Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize

Transcription

(applause) Thank you. Thank you very much, but please thank Michelle Bartlett. She's the one who got it all going. (applause) I have to say, she only gave me 40 seconds for this. That's not my time. I'm pretty sure that Ms. Magazine was the first magazine I subscribed to with my own money. Today it's online; you can read it on your smartphone. In the 70's, it came in the mail and was what it is - a beacon for feminism and activism. It celebrated girls and women, it made the struggles of private lives visible, and it picked apart the tight little boxes of expectation that women lived in. Did Ms. change my life? Did Gloria Steinem? Yeah, I think so. What I'm really sure of is that Gloria Steinem and feminism helped me to think, gave me a new vocabulary, a new perspective and a path. I'm incredibly grateful and I know I'm not alone. And I know that feminism, along with the other civil rights movements we have been blessed to have in our lifetime has been and is an absolute gamechanger. It is a pleasure, it's a privilege to introduce Gloria Steinem and say to her - and I hope you will join me in thanking her so much for living her life out loud, so we can all hear what's on her mind - please welcome Gloria Steinem! (applause) Well, are we going to have a good time tonight or what? I hope that there are other people in this audience besides me who never imagined that they would find themselves speaking in public. (laughs) Are there a lot of you? I don't know what your symptoms are; mine are that Iose all my saliva, each tooth gets a little angorous sweat around it. (laughs) And this is a surprise to me, in my life, that I've turned out to be in this room. I started out to be a writer. I thought that what was on paper was more serious than what was said, right? And only because I couldn't publish what I thought was important when the women's movement was suddenly developing and lightbulbs were going off and we were suddenly - we were realizing that we were not crazy, the system was crazy. A really important realization. And because I couldn't publish articles like that, I started to go out with a friend, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, who was fearless; who was also a mother, African American, a great organizer... So together we made an appeal that niether one of us could have made separately. So, I just say that because I think following the fear sometimes takes you to growth and also because you are here tonight in a group that has never come together before in exactly the same way. Each one of us is a unique miracle of heredity and environment combined in a way that could never have happened before and will never happen again. So I'm hoping that, though I will speak for awhile to give something shared to respond to, that this will turn into an event that all of us share equally. I'm sorry that because of our numbers we are sitting in this way with you looking at each others' backs, me looking at you - there's another overflow room too. This is a hierarchical way of being. Hierarchy is based on patriarchy; patriarchy doesn't work anywhere anymore, in this room or elsewhere. (crowd cheers) So I just want to say, "Hello Fairbanks!" and thanks to Michelle Bartlett and others at this great university. Thanks to the Center for Nonviolent Living, and the Newsminer, and the so many people here who have been really key in making this happen. Thanks to the Co-op Market (laughter) and whose slogan I love, "Big enough to meet your needs, small enough to meet your neighbor." Is that not great? (laughs) And yes, thanks to Lance Roberts, (laughter) who tried to sensor, as we know, what Co-op customers could read and therefore started the slow but sure wheels of democracy rolling. So we have something very special tonight, which is a little time in this space and a combination of people that has never happened before and will never happen again. So here's my biggest dream: each of us will leave here with some new idea, some new subversive organizing tactic, some new friend, some new feeling of support - me too - and that means that our lives and the world may be a little better because we were together than they would have been otherwise. So I've been thinking about where we are from a movement point of view I suppose it's fair to say that there were two big movements in the way that we wrongly count this history, which is only since Columbus arrived. I mean, what a not nice guy and what a bad navigator he was, right? (laughter) But since then we have had the suffragist and abolitionist movement, which gained a legal identity for women of all races and men of color as human beings who had been chattel before - who had been owned like objects - and that took at least a hundred years. Now we are striving not just for legal identity but for legal and social equality. That probably will also last a hundred years and we're, what, halfway into it, maybe - at the most. So I don't know how to break this to you, but we have at least fifty years to go. And I think we can move towards - at last - kindness and justice. But movements themselves have a a particular kind of motion too. Generally speaking, the group that has been powerless has to stand up and identify themselves first and name themselves and become visible. There is a long period of time in which we strive, having become, having been dependent to become independent. And that is true of the civil rights movement, of the women's movement, of the gay and lesbian and transsexual movement, of so many movements that must become independent and visible and autonomous before they can become interdependent. But the truth is all our movements are interdependent. They are not separate. And I think we are in a stage now where we can truly understand that. We can see that wherever race and class systems are deep and profound then it is also much worse for women. In order to maintain race separation, racial systems in the long run, you have to control reproduction and that means you have to control the bodies of women. So we in this country should know that, actually, because our history shows us that the sex and race caste systems were stronger in the south because they depended upon each other and the intertwining of those systems is crucial. Otherwise we will continue to be regarded as separate movements as if we were in silos - the women's movement, the racial justice movement, the gay and lesbian movement and so on. And in fact, we are linked and profoundly interdependent. I noticed that on campuses, for instance, sometimes students say to me, "Why are are the same groups against both contraception and lesbians?" (laughter) This seems to them irrational. But actually, it is not because the groups that are controlling reproduction therefore controlling the bodies of women in order to in order to do that, per say, plus to perpetuate race or class are also telling us that sexuality - human sexuality - is only okay, only moral, when it is directed toward having children inside patriarchal marriage, so they can be properly owned. So that means that the same groups are against contraception, safe and legal abortion, sex between two women, between two men, because they are against all non-procreative sex. So it makes sense and I think we have to understand it makes sense because sometimes I think our adversaries understand the connections better than we do. Haven't you noticed that our adversaries are all the same people? So especially now, when in about 20 minutes or a few years, this country is no longer going to be a majority white country anymore, the same groups that are against immigration, in general and especially undocumented immigration, are also against the women's movement, against sex education, and against contraception because they feel that, strongly that white women are not having enough children, that the white race is, as they say, committing suicide. The same groups are against the changes the varying changes that are changing the balance of this country. Now it seems to me great that this country is changing its balance because you know, white people are a tiny minority in the world. We're going to understand the world much better when we're more diverse. It also makes for many more choices for us and many more, much more cultural richness for us. It seems to me a great thing. But because it is frightening to people who were born into a structure that told them that they have a specific place in the hierarchy because of their race, because of their religion, because of their sex, we find ourselves now with a profound backlash. Now the good news is we wouldn't have a backlash if we hadn't had a frontlash. This is good. And we do have - if you look at the public opinion polls - we do have a majority support on pretty much every issue. But it is also true that there is and has been, for the last twenty years or so, a backlash. Not a majority backlash, but a profound, well-financed, and scared one, really. And that is what we are facing. Nowhere is it written that the backlash might not win. They - the backlash - has control of many state legislatures especially. Part of that is our fault. We've been paying much too much attention to Washington and assuming that if we had the public opinion polls we would win. No, because the forces that control the state legislatures, many of them, and also dictate redistricting had redistricted themselves into perpetuity and can dictate who is in the House actually too - who is in the House of Representatives. So some of this is our inattention, some of it is the force of the backlash, but I think that both this frightening and the hopeful place we are at this time, to me, goes like this: it seems to me that the paradigm of all violence and social interaction is the family. And we know in family violence that a person, usually a woman, is most likely to be murdered or hurt when she has just escaped or is about to escape. That is the maximum time of danger because she is escaping control. We are escaping control. The country is escaping control by the old forces. And that means two things: (1) we are at a time of maximum danger and we have to be aware and look out for each other and be careful and plan but it also means that we are about to be free and we are not going to stop. (applause) In a very brief way, I think that's sort of where we are, you know. Bella Abzug used to say, "Ok, we've had our declaration of independence. Now we need a declaration of interdependence." I think that's where we are with movements. We have to make very, very clear that it's not possible to be a successful feminist without being anti-racist. It's just not possible. And it's not possible to free human sexuality as a means of expression, as well as the conception it's supposed to be without freeing it from the idea that it is only about conception. In fact, human sexuality has always been a way that we communicate, express caring, bond with each other. I think - you know, I've been saying this for years and I always worry that I'm maligning other animals when I say it - but I think that human beings are the animals most likely to experience sexual pleasure even when we can't conceive. Other animals seem to have periods of heat or estrous in which they are most likely to conceive So, really, the whole patriarchal system has been lying to us about this in religious forms and in all kinds of forms for a really long time, telling us that the only moral purpose of sexuality was conception and that was it. We are just beginning to finally realize that that is a lie. So I've tried to make a little short list of some of the other connections God may be in the details, but the goddess is in connections. (laughter and applause) We hear about the