The New Agenda marches on…
February 1, 2009
by Amy Siskind
|It has been yet another amazing week at The New Agenda. There is an undercurrent of change rising from the embers of the 2008 Presidential Election. The women and like-minded men of our country want change. The women of this country deserve respect!
Here are a few of the highlights from the past week:
- Grassroots - TNA continues to sprout chapters throughout the country. Not only in our local communities, but also on college campuses. This week we will hold a grassroots meeting in Washington DC. Let us know if you can make it!
- Speaking out on AIDs – as a result of our Ophelia show with Rosa Clemente, TNA has decided to tackle the issue of women with AIDs, which is such an important issue for WOC. We are researching how to proceed and expect this to become a “Goal” for our organization.
- Adding “Gender” to Hate Crime Legislation – co-founder Ami Novoryta, a public policy graduate student at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, will be synthesizing TNA’s approach to getting “gender” added to Hate Crime Legislation. Co-founder Nina Miller will be attending a coalition meeting in DC with other national orgs later this week to listen in on ways of working together.
- Blogosphere - if you haven’t stopped by recently, check out our newly redesigned webpage. Bravo to co-founder Violet Socks for one of the cleanest and boldest websites on the blogosphere! Also, co-founder Hughes has been polishing up our Facebook page – make sure to stop by and become a “fan.”
- Grass Tops – TNA co-founder Prameela Bartholomeusz has started to compile our list of target states and seats for the 2010 elections. Once the list is complete, we will post it for our members to see and ask for suggestions for open seats.
- SOBing – co-founder Dr. Karen Kvavik wrote a wonderful blog piece this week about how female candidates are Simplified/Objectified and Bimbofied/Bitchified. Unfortunately, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is the latest victim of these vicious assaults. TNA will continue to speak out against this behavior.
- CNN Appearance – sorry for the confusion on our CNN appearance. The weekend show was broadcast out of Atlanta and as there were no other early morning guests in NY, the show was postponed. We are told that there will be many future opportunities for our important women’s organization to speak out about women’s rights!
- Ophelia – Ophelia ate one too many packs of pork rinds during the Superbowl and is taking this week off. Stay tuned for our exciting guests in the months to come!
On a final note, I want to mention an interview done this morning by the new RNC Chairman, Michael Steele. While speaking on Fox New Sunday, Steele commented:
But the reality of it is the party has to recognize the diversity of opinion that’s out there. And we’re not going to get everyone to agree with the — Ronald Reagan said it best. If you agree with me 80 percent of the time, I think that’s good enough. I mean, I think we can move forward on that 80 percent.
In other words, the RNC should focus on the 80% that voters agree on and not exclude voters based on their views on choice or gay rights.
Sound familiar? TNA figured this out 5 months back. And we commend the RNC for agreeing to word on those things that unite us, not divide us!
We fight on!!!
Misspelling — should be vicious attacks.
Unfortunately, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is the latest victim of these viscious assaults.
I like these posts that re-state the goals and identify new ones. you can really see how the initial vision is developing.
also glad to see the commitment to add gender to hate crime legislation. the hanging of Palin in effigy being laughed off as “Halloween fun” while arrests were made when the same was done to President Obama in another state was a real eye opener.
Steele’s comments very interesting. sounds like the Repubs may have picked the right guy. during the election it was mind-boggling to see a big portion of the conservative wing of their party pretty much walk away from a candidate who voted with them 90% of the time. 90% not good enough? heck, if I could find one person on the planet who agreed with me that often I’d consider my life blessed.
plus, looking for areas of agreement is taking a positive approach.
I’m glad to see that the issue of AIDS and HIV was added to the agenda. I don’t know much about this in terms of action – what are the goals? How to attack this huge problem? Is it education? Birth control access? Teaching girls to stand up to pressure from men? I’m sure it’s an all of the above issue but I’d love to know more about this.
Ali,
We are now studying the issue and formulating our approach. Once we have figured out the way forward, we will add it as a “Goal” on the website.
I’m against specifying AIDS as an issue. I think if people want to concentrate on one disease, there are plenty of outlets for them to go and do so.
The issue should be much, much broader than that…it should be how all medical and safety issues start with men as the default. eg, how shoulder harnesses in automobile safety belts are designed to protect men and cut women across the neck. They are mandated, yet far from being a safety device are not designed to protect women.
