I loved all your unveiled feelings-about-veils comments yesterday. And cuz it’s Friday I thought I’d round the week out with two last (unless you tell me you want more!) wedding photos — one more featuring “the costume,” left. The beauty in black full length gloves is filmmaker Ilana Trachtman, a dear friend from college who reminded me during her toast that I once stole a Ding Dong with her from The Village Corner in Ann Arbor.

The photo below is of Marco and me and our gaggle of flower girls. Because matter how cynical or intellectual one might be, it was very hard for me to resist inviting every little girl in my life to be a flower girl. I stopped at six.

Marco, always looking out for me, fears I’m going to lose my feminist cred if I keep wedding blogging. But I beg to differ! I’m still the same ole Girl with Pen. Ok ok, so your Girl is a little wedding obsessed right now. Thank you for indulging me.

Check out an essay from Kristal that I posted over at feminsting. An excerpt:

They were interested in fashion, and topics such as weight gain, designer
brands, drinking, and parties. Oh, and they hated long flights.

Their conversation got me thinking about women and power. Maybe I was being
too hard on the girls, but I wondered: with the myriad of options available
to them in this day and age of possibility, achievement and access, why were
they missing out?

Why hadn’t any of the things feminists had been writing and speaking about
(and living) actually translated into their lives?

Of course there are pea-brained young men out there too. But there was
something about these two women that was especially unsettling: perhaps it
was their profound vulnerability, I thought, in a world that will so quickly
leave them behind.

Or maybe it was the fact that they seemed so disinterested in their own
potential — their own present, as well as future power.

Or maybe I was just a 40-something old fogy, witnessing that perfectly
normal phase that so many young people go through as they struggle to find
their way into adulthood. I’ve been there. Maybe they’ll pull it together
eventually, I thought, and find their own unique passions.

And when they do, I hope that feminism will be there — ready to help make
the journey beyond fashion and fake eyelashes, into true power.

Linda Hirshman’s guest post over at Broadsheet yesterday, “Getting Nudged into the Chapel,” is summarized thusly by Salon: “There’s something in all of us that craves the trappings of a classic wedding — even intellectuals who rail against the institution’s traditions.” Well, color me intellectual, but I had a BLAST dressing up as a 1950s-era bride, white gloves, veil, and and all. I figured, if I’m going to be the bride, why not camp it up and play it as a role?

Weddings are theater, we figured (our guests were invited to dress in 1950s garb and many of them took us up on it) so why not have some fun. The soundtrack was mambo (and klezmer) and we pretended — sort of — that we were at a Catskills resort, you know, the ones where Latin bands like Tito Puentes’ taught the summering Jews how to dance. Since Marco and I are Latin-Jewish fusion and all.

But here’s the thing: though I went into it “playing” the bride, I utterly became one. And it was the veil that did it. I became a bride not in the retro pregnant-in-kitchen kind of way (though I must say, at 39 and undergoing fertility treatments, I certainly wouldn’t complain about the pregnant part–and regarding the kitchen, I’ll always be an active labor force participant by necessity and choice). Rather, the veil helped me become a bride in the physically-spiritually-transformed-special-and-set-apart kind of way. My groom, who donned a white linen suit in order to feel his own kind of special, was in costume too.

Sometimes a veil is just a veil. And sometimes it’s not. What about you, dear GWP readers? Did the marrieds among you don it or ditch it? I’d be interested to hear.

(Hey–Shira–someone’s gotta write about brides, feminism, and fashion for your new book. Any takers?)

NOTE: The comments didn’t transfer for some reason when we switched to WordPress. But you can find them still here.

Women feel the impact of economic insecurity and rising food, energy, education, and health care costs more deeply than men – and see government as a key to the solution — according to yesterday’s poll from the National Women’s Law Center. Are we surprised that women are significantly more pessimistic than men in their attitudes about the status quo in America, both on a societal level and in terms of their own lives?

Turns out, regardless of age, income, and education, more than half of women (55%) feel that the government should do more to solve problems and help meet people’s needs. Candidates, are you LISTENING? For more on it all, check out the NWLC’s (stellar!) blog.

Those who know me know I’m not a big drinker, so I thought you might find this one amusing. This is the evening of the day we were married. There’s a funny story behind it which I can’t exactly write about online, but needless to say it’s all good.

