extracted text

VOLUME 4, NUMBER 6
JUNE 1987

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 NW 19, OKLA. CITY, OK 73106

Does sexist language matter ?
.., Margaret Curtis

When a non-sexist Biblical lectionary was
published not long ago, many male
newspaper columnists from all parts of the
natiQn suffered apoplectic fits. Sputtering,
fuming and smoking with the fire of protest,
they complained that feminists had really
gone too far this time.
Observing their furor from a cool
distance, I realized for the first time why
non-sexist language in religion is truly
necessary. "Those men have confused
themselves with God!" I thought. "They are
- behaving as though they had been persoiially threatened with castration.''
Until that time, I had been telling myself
that the use of imagery simply helps explain
our relationship to God and that imagery is
not who God is. Of course, we all know that
'God is not a human-like, male person. After
all, the Bible also uses feminine imagery in
describing God, and anybody who knows
about Biblical translation knows that the
original Hebrew words for Ood were nonsexist. It was male translators who later
changed those. words to words denoting
maleness only. Obviously, feminists who
want to return scripture to its original meanina are not springing something new upon
the world; they are simply trying to resolve
something very old.
Even so, what difference does it make?
How can sexist Janauage hurt us, anyhow?
I knew something about hurting because of
my volunteer work with battered women.
Once, in a film intaview with battering
mm. I observed a man slam his fJSt into his
palm and declare, "I have a right to
discipline my wife; she is my property!"
I also knew that psychologists who
counsel violent men had learned from the
men themselves that the root of their
violence toward women was the cultural

message that a man isn't really a man unless
he can dominate women.
What, l wondered, is in our culture that
conveys the message that women are
rightfully the property of men and subject to
their domination? Messages are conveyed in
many different ways, but nothing is more
basic to the message than words, because
words "stand in" or substitute for that
which we perceive as real. Just as the word
chair substitutes for something we can see,
touch and feel, the word God is a spoken or
written symbol for that spirit of life and love
which we cannot see, touch or feel, but
which, nevertheless, is perceived and even
worshipped as a reality.
Because God isa male word, how can we
possibly escape perceiving God as male? If
God is male, then maleness becomes
Godliness. If we worship God, are we ununconsciously worshipping ~? We have
reason to wonder, because we know that in
mo.u countries, male infants are preferred to
female offspring, especially when the child
is to be the first born or only child.
Psychologists also report that both men and
women rank men higher in esteem than
women.
in linking Godliness to malene.u, do we
uncomciously expect men to be like God, all
wise, good and powerful? If so, men will be
a great disappointment to women as well as
to themselves.
If men are to be like God, then who are
women to be like? Why, like men, of
course! We are congratulated when we
"think like a man.'' receive more pay when
we do work traditionally done by men, and
if we are to dress for success, then we must
wear tailored clothing, closely cropped hair
and scarves or bows at the neckline that will
substitute nicely for neckties.
Could this adaption to maleness be influt:need by the fact that women are included or absorbed into the generic term of

man? (How many men would tolerare being
"included" in the generic term of woman?)
Worse, if women are absorbed into the
generic term of man, is there a subtle implication that men properly own or
dominate women?
If women are the property of men, then
it is inevitable that men will use women for
the sake of their own gratification. They
may not treat a woman like a person but like
an object, perhaps a sex object, an office
machine or even just another attachment to
the vacuum cleaner. If females are objects
designed to serve or gratify men, then it is
also inevitable that females will become the
victims of child molestation, incest, rape,
wife abuse, pornography, prostitution and
poverty.
Are we influenced to see women as the
property of men when, at marriage, we
allow men to attach their own names to their
wives very much as we label luggage with
our names to denote ownership? Although
we maintain property, we do not reward it
for simply fulfilling its function, which may
explain why so few states allow wives equal
ri&hts to marital assets.
In assuming their husband's names, do
women lose a sense of their own identity,
and do they assume that they are now important only in relationship to their
husbands? In relinquishing their right to
their family name, do women also lose a
sense of having any rights at all? (Until
recently, Georgia law merged a woman's
legal and civil rights with those of her husband, and anti-ERA groups opposed the
feminists who were working to have that law
abolished.)
In keeping only half her name, does a
woman assume she is only half as important
as a man? After all, men keep all of their
names. Does that implication connect to the
fact that women are paid about half what
men are paid for work?
If women are believed to be less than
equal to men, then true love between men

and women is not possible. How can a
woman love a person who holds her in subjection to him, and how can a man love a
person he regards as his inferior?
As long as it was permissible to regard
blacks and Jews as inferior, it was also permissible to victimize them, and as long as
women are less than equal, illferior, then
that is how long women will continue to be
the victims ·of discrimination, exploitation
and violence.
Clearly, inequity· begets violence, and if
we are ever to know love and peace on earth,
then we must have equality first, beginning
in the very language we use.
Margaret Curtis has 'been involved in
People of Faith for the ERA and the
Evangelical Women's Caucus.
SOUTHERN FEMINISI'/6

Spain;
a kiss is just a kiss
MADRI D--Hundreds of lesbians demonstrated on January 23 to protest
the harassment of lesbians and
gays in Spain.
Earlier that week, two women
who had kissed in public in Madrid's Puerta del Sol were approached by a po l iceman wh o asked
for their -identification. They
argued and fought with him.
He arrested them for contempt,
resisting arrest and public outrage. The women were held in a
high-security cell for 48 hours
before they were released. They
said they had been mistreated
and ridiculed by the police.
Hundreds of lesbians held a
peaceful protest on the site of
the arrest. While police watched,
the demonstrators chanted slogans
against the repression of lesbians
and gays and invited passerbys
to kiss them.
Many participants kissed each
other as a challenge to the police
and to show that it is a nonnal
thing to do.
--info fran

~

york native
Off Our Backs

lesbian mother's
custody upheld
KNOXVILLE--After six years of
litigation, a Tennessee judge dismissed a challenge to a lesbian
mother's right to custody of her
child. The win is particularly
significant in Tennessee, a .state
with a sodomy law carrying a penalty of five to fifteen years.
The suit was brought by the
child's grandparents, who had been
harassing the mother, .Royce Parrish, since 1982 by seeking custody and increased visitation
rights. The harassment continued,
despite the State of Tennessee's
bringing criminal charges against
them for alleged sexual abuse of
the child. According to the Lambda Legal Defense and Education
Fund, the jury acquitted the grandparents because they were prejudiced by Parrish's lesbianism.
The grandparents may try to appea 1 or file a new proceeding, but
for now the case is over.
by mj foley
info from Lambda Update (winter'87)
off ou r back s

"YES, BUT CAN SHE COOK?": Ortho
Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Johnson
and Johnson, is the possible object of a suit
by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission because of their
discriminatory hiring practices. The company's polfcy, as stated in a July 1980 letter
to divisional managers, is that women
have "inferiority complexes" and should
not be hired if they have "executive potential" or are "attractive." Some excerpts
from the letter: "On understanding
Women-Women are more sensitive than
men. They shame easier. They cry more
often. Women have more social problems
that create business problems. Profile of a
Female Worker - She's not 'pretty,' she's
not sexy, she should be neat, clean and
without frills. She should have the look of
someone who might clean her bathroom or
kitchen on her hands and knees. She went
to a state college, not a private university,
and not recently." <In These Times>

BREAK IN AT SAN FRANCISCO
WOMEN'S BUILDING: A peculiar
burglary at the S.F. Women's Building has
added one more organization to the growing list of victims of information thievery
and harassment.
In the early hours of March 11, the
Women's Building was broken into.
Valuables, other than a $20 check and $19
in cash, were ignored. A computer disk containing sensitive information, contact
names, phone numbers and lease information on organizations housed in the
Building was taken. File cabinets of
women's, Central American, lesbian/gay
and other organizations which have used
the Building over the past four years were
rifled.
The Women's Building, located in the
heart of San Francisco's Mis$ion District,
is a community center that provides support for women's projects and other social
change endeavors. Primarily focused on
the needs and interests of working class
women, women of color and lesbians,. the
Building is a hub of constant activity ranging from its own support groups and ~i­
lingual information and referral services,
to aerobics classes, to community
meetings and forums presented by a crosssection of women's, lesbian/gay, antiintervention and other progressive
organizations.
At a press conference Carmen Vazquez,
President of the Board ofDirectors of the
Women's Building, told reporters, "With
all due respect for the professionalism of
the San Francisco Police Department, we
take exception to their ~ategorization of
this incident as a burglary. Common
·thieves don't go rifling through the files of
Central America activists and take computer disks home with them. We call on
local authorities to take seriously these
violations directed at progressive individuals and organizations in the Bay
Area. The Women's Building has no intention of stopping its work!"
Ne w Dire ctions for Women

