Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Monday, January 28, 2019
W
ith
our stomachs
full of popcorn and
Buncha Crunch (the
best movie snack combination),
my brother and I drove home
after seeing “On the Basis of
Sex,” the story of now-Supreme
Court
Justice
Ruth
Bader
Ginsburg
and
her
history-
changing
case
on
gender
discrimination
as
a
young
attorney. We began our usual
movie debrief and analysis,
discussing how the characters
were depicted, what we loved,
what we would have changed
and how the film made us feel.
It was everything we could have
asked for in a film about RBG
(besides the fact that Felicity
Jones, who plays her, isn’t
Jewish — but that is for another
column).
We could not get over how
strong, soft and confident RBG
was depicted in the film. We
were so fired up and empowered
by watching her story. So I
asked my brother where he
thought she got her sense of
security and confidence. He
thought it had to be from her
supportive husband Marty, who
believed in her, was her equal
and stood beside her always. I
thought she learned it from her
mother, because, in the film,
they gave us some background
about her teaching Ruth to
question everything. But then
I thought her confidence could
have come from a secureness in
her skills, knowledge or talent.
And if she didn’t believe in
herself, was she just channeling
the classic lesson: Fake it until
you make it?
Regardless of how RBG
gained her confidence, she
was a key leader in change and
challenged the status quo in her
own way. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
harnesses soft energy, a type
of spirit that is thoughtful and
nurturing yet still comamands
people’s attention. She is soft-
spoken,
thoughtful,
detail-
oriented and sensitive. With all
of these soft traits she holds,
she also has the confidence to
implement them into her work.
When picking the series of
cases that made discrimination
of gender illegal, she looked at
the details and knew how to
frame it to the Supreme Court.
She knows the power of her
skills, knowledge and gifts and
uses them to create change. As
of late, I have been trying to
channel my soft energy because
I, too, am one big softie.
I have always been pretty
self-aware of my emotional
intelligence,
sensitivity,
nurturing
abilities
and
relationship skills. I thought
this
skill
set
could
only
be really beneficial in my
personal life and caretaking
for children or older adults.
This past year, I became the
president of my cooperative
house without holding the
stereotypical
characteristics
of a president. I didn’t have
the intention of being a leader
in my house, but by building
strong relationships with my
housemates over time, being
passionate about the future
of our house and being my
authentic soft self, I was able
to gain this position. Being the
president continues to show me
how my soft traits positively
impact my leadership style and
power.
So, if I am aware of my
strengths, how do I gain the
confidence to apply these traits
and put myself out there to
work toward positions that
scare me or are further out of
reach? How can I harness my
soft energy the way RBG did
in law school and continues to
do today as a Supreme Court
justice? RBG never changed
herself or her style to gain a
position in power. She is a great
example of how feminine, soft
people can lead without having
an iron fist or hard, masculine
energy. I’m lucky to have
someone in power with whom
I share identities: being a white
Jewish woman and setting the
path which she did not have
before her. Perhaps due to her
position in the world — the
privileges she holds and her
intersecting role as one of the
few woman in a field dominated
by men — she has been able to
cultivate her confidence.
From now on, I am going
to continue harnessing my
soft energy and remember
that it can positively impact
my leadership and power,
even if I have to fake it until
I make it. I think that when
we are confident in our own
abilities, even if they challenge
the
stereotypical
image
of
power, we can create change
and lead those around us in our
own way.
Soft energy is power
Ellery Rosenzweig can be reached at
erosenz@umich.edu.
Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz
Samantha Goldstein
Elena Hubbell
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram
Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Lucas Maiman
Magdalena Mihaylova
Ellery Rosenzweig
Jason Rowland
Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Alex Satola
Ali Safawi
Ashley Zhang
Sam Weinberger
FINNTAN STORER
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AND JOEL DANILEWITZ
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All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
The first step to fighting climate change is thinking small
T
he summer of 2018 saw
a
popular
collective
movement
from
companies and consumers alike
as they rallied against the use of
plastic straws. Companies such
as Starbucks began to announce
the
eradication
of
plastic
straws from their practices. In
large part, this movement was
in response to a viral video
depicting a sea turtle with a
plastic straw caught in its nose
that sparked a conversation
between
many
online.
This
video (thats original upload
amassed over 30 million views)
provided the perfect spark that
triggered a movement leading to
the plastic straw apocalypse.
This is in large part because
it is easy to enact change when
the dilemma has a tangible (and
cute) icon, like sea turtles, and
puts a real face on the thing
doing them harm: straws. In
our country alone, we learned
Americans
use
500
million
straws every single day. And so
the story wrote itself — if you
want to be environmentally
conscious and do your part, all
you need to do is forgo the straw
and save a turtle! However, the
sobering reality is that plastic
straws only account for about
0.02 percent of total ocean
plastic — a quite literal drop in
the ocean of plastic.
I don’t want to say this is a
bad thing — quite the contrary.