The same thing with medical studies…they study men first. AIDS should just be yet another issue that The New Agenda includes among the one message that women are not being included, studied, and protected.
I’m also not fond of the “SOB” acronym, since it is most known as a slur against men which denigrates women, too, but denotes a male target, so it makes no sense and will not catch on as it already is well known as something else.
But then, coining acronyms aren’t “TNA’s” strong point, hm?
“Birth control access? Teaching girls to stand up to pressure from men?”
This entire discussion in another thread here was pretty distressing.
What happened to teaching boys as well? And holding fathers responsible for the seeds they sow which become babies they don’t support? And I don’t just mean state-ordered financial support, which is difficult enough to come by. I thought we were going to be all about changing entire attitudes and changing inequalities.
Mentoring girls was a fantastic idea…how about mentoring boys as well? Shouldn’t we be about making it uncool for boys to procreate without consequences? Shouldn’t we be about empowering them all to make better choices? Shouldn’t we be about making it unthinkable to only study men in safety and health issues?
If we start pinpointing single issues like morning-after pills and AIDS, we’ll lose people and lose focus. They should be included in a larger message about inequality and sexism as it applies to our culture as a whole. That way, whenever *any* of those issues crop up in the media…AIDS, seat belts, a new blood pressure medicine, whathaveyou…The New Agenda can fire off their unified and focused message: “see? Here is another life or death measure that doesn’t taken women into account.”
Love when TNA posts updates of progress. Love hearing more names of who co-founders are (assuming they’re their true names).
Wondering how this small and young (albeit growing) org is going to take on so many issues, when the one slated as the focus issue for 2009 appears not addressed as a focus issue at all as January came and went.
Zee raised some interesting points about AIDS. It got me thinking. No sure where I stand, exactly, on adding this to our already rather ambitious set of goals. Perhaps it could be nested within the larger goal of medical care and access for women, which of course, includes sexual activity, birth control, std’s, etc.
The last point about Michael Steele’s comment makes an assumption that I don’t think is fair to make as it’s like putting words in his mouth and/or presenting his intentions in a specific way when he presented them in a broad way. When he said 80% agreement is good enough, that stands as an idea. To say there was a subtext whereby he meant “choice and gay rights” is a complete assumption and potential misrepresentation. Building alliances isn’t helped when we potentially misrepresent others. (A point I kept trying to raise re: Paterson and the t-shirt which no one ever answered.)
Thanks to TNA for all they’re doing!!! I hope the org will find a way to help make activism easy for visitors and members on a routine basis.
Yes! Yes! and, Oh no!
1. Adding “Gender” to Hate Crime Legislation
2. target states and seats for the 2010 elections
3. Ophelia ate one too many packs of pork rinds during the Superbowl
Anna, thanks for the word “nested” — that is exactly what I meant.
And I thought of another example: the sex trade. This ties in with making birth control and/or resisting risky sexual encounters solely the province of women and girls.
Why only target the madam who provided David Vitter with the service he needed to buy in order to satisfy his compulsion to wear diapers as a sexual outlet? Why was she convicted and subsequently committed suicide rather than be incarcerated? Meanwhile he’s still in office? Why isn’t he facing criminal charges as well?
We need to be asking these questions…not only to draw attention to the women victimized by the sex trade (and my example was the least exploitative, given it was not a sex slave situation, which is another issue)…but also to turn around the attitude that men
face no consequences for their own acts that impact women’s very lives. And as far as anyone out there in the entire wilderness of our current culture is indicating, they needn’t fear they’ll ever face any consequences.
If The New Agenda sticks to a single laser message, we can impact the media focus, our political representation, and make men share both the rewards and the responsibilities, whether it’s seat belts or babies or medical attention.
We can help those already focusing on birth control and AIDs, etc, without trying to reinvent the wheel. We need to be the voice that isn’t already out there!
Alliance…maybe that’s another word we need to explore.
Couldn’t we form supportive alliances with groups already up to speed on specific issues?
I can certainly relate to “biting off more than one can chew” — that’s an excellent attitude for the type of sweeping change so many of the burgeoning women’s groups want to inspire.
And I’m in awe with everything so many have accomplished. Our voices online have definitely impacted the mainstream.
But my vote would be to concentrate on unique actions, such as the concept of “grass tops” which will in turn help us in all the other issues.
We are part of several coalition groups and continue to form new ones. We do realize that we need to leverage off of existing organizations whenever this is possible.