Because it’s still only a few days since I’m back, I can’t resist weddingblogging. This here is a pic of the aisle we started down. For reals. It’s in the backyard of our friends’ house where we were married. !!!

Shira Tarrant, editor of the fabulous Men Speak Out, is at it again with a call for essays for a new academic anthology, this time on feminism and fashion, tentatively titled Feminism, Fashion and Flair: Confronting Hegemony with Style. Here’s the description:

Fashion is a powerful way we express our politics, personalities, and preferences for who and how we love. Yet fashion can also repress freedom and sexual expression. Fashion encourages profound creativity, rebellion, and defiant self-definition while simultaneously controlling and disciplining the body. Fashion signals resistance to sexual morés and it can also promote a problematic consumer culture. Fashion creates collective identity, but also constrains individual voice. In other words, fashion contains the paradoxical potential for pleasure and subjugation, expression and conformity.

This book explores the productive tensions generated by fashion and style. We are interested in essays that take up questions of gender with special attention to race, class, sexuality, age, and ethnicity. This collection blends theory and pop culture analysis in exciting ways, focusing on contemporary trends and controversies.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:
Theories of agency, style, and the presentation of self
Performing identity: race, class, gender and sexuality through style
Consumerist pleasure and anxiety
Fashion production in the context of global capital and trade
Bois, grrls, trannies and styles of queerness
Hardcore, metro, punk, and khakis: constructing masculinities through fashion
Body art and ethnic appropriations
Debates in plastic surgery and re-fashioning the body
Class identity and decorating domestic space
Feminist fashion: debates over style and politics
The ethics of green production and marketing
Everyday pornography and fashion fetish
Virtual style and online identities
Material culture and craft in a postmodern world
Slumming and radical chic: tensions of authenticity and irony
Vintage and thrift fashion: nostalgia and class signifiers
DIY Style: fashion off the corporate grid

Deadline for abstracts is August 15, 2008.

Format for abstracts: Word document, double-spaced, between 300 and 500 words. Include contact information and short bio.

Send to: FashionBook1@yahoo.com

Shira Tarrant
Assistant Professor
Women’s Studies Department
California State University, Long Beach

and

Marjorie Jolles
Assistant Professor
Women’s & Gender Studies Program
Roosevelt University

It’s my delight, as always, to bring you this guest post from GWP regular Virginia Rutter, prof of sociology at Framingham State College, to whom I send out a big batch of xxoo! -Deborah

My organizational alma mater, the National Council for Research on Women, has two open positions and I’ve been wanting to help them spread the word. If you or someone you know seems right for these, please let them know.

POSITION 1 – Director of Research and Programs

The Director of Research and Programs will report to the President and will take primary responsibility for overseeing and implementing the organization’s programmatic and research agendas and its policy-oriented programs, including working groups, convenings, research reports and relevant advisory committees. A primary responsibility will include bringing the work of the Council and its network of Member Centers to inform public debate and policies, and manage and oversee the Council’s rapid response function. The Director of Research and Programs will also oversee the work with the Council’s 116 Member Centers. This will include developing stronger relationships among the centers, organizing conferences and convenings, assisting centers with identifying funding sources for their research, and providing technical assistance where needed. The Director will also work with and manage relations with relevant Board Committees.

The Director of Research and Programs will also help provide vision and strategic direction to the Council’s programs, and help to ensure the organization’s fiscal health through program-related fundraising, proposal writing, internal and external communications, and the use of technology to meet the needs of its various members, and other partners. The Director will also ensure that diversity and inclusion are core values and a strong component of all our strategic goals. The position also entails managing, training, and supervising staff and interns.

This is a unique opportunity to play a central role in shaping the work of a prestigious organization that is making substantial and significant contributions to the women’s research movement. The new Director will be expected to strengthen the programmatic focus and direction of this growing organization and improve the ability of the Council to implement quality programs. The ideal candidate will be detail-oriented, self-motivated, informed, committed to success, deadline-driven and a team player capable of and committed to contributing to the senior management team’s strategic thinking about the Council’s future direction. She/he will also have excellent writing and research skills and the ability to translate research across various arenas. A social science or public policy background is preferred.

