act of listening to the are simply absent for most children and hard sad lesson for such a litde head. forbidden with our faces pushed up especially daughters, yet those same Here, indeed, stands one, a representa- against some closed door. I want to speak daughters all too frequently side with tive catde car with the backdrop of a sign to someone — to cry, but how do you their absent fathers in their yearning for reading Arbeit Macht Frei (work makes ever begin to cry for this? "Our heads him. "Mother-blame and a cultural rev- you free) — a model of the welcoming were shaved" says one voice. I instinc- erence forme n insulate fathers from the logo over the entrance to Auschwitz. I tively touch my hair, of which I am so messy hostility of their daughters," Levine decide to enter. There is a choice here, proud and guarded, and I think of the writes, "the idealization of men comes for the design has allowed for a path going special humiliation of the women in the cloaked together with the denigration of around it but I walk into the car and stop. camps — the particularly female indigni- women, and these can paralyze women Closeness engulfs me, dank air, too small, ties, the removal of the hair — that focus in self-hatred instead of man-hatred, too small. I then remember that close to of so much vanity, care and individuality. self-blame instead of anger at the father." 100 people were stuffed into these hells It's a fitting way to begin the process of These words might be the bible for the for days and nights at a time, no air, no female dehumanization, so much so that birth of the women's movement. Cer- water, only terror, fear and loss. I hear another voice tell of mothers and tainly they provide amplejustification, as I think that it must have been spring sisters standing side by side without rec- Levine points out: "Man-hating is bom, when some of the Jews were taken — ognizing each other. The voices ask "is like Athena, from the head of the father. days very much like today. I thought of that you mother" or call out, "I am sister In the mother's pain, it utters its first the birds and the colorful flowers adorn- Anna." words, tentative, pinched and quali- ing the city that I enjoyed on my way The videos of "Executions and Sui- fied. " The healing between mothers and here. Was it like this as they were being cides" and "Medical Experiments" are daughters began with the women's herded into the ovens? A beauty made behind high walls to shield them from movement in the '60s and '70s. The obscene by its natural indifference? children. I am looking at pictures of one history is all there, including, unlike so Now another multi-media exhibit. I prisoner after another. They are hanging many feminist treatises along the way, the differences between die white femi- "The Miracle on 57th Street" nist movements and those of people of Tucked away on the 4th floor of an office building on 57th Street color, particularly African-American in New York City is an elegant boutique and book shop devoted women. Moreover, Levine also gives exclusively to women's sexual health, self-growth and happiness! the nod to class differences when she We offer books on sexuallity, relationships, Tantra, Goddess takes on working-class women's con- history, women-created erotica, and an exciting collection of cerns and oudooks and their sometimes romantic and sensual accessories to enhance self-love and shared love. separate approach to male domination. Created by women for women and their partners, Eve's Garden is Finally, this book homes in on the a comfortable space where women can shop in a new age personal, on individual women who environment that nurtures the intimate connection. And that's the have chosen (or been handed) different miracle! ways of living with or without men. Send $3 for our mail order catalog or visit in person with this ad Although I had my moments of doubt- for a free one. Mon. thru Sat., Noon to 6:30 PM. 119 W57th St., ing—listening to some of these women's Ste. 420, Dept. Ol, NY, NY 10019-2328 Tel. (212) 757-8651. voices, I thought that ain't me, they're Either way, start creating your own miracle today! losers—I eventually found myself very much a type, single, feisty, defiant, and still passionate, in Levine's sorority. To You've heard Limbaugh on the radio. You've seen resonate so much, even against my will, him on TV. Perhaps you've even read his book. was testament enough that My Enemy, My Love had hit the nail on the head. maySe you 're ready to tettthe world: —Kate Coleman Berkeley writer Kate Coleman is at work on a biography of Black PantherHuey Newton for Times Books. FL USH RUSH!, HOFFMAN from pg 4

Next I find myself in front of an exhibit of stones from Mila Steet in the Warsaw BUMPER STICKERS 1-$3, 2-$5, 5-$10,10-$15 WhoCesak AvaiiabU Ghetto and feel a tremendous desire to Flush Rush Brand Novelties, Dept. 1708, P0 Box 19300-315, Austin, TX 78760 touch these pieces of silent witness. To 51 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 100 Acres . Pool 2C Charming Rooms by a noose, usually next to a latrine. A metaphoric—I feel repelled. Perhaps Hot Tub • Trails Peace & Privacy woman with breasts mutilated beyond there should be a "Screaming Room" definition stares in a self-conscious apolo- or an "Action Room" or a room where A Lesbian Paradise getic way. But I am saturated with death the external reality would be strong and violence, made numb by despair, and enough to take me out of my head. I find that these photos are not that much If there is indeed radical evil in the more horrible than anything else I have world—a phenomenon that exists out- been looking at so far. Will they show me side and apart from us, but that can infect something I haven't seen—am unable to us if we let it—then part of its nature imagine? There is no escape here and I must include detachment. begin to understand the meaning ofFreed's That is a prerequisite to any form of P.O. Boxll8-OT design. The first feelings of resistance give oppression. The Me vs. You, the Us vs. Bethlehem, NH 03574 way to begrudging acceptance—to de- (603) 