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR WOMEN -

PUBLISHED BY: HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES
CIRCULATION : 600
PHONE NUMBER (WEEKENDS): 524- 7108
GENERAL INFO: 733- 9331
672- 6459
794- 'l 464
1-353- 6861 (LAWTON)
VOLUNTEER INFO: . 672- 4141
ADVERTISING: 495-1094

Dear friends
I know how hard many of you have been
hit in these uncertain economic times.
Knowing this, I still must appeal to you,
those who benefit from the existance of
Herland. We are now in a severe struggle.
Our finances are extremely low and our
spirits are not much higher. Burnout has
taken many of us from the active roster,
and those of us who are left need your
help.
I ask you to reflect on the time when
there was no Herland, no newsletter, no
efforts to get you records and books, no
workshops, no spring and fall retreats,
no listings in national guides, such as
Places of Interest
to Women,
Gaia's
Guide, and Gayellow Pages for a women's
center such as ours in Oklahoma City, and
no Herland library. If you find the time
-' before
to be no different than the time
now, then this appeal is not for you and
you need not read on. BUT, if you
are
aware of our efforts and~nd them worthy,
please help us with our growth.
Our shelves are bare and we are not
individually capable of handling
the
total financial load of operating Herland.
Herland is a non-profit organization and
we volunteer because
we believe in the
cause.

So I ask you .
Do you want us to
continue, and will you help?
I know many
of you
have donated willingly of your
time as well as your money . For this we
thank you. Yet there are over 600 persons
receiving the newsletter. If everyone on
the mailing list would donate $12, which
is only $1 per month, we would be able to
stock shelves, try new things, plan concerts, sponsor workshops, and move to a
place that is warm in the winter and cool
in the summer, and we could have a place
that we all would be truly proud of. Think
of it.
All we need to do to raise $7200
if for 600 people to
donate $12. Please
take us seriously and send
a check
or
money order today, or drop by on a Saturday
or Sunday with your donation, when we are
open.
Sincerely,
BC/Herland Collective

YOUR ANNUAL DONATION HELPS SUPPORT THE PROGRAMS AND ACTMTIES OP HSR.
A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SERVING THE OKLAHOMA WOMEN'S COMMUNITY
Your donation. regardless of classification. entitles you to a 10,_ discount on store stock.
concert tickets, workshops and advertising; a monthly newsletter; use of the lending librar~·
and resources, and MORE.
Donations may be made via cash __
or check_. Please indicate if this
is a monthly plPd«e_.