need for economic stimulus to benefit the economy and that has been interpreted as shoring up such centers of wealth as bankers and car manufacturers. That's what economic stimulus is supposed to be. But if we connect to what we know about economic welfare from a movement point of view, and make that connection, we will come to understand that the very best economic stimulus we could possibly have in this country is equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex or race. (applause) This alone would put about 200 billion dollars more into the economy every year. 200 billion dollars. And it would be especially beneficial to women who are heads of households, for instance, women of color who are heads of households. Children of those women are the most likely to need social services and the government safety net services. So equal pay would also save taxpayers money - a lot of money. And those women are going to spend that money; they are not going to put it into a Swiss bank account. (laughter) They are going to use that money and that's what makes it such a great economic stimulus. It is also going to reduce the profits of Walmart - a very good thing. The Walmart family now has more money than the entire bottom third of the United States. It would reduce the profits of McDonald's and all of those groups that are profiteering off unequal pay, off the huge racial reservoir of poorly paid people and the pink color ghetto - the sexual reservoir of poorly paid people. It is crazy that this has been allowed to go on and once - but how often have you ever seen equal pay mentioned when they talk about economic stimulus? I haven't ever seen it. Alright. If we make that connection, we can force the vision that we understand, really, more work. It's not just about more salaries for executives. It's... It's also true that the pink color ghetto, which means jobs that are mostly female - often disproportionately women of color - the pink color ghetto, is subsidizing many, many, many other businesses. And the... such things as the other NRA, the National Restaurant Association - Do you know this group? - have managed to secure legislation that means that, for instance, this vast workforce of tipped workers is exempt from minimum wage. That means two things: they're underpaid and they're desperate enough so that they may well put up with harassment that they shouldn't in order to get tipped. It is so wrong and there is so much profiteering going on about this. Now the good news is that what you might call the pink color ghetto - that is those great areas of women workers, of low wage workers, whether it's home healthcare workers, domestic workers, food service, all of those big areas - are now organizing parexalons. You may have noticed this in the news, right? There are huge, huge waves of organizing going on. And legislation is beginning to change. Not, perhaps, at the state legislature level, but at the city level. The city governments are still more democratic than the state legislature, so we are beginning to get paid sick days and minimum wage raises. So that spottily, the minimum wage is raised in cities around the country, so much so that Walmart has to raise its minimum wage in order to function nationally because they are functioning in these different cities. So there are many different ways of going about this, but it is happening. And what I notice is that as I see the great organizers, like Ai-jen Poo of household workers, the great organizers of today great charismatic organizers, is that it's a movement like the union movement of the 1930's and it has restored - I think that the union movement, for reasons of opposition and all kinds of reasons, sometimes became aggressive, lost its spirit. You know, the original union movement was Bread and Roses? It was women marching in the streets of Massachusetts, who worked in the mills, singing Bread and Roses? Over time, the union movement got to be somewhat discriminatory in itself. Sometimes it was a father-son protective association somewhat in some areas. And in any case, it got to be kind of hostile. It got the bread but it forgot the roses. And now what I notice is that these mostly female, and some male, areas of organizing are restoring the roses. So Ai-Jen Poo, for instance, in talking about household workers, talks about partnership with the - family kind of partnership - with the homes in which they work and recruits also. The employers who want to see this as dignified wages. It's not just all about shared division. So I think we can look forward to a union movement almost as great, perhaps, as the 1930's. Now let's skip from economics, wrongly defined as money only, you know, all the courses that are about... about production - all the economics courses that start with production - really should start with reproduction. It is so much more important than production, right? And the very definition of, of patriarchy, if you want to call it or a male-dominant system, is controlling the means of reproduction, which is - which are womens' bodies. If we didn't have wombs, we would be fine. (laughter) And, you know, this is... it reinforces, as we've already seen by race and class and so on, but nonetheless it really is about controlling reproduction. So if we really deeply understand that we will stop saying, "I can't believe we are still talking about abortion," as in Texas and many places because it is basic; it is absolutely basic. And we will not be surprised that we are the one democracy in the world with restricted sex education in the schools or big fights about putting contraception into ObamaCare. You know, all the means by which women are able to decide when and whether to have children. For women, it is absolutely crucial. Whether or not we can decide that - when and whether to have children - is actually the biggest determinant of whether we are healthy or not, whether we go to school or not, whether we can be employed outside the home or not, and how long we live. It is a fundamental human right, like freedom of speech or freedom of assembly; it is huge. It is not still regarded in that way. It's still regarded as if it were a single issue, but in fact it is a basic human right, like freedom of assembly, freedom of speech - it is fundamental. Now I... (applause) I... I realize that... dear, what was his name, the man who started all this? Oh, yes thank you. Alright (laughter) Lance Roberts. Ok, alright. I... I realize that he's a bit confused about this issue because he seems to think it is quite the reverse. You know, he seems to think it's - he actually used the word genocide - that abortion is genocide. I mean, in fact, restriction on abortion and contraception and our ability to control our own physical selves is femicide. From... (applause) From the very time that we first know, in this country, women have... about one in three women has needed an abortion at some time in her life and it's still about the same, one in three. It's going to go on in any case. The question is just whether it is safe and legal or not. And this has been true from time and memorium. It is women's fundamental issue to decide what happens to our own bodies. It has been going on, you know, with the... in fact, you know, before Columbus arrived, all my Native American friends in the movement make jokes about Columbus because you have to laugh to survive. You know? So they say, "What did he - what Columbus called primitive equals women." (laughter) Because before Europeans showed up, the many hundreds of Native cultures in this state and every other - the great Iroquois Confederacy with six nations in North America and many, many others - women controlled their own fertility, decided when and whether to have children. They were matrilineal cultures, not matriarchal; women did not tell men what to do. Matrilineal cultures in which the plan was usually pass on through women. And they understood very well how to control fertility. The same was true in Europe before patriarchy came along. The women who were healers for other women taught the use of herbs and abortifacients and that's why they were called "witches" later on, when patriarchy arrived and over 300 years, something like 6 million were murdered in order to keep that knowledge from being passed on. So, you know, patriarchy really imposed itself in a very, very serious way and since controlling reproduction was the source of this idea of hierarchy that starts with gender and the superior masculine role you know, the old languages, most of them Cherokee and L'que of the Sun in Africa, the Dalits in India - you know they didn't even have gender pronouns? They didn't have "he" and "she." People were people - what a concept. (laughter) But with the arrival of this political system called patriarchy, then the means by which women were able to control our own bodies were declared anathema and were gradually done away with. I confess to you that the only time I've actually written about Alaska, in the past, since this is the first time that I've been able to come, (applause) was while Sarah Palin was around... (laughter) and of course, she was against reproductive freedom - completely against reproductive freedom - and she kept citing momma grizzlies, do you remember that? (laughter) And I thought to myself, "You know, she's inaccurate about everything, I bet she's inaccurate about momma grizzlies." So I started to do research about momma grizzlies (laughter) and I discovered that grizzlies, compared even to brown bears who are not that distant in relation, they mate later, they tend to have two cubs instead of four, and if the weather is bad, the food supply is low, or they themselves are in poor health and they are pregnant, they reabsorb the fetus into their bodies. I call that a feminist bear. (laughter and applause) So, although we don't know too much about animal life in this regard, it seems natural, important, a survival tactic, and only responsible that we are able to decide when and whether to have children, have cubs, to have you know... It is part of nature, yet it has been presented to us as the very opposite. The very opposite, as if it were artificial. It, it also... We also have not been told the truth about patriarchal religions in this regard. I mean, I think that we're supposed to think that the Catholic church has always been against abortion, aren't we? But actually, it wasn't - didn't declare abortion a mortal sin until the 1800's, when the Pope Pius III, no - Pope Pius IX - who was kind of an unpopular pope and wanted the doctrine of papal infallibility, and also he wanted all the teaching positions in the French schools - made a deal with Napoleon III, who was alarmed by a lowered birth rate in France and all of the casualties of war and so on, you know, there weren't going to be enough soldiers, and so they made a deal. Pope Pius IX got all the teaching positions in the French schools and support for the doctrine of papal infallibility, and Napoleon III got abortion - and maybe also contraception, I'm not sure - declared a mortal sin. I mean, you know, it was about politics and yet we allow ourselves not to discuss this or we are persuaded not to discuss this. So this brings me to... you realize that I'm here to make you look reasonable. You realize that? Ok. (laughter) So I feel compelled to discuss religion. Now, religion is, how shall I say, too often politics you're not supposed to talk about. Even when I was little, I wondered why Jesus was always blonde and blue-eyed, in the middle of the Middle East. A Jewish guy in the Middle East. (laughter) I kind of wondered why God always looked like the ruling class. And with adulthood I realized that that's a way of making the ruling class God. Let's face it, you know? But I didn't think about it a whole