I am all for ditching the straw
and “saving the turtle” at every
opportunity. In fact, this is
a good example of how non-
environmentally-minded people
can
support
environmental
causes when given the proper
motivation. As great as this
moment is, imagine if we could
take the momentum generated
surrounding
plastic
straws
and apply it to other, larger
environmental causes such as
climate change — one of the
biggest economic threats of
our generation.
Truthfully, this tactic has
already been tried to no avail.
Growing up as a kid, I remember
watching the documentary “An
Inconvenient Truth” for the
first time. Controversial for
the era, the 2006 documentary
highlighted and explained the
problem of global warming and
called its viewers to action to do
something about it. Of the many
stories and facts given during
the film, the images that stuck
with me the most were of polar
bears swimming around, unable
to find stable ice. The narration
explained the melting of arctic
ice was destroying these bears’
homes, and if global warming
continued uninhibited, there
would be no more polar bears.
This is the exact same kind
of situation that led to the
plastic straw craze over the
summer: an innocent animal
being harmed by the unintended
consequences of human activity.
Yet the campaign to save the
polar bears failed to reach
a more general audience in
the same way. Perhaps that is
because it was pre-social media,
or that our generation is more
motivated
by
environmental
concerns
than
previous
generations (both of which are
reasonable, plausible answers
to why there was not the same
kind of movement then as there
is today).
I would offer a third possible
answer.
The
main
reason
everyday people are willing
to forgo straws in the name of
saving the environment is not
due to some newfound respect
for nature but rather a result
of the ease of changing actions.
Saving the polar bears implies
drastically
changing
our
lifestyle — mainly the reduction
of fossil fuel consumption. And
regardless if you hate fossil
fuels, every single American
benefits from how cheap and
convenient these fuels are. Even
as clean, renewable alternatives
are rapidly becoming cheaper
and more efficient, we are still
rely heavily on fossil fuels.
Plastic
straws
and
sea
turtles, on the other hand,
require a much simpler response.
After all, unless you need them
for medical reasons, refusing
straws has little impact on our
everyday lives. It’s much easier
than trading in your gas guzzler
and installing solar panels in
order to save a polar bear. So the
question arises: How can we get
people motivated about climate
change in the same way?
The
answer
to
fighting
climate change lies in breaking
down a seemingly impossible
monumental
problem
into
everyday, small-scale decisions.
Take
meat
consumption,
for example. According to the
Environmental
Protection
Agency, livestock production
results
in
greenhouse
gas
emissions, primarily through
the
natural
production
of
methane. In order to make a dent
in reducing carbon emissions,
we are going to need to reduce
the amount of meat we consume.
When most people hear that,
they scoff and make a claim
about how we are natural meat
eaters, and how they would
never go vegan. As frustrating
as it is to hear people be so
dismissive
immediately,
I
cannot blame them. I consider
myself an environmentalist, yet
I still consume meat (I mean,
Chick-fil-A
nuggets
are
too
good to pass up, right?).
The
misconception
here
is
that
changing
our
food
consumption needs to be a
drastic,
life-altering
vow.
Instead
of
trying
to
get
everyone
to
go
completely
vegan, we should start by trying
to make conscious, modest yet
impactful choices to reduce our
consumption. The aggregation
of these small choices will result
in a huge impact on climate
change. For instance, if every
American simply forwent meat
just one day a week, it would
be the equivalent of taking 7.6
million cars off the road.
When
framed
this
way,
suddenly the impossible seems
conceivably possible. After all,
how much would it really cost
us to drop the steak dinner once
a week?
Even more exciting news
is
the
development
of
the
alternative
meat
industry.
Products such as the Impossible
Burger
or
Beyond
Meat
offer a meat alternative that
tastes, feels and is otherwise
interchangeable
with
traditional beef at a fraction
of the environmental impact.
Prices for these alternatives
are already competing with the
real thing. Pretty soon we will
be able to save the environment
while still getting our beef fix.
If we are going to make a
serious dent in climate change,
and
save
the
polar
bears,
Americans will seriously need
to reconsider their consumptive
habits. Partaking in “Meatless
Mondays,”
while
a
great
beginning, is not the be-all,
end-all of climate solutions. Not
to mention, fighting climate
change is not solely a consumer-
responsible task (indeed, we
will need larger institutional
support as well). Changing a
culture takes time, but we need
to start somewhere, and if we
focus on it there can be real,
tangible change.
Timothy Spurlin can be reached at
timrspur@umich.edu
TIMOTHY SPURLIN | COLUMN
ELLERY ROSENZWEIG | COLUMN
MARISA WRIGHT | COLUMN
U-M needs an all-female work space
G
rowing up as a young
woman means that you
are constantly on display.
Everywhere you go — at school,
at the grocery store, at volleyball
practice, at church, at the pool,
even at home — you are always
open to critique, comments or
questions related to your body.