ADDRESS
CITY
STATE_ZIP_ _ PHONE
MAIL TO: Herland Sister Resources, Inc

Upon receipt of your annual donation, you will
receive your Friends of Herland card. to be pre·
tented for store and concert discounts, and a
receipt for your tax purposes.
Benefactor
Sl,000.00+
Sponsoring
500.00•
Contributing
200.00+
Sustaining
75.00+
Household
40.00+
Associate
25.00+
Special
10.00+
(Student Senior Citizen 60 years & older. Other)

~~~~h~.;.~·C~~y. OK 73106 ~

'

1 Night Only
The versatile & inspiring

l·I

llll)S

&

•
,
.
,
I< I N s
I) 1: I. 1:

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A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
TO HELP
PEOPLE WITH AIDS
For just one dollar you can make a significant
difference to someone with AIDS. Stamps, similar
to Easter and Christmas.seals, with the message
STAMP OUT AIDS, are being sold nation wide$ LOO buys 6 stamps- the money raised to be
targeted specifically to AIDS service organizations
through the NATIONAL AIDS NETWORK.
Multiply your dollar by thousands of concerned
citizens, and you can imagine how much you ca n
help improve the quality of life for someone
with AIDS.

'~

I~

THE SECOND FRET
3009 N. Classen

SAT. JUNE 13-9PM
TICKETS $5

a ni9ht you'll rememher!

For further information, call:
(212) 354-8899

John Glines, Project Director
STAMP OUT AIDS
240 West 44th Street
New York. N.Y. 10036

·--------------------------Please send me _ _ set(s) of "STAMP OUT AIDS"
stamps @ $1 per set of 6. Enclosed please find
$
, plus a self-addressed
stamped envelope.
Name·~---------------

Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

"Brilliantly original!"
Ann Loureiro, I.R. S. Records
City

State

Zip

HAWKINS & DELEAR's cassette Midnite Silence
available at Herland Bookstore or by sending $5.95 to:
LADY SLIPPER
P. O. Box 3124
Durham, NC 27705
919- 683- 1570

If paying by check, make payable to:
"National Aids Network/STAMP OUT AIDS."
Contributiom .,. tax-deductible. aa pmrided by law.

"LOVB MAY BR 81,JND, BUT

HANDWRITING'S NOT
Professional Analysis of Compatibility
Confidential report on cassette

Shelly Zaikis, C.M.G.
405-946-6928

ll

KE.MCO
PRINTING INC.
Kelley Mattocks
34CM301

1801 S. Broadway. Unll D •Edmond. Okla 73013

it's available

WEAVING WOMEN'S COLORS

Counseling Our Own: The Lesbian/Gay Subculture
Meets the Mental Health System by Chama Klein
looks at the establishing and development of gay
mental health institutions -- particularly the
Seattle Counseling Service -- and their history,
organization, philosophy, staff, clients, and
relationships with the lesbian/gay communities
and the established mental health system. It
chronicles lesbian/gay history and the struggle
for positive mental health services. 40% for 3+
books.
No distributors. Consultant Services
Northwest, 839 NE 96th St., Seattle WA 98115.

Lesbian Health Matters is back in print and
back at Bookpeople! $6.00 paper. Published by
the Santa Cruz Women's Health Collective it
explains gynecological exams, health and sexuality, alternative methods of fertilization (900
lesbian babies born in the bay area alone in
1986, I'm toldt, menopause, alcoholism, feminist
therapy and more ..

In Different Daughters: A Book by Mothers
of Lesbians, ed. by Louise Rafkin, twenty-five
mothers of lesbians trace the growth of their
relationships with their daughters, examine the
essential questions mothers of lesbians confront, and their struggles to accept and share
their daughters' lives. finally, . a lesbian focused, women's movement assuming book for moms!
Just in time for Mother's Day!
$8. 95pb,
$21. 95cl. March. Cleis Press, PO Box 8933,
Pittsburgh PA 15221 or PO Box 14684, San Francisco CA 94114. BP, IN, Bookslinger, The Distributors, New Leaf, B&T, Airlift & Benton Ross.

Getting Pregnant Your Own Way, by Lisa
Saffron, . is the new British guide to alternative
insemination. Published by The Women's Health
Information Centre, it's written primarily for
lesbian couples and single women (lesbian, heterosexual or celibate) who wish to have children
It considers issues from finding a donor, using
clinics, the specifics of how-to-do-it, health
issues (includes screening for AIDS, though the
focus here is on gay men & doesn't include IV
drug uses ..• ), telling your family and friends;
etc. factual sections are followed by women's
personal experiences. Very readable. Hopefully
it will soon be available from BP & Inland.
Meantime, order from WHIC, 52 Featherstone
Street, London ECI, England. L2. 95.

The Feminist Bookstore News

"Weaving Women's Colors: A Decade of Empowerment," a conference on the intersection.
of race and gender, will be held in Atlanta,
GA, June 24-28. This 9th annual conference
of the Nation.al Women's Studies Association.
will held at Spelman College, Agnes Scott
College & Emory University.
Featured speakers include Angela Davis,
Byllye Avery, Margaret Randall, & Ada Deer;
conference participants include Toni C&de
Bambara, Sonia Sanches, Minnie Bruce Pratt,
& Bernice Reagon. Four plenary sessions will
focus on a feminist agenda for the political
empowerment of African-American women, voices
of poor & working class women, the women's
movement, & women & the US Constitution.
This is an outstanding event from many
perspectives, and it is hoped many Arkansas
women will participate. Write NWSA '87,
Emory University, P.O. Box 21223, Atlanta, GA
30322, or call (404) 727-7845 or contact S'l.\ ""' ~S" lo ca 11 y.
up & c9m ing
•v

wild strings
Paby let rre neet ya! Paby let ne treat ya to a
Ybole lot of rre ! I strongly suggest that you
take JAfMINE up on their offer. Rush to Herland
and get your copy of JAfMINE'S llJI' llJI' new
release ''Wild Strings". The albtnn is full of
orginal naterial fran Carol Schnidt, Michele Isam
, and Lydia Ruffin.
It also incluges their
version of Harriet Tublen, not to nention
Aretha Franklin's ''Whole lot of t1:!". lhn' t miss
this one it gets a 5 star rating.

OUR RIGHT TO LOVE: A Lesbian
Resource Book

edited by Ginny Vida with the National
Gay Tusk Force
The first authoritative, comprehensive
resource guide on lesbianism ever written,
and still a treasure trove. ''From this
magnificent educational feast one draws
hope that the (lesbian experience) will be
regarded as a variation of the treasured,
another affirmation of the human spirit."

San Francisco Bay Guardian
Paperback $11.95

WAITING FOR THE MOON
Waiting for the Moon is the name of a new
movie about Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude
Stein, played by Linda Bassett & the marvelous
Linda Hunt. It is a made-up story but includes some real aspects of how they lived
together. Ask for it in local theatres.

up & coming

IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHER'S
GARDENS: Womanist Prose
This first collection of Walker's nonfiction
represents the views of a remarkable
writer over a period of years and ranges
over a wide variety of topics including
nuclear madness, motherhood, and
feminism.
Paperback $6.95

UA W!NS SEX DISCRIMINATION SUIT

saturday june 13

8 -12 pm

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13th & dewey

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Less than a month after the Gay and Lesbian Student Assoc. lawsuit against it, the
University of Arkansas was back in federal
court. Ms. Adella Gray sued the school's
athletic department for sex discrimination,
alleging that Razorback football coach Ken
Hatfield fired her from her position as academic: co-ordinator for the department because
he wanted a man in the job.
After Gray's firing Hatfield immediately
hired an old football buddy in her place, at
50~ higher salary; he claimed he never saw
the applications of two others seeking the
job. Testimony during the trial revealed
that Hatfield had never read the UA's affirmative action policy and had given Gray neither a job description nor a written evaluation during her 3 years in . the job.
Hatfield said he fired Gray because he
wanted a "stronger disciplinarian" in the
job. While former students and professors
testified for Gray, Hatfield and ochers branded her "pushy" & criticized her for suc:h
things as going on vacation instead of ~~ic­
ing to see whether a key football player was
going to pass his swmner school courses •.
Judge H. Franklin Waters said he was initially troubled by the "seeming lack of
depth" of Hatfield's reasons for Gray's termination, but he also doubted Gray's credibility and c:onc:luded that the lack of periodic
employee evaluations, while not "strictly"
in compliance with the univer$ity's affirmative action policy, had "absolutely nothing"
to do with Gray's termination. He also said
that whiie Hatfield's reasons may' not have
been "very good," they were not given to hide
other reasons, suc:h as that Gray was female.
In his April 21 decision Judge Waters
ruled that Gray was dismissed because Hatfield wanted to have a person in the job with
whom he would feel more comfortable.• _.. "Mrs.
Gray's sex played no part in such deci.sion."
he said, and ruled against her.
--info Ark. Gazette

up & coming

THIS SPACE FOR RENT

$10
admission $3.00
write:

concessions available

BERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 N.W. 19th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73106

7.

national news
Over five-hundred activists from around
the country met last November in New York to
call for the October 11th National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. March
organizers are planning an ambitious series
of events in conjunctions with the march. The
weekend will begin on Friday, October 9th
with a March Against Death .- Hundreds of
people will march quietly past the White
House holding signs with the names of gays
and lesbians who have died from anti-gay
violence, suicide or from AIDS.
On Saturday
at 2:00 p.m. hundreds of couples will recite
vows in an outdoor celebration which will
reinforce the demand for recognition of gay
and lesbian relationships.
The
fourteen
Lesbian and Gay Bands of America will gather
in Washington's famous 3,500 seat Constitution Hall Saturday evening at 8100 p.m. for
a concert benefitting seven national organizations including the march committee. On the
day of the march gay veterans are planning a
memorial service in Arlington National Cemetary in memory of gay and lesbian people who
have given their lives in service to their
country. A meeting to found a gay and lesbian
congress will be held on Monday, . which also
-happens to be Columbus Day.
The last . two
events are planned for Tuesday, October . 13th,
when elected officials and government employees return from a holiday weekend. Many
people will visit their representatives to
lobby for the Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights
Bill while a massive act of non-violent civil
disobedience directed at the Supreme Court
will take place in protest of last summer's
sodomy ruling. The demands of the march are:
1.

Legal Recognition of lesbian and gay
lationships;

2.

The repeal of all laws that make sodomy
between consenting adults a crime;
A Presidential order be issued banning
anti-gay discrimination by the Federal

re-

. Government;
4. Passage of the Congressional Lesbian and

s.
6,

An end to racism in the u.s. and apartheid in South Africa.
For more information or to contribute
urgently needed operating funds, write to the
National March on Washington, P.O. Box 7781,
Washington, D.C. 20044 or call (202)783-1828.
8.

March for rights

3.

The right to reproductive freedom and an
end to sexism; the right to practice our
sexuality freely;

Gay Rights Bill;
An end to discrimination against People
With AIDS or those percieved to have AIDS
A massive increase in funding for AIDS
education, treatment, research,
and
patient care;

Del ta pays up
Apparently deluged with complaints by Gays , Delta Airlines
has developed a response to people protesting its treatment
of a Gay man 's family in settling a wrongful death suit.
Lawyers for Delta's insurance carrier threatened to
reveal Scott Agel off's homosexuality unless the family settled
for an amount which was less than that offered for non • gay
lives lost in a .1985 plane crash . Delta 's insurance
company's lawyers argued that because Ageloffwas gay and
therefore in a risk group for AIDS, his life expectancy was less
than others. Ageloff's parents sued. The court rejected
testimony about Ageloff's homosexuality and awarded the
family $1 million in damages .
.,,.
Delta Airline 's president R .W. Allen now says that it was the •
insurance company's attorneys who threatened the Ageloff
family, and he now" Assures you that Delta does not believe
that a person 's life may be valued on the basis of his or her
lifestyle . "

TOHR Reporter

Women's pro league
A new, six-team women's volleyball league
has been organized, according to a March NPR .
broadcast. The male organizer of the league
stated that in volleyball women can' do as
well as men, unlike in other sports, and the
games can be as exciting as men's games. He
also has introduced the innovation of having
the entire league owned. by one corporation,
which will eliminate "bidding wars." All of
the players, which include many Olympians &
amateur champions, have agreed initially to
a base salary of $5000/ye.ar plus bonuses for
wins. ESPN will broadcast weekly games and
the tournament in May. Most of the fans interviewed at a recent game of the San Jose
"Golddiggers" (unfortunate name) said they
were there to watch their idols play.

Up & Coaing

Sisterfire ! ·
Sisterfire! is a two-day, open-air festival in celebration of women artists to be
held outside Washington, O.C. on June 27 &
28. Alice Walker, Asian American. Dance Theatre, Holly Near, Odetta, Alix Dobkin, Women's
Chamber Music Society, Casselberry-Dupree,
Spiderwoman Theatre, & much, much more! For
info write Roadwork, Dept. SF, 1475 Harvard
St. N.W., D.C. 20009 or call 202-483-1010.

Up & Coming

call for submissions ...
SING HEAVENLY MUSE! Women's Poetry
and Prose , has announced a ~
competition with three awards of
$500 each and publication in a
special issue. Tho se sending
manuscripts must have published at
least five poems in two or more
publications and may not have
published a book of poetry. Send
a self-addressed, stamped envelope
to SING HEAVENLY MUSE ! , PO Box
13299, Minneapolis, MN 55414 for
complete guidelines. (Entries must
be postmarked before July 25, 1987).
oob

Kitchen Table : Women of Color Press
is seeking submissions from American
Indian women writers for possible
autumn,1987 or spring, 1988 publication. The Press is particularly
interested in receiving works of
fiction, either novels or collections of short stories , but will
also consider work in other genres,
including poetry and non-fiction .
Submissions should be typed and
double-spaced . Please do not send
complete manuscripts, but a repre~
sentative excerpt of no more than
· 30 pages. A cover letter , which
includes a summary of the whole
work from which the excerpt is
ta ken , shou ld accompany each submission . Address correspondence
to: Kitchen Table: Women of Color
Press, PO Box 908, Latham, NY
12110.
oob

Consuelo Concepcion, an Afro Puerto Rican radical feminist would
like to hear from radical lesbianfeminist separatists of color ,
Please send essays, correspondence,
etc. to C.M. Concepcion, 514
Northwestern Drive, Grand Forks,
ND 58201 .
oob

Third Woman are publishing a special issue focussed on "The
Sexuality of Latinas" . Manuscripts
may address how family contexts,
religious ideologies, community
norms and political values interact
in the formation of sexual experience . The themes may be
explored in narrative, theater ,
creative essays, journal entries,
letters, criticism, and visual arts
pieces. Manuscripts ( 25 pp max.,
3 copies with SASE) should be sent