lot. Fortunately, I had a mother and both grandmothers who were theosophists, which is the kind of spiritual tradition of the East and so on. So I didn't think about it too much until I was taking the trip down or up the Nile. Has - some of you here, I bet, have done that. You know, from the oldest Nubian parts - the African parts - of the Nile to Cairo. You get in a house boat; you get off several times a day and look at the succession of ruins and statues and so on. Alright. In the oldest part of the Nile, the Nubian part, the statues are of everything - of men and women and butterflies and - well the carvings. And of papyrus and flowers - everything. Then you get back in the boat, you travel; it's a thousand miles later - a thousand years later and suddenly there are not so many animals and butterflies and birds and the goddess has a son and no daughter. Then you get back in the boat; it's a thousand years later - the son has grown into a consort. then, and there are very few animals or butterflies and so on. Then you... another thousand years and the... The goddess has turned into a throne on which the Pharaoh sits. Then, you know, another thousand years and there are mosques, which are built on the site of old temples as churches in Europe are generally built on the site of old pagan temples and so on. And into a mosque, in there, there can be no representation of women or nature at all. And at the same time I was reading an Egyptologist named Henry Breasted - brilliant man - who says, as if everyone knows it, that monotheism is about imperialism and religion. Interesting, no? I mean, you know, most of the great religions have, left in them from earlier times, some spirituality - something that says that all, all living things are godly, are valuable. But many have come a very long distance from that. But it just makes sense, you know? The other day I had to have a some hospital test and they make you fill out a form, just in case you drop dead, you know, while you're there. And it says "religion?" so I was going to put "none" and then I thought, "Well, that's a little negative." So... (laughter) So I put "pagan." (laughter and applause) And the nurse said to me, "What's that?" I said, "It's just - pagan means nature, it just means you believe that God is in all living things. All living things." (applause) I converted her on the spot. (laughter) So, you know, I really think that we need to look deeply at the religion, the structure. I mean, I can't tell you how far we have come from what the Founding Fathers had in mind. There's a wonderful book by Robin Morgan, called Fighting Words, in which she records all of the Founding Fathers who were afraid of religion, hostile to religion, who said you absolutely can't have any religious ceremonies in Congress, you know, we can't have, we can't have this in the armed services. I mean, look at this book, what they actually said and we have come so far from that. We have, actually, a religious initiative started by the second Bush which is - gives out money on executive order alone, with no supervision from Congress. So many millions of dollars that the New York Times can't find out even, you know, how many millions it is. That has kind of turned into a vote delivery system because it's going to fundamentalist Baptist churches and so on. I mean, it - we are so far beyond any reasonable division of church and state, where we started out. And there are, of course, inside of all of the great religions, there are people working very hard to restore a more universal spirituality in that religion, and to make clear that it's okay to have women at the pulpit and, you know, to see godliness in all living things. I mean, there are very heroic people inside all - inside Islam, inside Judaism, inside all the forms of Christianity. But just to close by making myself completely unacceptable... (laughter) and encourage you to say anything in the discussion, I thought I would share with you - it, well, you know, before I do this, I should also point out that the headlines prove what we're saying, absolutely, every day. You know, if you look to see the... the sexualized violence in war zones, the that's totally over womens' bodies and whose children they have, if you look at, say, Boko Haram in Nigeria - Boko Haram, they could have kidnapped people of importance and got ransom and got money they needed. No, they kidnapped the one thing they don't have - wombs. The one thing they don't have. And the young woman who escaped talked about massive rapes and so on. I mean, wherever we look, we see the politics of reproduction. But since I'm in the middle of this stage, I can't resist - this is sort of, you might say, a pulpit, right? Okay. (laughter) I I will tell you, and now actually, you can, I think, find this on the Internet - I found it in a book. But the... I was reading a historian of church architecture who said that the, of course he said it as if everybody knew it, right? Religious architecture, patriarchal religious architecture, is generally speaking, built to resemble the body of a woman because the importance of patriarchal religion is it takes over the power of giving birth. First it controls women physically, but then it takes over the mythic power of giving birth so the men can give birth. I mean, it's a big thing to be able to give birth, right? So he's just saying calmly, in his architectural historian way, that of course there is an outer entrance, an inner entrance, labia majora, labia minora, a vestibule in between - it's actually the same word I think, physically - as architecturally, a vaginal aisle up the center, two curved ovarian structures on either side, and the altar in the center, which is the womb where the miracle takes place. Where men, dressed in skirts... (laughter) actually, I'm saying that - he didn't say that. But, but it is true; that's why they're dressed in skirts, because they're playing the role of women, okay. So they say to the congregation, yes, you were born of woman, you were born in sin. You were born of an inferior creature, but if you obey the rules of the patriarchy, we will sprinkle imitation birth fluids over your head and give you a new name and say you are reborn. I mean, that's the whole thing, right? And not only with that, only with Christianity or only with monotheism did the idea of Heaven arise. If you look at the old religions, people joined their ancestors on the other side of the mountain or joined their kin in some way. But there were not elaborate heavens or hells with punishments and circles and four virgins and so on. So basically, what the patriarchal religions are saying is we can - Okay, you women can give birth but we can go you one better - we can give everlasting life. Great promise, right? You can't prove it, you can't disprove it. So I just say, from the bottom of my heart, that if we follow our natural common sense, if we obey simple rules - which is to listen as much as we talk, especially if we're in positions of power, and talk as much as we listen, especially if we haven't been in positions of power - if we look at each other as unique individuals who are part of the human family, if we stop worrying about what we should do up there, and just do whatever we can, if we realize that everything we do matters - everything, we have no idea which thing really matters, will matter, right? - if we behave as if everything we do matters, then it truly will. Then it will and then, we will get there because we know in our hearts, from birth, that we are important, but not more important than someone else. Think of all the little kids who say, "It's not fair. You are not the boss of me." All over the world they say that. That is every social justice movement right there. (laughter and applause) So I hope that... you know, the plan for this evening was to ask you to write questions on cards before you came in. And I made a plea that we not do that, you know, that we all have something to respond to and that also you feel free not to ask questions. Make organizing announcements of upcoming trouble-making meetings that you think... (laughter) this group should know about. Because something happens in a room like this, and also the overflow room, with all - where we're together with all five senses. We can empathize with each other. That can't happen online; it can't happen on the printed page, it can't happen on screen. Pressing "send" is not organizing. (laughter) So I want to - I hope that you will feel free to say what's in your heart, or what's in your trouble-making plan. Thank you. (applause) Right, I think there are... where are the mikes? There's, okay. There are mikes here and here. And in response to the "can we do this like this instead of having cards," I said, "It'll be okay. Nobody will get up and make a speech and if somebody does make a speech, other people will tell them to sit down." So just bear that in mind. Yes? Are the mikes on? It's part of the male (?) if my mike is on. (laughter) The very fact that you say that means that it's okay. (laughter) That's the woman that I don't want to know! I mentioned it this afternoon, but I wanted to say, on behalf of the Co-op Market, I'm a board member and it took five years for that marvelous and unique thing in Alaska to happen and when we were working all those many hours, trying to get it to happen, we never imagined that the contention of events that would fall into place would bring you here. But I mean, if you're a member of the Co-op Market, would you raise your hand? (cheers) See, we have almost 3,000 members and, you know, it's a perfect example of your being here, that P.T. Barnum was right; there's no such thing as bad publicity. (laughter and applause) Noah, I think you ought to give the Co-op more credit because it's because you acted according to your principles and your beliefs. That's what made you win and that's what... (applause) So, Alaska's kind of notorious for women for different reasons. Like, Anchorage and Fairbanks are the second and third most dangerous cities in America for women, and our sexual assault rates are usually two and a half times higher than the national average. And I'm wondering, in all your years of travels, what community-based tactics have been most effective - for decreasing such situations - and most successful? You know, by - did you all hear? - by any tactic necessary, really. First of all, we have to consider the people who are the survivors or the victims and safety and making clear that there are alternatives, either punishing and/or trying to help the perpetrators to understand that they cannot do this, one, and two, that it is destroying them as well as the society. But I think the most important thing, to me, is to underst - is to realize again, in the theme of connections, that it is connected to everything else. Family violence is the basis of all other violence. It is what normalizes everything else. It should never be in a silo over here - family violence. It is absolutely the cause of everything else. And there is a book called Sex and World Peace, which has demonstrated in a... in just about every modern country that the biggest determinant of whether is violent inside itself or will use military violence against another country or is... well, I mean... It's not poverty, it's not access to natural resources, it's it's not religion, it's not degraded democracy - it's violence against females. And that's about controlling reproduction. This is the most fundamental violence; it is what normalizes all other violence and if we give a damn about the military spending of this country or our foreign policy or anything else, we have to focus on domestic violence and family violence because that's what normalizes everything else. So here in this... (applause) And, you know, I'm so aware