869-3978 the Not Us and then the Us vs. the Not spair and resignation. Like Us. I leave Auschwitz and enter a room According to their literature, the piled high with old leather shoes. They museum's primary mission is to "inform are all shapes and sizes with that smell so Americans about this unprecedented trag- WOMEN'S WILDERNESS CANOE TRIPS particular to leather, and even baby shoes edy, to remember those who suffered that reminded me ofmin e that my mother and to inspire visitors to contemplate the had bronzed. Again I want to touch moral implications of their choices and them. responsibilities as citizens in an interde- River Journeys "We are the shoes—the last witnesses pendent world." The Holocaust Mu- Writing Retreats and because we are only made of stuffand seum achieves this, because in attempt- Wilderness Seminars leather and not of blood and flesh, each ing to portray the ultimate, eternal evil of one of us avoided the hellfire" read some the Third Reich, it produces an experi- lines from a poem by Moses Schulstein ence of its opposite—an experience of on the placard next to them. inclusion, inclusion into the events, in- clusion into the nightmare of the pris- HAWK, I'M YOUR SISTER I have now been here for three hours. I move on. The Wall of Rescuers gives oner in the cattle car, the heaped shoes, P.O. Box 9109, Santa Fe, NM 87504 some relief. Here I read about the "Good the toothbrushes, the pathetic remnants 505-984-2268 Germans," the "Good Poles," etc., the of humanity. The museum strives to- ones who risked their lives to save the wards empathic connection with the victims and often lost their own in the victims, to break the barriers of denial so process. that we can ask ourselves, what would I But there is one last lesson, and this have done ifl were given choices? Would exhibit is the most poignant. Here on a I have been one of the killers, one of the large screen are the survivors giving oral bystanders? But strangely, in the end I testimony. Here they are trying to put find myself still separated in my mind and names and definitions to memories that heart—a survivor of a different sort. defy understanding. I think of one of the survivors in the last Here they show their branded arms, video. Here is the story he told. He was Send $1 for our color catalog of interrupt their testimonies with choked a prisoner in Auschwitz when he ob- woman-identified jewelry in silver, amethyst, moonstone, & gold. sobbing, and tell stories about the selec- served another inmate praying in the tions, and the mothers killing their just- middle of the day. He asked him "Why LIZZIE BROWN bom babies so that their cries would not are you praying now? It is too late for the P.O. Box389-U Brimfield, Ma 01010 alert the guards. Now the sobbing of the morning prayers and too early for the (413) 245-9484 video is augmented by the muffled sounds eveningprayers." "I pray to thank God," of sobbing from the audience. And only came the answer. "What, are you crazy? here do I connect to another living being How can you thank God in a place like I/O amen Jl&oitu}. when I turn around to the woman be- this?" he asks. And the answer still lOatntu hind me and put my hand out for a tissue echoes in me, "I am thanking God that For a change in your life, we invit*fle you to try: THE WISHING WELL. Features cur- to •wipe my eyes and our eyes meet in he did not make me like the murder- rent members' self-descriptions (listed by recognition as she hands me one without ers around me." • code), letters, photos, resources, reviews, and more. Introductory copy $5.00 ppd. saying a word. (discreet first class). A beautiful, tender, At the end of the exhibit there is the loving alternative to "The Well of Loneli- RAPPING from pg 6 ness.' Confidential, sensitive, supportive, marble Hall of Remembrance. A six- dignified. Very personal. Reliable reputa- pointed structure with an eternal flame tion, established 1974. Free, prompt infor- in the hall and the one billion-plus global mation. Women are writing and meeting for "Meditation and Reflection"— there TV audience were called upon to con- »rs^. each other EVERYWHERE through: are candles burning all around. I move sider the plight of Haiti, Panama and Qht TOukuin. Wett to light one but find that I cannot and Tibet by Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins P.O. Box 713090 move away. Fire for sacrifice, fire for and Richard Gere, amongothers.Butno Santee, CA 92072-3090 remembrance—the reality turned (619)443-4818 one watching the proceedings would 52 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 have had any way of knowing that while outrageously token positions at the ex- these "leftists" were doing their "politi- pense of die thousands of actresses, script cal work," the streets outside the hall "girls," wardrobe workers, secretaries, were filled with feminist activists protest- and would-be directors, writers and pro- ociafly ing the awards with no support whatever ducers who serve them. MLl INVESTING y from those on stage. The truth is that there are about five SINCE 1982 we have been meeting our clients' In fact, while no media report or cov- women—Foster, Sarandon, Davis, Meryl financial goals while screening their invest- erage of the awards ceremony event ments for social issues. We'd like to put our Streep, Glenn Close—who are offered every consistent performance record and note- except for MTV even hinted at this fact, good role (and they are few and far between) worthy client service to work for you. members of WAC (Women's Action that comes along. To change that feet — to Coalition), a national 4400-member or- demand better roles, more roles, more op- If yow portfolio totals $ 70,000 or more please contact Trudy Campbell 802-254-2913 ganization supposedly supported by the portunity and equity throughout the industry Hollywood Left, were out in good num- — they would need to organize on behalf of PRENTISS SMITH &CO., INC. bers, demonstrating all day (and for weeks the other women and against the existing 103 Mam Street, Bratllcboro, Vermont 05301 before, organizing) against