How Does a Knitted Vagina Work? The Craftivist Response to Current Political Issues through the Utilization of Historically Feminine Crafts
This thesis explores how historically women’s crafts such as needlework and fiber arts have informed acts of political protest with a focus on the craftivist response to contemporary women’s reproductive rights surrounding the Supreme Court Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision (2014). Individuals and organized groups, including Government Free VJJ: Project Snatchel, Knit a Brick, and Wombs on Washington responded to the attempts and legalization of restricting women’s reproductive freedom. I am interested in how contemporary craftivism utilizes the historically feminine mediums of fiber-based craft to further social awareness of political feminine issues. INDEX WORDS: Craftivism, Activism, Knitting, Gender, Women’s Rights, Pro-Choice HOW DOES A KNITTED VAGINA WORK? THE CRAFTIVIST RESPONSE TO CURRENT POLITCAL ISSUES THROUGH THE UTILIZATION OF HISTORICALLY FEMININE CRAFTS
Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology
Looking at the work of women artists and the history of art, the authors trace the development of the feminine stereotype and its role in structuring the ideology of the discipline of art history. The separation of art and craft, its effect on the way that work by women is seen and valued, and the response of women artists are also analyzed. Circa 150 bibl. ref.
People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements
Ostertag, Bob. People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006. 232 pp. $16. With the demise of mass media and the rise of independent and alternative voices in the myriad of forms that now define "the media," it makes a certain amount of sense that there would be a growing interest in social movement media. According to John Downing in the March 2008 Communication, Culture and Critique, the study of social movements is on the rise and the study of small-scale, alternative media has mushroomed, with two encyclopedias of alternative media under preparation by Routledge and Sage respectively and a two-volume collection of essays edited by Dorothy Kidd, Clemencia Rodriguez, and Laura Stein being produced by Hampton Press. As Downing states, though, this explosion underscores the previous lack of attention to social movement media, and this is particularly true from the perspective of journalism history. Two volumes of social movement media history have stood for many years as the key contributors: Lauren Kessler's The Dissident Press: Alternative Journalism in American History in 1984 and Voices of Revolution: The Dissident Press in America by Rodger Streitmatter in 2001. Now, Bob Ostertag, a scholar-composer-activist on the technocultural studies faculty of the University of California-Davis, enters this distinguished company with People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements. According to the book, Ostertag's idea began in a bar during a conversation with Richard Landry, executive director of the Independent Press Association (IPA), when one of them asked, "Where are the social movements of the twenty-first century?" Shortly thereafter the IPA funded a report to try to find an answer. The question is interesting because it begins with a contemporary query that requires a historical perspective to ponder effectively. The resulting book does not attempt to be comprehensive in historical scope, but Ostertag delves deeply into the areas on which he concentrates. He unearths obscure journals "more likely to be found in cardboard boxes in someone's attic" than in officiai archives or library collections and exposes their importance based on their publishers' often heroic efforts, ideals, and potential effect on others, not on circulation numbers, longevity, or financial success. He covers some familiar ground with the abolitionist and woman suffragist presses, and like Streitmatter, focuses on gay and lesbian presses as well. He cites Streitmatter frequently for an earlier book, Unspeakable: The Rise of the Gay and Lesbian Press in America. He breaks new ground, though, with the observation that black, gay, and lesbian presses have been virtually lost to history, and then he reveals some of them, as well as their activist publishers. …