of the hard times in this state, which is of course - and this city, which I believe is one of the two most prone to domestic violence cities in the United States, right? It is so clearly about patriarchy, isolation, boarding schools that were violent and continue - you know, I mean you all know the causes much more than I do. But it is something to be taken not just seriously, but the most seriously. (applause) Hello everyone. My name is April and I have with me Dorothy Shockley, a local politician, Jody and Edgar, both pretty stand-out leaders in our civil rights movement and We're actually kind of trouble-makers - a lot of people here will recognize my face. We do a lot of work in indigenous rights and in indigenous women's rights. To build on what the last question-asker said, you are indeed - this is the highest sexual assaults rates in the country for adult women. For children, for female children, it's six times the national average. These are just reported sexual assaults. And for indigenous women, it's the highest in the developed world. The U.N. even had to do reports on it. In the village that I graduated high school from, a woman is seven times more likely to be raped prior to the age of eighteen than to graduate high school. So, the movement for equality, particularly for indigenous people, is in its infancy here. We've done a lot of work on our movement, widely known throughout the community - referred to often as the Fairbanks Four movement. It's... (applause) And thank you for the clapping, but what blew me away today was I couldn't underscore enough how critical what she said was about inter-movement support. All movements for rights, for human beings - whether they're Native American, black, any ethnicity, for women - they're human rights movements. So to look at this packed auditorium and the overflow seating, at a time where we still struggle to get a hundred people to make a donation, or where we still receive death threats where we have career impacts for fighting for equality. To our community I want to say, if these are all the feminists we have, where are you guys? We really need your help. And to you, I want to know because you were with the feminism movement when it was in its infancy, what are your thoughts for people who are still at the beginning? Because it's wonderful, the progress, you know, that you said, "Hey, it's been 50 years." Alaska just became a state, you know, as the 60's were dawning. When Martin Luther King had a million men marching, Alaskans still had their children stolen - because of their race - out of their beds. The "No Dogs and Indians" signs just came down here; it's in its infancy. So what would you say to people at the beginning? And what would you say to people who are here, supporting maybe a more advanced, comfortable movement about inter-movement? And for anybody that missed our announcement, our next fundraiser is on June 20. Thank you. (applause) And it's at the Chief Peter John Tribal Hall; we've got Gary Lightfoot coming to perform and it's twenty dollars - every penny goes to the Alaska Innocence Project. we believe that once we can establish some accurate statistics that Alaska will hold a very unfortunate other, you know, top-of-the-country rate - the wrongful conviction rate. The indigenous men and the women here are struggling and need your support. We need your help to get a movement off the ground. (applause) It's... it's hard for me to answer because I feel so frustrated with the fact that we do not learn what was here before Europeans showed up. We do not even know that the... our Constitution was modeled after the Iroquois Confederacy. We do not know that the entire suffrage movement was inspired by Seneca women and all the, you know - we we are so much still in denial of what Europeans did when they arrived here. The biggest genocide in history was conducted on our continent. We eliminated cultures way more advanced than the European cultures - much more advanced in terms of, you know, everything - agriculture, pharmacology, there were pyramids bigger than the ones in Egypt along them... I mean... There was a settlement bigger than London, before the Europeans showed up. We - It's so frustrating to me that we don't know that. That, and I think that understanding that and understanding that, not to exaggerate exactly, but almost everything we want once was here. It will help us realize not just to help, but to understand how much we have to learn. And we'll help the so-called dominant culture to pay attention. But... you know, I feel, I feel as if I've learned most of what I know from Native women and the women's movement, from Wilma Mankiller, you know, from all kinds of people. It is so... It is such a shame and, you know, until this country admits the violence of its childhood, it is going to keep on being violent just because, you know, it doesn't examine it. So I would say, you know, we ought to all give at least 25 percent of everything we make to try to make a - to try to restore what we want to learn from, to restore the safety of the Native cultures. There is nothing on earth more important. So, when is the benefit? Announce what you need, and I will contribute, and you know... (applause) Thank you and our next benefit is June 20, and I think that the message that you're hearing tonight I love, as a woman, that it's taken root. As the mother, that I love that it's taken root, but listen to the environments around you. People are still just crying out from the bottom, you know, we need to see equality for all people - we need to restore equality here. June 20, at the Chief John Tribal Hall, which is right next to TCC, and also a celebration of solstice. We'll have a large intertribal gathering to raise money to try to increase the equality inside our justice system here. We struggle with equality for women and for indigenous people in Alaska, like there is no struggle left in America. So everyone came here to hear Gloria because her message simply is a successful one of equality. And I'm sure there was a time where it was really unpleasant; I'm sure there was a time where they were sick of seeing her on the local news, and where they were emailing her death threats and thought she was super annoying. For us to make progress, people have to be as annoying as I've been to Fairbanks and I need you guys to help me. You're all here because you believe in this principle. Come June 20, come in general. We welcome all of you It's truly an inter-tribal gathering and we would love to see everyone there. Thank you so much for your time. (applause) So happy to have you here. I never thought I'd say this, but I've gotten the point where I'm concerned about the younger generation, and I actually had someone - I said I was going to go see Gloria Steinem and she said, "Who's that?" and not so much that she wouldn't know your name, but that what you stand for. And what I see is that I've lived lots of different places all over the world and have seen that despite everything, we in America have - we have some wonderful advances and the women are in a great shape compared to many other places. But I'm afraid that so many of the younger generation is taking it for granted, what has been worked so hard for; it's a given. "Oh of course these things will be always there." I have friends from Iran that "Of course they were never gonna take over." They were women doctors, architects - now they cannot walk out of the door without their five-year-old grandson because he's male. That's okay. They have become complete anathema to the entire culture, and I - everybody says, "Oh that won't happen," but if we don't - if we forget where we're coming from, and we don't realize how hard women had to work to get to where we are today and we're still not there? What can we do about that? No, I 100% agree with you, 100%, 1000% I just, by way of comfort, want to remind us, me too, that in a general kind of way, women's pattern of activism is the reverse of men's. I mean, except for the men in this room, who are exceptions to everything I'm saying. Because we.... (applause) Women tend to get more radical with age and men tend to get more conservative with age because women lose power with age and men gain power with age. I mean, it just, you know And so I... You know I want young women to know history, but but when mothers say to me, "I'm alarmed because my daughter doesn't know who you are," I always say to the mother, "But does she know who she is?" You know, the daughter. That's the point. (applause) But it's okay, I mean, history is helpful but I just wanted to know who she is. But I don't want her to be grateful. I don't, because gratitude never radicalized anybody. I want her to get mad at what's wrong now. (applause) But we do have to look at the curriculum in our schools and make sure that, you know, what's happening in Texas is not happening here, which is that all revolutionary reform movements are written out of the textbooks and you know, right? We do need to know history, but if... if we raise our daughters to be, not to say - I would not say to young women, "You can be anything you want to," because it's a lie and therefore, if - she may come to think it's her fault if she can't. You should be able to do anything you want to be, and you're going to have such a good time making it more true than it is now. Thank you. (applause) A little over a year ago, Time magazine put Laverne Cox on the cover and proclaimed this the transgender tipping point and this month, Caitlyn Jenner is on the cover of Vanity Fair and I think it's brought transgender issues into the mainstream and it's also brought sort of a subset of the feminist movement, who question the validity of the womanhood of trans women, who I think are very vocal about feminism and - sorry - there was a piece, I think, in the New York Times recently that I read from a "feminist" who again questioned the validity of the womanhood of trans women and questioned their place in the women's movement and in feminism. So, I'm just wondering what your thoughts are about sort of this state of affair of trans people becoming more visible and their place in feminism and the women's movement. In my heart I kind of think that anything that disrupts the gender binary you know, the crazy notion that there are masculine people over there and feminine people over there as opposed to human people right here is a good thing. And I think that... (applause) But also, I understand, and you know, because I'm on a lot of campuses, it's sort of, to a lot of women who've been struggling, for a person who has grown up with male privilege to come and say, "Hello, I'm a woman," is like a white person saying, "You know, I've always felt black," "I've always felt Puerto Rican." You know? and "I am Puerto Rican" or "I am..." It's So in general, it seems to me that we need to support people in whatever their identity is, I do kind of regret that this particular person has been so influenced by the Kardashians and seems to have... (laughter) to feel that it's all about clothes. But you know, I think this is a new group emerging, and I mean, of course this is a group that's been there forever. We were publishing transgender authors authors in Ms. magazine, I don't know - 30 years ago? but it's now just coming into consciousness and in a general way, it's a good thing. However, what's more important than anything is character. So the question is, what are individual people actually doing? (applause) Miss Steinem, thank you for being here. It's a pleasure. So, it's no secret about what's going on in this country with regards to law enforcement and the murdering of unarmed black men. Help me, as a black feminist, and others reconcile what my role is in solving that and then also further, what is your role as a