the idiocy I order on screen and behind the scenes. And have just described. Indeed, they had that, it seems, is too risky. called upon die very women prominent In the wake of this embarrassing at- Coalition Of Labor Union Women in the nominations and ceremonies, as tempt to "honor women in film," and National membership in CLUW is good well as the many others who were inter- for one full year from date of issuance of the Hollywood Left's participation in the membership card by National Treaurer. viewed by the E! entertainment network spectacle, the media were quick to yet I would like to join CLUW as a (check one) (which ran continuous coverage for2 4 hours again make fun of "political correctness," • Regular member- $20 before the event, and substantial promotional activism and progressive people gener- • Supporting member - $30 • Retiree member - $10 coverage at least a week beforehand) to ally. Sarandon, the most visible female D Sustaining member -$100 support them. They asked, at the very least, politico, was singled out in the main- • Chapter Dues: amount paid that stars wear a WAC lapel pin symbolizing stream print media as a "pampered celeb- Position held in Union: I am a member of a bona fide collective support of women in the industry. rity" indulging in fatuous "do-goodism" bargaining Organization. Well, I looked and looked, and listened in the interest of her own "smug, self- Name and listened, but I did not hear a single satisfied" ego. Yet again, we heard the State_ word or see a single WAC pin on the dangerous right-wing propaganda that Phone likes of any "politically active" Holly- equates politics to ayuppie "lifestyle" and Send your check and mail to: wood women seen and interviewed that warns of "bleeding-heart liberals" run- Lelea Foreman, Treasurer ning Hollywood. But as angry as I was at CLUW night. In fact, Jodie Foster, Geena Davis c/oIUE1126 and Susan Sarandon (the only ones whose the press for pushing such nonsense, I was 16th Street NW interviews I heard), bent over backwards even angrier at Sarandon and the others. Washington, DC 20031 NOT to answer questions about the They have so much visibility, so much issue. Sarandon and Foster thought it was media access that it is understandable that "nice" that women were honored and what they define as "politics," what they "The Elizabeth Stone House hoped for "better roles" for all. Davis did single out as a crucial issue (meat eating and fur wearing are very big these days) Our residential programs tor and their children Include. even better by admitting she had no com- "A MOMI.II Hanllh Aliorn-iliva-n sail-help, poer support program gets greater attention and acceptance "A Oallorod Wumon's Program-mi emergency shoilor plaints since "a lot of the good roles come "A Transitional Housing Program-a bridgo lo Independent Nvhg my way." among the American public. And so, the truth about movie industry sexism and Resources available include: Not surprisingly of course, every celeb- •The Road I Took to You: Stories ot Women and Cmziness. Video available about political activism itself-—which (or renl or purchase. rity on the Left and Right was wearing • 13 Myths and RoBtities. Pamphlet available on request involves commitment and personal sac- 'Woman and Cmzmoss. Oral herstorlos available lor £5.95 plus postage. the ubiquitous red ribbon in support of 'Tlio Cli/uliolli Slono Houso Handbook- Sltailonitg poopto tit Enioiion.il Disirvss rifice, not to mention collective, strategic Available lor 129 95 plus poslaga. people with AIDS, and the Black celeb- planningfor actual social change—were seri- For Information and referral please call (517) 522-3417. rities added a lavendar one to show they The Elizabeth Stone House, P.O. Box 59, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 ously distorted, to the delight, no doubt, opposed urban violence. So important of right-wing misogynists everywhere. • was it, I suppose, to be unequivocally on record as opposing death and disease, that any other issue, even one related to the Elayne Rapping, Professor of Communica- THE BEST FILMS theme of the evening, was forced to take tions at Adelphi University, is the author of YOU NEVER SAW. a backseat. Not a single star could find The Movie ofth e Week: Private Stories/ Public Events (University of Minnesota Now you can rent or buy videos by mail of over space for the little WAC pin. And herein 1,900 hard-to-find quality films, including Stalker, lies a tale about women, power and Press, 1992). She is writing a book on Delicatessen, Kaos, Pixote, L'Alalante, politics in Hollywood. While even fe- women, addiction and the recovery movement Marquis, Mediterraneo, and Lovers. to be published by Beacon Press next year. Our collection includes foreign films, limited male corporate executives, public offi- releases, indies, docs and classics. cials and professional women of all kinds It's simple and inexpensive. Recommended by network, organize and share informa- SHOOT 'EM from pg 31 Roger Ebert as"... an idea whose time has come." tion, clout and skills, the women of the Phone or write for free information and list of films. Hollywood Left, who are among the been forced to close as a result of harass- wealthiest and most culturally influential ment, but Ron Fitzsimmons of the Na- 1-800-258-3456 in the country, choose to maintain their tional Coalition of Abortion Providers Home Film Festival® P.O. Box 2032, Scranton, PA 18501 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 says he knows of 13 providers who quit areas—hold out, can this be enough to doctors "in front of their house, their in the weeks following Gunn's murder. provide reproductive health services for practice, and their golf course.") After So is Terry right after all? After batding an already vastly underserved populace? finding no relief forthcoming from local over the Supreme Court and the presi- While cities like New York or San Fran- authorities—many of whom were mem- dency, are prochoicers in fact to find that cisco—where clinic defense activists from bers of the local Right-to-Life group, doctors are