to: Third Woman, c/o Chicano
Studies, 3404 Dwinell Hall, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.
oob

LESBIANS!
Call for ContributiQns

to

Lesbian Limericks
a new HerBooks title

KALLIOPE, a journal of women's art,
is planning a special issue on
"Women Portray Men". They are interested in artistic renderings
of men by women writers, visual
artists, photographers and others
for a special issue of KALLIOPE.
Work may concern any aspect of the
male gender. The deadline is June
30 , 1987. Send work to: KALLIOPE,
3939 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville,
FL 32205.
oob

Send:

0~"
~...._o

c.J>

and SASE to
, , t It I I I I

Deadline:

:fu\y.1 1 lC\'7

:
::'

II~,_,

-

Bean-0 Silverstein : .
181 25th Avenue
~ Santa Cruz, CA 95062 '
I;\ It t I I I I\ t I I I \ '

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES. I NC .
. . . a specialty center for women
I

Resource Library

Monthly Newsletter

Educational Public Programs

Books, Music, Art Sales
I

Cultural Events

announces

I

NEXT COLLECTIVE MEETING
JUNE 14, 4: 30 P. M.
call 733-9331 for location

SAT. 10-6. SUN. 1- 6
1630 N. W. 19 ST . OKLAHOMA CITY

The Herland Summer Garage Sale will be the
first weekend in August. Please bring any
items you wish to donate by Herland and we
will give you a receipt. Also, if you would
like to help staff the sale, volunteers are
welcome.

REBECCA R. COHN, Ph.D.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
' V'

Indhldual •••
Couplea ••• Group •••
Family Therapy

Norman, Okla.
321·2148

and now a word from our sponsors...
I

366-0923
848-6429
'

SHIRLEY M. HUNTER. M.A.

HELEN HOLGATE

LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR

Certified AJcoholism & Drug Abuse
Counselor

Quality Service With That Personal Touch

TERI HOELTZEL
SUSAN BROOKS
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Oklahoma City. OK 73127

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i.Mm94Mm94Mm94......,....Mm194Mm194Mm194~.-



VOLUME 4, NUMBER 6
JUNE 1987

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 NW 19, OKLA. CITY, OK 73106

Does sexist language matter ?
.., Margaret Curtis

When a non-sexist Biblical lectionary was
published not long ago, many male
newspaper columnists from all parts of the
natiQn suffered apoplectic fits. Sputtering,
fuming and smoking with the fire of protest,
they complained that feminists had really
gone too far this time.
Observing their furor from a cool
distance, I realized for the first time why
non-sexist language in religion is truly
necessary. "Those men have confused
themselves with God!" I thought. "They are
- behaving as though they had been persoiially threatened with castration.''
Until that time, I had been telling myself
that the use of imagery simply helps explain
our relationship to God and that imagery is
not who God is. Of course, we all know that
'God is not a human-like, male person. After
all, the Bible also uses feminine imagery in
describing God, and anybody who knows
about Biblical translation knows that the
original Hebrew words for Ood were nonsexist. It was male translators who later
changed those. words to words denoting
maleness only. Obviously, feminists who
want to return scripture to its original meanina are not springing something new upon
the world; they are simply trying to resolve
something very old.
Even so, what difference does it make?
How can sexist Janauage hurt us, anyhow?
I knew something about hurting because of
my volunteer work with battered women.
Once, in a film intaview with battering
mm. I observed a man slam his fJSt into his
palm and declare, "I have a right to
discipline my wife; she is my property!"
I also knew that psychologists who
counsel violent men had learned from the
men themselves that the root of their
violence toward women was the cultural

message that a man isn't really a man unless
he can dominate women.
What, l wondered, is in our culture that
conveys the message that women are
rightfully the property of men and subject to
their domination? Messages are conveyed in
many different ways, but nothing is more
basic to the message than words, because
words "stand in" or substitute for that
which we perceive as real. Just as the word
chair substitutes for something we can see,
touch and feel, the word God is a spoken or
written symbol for that spirit of life and love
which we cannot see, touch or feel, but
which, nevertheless, is perceived and even
worshipped as a reality.
Because God isa male word, how can we
possibly escape perceiving God as male? If
God is male, then maleness becomes
Godliness. If we worship God, are we ununconsciously worshipping ~? We have
reason to wonder, because we know that in
mo.u countries, male infants are preferred to
female offspring, especially when the child
is to be the first born or only child.
Psychologists also report that both men and
women rank men higher in esteem than
women.
in linking Godliness to malene.u, do we
uncomciously expect men to be like God, all
wise, good and powerful? If so, men will be
a great disappointment to women as well as
to themselves.
If men are to be like God, then who are
women to be like? Why, like men, of
course! We are congratulated when we
"think like a man.'' receive more pay when
we do work traditionally done by men, and
if we are to dress for success, then we must
wear tailored clothing, closely cropped hair
and scarves or bows at the neckline that will
substitute nicely for neckties.
Could this adaption to maleness be influt:need by the fact that women are included or absorbed into the generic term of

man? (How many men would tolerare being
"included" in the generic term of woman?)
Worse, if women are absorbed into the
generic term of man, is there a subtle implication that men properly own or
dominate women?
If women are the property of men, then
it is inevitable that men will use women for
the sake of their own gratification. They
may not treat a woman like a person but like
an object, perhaps a sex object, an office
machine or even just another attachment to
the vacuum cleaner. If females are objects
designed to serve or gratify men, then it is
also inevitable that females will become the
victims of child molestation, incest, rape,
wife abuse, pornography, prostitution and
poverty.
Are we influenced to see women as the
property of men when, at marriage, we
allow men to attach their own names to their
wives very much as we label luggage with
our names to denote ownership? Although
we maintain property, we do not reward it
for simply fulfilling its function, which may
explain why so few states allow wives equal
ri&hts to marital assets.
In assuming their husband's names, do
women lose a sense of their own identity,
and do they assume that they are now important only in relationship to their
husbands? In relinquishing their right to
their family name, do women also lose a
sense of having any rights at all? (Until
recently, Georgia law merged a woman's
legal and civil rights with those of her husband, and anti-ERA groups opposed the
feminists who were working to have that law
abolished.)
In keeping only half her name, does a
woman assume she is only half as important
as a man? After all, men keep all of their
names. Does that implication connect to the
fact that women are paid about half what
men are paid for work?
If women are believed to be less than
equal to men, then true love between men

and women is not possible. How can a
woman love a person who holds her in subjection to him, and how can a man love a
person he regards as his inferior?
As long as it was permissible to regard
blacks and Jews as inferior, it was also permissible to victimize them, and as long as
women are less than equal, illferior, then
that is how long women will continue to be
the victims ·of discrimination, exploitation
and violence.
Clearly, inequity· begets violence, and if
we are ever to know love and peace on earth,
then we must have equality first, beginning
in the very language we use.
Margaret Curtis has 'been involved in
People of Faith for the ERA and the
Evangelical Women's Caucus.
SOUTHERN FEMINISI'/6

Spain;
a kiss is just a kiss
MADRI D--Hundreds of lesbians demonstrated on January 23 to protest
the harassment of lesbians and
gays in Spain.
Earlier that week, two women
who had kissed in public in Madrid's Puerta del Sol were approached by a po l iceman wh o asked
for their -identification. They
argued and fought with him.
He arrested them for contempt,
resisting arrest and public outrage. The women were held in a
high-security cell for 48 hours
before they were released. They
said they had been mistreated
and ridiculed by the police.
Hundreds of lesbians held a
peaceful protest on the site of
the arrest. While police watched,
the demonstrators chanted slogans
against the repression of lesbians
and gays and invited passerbys
to kiss them.
Many participants kissed each
other as a challenge to the police
and to show that it is a nonnal
thing to do.
--info fran

~

york native
Off Our Backs

lesbian mother's
custody upheld
KNOXVILLE--After six years of
litigation, a Tennessee judge dismissed a challenge to a lesbian
mother's right to custody of her
child. The win is particularly
significant in Tennessee, a .state
with a sodomy law carrying a penalty of five to fifteen years.
The suit was brought by the
child's grandparents, who had been
harassing the mother, .Royce Parrish, since 1982 by seeking custody and increased visitation
rights. The harassment continued,
despite the State of Tennessee's
bringing criminal charges against
them for alleged sexual abuse of
the child. According to the Lambda Legal Defense and Education
Fund, the jury acquitted the grandparents because they were prejudiced by Parrish's lesbianism.
The grandparents may try to appea 1 or file a new proceeding, but
for now the case is over.
by mj foley
info from Lambda Update (winter'87)
off ou r back s

"YES, BUT CAN SHE COOK?": Ortho
Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Johnson
and Johnson, is the possible object of a suit
by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission because of their
discriminatory hiring practices. The company's polfcy, as stated in a July 1980 letter
to divisional managers, is that women
have "inferiority complexes" and should
not be hired if they have "executive potential" or are "attractive." Some excerpts
from the letter: "On understanding
Women-Women are more sensitive than
men. They shame easier. They cry more
often. Women have more social problems
that create business problems. Profile of a
Female Worker - She's not 'pretty,' she's
not sexy, she should be neat, clean and
without frills. She should have the look of
someone who might clean her bathroom or
kitchen on her hands and knees. She went
to a state college, not a private university,
and not recently." <In These Times>

BREAK IN AT SAN FRANCISCO
WOMEN'S BUILDING: A peculiar
burglary at the S.F. Women's Building has
added one more organization to the growing list of victims of information thievery
and harassment.
In the early hours of March 11, the
Women's Building was broken into.
Valuables, other than a $20 check and $19
in cash, were ignored. A computer disk containing sensitive information, contact
names, phone numbers and lease information on organizations housed in the
Building was taken. File cabinets of
women's, Central American, lesbian/gay
and other organizations which have used
the Building over the past four years were
rifled.
The Women's Building, located in the
heart of San Francisco's Mis$ion District,
is a community center that provides support for women's projects and other social
change endeavors. Primarily focused on
the needs and interests of working class
women, women of color and lesbians,. the
Building is a hub of constant activity ranging from its own support groups and ~i­
lingual information and referral services,
to aerobics classes, to community
meetings and forums presented by a crosssection of women's, lesbian/gay, antiintervention and other progressive
organizations.
At a press conference Carmen Vazquez,
President of the Board ofDirectors of the
Women's Building, told reporters, "With
all due respect for the professionalism of
the San Francisco Police Department, we
take exception to their ~ategorization of
this incident as a burglary. Common
·thieves don't go rifling through the files of
Central America activists and take computer disks home with them. We call on
local authorities to take seriously these
violations directed at progressive individuals and organizations in the Bay
Area. The Women's Building has no intention of stopping its work!"
Ne w Dire ctions for Women

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR WOMEN -

PUBLISHED BY: HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES
CIRCULATION : 600
PHONE NUMBER (WEEKENDS): 524- 7108
GENERAL INFO: 733- 9331
672- 6459
794- 'l 464
1-353- 6861 (LAWTON)
VOLUNTEER INFO: . 672- 4141
ADVERTISING: 495-1094

Dear friends
I know how hard many of you have been
hit in these uncertain economic times.
Knowing this, I still must appeal to you,
those who benefit from the existance of
Herland. We are now in a severe struggle.
Our finances are extremely low and our
spirits are not much higher. Burnout has
taken many of us from the active roster,
and those of us who are left need your
help.
I ask you to reflect on the time when
there was no Herland, no newsletter, no
efforts to get you records and books, no
workshops, no spring and fall retreats,
no listings in national guides, such as
Places of Interest
to Women,
Gaia's
Guide, and Gayellow Pages for a women's
center such as ours in Oklahoma City, and
no Herland library. If you find the time
-' before
to be no different than the time
now, then this appeal is not for you and
you need not read on. BUT, if you
are
aware of our efforts and~nd them worthy,
please help us with our growth.
Our shelves are bare and we are not
individually capable of handling
the
total financial load of operating Herland.
Herland is a non-profit organization and
we volunteer because
we believe in the
cause.

So I ask you .
Do you want us to
continue, and will you help?
I know many
of you
have donated willingly of your
time as well as your money . For this we
thank you. Yet there are over 600 persons
receiving the newsletter. If everyone on
the mailing list would donate $12, which
is only $1 per month, we would be able to
stock shelves, try new things, plan concerts, sponsor workshops, and move to a
place that is warm in the winter and cool
in the summer, and we could have a place
that we all would be truly proud of. Think
of it.
All we need to do to raise $7200
if for 600 people to
donate $12. Please
take us seriously and send
a check
or
money order today, or drop by on a Saturday
or Sunday with your donation, when we are
open.
Sincerely,
BC/Herland Collective

YOUR ANNUAL DONATION HELPS SUPPORT THE PROGRAMS AND ACTMTIES OP HSR.
A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SERVING THE OKLAHOMA WOMEN'S COMMUNITY
Your donation. regardless of classification. entitles you to a 10,_ discount on store stock.
concert tickets, workshops and advertising; a monthly newsletter; use of the lending librar~·
and resources, and MORE.
Donations may be made via cash __
or check_. Please indicate if this
is a monthly plPd«e_.

ADDRESS
CITY
STATE_ZIP_ _ PHONE
MAIL TO: Herland Sister Resources, Inc

Upon receipt of your annual donation, you will
receive your Friends of Herland card. to be pre·
tented for store and concert discounts, and a
receipt for your tax purposes.
Benefactor
Sl,000.00+
Sponsoring
500.00•
Contributing
200.00+
Sustaining
75.00+
Household
40.00+
Associate
25.00+
Special
10.00+
(Student Senior Citizen 60 years & older. Other)