white feminist or whoever else? Well, it depends on the situation, you know? I mean, I think we have to look and see where we can intervene. We're responsible for anything we see, anything we don't stop that's unjust, you know. But I think that as both of us can bring something special to this discussion because we understand, as I was saying, that family violence is the prototype and origin and normalizer of all other violence. and it turns out that - thanks to the feminine majority which has studied this - we know that the police force nationally has... the families of members of the police force have a 40% rate of domestic violence and the rate in the population in general is 10%. So I think that what you and I can, can do, and you know, people are beginning to try to do, is to say to the police, "Wait a minute, you've got an indicator here of, in domestic violence, of people who are hooked on control. Of people who are going to commit racist crimes. You have to look at that, you have to use that as an indicator." And also, when you're talking about police forces looking more like the community, they don't say they should be half women. I, you know, and they should. (applause) Not... Not because there aren't also racist white women, but because in a general way, we know from experience that when a female cop comes into a situation, it tends to de-escalate, even if only for cultural reasons, and a male cop tends to escalate. So, I think you and I have special ways of being effective there If Zimmerman, in Florida, - he was arrested twice for domestic abuse - if that had been taken seriously, Trayvon Martin might still be alive. And these, again, it's about connections. And I guess my overall concern is the overall movement of feminism concerned with the very specific issues that are happening within the black community. Not just to the black women. To the men. To the children. Oh yes, no, absolutely. Even white men. I mean, you know, because masculinity is a prison and it's a special prison to men of color who are not able to achieve - or less likely to be able to achieve - this kind of insane standard. And there just - there was also just a survey that came out that said that African American men spent much more time with their children than white men. I thought that was interesting. But we'll never see that or hear that on T.V. right? Well I saw it somewhere. I'll send it to you. (laughter and applause) Have you and the audience noticed that we seemed to have lost control of the conversation? The far right does such a thorough job of educating their followers that when they speak, they sound very authoritative? And I noticed that my piers and friends are intimidated and they don't want to engage in conversation or argument. Today you provided some great fodder and points of argument, but do you have any advice or encouragement you can give people to speak up, you know, to speak up for all civil rights? And don't be afraid. You know? It's... My advice is, they're making stuff up, why don't we make stuff up? Right? (laughter) So, maybe you have a little better advice than that. There's only one thing worse than speaking up and being wrong or defeated or whatever, it's not speaking up at all because then you walk around and think what if I had said, and maybe it would have worked, and so on. And do it, and remember that there are people you know, I mean, I don't... There's always - Rush Limbaugh is the name - but all that kind of people if they call me names, I think "thank you." If they thought I was doing something good, I'd know I was in deep shit, you know, because... (laughter) But I think probably the real secret is to have other people encouraging you. We're communal people, animals, you know. We can't do it all by ourselves. So if you meet with other people at least once a week or you have other people you share values with, encourage each other, you know. Say "write that" or "speak up" or whatever the occasion is. If we have that kind of group support, we can do it. (applause) Hi. I was just wondering if, with today's extensive use of social media, online news media, resources, stuff like that, if you see a potential for an increase in that timeline that you mentioned, you know, about the feminist movement and how we still have 50 years to go, is there a potential to use that to our benefit. I'm kind of referencing the stuff that's going on with Tim Hunt right now and his remarks about women in the laboratory. or scientists. Say what that is. I don't know what it is. The Nobel Prize winning physicist, Tim Hunt, made some remarks about females in the laboratory - how they're distracted, or they distract from the work. All that happens is they fall in love with you, you fall in love with them, and then when you yell at them, they cry. Oh. So I think that we should say to Tim Hunt that we're sorry he's so sexually repressed that he cannot work with normal human beings in a laboratory. What is his problem. So I'm wondering, obviously, with online news, this is something that's just taken off and he's fortunately resigned from his position, but, you know, can the younger generation use social media online to facilitate these types of things? Yes, we are and there's amazing things happening. We can find each other, we can get information, we can... you know, it's obviously huge. We just have to be aware of two things. One is that... illiterates are 90% females so there's a way in which technology divides the world; who has electricity, who is literate and who isn't and also that being in a room like this is still different. We can still empathize with each other and not just learn or understand, but empathize and identify. But that does not mean that this is not a huge important tool and also, it's especially important to women often because we can use it in safety. I mean, true there is enormous bullying of women, sexual bullying of women, on the web, but at least it's something we can use in physical safety in our homes. Hi Gloria, My name's Eleanor and as I've been standing here in line waiting to speak with you, I've been looking at this arrangement that's in front of you, and if you and if you want to take a minute and come around the - your pulpit - and take a look at what's there. And what is there is mostly wild and it's their wildflowers. And I think we are very, very blessed to have one of the most beautiful wildflowers here with us today. (applause) So my question to you is not global; it's very much, I guess, about you, and people that are internationally known in whatever way. We often wonder, I think, how did - what inspired you? Was it a moment? Was it events throughout your life? Was it one person? What are the things - and maybe you don't have time to talk about all of them - but if there was anything that sort of spoke to you and maybe at what age, that said, "Wow. This is an avenue I need to go down and not look back." And I'd love to know what - if there were moments in your life when that happened. Oh, that's a big question. I think I was lucky in one way, which is, I didn't go to school very much until I was 11, so I missed a brainwashing. We were living in a house trailer, wondering around until we were - so I missed the "Dick and Jane" era and so on. And... and also... I had parents who loved me and listened to me, so I was very lucky in that way. But it still took me until I was 40 to realize that I didn't... That I didn't have to pretend to be conforming while secretly not conforming, that actually the system didn't make sense as it was. And then the thing that matters most to me is community. It's the... It's knowing Bella Abzug, it's knowing Alice Walker, it's - I don't know - lots of people you've never heard of, I mean, it's... it's that circle of support and community that allows you to keep going and aside from that, it's the excitement! It's the excitement of the "Ah-ha's" and thinking, "It could be different" and "if you do this, maybe that would work" and you know there's nothing - it makes everything else boring. Does that make sense? It's just so interesting. And you have the satisfaction there's no greater satisfaction than thinking that you maybe played a little role in somebody becoming themselves or whatever it is. (applause) Hello Miss Steinem. It's a pleasure to meet you. That was a perfect segue into actually what I will say to you. This is a direct message of thanks. My name is Dianna. I grew up in a single-mother household with also a single grandmother, who were strong women and definitely influenced me, but they were also devout Irish Catholics. I grew up in the 70s. I was born in 1971. I can tell you that you had a profound influence on my life and you were the perfect counterbalance - what you taught and what you said - that women could be and what women could achieve. I'm a certified nurse midwife. I do the birth, you know, the work of birth - well, the mothers do the birth work, (laughter) really, I'm like a lifeguard, honestly. (laughter) and women's healthcare every single day. This is hard to say, but I'm a survivor of sexual violence and I'm a survivor of domestic violence. And one in three women in this room have the same story. Domestic violence is a family problem, just like you said and we are all one human family and we all need to own it. I see women every single day who are affected by this. And I can tell you, you always - you know, my husband and I, I was a single mom for a long time. Fortunately, I met a wonderful man here in Fairbanks and we talk about it and he says, "What's going to fix domestic violence? What can we do? What can I do, as a man?" What can we do? You have to ask her and you also have to ask him. Men are not evil people if they are abusing someone; they are broken. So providers, please ask your male patients. I don't see them, it's not in my license. Ask them, "Are you struggling? Are you feeling safe? Do you feel like you're abusing someone in your life?" You gotta talk about it. Me, being in my own domestic violence situation, it took years of somebody saying to me, "You're worth more." It's not one person saying it; it's a cumulative effect. So please, look at the people in your life and tell them they're worth it. They're worth being safe; they're worth your involvement in their life. And thank you. (applause) Thank you so much for saying that and while she was speaking I was thinking, that I find it helpful - I don't know if you will - to think about all the crimes that have no gain for the criminal. Domestic violence, people who go into public places and shoot strangers, all of those kinds of crimes, which are many, and I think if we called them "supremacy crimes" we would understand it better because it's a function of the masculine role, which men didn't invent. They were born into the situation. Some men get hooked on it like a drug and have to be in control. And there's no gain for them, I mean, a lot of men who murder their families kill themselves afterwards. There's absolutely no gain for any of these crimes. It is the problem of imposed masculinity that says that there is this thing called supremacy. And we have to all be aware of it, and men especially need to be aware of it with and model different behavior for boys. We were talking about it this afternoon and I was suggesting a program that was helpful in New York because what boys need to do is develop the nurturing - the qualities wrongly called "feminine" so they can be fully human, just like women need to have the ones wrongly called "masculine" to be fully human. So, and those are the ones necessary to raise children. That's why women are raised to raise children, right? So there was a project in New York in which 6th grade little boys took care of babies in a child care center once or twice a week. And at first they thought "ew diapers" and so on, but then they discovered babies were interesting. Babies are really interesting, and that made them feel grown-up and the program was called "Oh Boy Babies" (laughter) because they came to love the... and those boys grew up to be empathetic, gentle, fully human, not trapped in the masculine prison. We can do it! We just have to pay attention to it. Not just to the victims of the feminine role, but also the victims of the masculine role. (applause) So, I'm glad you made it to Alaska. My name is Hayden and I organize a transgender pier to pier support group. And if you're looking for one, it's called Gender Pioneers and it's on Facebook. And if you're in the audience and you're thinkin, "We don't have any trans people in Fairbanks," there are about 50 of us. So I wanted to come back to that thing we talked about a little bit earlier and that is that in a group of feminists, women who have always been women, approached by a transgender woman who says, "Hey, I'm a woman now. Can I join you?" that there will be some people who say, "You're history is not my history. You are not welcome here." And that's the same thing that happens in any two people coming together to do social justice work. So what can we do to move beyond that gut reaction of "your history is not my history. I can't share this work with you." Well, nobody's history is anybody else's history. We're all unique. So we just need to see if our if we're behaving respectfully and kindly towards each other and if we share interests. It just seems to me like it's the same as... And also, there's some things that are... I mean, the first transgender author that Ms. magazine published was a British author who identified as a female human being and had been in the British army and wrote a brilliant piece called A Spy in the Ranks. It was great! So there are special... insights sometimes. But I'm not sure there are general rules that don't apply to everything in terms of respect and interest. What do you think? Do you think that there's, there are some tips that you could give that would be useful? Well, since we're here, I will say that when I became a man, I realized that male privilege was real. (laughter) And, I mean, I'm a middle class white person and I noticed a real difference. So if there are those of us out in the audience that think we're past, we're past the discrimination, we're not. And so I think that if we can share our stories and talk to people across lines of identity, that we can really especially if we can get over our gut reactions of thinking, "Oh we don't or I don't understand these people. I don't get along with this group." If we can work together, then we can make a big difference for everyone, together. (applause) But that's fascinating in itself, right? Somebody who has the insights of both roles. It's fascinating and we can all learn from that. Yeah? Oh sorry. Hi, it's an honor to meet you. So first I wanted to share an anecdote. Like, about the same time Mr. Roberts was protesting the Ms. magazine, and the Co-op, we moved Ms. magazine into the display at the library here, next door at Rasmuson. And magically, it just kept disappearing and I kept thinking, "Well maybe somebody's reading it." but that didn't seem to be it. It would just magically be shelved so it was never on the display - I'm just not quite sure what was up with that. I'm thinking that some people perhaps objected to the content which seemed so relevant to the university, in my opinion. So they weren't reading it, they were just destroying it? A little bit more than seems statistically probable. (laughter) So, people in the audience who may know me may know that I'm a bit of a contrary, so I'm gonna ask you a little bit of a hard question. It seems like the people in northern North America and the people in Europe, who are predominantly of European descent, and have been Christian and monotheistic have created a society where we enjoy probably the most gender equity of any place in the world. We also, you know, enjoy civil rights that other people can't enjoy. And sometimes it seems like we blame people who are Christian or white or European in a way that I think is unfair to them. So, I wend to a small community college in Massachusetts, and what I was taught by my woman's study teacher, who happened to be a man - a disabled man, but a man nonetheless - was that much of feminism, as it existed in North America, comes out of the Puritan experience in America. And how property rights had to be conveyed onto women because male relatives didn't exist in the new world. This is really what drove much of the women's right's movement and these early Puritan women, who often had spiritual roles in the world, and took on leadership and lived with independence and owned businesses, were what really lead to feminism. You know, empowering of women. So to some extent, it seems like much of what we enjoy today comes from a world that we, you know, villainize currently. And then there's tons of places in the world where they've never enjoyed monotheistic religion, they're not European or white, where they may enjoy rights to wonderful reproductive, you know, freedom, but they still don't have equal rights. Gay and lesbians are not safe. And a lot of times we stereotype people as conservatives in a way that's unfair to them and unfair to their true beliefs. People are complicated. Like, I recently had an experience where I was outside the states, so nobody has to be... where a person who was... who was gay was in fact bullying a man from the Middle East. who was trying to be, as I thought, as polite and equitable as his society sort of did that. He was trying to be fair and open and experience America and pursue his education. And this guy was just, like, he had automatically assumed that if given the opportunity, this guy would just string him up. And, you know, my understanding is that beliefs about people of gay orientation and beliefs are actually fairly complicated. And there was really no evidence that he was in any way victimizing this man. But the other man was, in fact, victimizing him. So you, you're talking about assumptions. You're talking about making assumptions about each other, which is not a good thing, right? I think that professor was making assumptions about Puritans that was quite bonkers. I mean, you know, I ... (applause) There was several books that supported his opinion and... You know, as far as I know, the the original suffragists were much more inspired by the women of the Iroquois Confederacy, especially the Seneca women because they the Native women called white women "those who die in childbirth." They were appalled by the degree to which that was the case because for a whole series of reasons, you know? So, I'm not so sure that that's true. But anyway, you're talking about about preconceptions or demonizing people and I think we're all for trying to individualize. That's the whole point. But there is a system of white privilege in this country, and there is a system of male privilege in this country and we can't deny it. There is, and there's a whole world where there are no white people at all and that still have lots of male privilege. Yes, patriarchy... right, (they are not Christians, they never have been) Quite true, quite true. but we have to deal with what we... How can I explain what I think? Okay, I spend my life in airports, okay. So every time I see - you know those moving sidewalks? So I'm on a moving sidewalk, I'm walking as fast as I can, and I'm looking at people who are actually walking on the carpet and I realize that it's like, the moving sidewalk is like white privilege. I am walking as fast as I can, but I'm on a moving sidewalk and the people who are on the carpet are not. So we just, wherever we are, we just need to be aware of that. I don't think you're satisfied, but that's... (applause) Hi. I'm Charlotte. My question is that I know that feminism is a really big thing for women and I look around the room and there's not really that many men here, which I think is a huge problem and I was just wondering how you think we can go about getting more men and young men and boys involved in the feminist movement? Well, you know, there is a pretty big men's movement. And if you go online and you look up Michael Kimmel and the Center for Men and Masculinities and so on there, you know... there have been for 40 years that I know of and ever growing numbers of groups of men who are working on this also, from the point of view of not being stuck in a masculine prison. But having said that, I think we should make clear that we're all invited, you know. Like, white people were in the civil rights movement and men are part of the women's movement too. I was just wondering, how do you think we can get more people involved, people like my age group or younger involved in it, and kind of, actively Well, I think we just need to talk about what you're mad about. How many... How many people are going to graduate in debt? (a lot) (all of them) (laughter) So, and if a female human being and a human being of color is going to make it - something like a million dollars less over a lifetime - to pay back the same debt. This makes people very mad. This is good! This involves them in the movement. We just need to talk about the reality; real issues that are affecting different groups of people. And college debt is a big one now, and safety on campus is a big one. Right? (applause) Hello. I just want to say as a millennial feminist that I'm both incredibly grateful for the work that has been done and also still very angry - also still very angry. My question to you, I think, is simple and it's Alaskan-based. So I don't know how much of an answer you can give me, given that you've only written one piece about Alaska. But I think you can see, looking around the room, that we face kind of a unique challenge here. I'm from Anchorage and people are talking about things that are happening in Fairbanks, and I have no idea, no clue what's happening. So, if you magnify that to this giant level, you know, Alaska's a huge state. I can't give you a figure, but it's huge and we exist in pockets. And it seems clear to me that in these pockets, people are developing ideologies, kind of this really rich inter-world of, of feminism and ideas but it's not spreading like grassroots should because grassroots can only spread so far. So how do we - how do we fix that? That's a huge question, I know, and it might be unfair, but, how do we fix that? You know, that is too big I think, because we need a specificity, but as... as you were speaking, we just need to, I mean - part of the problem here and why there is such domestic violence and sexualized violence in general, is the distances are huge. Obviously, they've you know... it's hard to access services or justice. You know, you have very specific kinds of problems. I was having a fantasy earlier today that we floated a big blimp all over Alaska and on the side it said things like "no one owns your body" "no one has call 800 numbers" (laughter) I don't know, it's... it's partly a communication problem, how to get support to people, how to let them know that there are alternatives and that they're not alone. We... I bet there are a lot of ideas in this room and there's already a lot that's going on You... You passed a good piece of legislation - what's it called? - (Bree's law) Yes, right. just recently, and it was opposed. It was supposed to be a whim, not a law, for awhile there. and you got that passed, so congratulations. (applause) Thank you. Thank you so much. Hello. So, I have a question about the feminism in society. I'm from Russia and recently our Russian Parliament was considering a lot of projects about abortions and in accordance with this law or project, our