the weak link? "That's an the Bay Area Coalition for Our Repro- Luck's wife Louise contacted the New insult," replies Baker. "Doctors provid- ductive Rights have been able to outmo- York City-based Women's Health Ac- ing abortions are not the weak link, but bilize die antis time and time again —are tion and Mobilization (WHAM) for the medical profession has not been relatively safe havens for now, rural and help. WHAM responded by helping motivated, it seems to me, to respect the suburban areas where doctors are isolated organize a series of prochoice counter- provision ofabortio n services, and there- and police often unsympathetic are espe- demonstrations outside the Luck's home, fore it's been very easy for them to back cially vulnerable to attack. Barring a mas- culminating in a community teach-in in off." Other abortion-rights advocates sive expansion of those authorized to April for over 80 local residents, includ- believe that students may actually be perform abortions — to midwives or ing a contingent from nearby Bard Col- drawn into the field by the recent public- nurse-practitioners, for example — there lege, as well as by conducting clinic ity: Madison, Wisconsin ob/gyn Liz is the increasing prospect of a growing defense training for local residents. At Karlin says she recently has seen a rise in one teach-in, says WHAM's Tricia the number of medical students asking to Kozitsky, "[Louise Luck] stood up and observe abortion procedures at her clinic. People forget that said, 'I can feel proud ofwha t we do, and Of course, she adds, "If a medical student I can walk out the front door with my shows an interest, they'll picket the medi- there are little head high now. I feel like I have people cal student's house too." that are behind me and support me. If battles beingfought nothing else, that is extremely important.' But even if diehards like Dr. Gunn— "People get kind of lazy," continues who traveled across the entire Southeast all the time on the Kozitsky, "Because the Clinton Admin- to provide abortion services to remote istration is in office, and NOW and grassroots level NARAL are so huge and so well-known, people tend to forget that there are little ON THE ISSUES patchwork of abortion-free zones across battles that are being fought all the time Subscriber the country, fertile ground for obstruc- on the grassroots level. And you can't tionist "waiting period" legislation and just think it's all going to be taken care of Service for antiabortion "crisis pregnancy cen- — that other people are taking care of it, P.O. Box 3000 ters," which already outnumber real clin- that Clinton is going to take care of it. Denville, NJ 07834-9838 ics 3 to 1 in the United States. The antis are not going to stop doing I I Change of Address: Please allow Legal remedies to the ongoing harass- what they're doing, so we better start — three weeks. Attach label with your old ment are limited. Existing laws prohibit- dealing with it." I address and write your new address ing "stalking" can easily run afoul of below. First Amendment barriers and are diffi- I 1 New Subscriber: Fill in your name cult to enforce, especially if the local Neil deMause is a freelance writer and activist —' and address in the new address space. Check term price of your subscription judiciary system is predominantly anti- living in Brooklyn. He has covered reproduc- below.* abortion. And most proposed federal tive rightsforThe Guardian andZ Magazine. I I Renewal: Attach label if available. legislation such as the recently intro- — Check term price of your subscription duced Freedom to Clinic Entrances Act THE GUN from pg 37 below.* would handle only blockades, though • One year $14.75 fj Two years $25.75 Fitzsimmons expresses high hopes for the when Gunn was killed there. Gunn's Q Three years $34.75 Reproductive Freedom Protection Act, killer had gone to a Rescue America a bill introduced by New York congress- • Payment Enclosed • Bill Me prayer meeting the night before and woman Nita Lowey that would cut off prayed that Gunn would "see Jesus." OLD ADDRESS: community development block grants to Rescue America had also distributed a any municipality that doesn't enforce "wanted" poster with Gunn's photo, NAME (PRINT) harassment and stalking laws already on personal data, and information about ADDRES: the books. what clinics he worked at. Burt admit-

CITY/STATE/ZIP Meanwhile, providers and their sup- tedly is a former KKK member and has porters are looking for more direct ways a long history of violence aimed at abor- NEW ADDRESS: to combat harassment. Bernard Luck, an tion clinics. In March 1986, Burt, his NAME (PRINT) ob/gyn in New York's Orange County, daughter and two others had stormed has for years been subjected to incessant into another Pensacola clinic, The Ladies CITY/STATE/ZIP harassment, including a parking lot strewn Center, and extensively damaged medi- ADDRESS with nails and repeated encampments of cal equipment. In May 1988, a Kentucky ' Canadian subscriptions add $4 per year; other foreign antis on his front lawn. (The harassment man drove to Pensacola with a carload of add $4 (surface mail) or $20 per year Airmail. Institutional rate: Add $10 first year; $5 each additional. Payable in has escalated since Randall Terry gave a bomb parts with the intention of blow- U.S. funds only. Mail to our Subscriber Service address speech to Orange County Right-to-Life above. ing up The Ladies Center. Burt was later 435SS in 1991, urging local activists to picket put under two years of house arrest for

54 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 His loving hands could not protect him enough. He must live with Unit, lose Mcrccdcz Sotz Cute and his son, Jose

Estuardo Sotz Alvarez. In 1986, armed men, believed to be government agents, opened fire. Young Jose caught the bullets intended

for his father, a Guatemalan trade union leader. At the age of three, he was left paralyzed from the waist down. At every turn, the

senior lose was denied adequate medical help for his son. Then friends of Amnesty International, and people like you, intervened.