~~~~h~.;.~·C~~y. OK 73106 ~

'

1 Night Only
The versatile & inspiring

l·I

llll)S

&

•
,
.
,
I< I N s
I) 1: I. 1:

'~

s

A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
TO HELP
PEOPLE WITH AIDS
For just one dollar you can make a significant
difference to someone with AIDS. Stamps, similar
to Easter and Christmas.seals, with the message
STAMP OUT AIDS, are being sold nation wide$ LOO buys 6 stamps- the money raised to be
targeted specifically to AIDS service organizations
through the NATIONAL AIDS NETWORK.
Multiply your dollar by thousands of concerned
citizens, and you can imagine how much you ca n
help improve the quality of life for someone
with AIDS.

'~

I~

THE SECOND FRET
3009 N. Classen

SAT. JUNE 13-9PM
TICKETS $5

a ni9ht you'll rememher!

For further information, call:
(212) 354-8899

John Glines, Project Director
STAMP OUT AIDS
240 West 44th Street
New York. N.Y. 10036

·--------------------------Please send me _ _ set(s) of "STAMP OUT AIDS"
stamps @ $1 per set of 6. Enclosed please find
$
, plus a self-addressed
stamped envelope.
Name·~---------------

Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

"Brilliantly original!"
Ann Loureiro, I.R. S. Records
City

State

Zip

HAWKINS & DELEAR's cassette Midnite Silence
available at Herland Bookstore or by sending $5.95 to:
LADY SLIPPER
P. O. Box 3124
Durham, NC 27705
919- 683- 1570

If paying by check, make payable to:
"National Aids Network/STAMP OUT AIDS."
Contributiom .,. tax-deductible. aa pmrided by law.

"LOVB MAY BR 81,JND, BUT

HANDWRITING'S NOT
Professional Analysis of Compatibility
Confidential report on cassette

Shelly Zaikis, C.M.G.
405-946-6928

ll

KE.MCO
PRINTING INC.
Kelley Mattocks
34CM301

1801 S. Broadway. Unll D •Edmond. Okla 73013

it's available

WEAVING WOMEN'S COLORS

Counseling Our Own: The Lesbian/Gay Subculture
Meets the Mental Health System by Chama Klein
looks at the establishing and development of gay
mental health institutions -- particularly the
Seattle Counseling Service -- and their history,
organization, philosophy, staff, clients, and
relationships with the lesbian/gay communities
and the established mental health system. It
chronicles lesbian/gay history and the struggle
for positive mental health services. 40% for 3+
books.
No distributors. Consultant Services
Northwest, 839 NE 96th St., Seattle WA 98115.

Lesbian Health Matters is back in print and
back at Bookpeople! $6.00 paper. Published by
the Santa Cruz Women's Health Collective it
explains gynecological exams, health and sexuality, alternative methods of fertilization (900
lesbian babies born in the bay area alone in
1986, I'm toldt, menopause, alcoholism, feminist
therapy and more ..

In Different Daughters: A Book by Mothers
of Lesbians, ed. by Louise Rafkin, twenty-five
mothers of lesbians trace the growth of their
relationships with their daughters, examine the
essential questions mothers of lesbians confront, and their struggles to accept and share
their daughters' lives. finally, . a lesbian focused, women's movement assuming book for moms!
Just in time for Mother's Day!
$8. 95pb,
$21. 95cl. March. Cleis Press, PO Box 8933,
Pittsburgh PA 15221 or PO Box 14684, San Francisco CA 94114. BP, IN, Bookslinger, The Distributors, New Leaf, B&T, Airlift & Benton Ross.