Ideal Experience and Qualifications
We seek a sophisticated professional with five years of experience in program development and management, preferably in organizations that share the Council’s commitment to women’s empowerment and to using research to promote social change. The ideal candidate will be expected to have general familiarity with the broader areas of women’s research and policy related issues. S/he will also have the managerial and strategic planning acumen to accomplish policy program goals and objectives. In addition, the candidate will have the following qualifications:

· Self-starter with a demonstrated ability to identify priorities, work independently, and prioritize multiple activities and tasks;
· Extensive knowledge of public policies at the state and federal level
· Intellectual flexibility to engage a dynamic array of issues;
· Successful experience translating vision and ideas into working programs, creating networks and collaborations, and building partnerships with people of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, personalities, and talents;
· Proven track record in creating and implementing programs dealing with issues related to the Council’s mission and a demonstrated commitment to social change;
· Track record and experience with international issues and issues related to race, class, ethnicity, and other markers of difference is highly desirable;
· Successful experience managing or coordinating a research agenda/program; overseeing and coordinating the activities of advisors, consultants, and other participants;
· Expertise in developing publications, positions papers, and reports; organizing meetings, conferences, and other events; overseeing logistics and programs;
· Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to represent the Council to a broad public;
· Credibility and experience to connect the Council to resources and opportunities outside the organization;
· An MA or Ph.D. in a related field (public policy, law, human rights, political and/or social sciences). Some experience in the nonprofit sector is desired.

POSITION 2 – temporary, part-time Researcher

The temporary, part-time researcher will be responsible for gathering critical data and research at the national level and in battleground states on the BIG FIVE issues*, especially data produced by our network of Member Centers and partners. The researcher should have the ability to identify multiple and reliable sources and develop fact sheets that will lay the groundwork for position papers that will be developed by the lead researcher, under whose supervision the temporary researcher will work. The content gathered will be a centerpiece of the campaign and will be used by advocates, thought leaders, and stakeholders to amplify the voices of women and girls in the upcoming election cycle. This is a Temporary, Part-Time position that could expand into additional opportunities, depending on the candidate’s abilities, and the Council’s needs.

*The BIG FIVE Campaign will bring together the Council’s 117 Member Centers, and strategic partners, to interject a gender lens and voice in the presidential campaign and the next Aministration. Specifically, the campaign aims to influence national debates and shape public policies that directly impact the lives of women and girls by highlighting the critical issues that face them. These issues encompass economic security, health, immigration, violence, and education.

Responsibilities
· Undertake in-depth research for the BIG FIVE campaign focusing on economic security, immigration, health, violence and education.
· Synthesize data and develop fact sheets for each of the BIG FIVE issue areas.
· Work under the direction of the lead researcher.

Qualifications:
· A Bachelors degree, with preference given to Ph.D. candidates or those with a Masters in a relevant field (e.g. public policy, government, economics, health, immigration, women’s studies, education)
· 2-4 years research experience
· Excellent research skills, preferably in a non-profit environment
· Attention to detail and excellent organizational, written, and oral communication skills
· Strong electronic and word processing skills including, website maintenance (CMS, Dreamweaver), Constant Contact, email campaigns, blogs and on-line social networking. Working knowledge of Donor Perfect, HTML, PowerPoint, and Excel ia plus
· Ability and willingness to work in a diverse environment
· Exceptional interpersonal communication skills and ability to network comfortably and effectively in both public and private sectors
· Flexibility, patience, a willingness to take on multiple tasks, efficiency, a friendly disposition, sense of humor, and problem-solving skills
· Interest and commitment to women’s rights and feminist issues

Applications will be reviewed as received. Applications, which will not be reviewed without a cover letter describing your interest and qualifications, your resume (in Word or PDF format), a writing sample, and salary history, should be sent to: jobs@ncrw.org. In order to expedite the internal sorting and reviewing process, please write your name (Last, First, job title) as the only contents in the subject line of your e-mail.

For a fuller (!) description of the positions and who they’re looking for, please email the Council at ncrw@ncrw.org.

Just wanted to thank everyone for all those good wishes yesterday, and on the day I posted Girl w/Groom (my one post during the honeymoon)! You made my day.

Here’s one of my fave New Mexico pics (left), if only because it recalls a delicious state of mind. While Marco was climbing down into the Rio Grande River Gorge braving death-defying heights in order to get pictures of rocks, I was happily meditating up top. Breathing in, breathing out, ahhh….