Not long ago, Jose again took his first halting steps. ^jl^-, "ls •s/''"<1' cord is dcdd but his lvi" remains alive. Let no one tell you your hands are bound. .^f^^Bfcfcr ''''* "'' '' '"'" '""' raisc-y01"' voia'for tho!iL' "'ho can't. Call 1-800-55-AMNESTY. It's your human right. loin Amnesty and become a Freedom Writer.

R N T I O N M N T Y I N T With every day help ensure that that passes, a little IT'S TINE FOR WOMEN women become more of our world dies partners in fate-of-the- at the hands of pollution earth decisions. Pro- and neglect. TO MOTHER EARTH.viding us with a much But, as women, we can help do something about it. stronger voice on issues that affect the future of our planet. Right now. By joining the Women's Environment & Join us by making your contribution today. Together; Development Organization (WEDO). we have the power to make a world of difference. Already, women have made some very important en- • I DO want to become a supporter of WEDO. Here is my tax- vironmental contributions. Like Linda Wallace Campbell, deductible contribution of: D $10 D $25 D $50 • Other who led the fight against the world's largest toxic waste D Please send me information on the World Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet. dump in Alabama. Wangari Maathai, whose Green Belt Movement planted more than ten million trees in Kenya. Name . And biologist Janet Gibson, who led the campaign that Address. saved the world's second largest barrier reef in Belize. City .State. .Zip. Yet, the real potential for women to make an impact Please make checks payable to WEDO/Women USA Fund and send to 845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022. on protecting the environment hasn't begun to be real- ized. Because when it comes to environmental policy- Women's Environment & making, women remain almost invisible. WEDO will Development Organization driving this man by the clinic. When present. This event helped lift some of sion group Refuse & Resist!) to "I'm The Ladies Center, now in a new loca- the repressive weight offprochoice forces Prochoice and I Shoot Back" (worn on tion, constructed a wooden eight-foot there, and while some did not attend out a T-shirt by an unidentified woman), "privacy" fence around two sides of the of fear (one musician, for instance, said indicated a new militancy and determi- center, Burt bought a strip of land on the that some members of his group were nation to take on all who would attack other side of the fence and set up a afraid to come), for the many present women and the clinics and doctors who scaffold. He leads his troops in standing (over half from Pensacola) it signaled a serve them. • on the scaffold and shouting impreca- new day of prochoice activism and de- tions and insults down to the women termination. Slogans such as "Protect Mary Lou Creenberg, a freelance writer living entering the clinic. He has also at times and Defend Abortion Providers! What- in New York City, has been active in the set up a wide-screen TV hooked up to a ever it takes, the Christian Fascists Must women's liberation and reproductive rights generator on which he shows antiabor- be Stopped!" (earned by the antirepres- movements for over 25 years. tion videos. Just behind the clinic, across a parking lot from Burt's strip of harass- ment land, is a fake abortion clinic to which Burt tries to direct women com- A Masters With Meaning For millions of Individually-designed, independent study, supported by region- young women the al faculty. Earn your MA in 12-18 months with brief regional residencies. Accredited, financial aid available. right to abortion is Studies include writing, psychology/counseling, women's studies, education, environmental studies, health education, a cruel joke history, and others. B.A. external degree is also available. Vermont College of ing to The Ladies Center. An assistant administrator at the clinic told me Burt Norwich University hadn't come around since shortly after 1-800-336-6794 Box 694. Montpelier. VT 05602 802-828-8500 Gunn's murder, but the scaffold was still in place, and The Ladies Center antici- A NEW RELEASE FROM PLEIADES RECORDS pates more harassment. A small bouquet of flowers marks the spot behind Pensacola's other clinic, MARGIE ADAM where Gunn was shot. The clinic's assis- SONGS — IN CLOSE — FROM THE SPIRIT OF ONE WOMAN ON THE MOVE tant administrator told me that the killer, Michael Griffin, was probably hiding ANOTHER PLACE behind a clump of pampas grass when Quantity $ Total Gunn got out of his car in back of the clinic while Burt and others picketed in front (the firsttim e they'd demonstrated CD'S $15 X at this clinic). Pensacola Medical Services Cassette® $10 X is in a fairly new shopping and business Total merchandise $ mall area with well-kept grass, sparkling clean sidewalks and strips of two-story CA residents add 8.25% sales tax $ attached offices. It is indicative ofth e deep Postage and handling $ 200 rift in society over abortion that Gunn Total enclosed $ could be shot in such a placid setting. I learned that the Friday before the murder, other businesses in the mall had received calls "exposing" the