Getting Pregnant Your Own Way, by Lisa
Saffron, . is the new British guide to alternative
insemination. Published by The Women's Health
Information Centre, it's written primarily for
lesbian couples and single women (lesbian, heterosexual or celibate) who wish to have children
It considers issues from finding a donor, using
clinics, the specifics of how-to-do-it, health
issues (includes screening for AIDS, though the
focus here is on gay men & doesn't include IV
drug uses ..• ), telling your family and friends;
etc. factual sections are followed by women's
personal experiences. Very readable. Hopefully
it will soon be available from BP & Inland.
Meantime, order from WHIC, 52 Featherstone
Street, London ECI, England. L2. 95.

The Feminist Bookstore News

"Weaving Women's Colors: A Decade of Empowerment," a conference on the intersection.
of race and gender, will be held in Atlanta,
GA, June 24-28. This 9th annual conference
of the Nation.al Women's Studies Association.
will held at Spelman College, Agnes Scott
College & Emory University.
Featured speakers include Angela Davis,
Byllye Avery, Margaret Randall, & Ada Deer;
conference participants include Toni C&de
Bambara, Sonia Sanches, Minnie Bruce Pratt,
& Bernice Reagon. Four plenary sessions will
focus on a feminist agenda for the political
empowerment of African-American women, voices
of poor & working class women, the women's
movement, & women & the US Constitution.
This is an outstanding event from many
perspectives, and it is hoped many Arkansas
women will participate. Write NWSA '87,
Emory University, P.O. Box 21223, Atlanta, GA
30322, or call (404) 727-7845 or contact S'l.\ ""' ~S" lo ca 11 y.
up & c9m ing
•v

wild strings
Paby let rre neet ya! Paby let ne treat ya to a
Ybole lot of rre ! I strongly suggest that you
take JAfMINE up on their offer. Rush to Herland
and get your copy of JAfMINE'S llJI' llJI' new
release ''Wild Strings". The albtnn is full of
orginal naterial fran Carol Schnidt, Michele Isam
, and Lydia Ruffin.
It also incluges their
version of Harriet Tublen, not to nention
Aretha Franklin's ''Whole lot of t1:!". lhn' t miss
this one it gets a 5 star rating.

OUR RIGHT TO LOVE: A Lesbian
Resource Book

edited by Ginny Vida with the National
Gay Tusk Force
The first authoritative, comprehensive
resource guide on lesbianism ever written,
and still a treasure trove. ''From this
magnificent educational feast one draws
hope that the (lesbian experience) will be
regarded as a variation of the treasured,
another affirmation of the human spirit."

San Francisco Bay Guardian
Paperback $11.95

WAITING FOR THE MOON
Waiting for the Moon is the name of a new
movie about Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude
Stein, played by Linda Bassett & the marvelous
Linda Hunt. It is a made-up story but includes some real aspects of how they lived
together. Ask for it in local theatres.

up & coming

IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHER'S
GARDENS: Womanist Prose
This first collection of Walker's nonfiction
represents the views of a remarkable
writer over a period of years and ranges
over a wide variety of topics including
nuclear madness, motherhood, and
feminism.
Paperback $6.95

UA W!NS SEX DISCRIMINATION SUIT

saturday june 13

8 -12 pm

•

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IO"'"St
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~

1..

~
V"j

\)
'\)

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~

~

~

~

~

I st unitarian church

13th & dewey

~

Less than a month after the Gay and Lesbian Student Assoc. lawsuit against it, the
University of Arkansas was back in federal
court. Ms. Adella Gray sued the school's
athletic department for sex discrimination,
alleging that Razorback football coach Ken
Hatfield fired her from her position as academic: co-ordinator for the department because
he wanted a man in the job.
After Gray's firing Hatfield immediately
hired an old football buddy in her place, at
50~ higher salary; he claimed he never saw
the applications of two others seeking the
job. Testimony during the trial revealed
that Hatfield had never read the UA's affirmative action policy and had given Gray neither a job description nor a written evaluation during her 3 years in . the job.
Hatfield said he fired Gray because he
wanted a "stronger disciplinarian" in the
job. While former students and professors
testified for Gray, Hatfield and ochers branded her "pushy" & criticized her for suc:h
things as going on vacation instead of ~~ic­
ing to see whether a key football player was
going to pass his swmner school courses •.
Judge H. Franklin Waters said he was initially troubled by the "seeming lack of
depth" of Hatfield's reasons for Gray's termination, but he also doubted Gray's credibility and c:onc:luded that the lack of periodic
employee evaluations, while not "strictly"
in compliance with the univer$ity's affirmative action policy, had "absolutely nothing"
to do with Gray's termination. He also said
that whiie Hatfield's reasons may' not have
been "very good," they were not given to hide
other reasons, suc:h as that Gray was female.
In his April 21 decision Judge Waters
ruled that Gray was dismissed because Hatfield wanted to have a person in the job with
whom he would feel more comfortable.• _.. "Mrs.
Gray's sex played no part in such deci.sion."
he said, and ruled against her.
--info Ark. Gazette

up & coming

THIS SPACE FOR RENT

$10
admission $3.00
write:

concessions available

BERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 N.W. 19th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73106

7.

national news
Over five-hundred activists from around
the country met last November in New York to
call for the October 11th National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. March
organizers are planning an ambitious series
of events in conjunctions with the march. The
weekend will begin on Friday, October 9th
with a March Against Death .- Hundreds of
people will march quietly past the White
House holding signs with the names of gays
and lesbians who have died from anti-gay
violence, suicide or from AIDS.
On Saturday
at 2:00 p.m. hundreds of couples will recite
vows in an outdoor celebration which will
reinforce the demand for recognition of gay
and lesbian relationships.
The
fourteen
Lesbian and Gay Bands of America will gather
in Washington's famous 3,500 seat Constitution Hall Saturday evening at 8100 p.m. for
a concert benefitting seven national organizations including the march committee. On the
day of the march gay veterans are planning a
memorial service in Arlington National Cemetary in memory of gay and lesbian people who
have given their lives in service to their
country. A meeting to found a gay and lesbian
congress will be held on Monday, . which also
-happens to be Columbus Day.
The last . two
events are planned for Tuesday, October . 13th,
when elected officials and government employees return from a holiday weekend. Many
people will visit their representatives to
lobby for the Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights
Bill while a massive act of non-violent civil
disobedience directed at the Supreme Court
will take place in protest of last summer's
sodomy ruling. The demands of the march are:
1.

Legal Recognition of lesbian and gay
lationships;

2.

The repeal of all laws that make sodomy
between consenting adults a crime;
A Presidential order be issued banning
anti-gay discrimination by the Federal

re-

. Government;
4. Passage of the Congressional Lesbian and

s.
6,

An end to racism in the u.s. and apartheid in South Africa.
For more information or to contribute
urgently needed operating funds, write to the
National March on Washington, P.O. Box 7781,
Washington, D.C. 20044 or call (202)783-1828.
8.

March for rights

3.

The right to reproductive freedom and an
end to sexism; the right to practice our
sexuality freely;

Gay Rights Bill;
An end to discrimination against People
With AIDS or those percieved to have AIDS
A massive increase in funding for AIDS
education, treatment, research,
and
patient care;

Del ta pays up
Apparently deluged with complaints by Gays , Delta Airlines
has developed a response to people protesting its treatment
of a Gay man 's family in settling a wrongful death suit.
Lawyers for Delta's insurance carrier threatened to
reveal Scott Agel off's homosexuality unless the family settled
for an amount which was less than that offered for non • gay
lives lost in a .1985 plane crash . Delta 's insurance
company's lawyers argued that because Ageloffwas gay and
therefore in a risk group for AIDS, his life expectancy was less
than others. Ageloff's parents sued. The court rejected
testimony about Ageloff's homosexuality and awarded the
family $1 million in damages .
.,,.
Delta Airline 's president R .W. Allen now says that it was the •
insurance company's attorneys who threatened the Ageloff
family, and he now" Assures you that Delta does not believe
that a person 's life may be valued on the basis of his or her
lifestyle . "

TOHR Reporter

Women's pro league
A new, six-team women's volleyball league
has been organized, according to a March NPR .
broadcast. The male organizer of the league
stated that in volleyball women can' do as
well as men, unlike in other sports, and the
games can be as exciting as men's games. He
also has introduced the innovation of having
the entire league owned. by one corporation,
which will eliminate "bidding wars." All of
the players, which include many Olympians &
amateur champions, have agreed initially to
a base salary of $5000/ye.ar plus bonuses for
wins. ESPN will broadcast weekly games and
the tournament in May. Most of the fans interviewed at a recent game of the San Jose
"Golddiggers" (unfortunate name) said they
were there to watch their idols play.

Up & Coaing

Sisterfire ! ·
Sisterfire! is a two-day, open-air festival in celebration of women artists to be
held outside Washington, O.C. on June 27 &
28. Alice Walker, Asian American. Dance Theatre, Holly Near, Odetta, Alix Dobkin, Women's
Chamber Music Society, Casselberry-Dupree,
Spiderwoman Theatre, & much, much more! For
info write Roadwork, Dept. SF, 1475 Harvard
St. N.W., D.C. 20009 or call 202-483-1010.

