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By Martina • 11 years ago

in which I will brook none of that shit: a post about talking back and street harassment

Fair warning to all sad, sorry young men trolling the streets of my city: if you cat-call me (as one unfortunate boy discovered the other day), I will not take it.

I will instead stop my bike, ask you to please explain precisely why you think it’s acceptable to speak to me that way, and spend the next five to seven minutes schooling you on just exactly how sad and sorry you are; the bigger the audience, the better, because if you think that you can shame me for being a woman, then I’d very much like you to be as shamed as possible in as public an arena as possible. If you shout at me on the street, I will shout back because you are putting my body on display and expecting my silent acquiescence. If you think that my female subjectivity makes my body forfeit, then you are, in this case, sadly goddamn mistaken. I’m not interested in that game, so I’m going to shout and lecture and belittle you — I am going to get in your face — I am going to make you look at my eyes and not at my tits – I’m going to make a big goddamn scene — I’m going to crush you with my intellect and my voice and my power so that what is now on display is your pathetic misogyny, not my body.
By Martina • 12 years ago

thoughts from the classroom on bodies, perceptions, and teachable moments

(originally posted at The Life Academic)

For the past four weeks, I’ve been teaching at a summer camp for gifted middle- and high-school students. Now that my tenure in the classroom, with these wonderful and invigorating and frustrating kids, is over for this summer, (and as much as I hope I that I’ve taught them a thing or two,) I’m thinking about the things they taught me. Wednesday, I had an interesting moment with some of my students and I’ve been thinking about it since.

Some background: one of the courses I taught this summer was an introduction to media literacy course that I’ve titled “Reading the World Well.” The overall goal is to help students learn how ...

(originally posted at The Life Academic)

For the past four weeks, I’ve been teaching at a summer camp for gifted middle- and high-school students. Now that my tenure in the classroom, with these wonderful ...