Hi everyone! I'm reposting below the information about our first group meeting of the academic year. If you're interested in taking part in the group but are unable to attend the meeting, please leave comments on this post regarding topics or suggestions that you would like have addressed and we will be sure to add them to the agenda. Alternately, we will post a review of the meeting in the following days, and you can feel free to make your voice heard through commenting then.
Here's our meeting announcement:
Are you interested in helping to raise awareness about issues of gender equity? How about working to end violence against women? If you're looking for a way to become active on campus and to take part in a student organization that is both action-oriented and fun, then consider becoming a part of L.I.P. Service: Liberation in Progress -- UA's new group dedicated to promoting action and awareness of gender equity! We will be having our first organizational meeting of the new year on September 3 @ 4:30pm in the Women's Studies department -- Schrank Hall North 58, where we will discuss plans for this year's activities and events that relate to our theme of ending violence against women. We will also be providing free pizza, so come check us out and share your ideas for action!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Group logo and branding
Dear L.I.P. Service group members,
One of our members has recently raised some concerns regarding the rebranding of the group and the content of our logo as exhibiting an image that is inconsistent with our empowerment and liberation agenda. (As an aside, I hope that I'm characterizing the concerns accurately, and I apologize if I'm not -- I want to make sure that I'm doing justice to the very valid points that were made.) I thought that I might share with everyone in the group part of the thought process behind the rebranding in case other members have similar concerns to which they have not yet given voice. This was my individual response (in part) to the concerns raised, so the first-person perspective is from me (Stephanie). The rest of the executive board has expressed agreement with the content.
*************
First off, I wanted to note that our image in general and logo in particular is something into which we (as the executive board) have put a lot of thought. I understand the concern that this is not expressing the sort of empowerment message that we are intending with the group, and I think that is a reasonable concern. When thinking about the branding of this group, I for one felt that we needed to move the UA feminist student group toward an orientation that is more liberal feminist, and to reflect this in our new image. My rationale for this, based on my experience both as an activist and researcher, is that young college women (as well as men) have a lot of negative stereotypes about feminism and are going to need a branding of the group that is not immediately and aggressively confrontational to their gender stereotypes. Once we get them interested in what feminism is all about, *that* is the point at which these stereotypes can be challenged and they can begin to embrace an identity as feminist. However, if we can't even attract their interest because of prohibitive stereotypes of what feminists are like, we have failed in our mission before we even start. I personally embrace a radical feminist orientation and would love to eschew all gender stereotypes in every single aspect of my personal and professional life, but my familiarity with the extant research literature on cognitive change has led me to believe that this is the most effective course of changing how our peers engage with the idea of feminism.
I also, however, don't want to give the impression that I want to shoot down discussion about the logo and branding. Collaboration and distribution of power is at the very root of feminism, and I'm totally open to changing things. At this point in the academic year, however, decisions needed to be made about how to present the group for the new school year without the benefit of much input from our members. This included developing marketing materials, of which the shirts were one element. This process of branding is an iterative one, not a static one, and I think that we can make this a point of discussion in upcoming all-member group meetings so that we can develop an image with which the majority of our members are comfortable.
To provide some background on the development of the branding, we did decide to go with "L.I.P. Service" because of the idea of giving voice to women and feminist issues. We liked the irony of that idea (and the accompanying activism) juxtaposed with the status-quo implications of "giving lip service" to feminist issues. That was the basis of the renaming of the group. As for the logo itself, it was intended as another thought-provoking juxtaposition by combining the "masculine" military font with the "feminine" kiss print (sort of like a visual counterpart to what's expressed in the name "Guerrilla Girls"). The intention was not to express any sexual implications per se, but again I personally liked the subtle reappropriation of the sexualized lips placed in a context of being "militant" against women's oppression. I feel that the logo does a good job of being subversive in this subtle way, while again not necessarily alienating young women (and men) who perhaps are not as advanced in their feminist consciousness but who might be interested in learning more about feminism. I think it's also important to remember that in almost any context in which this logo will be present, there will be other indications that it is not about blowjobs but about empowerment – the motto of the group would also be on any promotional materials aside from the shirts, and in situations where we'd be wearing the shirts they will be ones in which it is clear that we are in fact representing a feminist group.