clinic. Then a vehicle, which, I was told, has since Name been traced to Burt, backed up to their front door with a bumper sticker which read "Execute Abortionists." A few days later, Gunn was killed. Address Clinic staff at both The Ladies Center and Pensacola Medical Services were introduced at the NOW-sponsored May City/State/Zip Ph°ne 9 rally held in honor of Gunn and to Enclose your check payable to: PLEIADES RECORDS, PO Box 7217, Berkeley, CA 94707 defend abortion rights. They received thunderous applause from the 3,000 57 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 Feed Back • Feed Back RAPPING ON RAPPING demonized by the growing regularity of Thank you to Elayne Rapping for her "ritual abuse" allegations. commentary on the Mia Farrow and The hapless victims of this purge come pq Rachel Kingsley cases (Spring 1993). in all types. In the name of stopping Custody law is a swamp of anti-woman abuse, and fueled by a paranoia where ideology in every state court. As a femi- "anyone" is a likely child bedeviler, con- nist family lawyer, I can tell you that stitutional protections are being fore- women are engaged in trench warfare closed and censorship increasingly im- tor their children and their own lives in posed. It's as if nonsensational, the family and juvenile courts. unepidemic abuse has become too bland In the coded discussion of custody and forourjadedjoumalistic palates. Woody child-support law, "family" is the code Allen may be sexist, looksist, and ageist, for men's rights. Decoding terminology he may be more passive-aggressive than is a starting point for feminist analysis or Mia, he may be a complete cad, he may family law. When judges, legislators and even "hate kids." But none of that ne- "In the coded lobbyists mean women, they say "custo- cessarily, nor even probably, makes him dial parent." When they mean men, the a pedophile or a child molester. Rapping's discussion of custody code is "family" needs. sole reference to what this case is about Margaret A. Gannon (in the banal, legal sense) is to say, "It is and child-support law, Oakland, CA here that the thorny matter of incest, emotional and actual, comes in." (Italics mine.) It is beginning to look like Mia If there is still a link missing in the family'is the code for Farrow knowingly fabricated the child melodramatic chain of events involving sexual abuse charges involving their Woody Allen, Mia Farrow and Soon- men's rights." daughter Dylan (who goes entirely un- Yi, it might be found in a rather seminal mentioned in Rapping's article). If this is essay Allen wrote, "Random Reflectionsof so, I believe Farrow was able to take a Second-Rate Mind,'' which was published advantage of an atmosphere of hysteria in a collection: Tlw Best American Essays 1992, to discover a daddy under every bed. edited by Joyce Carol Oates. This essay now seems a cognitive disso- According to Richard Wexler in nant confession in subconscious anticipa- Wounded Innocents, the vast majority of tion ofhis [custody] trial. Why else would he untrue abuse interventions are due to the reveal that the undressing of someone was an combined forces of poverty enforce- exciting art if he was not trying to justify the ment and foster care mismanagement. nude photographs he was supposedly taking This, perhaps somewhat more than rich- of Soon-Yi at that time? white-male privilege per se, was the Or why else would he publicize that he misfortune of Kingsley and many others had a crush on Lot's wife—a crush which like her. Whereas Mr. Allen's sin, it emanated not out of any acts of virtue on seems, was pissing offhis girlfriend, and her part but, as he says, because she was many others like her. "...there is more supposed to be having an extra-marital Carol Reid affair, keeping fuDy in tempo with the Albany, NY than one 'road' to spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah? L. Siddhartka Orie MADONNA — FEMINIST Flushing, NY OR PSEUDOI healing from addiction, I especially enjoyed the Spring 1993 While I agree with much of Elayne articles on Madonna scholarship. Like and no 'right' Rapping's insightful essay on the Rachel/ many feminists, I find Madonna's art to Gregory Kingsley and Woody Allen/ be challenging. I am writing, however, way to heal.'• Mia Farrow cases, I feel it is crucial to to urge feminist scholars to apply their point out elisions and conflations in her attention to another media success: argument which tend to obscure the Roseanne Arnold. truth. Rapping twice uses the word Arnold, like Madonna, is commercially "demonize" — in reference to women and financially successful in the mostly- — and I see a rather timely irony in that. male world of television producing. Like Although not all of the false claims of Madonna, she also brings feminist issues child abuse are clouded in the occult, to her television programs, and chal- many innocent people are being literally lenges viewers about their usual con-