Wonderful, Amy. This is what I love about TNA – you take on issues that the media and many other organizations seem to ignore… Thanks so much.
I agree with Zee on AIDS, and the need for a comprehensive women’s health platform. AIDS is an issue that third-wave feminist groups, and pretty much every other liberal group, have done a good job raising awareness about already. Meanwhile, women’s health concerns are dismissed as stress-related; they are less likely to get needed care in a variety of situations, especially chronic pain, where sufferers are seen as whining and attention-seeking. Diseases that disproportionately affect women are not studied as much — and then written off as “nebulous” or made-up because of that lack of knowledge (remember that notorious NYT article on chronic fatigue syndrome, “Drug Approved, Is Disease Real?”) TNA is truly a one-of-a-kind organization that can bring some needed focus to these issues.
I suggest the umbrella issue be called WOMEN’S HEALTH:
Health care info across the developmental spectrum, from puberty to old age
Info about and access to birth control
Education about STD’s and how to prevent and/or treat them (HIV/AID is an obvious part of that, but HPV should not be overlooked as it is pretty much the sole cause of cervical cancer in women)
Education about heart disease, which is the leading cause of death among women though most women fear breast cancer. Meanwhile, health care professionals are behind the curve on how women’s symptoms are different from men’s which contributes to the startling fact that more women die of heart attacks each year compared to men (also contributing to this is how women’s symptoms are dismissed and minimized, partially due to ignorant doctors and partially due to the way female patients are often stereotyped as complainers). Book rec writtten by a female cardiologist: “Women are Not Small Men” (gotta’ love the title!)
Domestic violence cross references into this category, as well. Twenty percent of all ER visits by women are traced to domestic violence, and as we all know, so many women don’t seek treatment. With women beaten, knifed, shot at, and with 4 of us dying every day from domestic violence, I’d say it’s a serious health concern.
Health issues that are particular to certain populations due to socioeconomic and/or genetic factors (i.e. HIV/AIDS impact among women of color, black women are at higher risk to develop more virulant forms of breast cancer, etc).
Other ideas???
Adding onto my own comment:
Addressing the fact that most studies are performed with male subjects, with results then applied to women, an assumption that does not always hold up, clinically.
Medication dosing as one-size-fits-all, typically dosed for a body type that is more like a man’s body weight than a woman’s weight, leading to potential, needlessly higher doses of meds for acute or chronic health issues when a lower dose might be just as efficacious (dovetails to the point mentioned above).
I’m concerned with adding too many issues to the stack, and spreading the energy and resources too thinly.
I recommend that TNA create a mission statement; two to three sentences summarizing the purpose and goals of the organization (this is harder than it sounds).
Then, for all new possible projects, ask seriously “do they fit our mission statement”. If they don’t, then don’t take them on (no reason members of TNA can’t take them on as a separate project). It’s hard to say no, especially when there is so much to do, but a clear mission statement can help keep an organization on track. It’s also easier to say no to someone when what they’re asking for clearly doesn’t mesh with the statement; it’s less of a personal rebuff.
I’ve worked at a museum where they paid no attention to their mission statement, it was a huge mess!
Digger – I agree that a mission statement should be no longer than 2-3 sentences and TNA needs to work on theirs (including the elimination of redundancy which now exists). But, as a result of this winnowing down to a couple of sentences, I find that mission statements often becomem so broad and as a result, it’s easy to find ways to rationalize how one thing or another fits into the wide net that is cast via this statement. I think it is more in how goals are set that an org can create some real parameters.
As for impacting the media, too many issues OR the same issue over and over could BOTH get a ‘Oh, there they go again’ response. Where’s Goldilocks? Some focus that apparently different issues could be unexpectedly tied to?
How is HIllary handling this in her world-wide work for women and children?
Zee said, “The issue should be much, much broader than that…it should be how all medical and safety issues start with men as the default. eg, how shoulder harnesses in automobile safety belts are designed to protect men and cut women across the neck. They are mandated, yet far from being a safety device are not designed to protect women.”
A very good idea. Another example, air bags were designed for men in high speed collisions and mandated on all cars. The fact that they killed women and children on curb bumps at slow speeds was considered unimportant for a long time.
Also, most ergonomic products (such as steering wheels) seem spaced for male fingers. Something not ergonomic at all is actually easier than that for women’s hands.
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