*****************
One of our members has recently raised some concerns regarding the rebranding of the group and the content of our logo as exhibiting an image that is inconsistent with our empowerment and liberation agenda. (As an aside, I hope that I'm characterizing the concerns accurately, and I apologize if I'm not -- I want to make sure that I'm doing justice to the very valid points that were made.) I thought that I might share with everyone in the group part of the thought process behind the rebranding in case other members have similar concerns to which they have not yet given voice. This was my individual response (in part) to the concerns raised, so the first-person perspective is from me (Stephanie). The rest of the executive board has expressed agreement with the content.
*************
First off, I wanted to note that our image in general and logo in particular is something into which we (as the executive board) have put a lot of thought. I understand the concern that this is not expressing the sort of empowerment message that we are intending with the group, and I think that is a reasonable concern. When thinking about the branding of this group, I for one felt that we needed to move the UA feminist student group toward an orientation that is more liberal feminist, and to reflect this in our new image. My rationale for this, based on my experience both as an activist and researcher, is that young college women (as well as men) have a lot of negative stereotypes about feminism and are going to need a branding of the group that is not immediately and aggressively confrontational to their gender stereotypes. Once we get them interested in what feminism is all about, *that* is the point at which these stereotypes can be challenged and they can begin to embrace an identity as feminist. However, if we can't even attract their interest because of prohibitive stereotypes of what feminists are like, we have failed in our mission before we even start. I personally embrace a radical feminist orientation and would love to eschew all gender stereotypes in every single aspect of my personal and professional life, but my familiarity with the extant research literature on cognitive change has led me to believe that this is the most effective course of changing how our peers engage with the idea of feminism.
I also, however, don't want to give the impression that I want to shoot down discussion about the logo and branding. Collaboration and distribution of power is at the very root of feminism, and I'm totally open to changing things. At this point in the academic year, however, decisions needed to be made about how to present the group for the new school year without the benefit of much input from our members. This included developing marketing materials, of which the shirts were one element. This process of branding is an iterative one, not a static one, and I think that we can make this a point of discussion in upcoming all-member group meetings so that we can develop an image with which the majority of our members are comfortable.
To provide some background on the development of the branding, we did decide to go with "L.I.P. Service" because of the idea of giving voice to women and feminist issues. We liked the irony of that idea (and the accompanying activism) juxtaposed with the status-quo implications of "giving lip service" to feminist issues. That was the basis of the renaming of the group. As for the logo itself, it was intended as another thought-provoking juxtaposition by combining the "masculine" military font with the "feminine" kiss print (sort of like a visual counterpart to what's expressed in the name "Guerrilla Girls"). The intention was not to express any sexual implications per se, but again I personally liked the subtle reappropriation of the sexualized lips placed in a context of being "militant" against women's oppression. I feel that the logo does a good job of being subversive in this subtle way, while again not necessarily alienating young women (and men) who perhaps are not as advanced in their feminist consciousness but who might be interested in learning more about feminism. I think it's also important to remember that in almost any context in which this logo will be present, there will be other indications that it is not about blowjobs but about empowerment – the motto of the group would also be on any promotional materials aside from the shirts, and in situations where we'd be wearing the shirts they will be ones in which it is clear that we are in fact representing a feminist group.
*****************
We will be having our first all-member meeting on September 3 @ 4:30pm in the Women's Studies department. I'll send a reminder with more details in the upcoming weeks. And of course, we are *always* open to discussion, and would be happy to keep this on the table as an item of business for our first group meeting.
In sisterhood,
Stephanie
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