58 ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 FeedBack • FeedBack • FeedBack cepts. Over the years, her show has I just read your magazine — a friend of FAN MALE explored issues of working mothers, male mine was wonderful enough to share Your Spnng 1993 issue was truly won- violence, the effects of child abuse, birth with me. As counseling coordinator at derful. I had to drop some progressive control for teenagers, gay and lesbian Women's Medical Center of Nebraska magazines due to lack of quality but On liberation, fat acceptance, and the day- (an abortion clinic) I found your articles the Issues just keeps getting better. to-day struggles of being a real family on Menstrual Extraction and Russian I hope to read more by Dr. Janice G. with little money or time. women absolutely fascinating! Thank Raymond in future issues. I have read all Arnold's show is the number one sitcom you and keep up the good work! of her books and am looking forward in America! And she's a feminist! This Kelly Groux to her upcoming work, Technological must be some kind of miracle, or else Omaha, NE Injustice. proof of how important feminist insight The "Win Some • Lose Some" article is to so many lives. I 2-STEP ALTERNATIVE about the fundamentalist haunted house No wonder the Emmy awards ignore I enthusiastically purchased the Spring was chilling. The fetalists will go to any "Roseanne" year after year. I just hope 1993 On the Issues because I was im- length to further their bizarre agenda. feminist scholars won't make the same pressed by the writers represented, as They obviously suffer from what Mary mistake. well as by your focus on empowering Daly has named "the fetal identification Claudia S. Belden women's voices. I was not disappointed syndrome." To display aborted fetal tis- Pittsburgh, PA until I read the review of Charlotte Kasl's sue to small children shows delusional book Many Roads, One Journey. That a behavior on the antichoicers part. Articles on pseudo-feminists, like Ma- book of such great import for feminists in I have always admired Flo Kennedy donna and Annie Sprinkle (Fall 1992) recovery was reviewed by a woman who and applaud the tribute to this life- destroy your credibility, at least to me. could so thoroughly miss its point does a affirming woman. I wish her book What makes self-exploitation and self- grave injustice to women who could Abortion Rap would be brought back indulgence liberating for women? I can't benefit from the message of the book. in print. believe anyone takes these people seriously. Many Roads, One Journey is not a blan- Don Hinkle Wendi Sneden ket put down of the 12 steps but an Oklahoma City, OK Ann Arbor, MI alternative to them. The reactionary tone of the review "red-flagged" me that Kate CHRISTIANS AND THE WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE Gilpin is too invested in 12-step pro- "JEWISH QUESTION" ISSUES grams to objectively report on a book In the article "The White Rose" (Sum- Yesterday, I was reading through some that challenges them. mer 1993), Fred Pelka states: "Hans and back copies ofMotheringrmgazine, when Women who buy a "feminist" publi- Sophie both took solace and inspiration I came across a familiar name: Fred Pelka. cation are taking charge in their lives. from a Christianity informed by the As a rape crisis counselor, I took great When Gilpin worries that Kasl's book Anti-Nazi Confessing Church ofDietrich interest in his article about Mark Curtis "may alarm readers who could be helped Bonhoeffer..." Not quite. in On the Issues (Spring 1991) and went by a 12-step program," / feel alarmed. A It's the fashion now for Christian so far as to demand an explanation from person who feels apprehensive based on apologists to claim that what was NOW as to why many of their chapters what she reads in Kasl's book is invited to called the "Church Struggle" was were endorsing Curtis' campaign. choose whether to trust that feeling or to some huge battle that right-thinking As a feminist and an aspiring direct- question it—that is the whole point. Christians fought against Nazism. The entry midwife, to find out that On Tire Kasl's central message is that there is truth is, that it was basically a lot of Issues is published by a women's medical more than one "road" to healing from deadly bickering between a group of center made me decide to subscribe. The addiction, and no "right" way to heal. Protestant churches, known as "Ger- right of a woman to be informed about She encourages women who are invested man Christians," who were almost her body and for couples to know about in understanding and gaining control over wholly supportive of the Nazi government's anti-Jewish policies, choices in birth is an issue of control. Control their addictions to also assume control over and the "Confessing Church," part of your own birth experience and knowing their healing process. In no way does she try of a larger Evangelical Church which more than just the medical model of child- to persuade women for whom the 12 steps was begun to oppose the "Aryan Para- birth is for me a feminist issue. feel right to stop using them. I am currently involved with a number graph," a law designed to prohibit the I find it ironic that my strong, indepen- baptism of Jews and other non-Aryans. dent women friends, as soon as they of women whose particular 12-step The Barmen Declaration of Faith of become pregnant, let someone else take groups did not meet their needs. We are the Confessing Church, written mostly control of the situation without ques- grateful to Charlotte Kasl for providing by Karl Barth, says nothing about the tioning or researching. On other "medi- us with a blueprint for empowerment, "Jewish Question," and the leaders were cal" issues they are not so quick to receive and for encouraging us to "take what you actually only concerned about Jews who advice without questioning. like and leave the rest behind." Tern Smith were baptized Christian. They differed Tania Berlow from the German Christians who be- Lake Chatsworth, CA Missoula, MT