If it’s not, “Smile honey,” it’s,
“Those pants are NOT flattering”
or “Your bra strap is showing”
or “Why do you have a ‘lesbian’
haircut?” And especially after
the transition to young adulthood
— though some girls experience
this even before puberty — people
view you through the lens of
attractiveness. Whether it’s the
creepy guy scanning you up
and down at the gas station
or the “I bet boys are all over
you” comment at large family
gatherings,
your
existence
is always in proximity to the
male gaze.
It’s not just men who do this
to women, though. One of the
biggest scams of the patriarchy
is the system in which women
are punished for breaking gender
norms. Some women feel it is
their duty to police other women
according to those patriarchal
norms. For many young women,
it is often older (and more
conservative, by way of their age)
women who push notions of what
is and is not “acceptable” in public.
This creates an environment
where women — young women
especially — experience criticism
from all angles, doubly so if you
are a woman of color, LGBTQIA+,
differently abled, etc.
It
can
be
maddening,
heartbreaking and downright
rage-inducing to constantly field
gendered and often sexist ridicule.
Of course, the real solution to
sexism is to dismantle the white
supremacist
heteropatriarchy,
but what about right now?
In Fall 2016, The Wing, a
community and co-working space
designated for women, opened
in New York City. Founder of
The Wing, Audrey Gelman,
developed the idea for a space
just for women after spending
her birthday at a girls-only party,
realizing the importance of
“ladies’ nights” for women.
Eventually,
Gelman
partnered with Lauren Kassan to
open The Wing after finding that
other co-working spaces couldn’t
offer what they were looking for.
Though they take inspiration
from early women’s clubs in the
19th and 20th centuries, Gelman
and Kassen make inclusivity a
priority by encouraging trans
and non-binary folks, people of
color and low-income women
to apply for membership, even
offering a scholarship to ensure
it is accessible for everyone.
Partly for socializing and
partly for working, The Wing
offers much more than a typical
work space, including events
with speakers like politician
Hillary
Clinton
or
actress
Kerry
Washington,
blowouts,
showers, lactation rooms, a cafe
and a daycare for women with
children. Since the success of the
first space in Soho, New York,
the company has expanded to
six other locations, including
Washington,
D.C.
and
San
Francisco, and plans to open
in five other cities including
Chicago, London and Toronto,
making a total of eleven Wings.
More than the amenities and
chic decor, the Wing offers a
space for women to exist outside
all the ways in which women are
marginalized. It’s not just about
making a safe space for women,
though. It’s about making a space
where women are celebrated
and can celebrate each other. A
space for women allows women
to create community through
socializing with and supporting
one another.
Gelman
told
business
magazine Fast Company, “The
air feels different when it’s
only women. The atmosphere
is incredibly warm, there’s an
absence of competition or snark
or cattiness. Everyone is just
really excited to be here and to
meet new people.”
I know the feeling, especially
at the University of Michigan. I
am a double major in Political
Science and Women’s Studies,
and I’m sure you can guess
which
classes
are
mostly
women and which are not. In
contrast to my male-dominated
political science classes, my
women’s studies classes are
not just different in content but
different in atmosphere. There
is less tension in the air. People
are friendly, understanding and
supportive. No one interrupts
you or mansplains to you. No
one invades your personal space
while pretending to be clueless
about the whole thing. Everyone
is considerate and professional.
It is less a matter of social
bonding and more a matter
of just being treated like a
human being.
It is difficult to articulate
in words, like really any feeling
is, but I feel a sense of comfort,
a sense of ease in my bones
when I am learning surrounded
by women. I am no longer
on display. I am no longer
expected to perform — or risk
punishment for breaking —
social norms that cater to men.
I can relax — opening myself up
to new possibilities for learning,
understanding and engaging.
There
are
also
concrete
learning benefits for women
in all-female spaces. Nilanjana
Dasgupta, a Psychological and
Brain Sciences professor at the
University of Massachusetts at
Amherst, found that first-year
women engineering students,
“participate more actively” and
“feel less anxious” when they are
in mostly female or gender-equal
groups.
An all-female work space
would not be disrupting the
many
benefits
of
a
co-ed
university, such as a wider
range of perspectives and the
opportunity to learn to work
in teams with other genders.
An all-female work space at
the University, inclusive of any
female-identifying
person,
would
simply,
but
notably,
allow female students in a work
environment free from gendered
pressures and expectations, a
place they can be re-energized in
their academic pursuits by other
women. Specifically, this space
might take inspiration from The
Wing by holding events centered
around celebrating women and
their
achievements
through
hosting speakers or educational
and social events, which would
elevate the space from just being
a refuge to being a space for
empowerment.
College
life
outside
of
academic pursuits can be a soup
of young people riddled with
freedom, hormones and alcohol
who are looking for hookups. A
place for young female students
to escape, to live even for just a
few hours outside of the world
that constantly undermines and
undervalues
their
existence,
would be transformative.
Marisa Wright can be reached at
marisadw@umich.edu.
She knows the
power of her
skills, knowledge
and gifts and uses
them to create
change
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The aggregation
of these small
choices will result
in a huge impact
on climate change