|
15 minutes Oral
Presentation |
Instruction of 15-min oral
presentation
Site: Feminist Majority Foundation
About the author:
The
Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF)
is the author of this site, and was created to develop bold, new strategies and
programs to advance women
About the
president of FMF:
Eleanor
Smeal is the president of
Feminist Majority Foundation. She
holds an M.A. in Political Science, and an honorary Doctor of Law degree from
Duke University. She is recognized
throughout the nation as a women’s rights leader. She has been a president of National Organization for
women.
She
is recognized throughout the nation as a women’s rights leader.
For over 20 years, she has been played a leading role in both national
and state campaigns to win women’s rights legislation and a number of landmark
state and federal court cases for women’s rights.
Over the past
30 years, she has been on the frontlines fighting for women’s equality. She has been at the forefront of almost
every major women’s rights victory – Violence Against Women Act, Freedom of
Access to Clinic Entrances Act, and Civil Rights Act of 1991. She has pushed to make Social Security
and pensions more equitable for women, and to realign federal priorities by
developing a feminist budget. She
has campaigned to close the wage gap and to achieve pay equity for the vast
majority of women who are segregated in low-paying jobs.
She pioneered
the use of the Internet as a feminist organizing and research tool by launching
Feminist Majority ON-line in August, 1995 as one of the first non-profit and
first wonen’s organization sites on the World Wide Web.
The world
Almanac for 1983 chose her as the fourth most influential woman in the United
States.
She was named
as Time Mazagine’s as one of the “50 faces for America’s Future” in their
August 6, 1979 cover story.
As President of the National Organization for Women, she led the drive to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, the largest nationwide grassroots and lobbying campaign in the history of the modern women’s movement.
Overall
Interest:
The table of
contents is easy to be recognized with nice color combination.
Very well
designed and organized.
General
Content:
Clicking on “Stop Gender Apartheid”, the information on Taliban,
an extremist militia in Afghanistan issued decrees in 1996 banning women and
girls from going to school, to work, or leaving their houses without a male
relative. Violating Taliban
decrees bring brutal punishment: beating, stoning, and death. Led by the FMF, the Campaign to Stop
Gender Apartheid has brought together over 180 leading human rights and women’s
organizations, in the US and around the world, to demand that the human rights
abuses against women and girls in Afghanistan must end.
In “Feminist Research Center”, there are search
engines to be navigated after clicking on “Feminist
Internet Search Utilities”.
Other than the search engines, Women’s Studies programs in the universities in the USA are introduced. There are links to the sites of Feminist Journals and magazines.
In “Feminist Internet Gateway”, there are different
kinds of categories to navigate the viewer who is seeking resources on
research, such as “Violence Against Women” and “Women and Work”. “Global Feminist
Resource” provides feminist related information in different
countries, such as India. Using
one of the search engines provided underneath, “WWWomen”, I found a site, titled, “Psychotherapist and
Applied Non-violent Self-Defense Trainer” by putting a word “Aggressive
behavior”. It introduces self-defense and safety tips to prevent from being a
victim of violence.
“911
for Women” provides
nation and statewide hotlines for domestic violence. There is a site of RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) under “Sexual
Assault & Rape Crisis Resource List”.
It provides facts and information on sex
crimes.
For
example:
・ In 1996, 307,000 women were the victim of rape, attempted rape
or sexual assault. [National Crime
Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice,
1997]
・ Approximately 68% of rape
victims knew their assailant.
・ 29% of female victims
reported that the offender was a stranger.
・ 68% of rapes occur
between the hours of 6pm and 6am.
[All statistics are taken from Violence against women. Bureau of Justice
Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 1994]
Under “Sexual Assault Internet Resource”, there is a
site of “The Domestic Violence Project, Inc./SAFE House”, authored by a
private, non-profit corporation.
In the site, I could download “Survivor’s Handbook”. There is much useful information on
domestic violence in the Handbook.
I found the “warning signs of abusers” interesting. It says that there is no sure-fire way
to identify a batterer ahead of time, but it provides questionnaires you can
ask yourself about your partner to think about whether the person is abusive or
not. For example, “Is he very,
very jerous?”, “Does he want to know where you are every single minute?” and
“Does he say he can’t ‘help’ losing his temper?”
“Global
Feminism” introduces
the latest news related to feminists and feminism in the world.
Under “Reproductive Rights”, there is “Abortion Rights
Resources” to click on, and in there, many sites related to abortion, such as “The Abortion Rights Activist
Home Page”, “National Abortion Federation”, and
“Planned Parenthood” are available to consult with reproductive and abortion
rights. There is a site aimed to
help to end AIDS crisis, titled “ACT UP”(AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power).
Under “Feminists Arts, Literature, and Entertainment”,
you can find many feminism related books by clicking on “Feminist Bookfinders”.
Search
engines:
There is a search engine in this site. Putting a word “Domestic Violence”, I
found FMF-Domestic Violene Information Center, and was led to view the “Domestic Violence Facts.” Clicking on “Internet
Resource”, there is general information on abuse, assault, rape and
domestic violence. There is a site
of “Asian Task Force Against
Domestic Violence” in the organization category. The site provides the definitions and the information so
that women who have been abused by their partners can have idea that they have
been abused, and tips to escape from the partner who has been abusing them.
Specific
Content:
Article of “Contact
Sports and Violence Against Women” under “Empowering Women in Sports”
A
study suggests that there is a link between men athletes and violence against
women. According to a survey of 530
undergraduate men at the University of Arizona, male college students who
participated in formal athletics were slightly more likely to feel hostile
towards women, and to engage in sexual aggression, than other men. The best predictors of sexual aggression
and hostility to women were high alcohol and nicotine use.
A
possible reason is that there are coaches of contact sports often exhort
players to perform better by telling them not to be”6 4 sissies” or “girls.”
There are rugby songs that describe violence against women, and the
women-degrading language used by players of contact sports. Women are not seen
as fellow athletes to be respected.
College and
professional football players who commit sexual assault are often given
preferential treatment by police, judges, and sports authorities. For example, the NFL usually does not
suspend players who have been convicted of sexual assault, domestic violence,
or other violence. The cycle of male aggression and violence against women
is sustained by encouraging boys to become aggressive, violent athletes, and by
encouraging girls to cheer for them.
Overall
reaction:
This site was
interesting and it conveys the message of the importance of keeping active for
women to achieve equity. In the
links of another feminism website, I found this site was introduced as a
gate-way of feminism site. After I
read the informative articles on this site, I felt there were many things that
women are degraded in many societies in the world. At the same time I was ashamed of myself for not knowing
very much about feminist issues, I had an urge for catching up and acquaint
myself with feminism.
|
|