ON THE ISSUES FALL 1993 59 lieved once ajew, always ajew. Dietrich Freedom from Religion Foundation, Box mise, captured traits women — espe- Bonhoeffer himselfstated, "The Church 750, Madison, WI 53701. cially Black women—are not supposed of Christ has never lost sight of the Jean Austin to expose. The photo was disliked be- thought that the 'chosen people,' who Clinto, IA cause I looked "uninviting," "serious," nailed the redeemer of the world to the "tough," "too powerful." cross, must bear the curse for its action NOT A PRETTY PICTURE I was startled when people who claim through a long history of suffering." In Merle Hoffman's "On the Issues" col- to be progressive selected a traditional his lectures, Bonhoeffer instructed that umn (Summer 1993) could not have submissive pose — especially since I've the Jews should not be forced out of appeared at a better time—at least for me. never been either. Even so, I almost Europe, but stay so everybody could see As a poet attempting to gain greater access changed my mind and selected the a good example of divine wrath. Thus, on the poetry performance circuit, I had shot everyone else seemed to delight the Christian roots of the Holocaust just completed a two-and-a-half hour over. I got a grip on my own reality and were acted out not by a group of people photography session trying to produce an used the photo that conveys the big, pow- who were not "real" Christians, but by a image suitable to be included in my erful, worldly, and straightforward woman group of people who were. publicity packet. When the proofs ar- I am. The above information came from a rived, I let friends and colleagues check Thank you, Merle, for acknowledging series of articles by Michael Hakeem, them out, wondering if they would pick that women must "define their own Ph.D., professor emeritus ofSociology at the photo I loved from the moment I saw images" while coming "into their own the University of Wisconsin, Madison, it. What I got instead was a tremendously definitions of power." I chose to "boldly in Freethought Today, published by the negative reaction to a photo that, I sur- show" my face because I want my mes- sage to be exceedingly clear — I am a powerful Black woman who writes pow- Not So Subtle erful poetry and I am not a woman to be fucked with. Dcpt. i P03 410. LncoMale. NY 10540 Denise Harvey (716) 996-2305 Oakland, CA #00W-Black on red. grey, or white Pink on purple, aqua or black Please direct all comments to: #CM-Blact on grey or white Editors, ON THE ISSUES, 97-77 Tee's. 100% cotton S. M. L. XL $11 XXL. XXXL $12 Queens Boulevard, Suite 1120 \. S^wrtsni1"*5.50/50. S. M. L. XL $16 Flushing, NY 11374. / XXL. XXXL. black or white $17 / Add$2.ear*&H ^uttons & burrperstickers $1. + 50 ea. P& H NO CHOICE from pg 35 NYS residents add sales tax on price and P& H \ Send for brochure, Thank You looks bleak, many abortion providers are taking heart. Says Easterling: "Trainingis better at this point in time at our institu- tion man during the Reagan/Bush years.'' THE WISE WOMAN "Our feeling is it's improved some- 2441 Cordova Street what," says Anderson. "It angers some Oakland, CA 94602 physicians that we are in this situation, (510)536-3174 and anger has been a motivator. Now we're hearing from clinics that there is THE WISE WOMAN, a national journal, locuses on feminist more interest from residents. And it does issues, Goddess lore, feminist spirituality, and Feminist Witchcraft. make a difference to have a friendly Published quarterly since 1980 by Ann Forfreedom. administration." Includes: women's history, news, analysis, reviews, art, photos, poetry, cartoons by Bulbul, exclusive interviews, and original But Darney suggests starting training research about witch-hunts, women's heritage, and women today. earlier. "It's harder for residents because Subscription: $15 yr./$27 for 2 yrs./ $38 for 3 yrs. (U.S. funds). they are beholden to the program direc- Sample copy or back issue: $4 (U.S. funds). tors for their next jobs. Medical school Microfilm: available in the Alternative Press Collection of University students can make the difference." • Microfilms International. Contact: UMI, University Microfilms, Inc., 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346. Norine Dworkin is a freelance writer living in The Wise Woman - Timely, Yet Timeless. New York City. THE WISE WOMAN, 2441 Cordova St., Oakland, CA 94602. OT/

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