Up & Coming

call for submissions ...
SING HEAVENLY MUSE! Women's Poetry
and Prose , has announced a ~
competition with three awards of
$500 each and publication in a
special issue. Tho se sending
manuscripts must have published at
least five poems in two or more
publications and may not have
published a book of poetry. Send
a self-addressed, stamped envelope
to SING HEAVENLY MUSE ! , PO Box
13299, Minneapolis, MN 55414 for
complete guidelines. (Entries must
be postmarked before July 25, 1987).
oob

Kitchen Table : Women of Color Press
is seeking submissions from American
Indian women writers for possible
autumn,1987 or spring, 1988 publication. The Press is particularly
interested in receiving works of
fiction, either novels or collections of short stories , but will
also consider work in other genres,
including poetry and non-fiction .
Submissions should be typed and
double-spaced . Please do not send
complete manuscripts, but a repre~
sentative excerpt of no more than
· 30 pages. A cover letter , which
includes a summary of the whole
work from which the excerpt is
ta ken , shou ld accompany each submission . Address correspondence
to: Kitchen Table: Women of Color
Press, PO Box 908, Latham, NY
12110.
oob

Consuelo Concepcion, an Afro Puerto Rican radical feminist would
like to hear from radical lesbianfeminist separatists of color ,
Please send essays, correspondence,
etc. to C.M. Concepcion, 514
Northwestern Drive, Grand Forks,
ND 58201 .
oob

Third Woman are publishing a special issue focussed on "The
Sexuality of Latinas" . Manuscripts
may address how family contexts,
religious ideologies, community
norms and political values interact
in the formation of sexual experience . The themes may be
explored in narrative, theater ,
creative essays, journal entries,
letters, criticism, and visual arts
pieces. Manuscripts ( 25 pp max.,
3 copies with SASE) should be sent
to: Third Woman, c/o Chicano
Studies, 3404 Dwinell Hall, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.
oob

LESBIANS!
Call for ContributiQns

to

Lesbian Limericks
a new HerBooks title

KALLIOPE, a journal of women's art,
is planning a special issue on
"Women Portray Men". They are interested in artistic renderings
of men by women writers, visual
artists, photographers and others
for a special issue of KALLIOPE.
Work may concern any aspect of the
male gender. The deadline is June
30 , 1987. Send work to: KALLIOPE,
3939 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville,
FL 32205.
oob

Send:

0~"
~...._o

c.J>

and SASE to
, , t It I I I I

Deadline:

:fu\y.1 1 lC\'7

:
::'

II~,_,

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Bean-0 Silverstein : .
181 25th Avenue
~ Santa Cruz, CA 95062 '
I;\ It t I I I I\ t I I I \ '

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES. I NC .
. . . a specialty center for women
I

Resource Library

Monthly Newsletter

Educational Public Programs

Books, Music, Art Sales
I

Cultural Events

announces

I

NEXT COLLECTIVE MEETING
JUNE 14, 4: 30 P. M.
call 733-9331 for location

SAT. 10-6. SUN. 1- 6
1630 N. W. 19 ST . OKLAHOMA CITY

The Herland Summer Garage Sale will be the
first weekend in August. Please bring any
items you wish to donate by Herland and we
will give you a receipt. Also, if you would
like to help staff the sale, volunteers are
welcome.

REBECCA R. COHN, Ph.D.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
' V'

Indhldual •••
Couplea ••• Group •••
Family Therapy

Norman, Okla.
321·2148

and now a word from our sponsors...
I

366-0923
848-6429
'

SHIRLEY M. HUNTER. M.A.

HELEN HOLGATE

LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR

Certified AJcoholism & Drug Abuse
Counselor

Quality Service With That Personal Touch

TERI HOELTZEL
SUSAN BROOKS
Owners

942-5693
P.O. BOX 270033
Oklahoma City. OK 73127

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PENN PARK OFFICE COMPLEX• SUITE 102
llOCll N PENNSYLVANIA• OKLAHOMA CITY, OIC 13112

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i.Mm94Mm94Mm94......,....Mm194Mm194Mm194~.-



VOLUME 4, NUMBER 6
JUNE 1987

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 NW 19, OKLA. CITY, OK 73106

Does sexist language matter ?
.., Margaret Curtis

When a non-sexist Biblical lectionary was
published not long ago, many male
newspaper columnists from all parts of the
natiQn suffered apoplectic fits. Sputtering,
fuming and smoking with the fire of protest,
they complained that feminists had really
gone too far this time.
Observing their furor from a cool
distance, I realized for the first time why
non-sexist language in religion is truly
necessary. "Those men have confused
themselves with God!" I thought. "They are
- behaving as though they had been persoiially threatened with castration.''
Until that time, I had been telling myself
that the use of imagery simply helps explain
our relationship to God and that imagery is
not who God is. Of course, we all know that
'God is not a human-like, male person. After
all, the Bible also uses feminine imagery in
describing God, and anybody who knows
about Biblical translation knows that the
original Hebrew words for Ood were nonsexist. It was male translators who later
changed those. words to words denoting
maleness only. Obviously, feminists who
want to return scripture to its original meanina are not springing something new upon
the world; they are simply trying to resolve
something very old.
Even so, what difference does it make?
How can sexist Janauage hurt us, anyhow?
I knew something about hurting because of
my volunteer work with battered women.
Once, in a film intaview with battering
mm. I observed a man slam his fJSt into his
palm and declare, "I have a right to
discipline my wife; she is my property!"
I also knew that psychologists who
counsel violent men had learned from the
men themselves that the root of their
violence toward women was the cultural

message that a man isn't really a man unless
he can dominate women.
What, l wondered, is in our culture that
conveys the message that women are
rightfully the property of men and subject to
their domination? Messages are conveyed in
many different ways, but nothing is more
basic to the message than words, because
words "stand in" or substitute for that
which we perceive as real. Just as the word
chair substitutes for something we can see,
touch and feel, the word God is a spoken or
written symbol for that spirit of life and love
which we cannot see, touch or feel, but
which, nevertheless, is perceived and even
worshipped as a reality.
Because God isa male word, how can we
possibly escape perceiving God as male? If
God is male, then maleness becomes
Godliness. If we worship God, are we ununconsciously worshipping ~? We have
reason to wonder, because we know that in
mo.u countries, male infants are preferred to
female offspring, especially when the child
is to be the first born or only child.
Psychologists also report that both men and
women rank men higher in esteem than
women.
in linking Godliness to malene.u, do we
uncomciously expect men to be like God, all
wise, good and powerful? If so, men will be
a great disappointment to women as well as
to themselves.
If men are to be like God, then who are
women to be like? Why, like men, of
course! We are congratulated when we
"think like a man.'' receive more pay when
we do work traditionally done by men, and
if we are to dress for success, then we must
wear tailored clothing, closely cropped hair
and scarves or bows at the neckline that will
substitute nicely for neckties.
Could this adaption to maleness be influt:need by the fact that women are included or absorbed into the generic term of

man? (How many men would tolerare being
"included" in the generic term of woman?)
Worse, if women are absorbed into the
generic term of man, is there a subtle implication that men properly own or
dominate women?
If women are the property of men, then
it is inevitable that men will use women for
the sake of their own gratification. They
may not treat a woman like a person but like
an object, perhaps a sex object, an office
machine or even just another attachment to
the vacuum cleaner. If females are objects
designed to serve or gratify men, then it is
also inevitable that females will become the
victims of child molestation, incest, rape,
wife abuse, pornography, prostitution and
poverty.
Are we influenced to see women as the
property of men when, at marriage, we
allow men to attach their own names to their
wives very much as we label luggage with
our names to denote ownership? Although
we maintain property, we do not reward it
for simply fulfilling its function, which may
explain why so few states allow wives equal
ri&hts to marital assets.
In assuming their husband's names, do
women lose a sense of their own identity,
and do they assume that they are now important only in relationship to their
husbands? In relinquishing their right to
their family name, do women also lose a
sense of having any rights at all? (Until
recently, Georgia law merged a woman's
legal and civil rights with those of her husband, and anti-ERA groups opposed the
feminists who were working to have that law
abolished.)
In keeping only half her name, does a
woman assume she is only half as important
as a man? After all, men keep all of their
names. Does that implication connect to the
fact that women are paid about half what
men are paid for work?
If women are believed to be less than
equal to men, then true love between men

and women is not possible. How can a
woman love a person who holds her in subjection to him, and how can a man love a
person he regards as his inferior?
As long as it was permissible to regard
blacks and Jews as inferior, it was also permissible to victimize them, and as long as
women are less than equal, illferior, then
that is how long women will continue to be
the victims ·of discrimination, exploitation
and violence.
Clearly, inequity· begets violence, and if
we are ever to know love and peace on earth,
then we must have equality first, beginning
in the very language we use.
Margaret Curtis has 'been involved in
People of Faith for the ERA and the
Evangelical Women's Caucus.
SOUTHERN FEMINISI'/6