state health insurance would not cover abortions anymore. And instead of this, all this budget money would go to support pregnant women. So this law project is still under the review, but the thing is, I'm so worried about our society because many people support it actually - this project. And you know, when we were considering the law project against the propaganda of homosexuality for minors, many people also supported this project. So what I think, if -- You're talking about Russia, right? Yeah, I'm talking about Russia. So what do you think if maybe people actually against liberal feminist values, how we can consider democracy as our tool? Well, you, because you... Social justice movements change consciousness first and then that consciousness becomes evident in the way we vote, behave, spend our money, and so on. If you're financing one choice and not another, you're not giving choice. So if they're financing a birth and not choosing not to have birth, you know, we're having the same thing here with financing, paying for contraception in family planning. Yeah but I can understand financing the contraception, it does make sense. But they want just to prohibit free abortions and they want to support women who are already pregnant. Well, you know, there are... that's not supporting choice. They may be responding to what went on in the Soviet Union, which was that the average woman had seven or eight abortions because the Soviet Union wouldn't use its manufacturing capabilities to manufacture contraception, right? So, you know, that was a push in only one direction too. Maybe they are responding to that. I don't know. But funding choice means funding choice. And... you know, we are - as social justice movements - are responsible for changing consciousness and then it changes in the voting booth. Does that make sense? Yeah, but what do you think about the civil society levels, not so much strong as in the United States. What can we do? We're like, for instance, I know Russian feminists and we're a minority there. Not a lot of feminist groups. Well, but I remember - listen. We published a feminist, Samizdat. Remember the feminist Samizat in the Soviet Union? Yeah, but our... the thing is, our Marxist feminism is so different. Well, of course it's different. But you know... you're in a different situation, I understand. But... Alexandra Kollontai, the great Soviet feminist, was very recognizable to all of us. And the feminist Samizdat were very recognizable and when they came here and toured, they were speaking a language we totally understood. It's part of the advantage of supporting each other across national boundaries, I think. Yeah. Thank you. (applause) I have a question from my friend, Amy, across in the other room. How can we demolish stigma surrounding female sexuality and become a generation of women who aren't defined by our purity or sexual experiences? Who aren't defined by our purity or sexual... You know, what is interesting about a lack of experience? I've never understood that exactly. (laughter and applause) The whole idea of purity is about, you know, women being the possession of one man and therefore controlling reproduction and you know, it's all the same thing. Maybe we'll get to the point some day where we fill out forms and where is says "sex" we say "yes" or "no." (laughter) The only way out of it is to defy it and not to apologize, just to be who we are. I don't know any other way. Do you have another suggestion? I think that's fantastic. Okay. (applause) Hi Gloria. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of our questions. I don't know that I'm answering all of your questions, but I think that we need more organizing announcements. How about that? (laughter) My name is Jill and my question has to do with the redefining of the family. So... in the spirit of full disclosure, your name was a swear word around my house, growing up in the evangelical - what I now recognize as a more fundamentalist background the more I study and learn and open my ideas up. I wanted, when I saw your name in the paper, I wanted to come and hear you for myself instead of just what I had heard about you. Anyway, thank you for coming. (applause) My question has to do with, as we're redefining gender roles, as we are redefining family on a congressional level, on a state level, or even on a personal level, the family is really important. I mean... gender roles are there for a reason. So, can you speak to - if you're gonna... we're deconstructing the family and what it has previously been because it has worked to some level. It's really important - someone needs to do laundry, someone needs to do the things, you know, to maintain a home. We know that breastfed children are statistically at a superior advantage. So as we... We do have specific and biological responsibilities, so could you speak more to... You can't just, we can't just disassemble it and, without replacing it. So, do you have any thoughts on the matter of what would be better than the patriarchal family? Almost anything. (laughter and applause) A family, to me, is a group of people committed - two or more or four or five, you know - people committed to each other's well-being. It doesn't mean necessarily that you are related or not related, or who, you know, but your... you've committed each other, committed to welfare. It's true that men probably can't breastfeed, you know? But that may be one of the few... I mean, there are specific functions, but there is no such thing as gender, actually. It's made up. Race is made up. It doesn't exist. But because we are born with a less developed brain than any other animal, most of our brain is developed outside the womb, we are very vulnerable to our environment and we can come to believe that many things are normal or inevitable because of that. But, you know, I... the the patriarchal family is a hierarchy, not a circle. I think that what we're trying to do - maybe this is an easier way to say - we're trying to change the hierarchy to a circle. The paradigm of old cultures, of original cultures, was a circle. It was the connectedness of people, the connectedness with nature. Not a hierarchy in which one person is in control of others. The shortest way I've been able to say it is that we are linked, not ranked and that that's what we are looking for. (applause) We're talking about connections and I feel very strongly that we cannot have social justice in Alaska, or anywhere for that matter, without environmental justice at the same time. And I am Athabascan. My family is from Arctic Village. And I consider myself a daughter of Alaska - Alaska is my mother. And we're talking here about violence. As we've mentioned, the violence against Alaska Native women is very high and I equate that with the violence against the land. And I believe that is an offshoot. It was the intention of the colonizer to come in and to colonize both the Native - the land and the people. And I feel... You talk about family, the violence that happens in the family, and I'm just curious, you know - Our state legislatures and people in the government, they will refer to places, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as barren when we know that the porcupine caribou birth 40,000 calves on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge every summer, every spring. Then I'm also very concerned about the Arctic Ocean. The whales and all this marine life - it's just this huge ecosystem. And meanwhile, we are at the brunt of climate change, of feeling climate change in our state. And I'm just curious, do you think that if we can address the violence that's happening within our homes, that maybe we'll start treating the land with respect and honoring our connection not only to each other, but to this Mother Earth? (applause) I 1,000% agree with you and maybe, and I was telling my story about traveling my story about traveling on the Nile, what I was trying to say is that the withdraw of God from women and from nature was done for the political purpose of making it okay to conquer women and nature and it's not different. So the ways in which the various religions tell us to go forth and conquer, you know, it's... man above animals, you know, all of this hierarchical notion in those kinds of religions is profoundly political. Anytime you withdraw godliness from any living thing, you... it's a precursor to damaging or conquering that living thing. I agree, it goes together. And it won't happen automatically, but we, you know we have to keep saying that. We have to keep making that connection. And thank you for making that connection. (applause) Hi. So I'm 25 years old, I'm still pretty young, I'd like to think, and even just given the changes that I've seen within my own life, I do believe that in my own lifetime, abortion will become fully legal in the U.S. And I confess that I haven't been clapping for remarks like that because I also hold a belief that legalized pro-choice all over America will not mean an end to the control of reproduction by the powerful for the sake of caste. I'm thinking of statistics, like the majority of abortion clinics being located in minority communities, and of specific instances such as two women, whom I've had some experience with, one by the boyfriend, the other by her father were pressured - more or less forced - to have an abortions against their will. And, I'm just wondering how you would tackle that issue when pro-choice eventually does become legal in the U.S. How do we stop this control of reproduction. I don't know how to break it to you, but it is legal in the U.S. (cheers and applause) Most family planning clinics are not in neighborhoods of color, in fact. I'm from the south - it's different. Well, there may be, you know, the proportions of people may be different in the south, but most of them are not, and the birth rate, actually, white women are - whatever white means, beige maybe - are more likely to have fewer children than women of color, which is part of why the right wing is so concerned about the shift in racial balance in this country. But I think maybe you need to go back to the drawing board. To clarify so no one thinks I'm an idiot... (laughter) I am from Mississippi. When I say that - when I talk about abortion being fully legal in the U.S., I mean completely acceptable everywhere. In Mississippi, my home state, it is legal but there is only one operational clinic. That doesn't count as legal in my book. No, I agree with you, because it's been, a lot of clinics have been closed and that clinic has a doctor who has to travel there from another state. Yes, also correct. Okay, thank you. (applause) I guess I'll duck down a little bit. I'll be honest with you. I'm in my 40s and your name is synonymous with activism and other things and I didn't really know, truth be told, who exactly you were and what you represent. I do know - That makes two of us. I'm never too sure myself. (laughter) I do know you went and saw one of my friends at the women's shelter today, who you made their day. (cheers and applause) And let me speak to that - can I do this? Can I take this thing? I'm like... Okay good. You all - my brain's been going all over the place with you talking. I was tired; I didn't want to come here. I'll be honest with you. I want to go home - I wish I had a Jacuzzi - I want to relax. I told a friend of mine I was coming here. He said, "I would rather jab pencils in my eyes than listen to her." (laughter) Okay. I looked on my Facebook. There was a local person, media person, who was making jokes about you being here and the ad, that there was a burlesque ad right next to you being here and tying in stories to that. There was a lady out front who asked me, "Oh, did your wife bring you here tonight? I'm so sorry." I'm proud to say it. I work with the ladies at the women's shelter, I'm here on my own, and I'm for everybody that's here, every guy that's here, okay? We need to be careful, I believe, in, as you've said and as other people have said, don't discriminate anybody; you don't know where their heart is. Whether it's the officer we talked about earlier, whether it's the Native people talked about, you don't know. I work in corrections. And the fact is, if it wasn't for you women and most - and some guys - but a lot of women, doing what you do, being mom, aunt, grandma, whoever, those people would have nobody coming to see them because the men won't stand up. The men won't be there. So whether it's a man trying to give donations to the women's shelter or whether it's a man to see you - and you're marvelous, you are wonderful - more people need to hear you. Plain and simple. (applause) And I don't know if you see her, but Dr. Blurton from the justice department here - He had us read a book about a man who went to a lot of Native trials. He took criminal action against his own family, but then he wrote about it. And then we were reading about the Native things that happened in Canada and in America and Alaska. And folks, if you don't know your history, that would be like all of you speaking English and I'm speaking Portuguese or whatever, and I say, "Effective tomorrow, you're speaking Portuguese, or you will be beaten. Or you will be slapped." Have you ever watched a Native dance group? I love these folks. You see white people saying, "I ain't dancing. I'm not doing that," and the Natives go up there and they don't care because it's in your heart. It's in your soul. More people need to be like you, more of you, and after leave here, don't let it go. Like my pastor says, don't let it go. Don't be like, "Oh that was such a good service" and on with your week. You have to speak up. Like that lady that spoke up for that group coming on, you need to speak up. Guys, you need to speak up. I've been called names, people thought I was gay - I've been married 10 years - but they thought I was gay. They though, "oh you must have some other - some other issue." My issue is people. Your issue should be in here is people and equality. White, black, gray - there was a man in church who said, "I like to think of us all as ice cream. Baskin Robins - 31 flavors. We're all ice cream." Not white, not chocolate, not peppermint, we're all a little bit different. And the sooner we get that through our heads, drop our shields, drop our guard, and we understand that I can shake his hand and your hand and hug somebody and do whatever as equals. Every person has their story and I love that. I forget how you said it but every person is different, every person - don't judge anybody. Love each other. John F. Kennedy said that we need to study... I forget how he put it, but we need to look at the things that bring us together, not what divides us. You watch T.V. that tells you how to judge how to make a cupcake. It shows you a reality T.V. show that is not reality. This is reality. What you're living is reality. What you started and these people thanking you for what you've done in their lives, is reality. Thank you, bless you, keep on. (applause) Okay. I think... I'm trying to figure out the time here, so I think we're, you know, so, I realize that I've been answering too long, so I will answer shorter if you promise to make your questions shorter, okay? It's very short. Hi Gloria. (laughter) I just have to say real quick, I'm nervous. I'm gonna own it. I never in a million years thought I would have this opportunity to address my hero personally. So, but that being said, I have here, in my hot little hand, Revolution From Within, a book of self-esteem by one Miss Gloria Steinem. And in it, you write a... a Native American saying, "Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may not remember, but involve me and I'll understand." And Gloria, I just wanted to let you know that I am a... an alum of the Gloria Steinem Leadership Institute in Washington D.C. and I just want to thank you for involving me, for involving young women. It's been awhile - it's been 14 years for me now, but for involving young women, for teaching us, for not only continuing to be a strong voice yourself, but for teaching generations of young women and men to.. to find their inner strength and be advocates and... and although I'm nowhere near the leader that I that I would like to be I still carry some of the lessons that I learned from the Gloria Steinem Leadership Institute. Don't worry, I'm nowhere near the leader I would like to be. (laughter) But I still carry some of the lessons that I learned forward in my life today. So thank you. Thank you. (applause) I have so many questions and I'm... I get to spend some time with you tomorrow and I'm really excited about that too! As I've been listening, a lot of my questions have been answered, which I thank everybody for the really honest sharing. I guess - I'm trying to decide which question. I... I think right now, what I want to know the most - somebody asked you what motivated you and what kept you going over the years, or what inspired you. What has you living out of airports today, and traveling around? I find travel difficult and exhausting, so... you know... what has you doing that today? You know... how can I say... Let me put it this way. I believe in meditation and mindfulness and all of that, and I've gone to those courses, but I don't do it. (laughter) And what keeps me living in the present, which happens to be the only time we can be fully alive, is you. It's doing this, right? (applause) Because you kind of have to be, otherwise I'm living in the future. I'm never living in the past, I have to say - I'm always living in the future. But it's the sense of now, and I'm always really conscious that this may be the last time or the only time in our lives that we see each other and so maybe we can instill some meaning in it. Maybe we can't, but maybe we can? And it just - it's a gift, living in the present is a gift. So I'm totally hooked on being on the road. I just wrote a book about being on the road and... I... you know, it's not right for everybody, but for me, it's been a huge, huge, huge blessing and I'm 81 - it's sort of important to say your age, I think. (applause and cheers) I keep saying my age to make myself believe it because unfortunately I think I'm immortal, and that doesn't cause you to plan very well. (laughter) But... what keeps me going is you. It's the energy in this room, you know, it's seeing somebody two years ago, two years in the future, who tells me what changed, you know, because something happened. They were sitting next to somebody - I don't know. It's just infinitely fascinating. It is, to use my favorite word, (laughter and applause) I know I'm going to be the most unpopular person in the room, totally, so I apologize to all of you who've been standing in a line - a long line - but you get the last question. Why, thank you very much. Hello Miss Steinem. My name is Hannah Rose, it's an absolute - Say Gloria, say Gloria. Gloria. (Thank you) You know, the feminist movement, as well as other social movements, continually evolve and continuously have new problems - well, problems that become new to the media - what is your advice to young activists, since you've seen the evolution of a lot of these movements. What is your advice to young advocates and activists now, as far as post-9/11, post-Ferguson, the world we're living in now. What is your advice on how we should continue to move these movements forward. I think the more we understand the connections, the more helpful we can be. Post-9/11, okay. What that makes me think is that The... the band of men who were the bombers of 9/11 - one of them, the leader of the group was a young man who came from Egypt and from a middle class family, had two sisters, was constantly tortured by his father because he want masculine enough, was humiliated by his father, who kept saying "your sisters are better men than you are" went to school in Germany, would even accept his diploma from the hand of a woman left a note saying that no woman should touch his body, he... he died and killed other people trying to prove that he was a domineering, masculine person because he had been raised in that way. It also - you say 9/11 - it also makes me think that - it makes me remember - that in the United States, more women have been killed by their husbands or boyfriends since 9/11 than Americans were killed in 9/11, in Iraq both wars in Iraq, and Afghanistan. I was actually speaking more about a lot of the current Islam-phobia and racism that's attributed to Muslims or Sikhs or people who study or belong to eastern religions. Yes, well that's, I mean, you know, the the stereotypes, the restrictions, the preconceptions, that come along. Well you were asking what young people could do, I was suggesting making connections, right. So I'm telling you my - the connections I have with those things that make me feel that I can be helpful to keeping those disasters from happening by working on eliminating roles, humanizing roles, trying to regard each other as unique individuals and all as human beings. You know, this is my association with it and this is my advice to to young activists, to Don't worry about what you should do, do whatever you can. Do whatever you can, every day. (applause) Gloria... We have - everybody in this room wants to say thank you, but we have somebody here who has made something for you and she would like to present it and that's our way of saying thank you so very, very much for coming, really all of us. You can see Fairbanks has been waiting for you a long time. (laughter and applause) Let me, let me just - I don't think we've had enough organizing announcements. So I just want to say two things. One is: before you leave this room or the overflow room, look around, see three or four people you don't know, introduce yourselves, say what you care about, what you're doing. If you came here, you probably share some interests and values, you'll make a new friend, a new revolutionary comrade, a new... you may find a new job, a new love affair, you know. (laughter) And... and also... I... I'll make my old activist deal with you, which is that if you promise me that you will do one outrageous thing, beginning at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, (laughter) what day is today? This is (Friday). Okay, alright, so maybe you can have the weekend, okay? (laughter) I don't care what it is. It can be deciding to run for office, it can be... intervening in some violent situation that you know of, that you're not sure you should but you should intervene, it can be saying "pick it up yourself." (laughter) Whatever it is. It can be very small, if you promise me you will do this one outrageous thing, I promise you that I will do one outrageous thing too. And what that means is that by Monday, the world will be different because we were together in this room. Thank you. (applause) Gloria, [speaking in a Native language] Gloria, thank you for coming to Alaska. I'm Yupik Eskimo and... I just wanted to, we hear lots of stories and as children, we were best storytellers. And when we get older, we want to share more stories and my father used to carve us yahwen - it's a "story knife" in Yupik. and this wa... I make them and it was out of frustration that people were looking to China to - not that it's bad - but, for something I grew up as a Yupik child at fish camp with, telling stories and when you come in, when - in Yupik tradition, when you come to a home and you do something marvelous like you did today, or share something, we always share something back. And may your stories always be heard and told. [Yupik] (applause and cheers)