Spain;
a kiss is just a kiss
MADRI D--Hundreds of lesbians demonstrated on January 23 to protest
the harassment of lesbians and
gays in Spain.
Earlier that week, two women
who had kissed in public in Madrid's Puerta del Sol were approached by a po l iceman wh o asked
for their -identification. They
argued and fought with him.
He arrested them for contempt,
resisting arrest and public outrage. The women were held in a
high-security cell for 48 hours
before they were released. They
said they had been mistreated
and ridiculed by the police.
Hundreds of lesbians held a
peaceful protest on the site of
the arrest. While police watched,
the demonstrators chanted slogans
against the repression of lesbians
and gays and invited passerbys
to kiss them.
Many participants kissed each
other as a challenge to the police
and to show that it is a nonnal
thing to do.
--info fran

~

york native
Off Our Backs

lesbian mother's
custody upheld
KNOXVILLE--After six years of
litigation, a Tennessee judge dismissed a challenge to a lesbian
mother's right to custody of her
child. The win is particularly
significant in Tennessee, a .state
with a sodomy law carrying a penalty of five to fifteen years.
The suit was brought by the
child's grandparents, who had been
harassing the mother, .Royce Parrish, since 1982 by seeking custody and increased visitation
rights. The harassment continued,
despite the State of Tennessee's
bringing criminal charges against
them for alleged sexual abuse of
the child. According to the Lambda Legal Defense and Education
Fund, the jury acquitted the grandparents because they were prejudiced by Parrish's lesbianism.
The grandparents may try to appea 1 or file a new proceeding, but
for now the case is over.
by mj foley
info from Lambda Update (winter'87)
off ou r back s

"YES, BUT CAN SHE COOK?": Ortho
Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Johnson
and Johnson, is the possible object of a suit
by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission because of their
discriminatory hiring practices. The company's polfcy, as stated in a July 1980 letter
to divisional managers, is that women
have "inferiority complexes" and should
not be hired if they have "executive potential" or are "attractive." Some excerpts
from the letter: "On understanding
Women-Women are more sensitive than
men. They shame easier. They cry more
often. Women have more social problems
that create business problems. Profile of a
Female Worker - She's not 'pretty,' she's
not sexy, she should be neat, clean and
without frills. She should have the look of
someone who might clean her bathroom or
kitchen on her hands and knees. She went
to a state college, not a private university,
and not recently." <In These Times>

BREAK IN AT SAN FRANCISCO
WOMEN'S BUILDING: A peculiar
burglary at the S.F. Women's Building has
added one more organization to the growing list of victims of information thievery
and harassment.
In the early hours of March 11, the
Women's Building was broken into.
Valuables, other than a $20 check and $19
in cash, were ignored. A computer disk containing sensitive information, contact
names, phone numbers and lease information on organizations housed in the
Building was taken. File cabinets of
women's, Central American, lesbian/gay
and other organizations which have used
the Building over the past four years were
rifled.
The Women's Building, located in the
heart of San Francisco's Mis$ion District,
is a community center that provides support for women's projects and other social
change endeavors. Primarily focused on
the needs and interests of working class
women, women of color and lesbians,. the
Building is a hub of constant activity ranging from its own support groups and ~i­
lingual information and referral services,
to aerobics classes, to community
meetings and forums presented by a crosssection of women's, lesbian/gay, antiintervention and other progressive
organizations.
At a press conference Carmen Vazquez,
President of the Board ofDirectors of the
Women's Building, told reporters, "With
all due respect for the professionalism of
the San Francisco Police Department, we
take exception to their ~ategorization of
this incident as a burglary. Common
·thieves don't go rifling through the files of
Central America activists and take computer disks home with them. We call on
local authorities to take seriously these
violations directed at progressive individuals and organizations in the Bay
Area. The Women's Building has no intention of stopping its work!"
Ne w Dire ctions for Women

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR WOMEN -

PUBLISHED BY: HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES
CIRCULATION : 600
PHONE NUMBER (WEEKENDS): 524- 7108
GENERAL INFO: 733- 9331
672- 6459
794- 'l 464
1-353- 6861 (LAWTON)
VOLUNTEER INFO: . 672- 4141
ADVERTISING: 495-1094

Dear friends
I know how hard many of you have been
hit in these uncertain economic times.
Knowing this, I still must appeal to you,
those who benefit from the existance of
Herland. We are now in a severe struggle.
Our finances are extremely low and our
spirits are not much higher. Burnout has
taken many of us from the active roster,
and those of us who are left need your
help.
I ask you to reflect on the time when
there was no Herland, no newsletter, no
efforts to get you records and books, no
workshops, no spring and fall retreats,
no listings in national guides, such as
Places of Interest
to Women,
Gaia's
Guide, and Gayellow Pages for a women's
center such as ours in Oklahoma City, and
no Herland library. If you find the time
-' before
to be no different than the time
now, then this appeal is not for you and
you need not read on. BUT, if you
are
aware of our efforts and~nd them worthy,
please help us with our growth.
Our shelves are bare and we are not
individually capable of handling
the
total financial load of operating Herland.
Herland is a non-profit organization and
we volunteer because
we believe in the
cause.

So I ask you .
Do you want us to
continue, and will you help?
I know many
of you
have donated willingly of your
time as well as your money . For this we
thank you. Yet there are over 600 persons
receiving the newsletter. If everyone on
the mailing list would donate $12, which
is only $1 per month, we would be able to
stock shelves, try new things, plan concerts, sponsor workshops, and move to a
place that is warm in the winter and cool
in the summer, and we could have a place
that we all would be truly proud of. Think
of it.
All we need to do to raise $7200
if for 600 people to
donate $12. Please
take us seriously and send
a check
or
money order today, or drop by on a Saturday
or Sunday with your donation, when we are
open.
Sincerely,
BC/Herland Collective

YOUR ANNUAL DONATION HELPS SUPPORT THE PROGRAMS AND ACTMTIES OP HSR.
A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SERVING THE OKLAHOMA WOMEN'S COMMUNITY
Your donation. regardless of classification. entitles you to a 10,_ discount on store stock.
concert tickets, workshops and advertising; a monthly newsletter; use of the lending librar~·
and resources, and MORE.
Donations may be made via cash __
or check_. Please indicate if this
is a monthly plPd«e_.

ADDRESS
CITY
STATE_ZIP_ _ PHONE
MAIL TO: Herland Sister Resources, Inc

Upon receipt of your annual donation, you will
receive your Friends of Herland card. to be pre·
tented for store and concert discounts, and a
receipt for your tax purposes.
Benefactor
Sl,000.00+
Sponsoring
500.00•
Contributing
200.00+
Sustaining
75.00+
Household
40.00+
Associate
25.00+
Special
10.00+
(Student Senior Citizen 60 years & older. Other)

~~~~h~.;.~·C~~y. OK 73106 ~

'

1 Night Only
The versatile & inspiring

l·I

llll)S

&

•
,
.
,
I< I N s
I) 1: I. 1:

'~

s

A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
TO HELP
PEOPLE WITH AIDS
For just one dollar you can make a significant
difference to someone with AIDS. Stamps, similar
to Easter and Christmas.seals, with the message
STAMP OUT AIDS, are being sold nation wide$ LOO buys 6 stamps- the money raised to be
targeted specifically to AIDS service organizations
through the NATIONAL AIDS NETWORK.
Multiply your dollar by thousands of concerned
citizens, and you can imagine how much you ca n
help improve the quality of life for someone
with AIDS.

'~

I~

THE SECOND FRET
3009 N. Classen

SAT. JUNE 13-9PM
TICKETS $5

a ni9ht you'll rememher!

For further information, call:
(212) 354-8899

John Glines, Project Director
STAMP OUT AIDS
240 West 44th Street
New York. N.Y. 10036

·--------------------------Please send me _ _ set(s) of "STAMP OUT AIDS"
stamps @ $1 per set of 6. Enclosed please find
$
, plus a self-addressed
stamped envelope.
Name·~---------------

Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

"Brilliantly original!"
Ann Loureiro, I.R. S. Records
City

State

Zip

HAWKINS & DELEAR's cassette Midnite Silence
available at Herland Bookstore or by sending $5.95 to:
LADY SLIPPER
P. O. Box 3124
Durham, NC 27705
919- 683- 1570

If paying by check, make payable to:
"National Aids Network/STAMP OUT AIDS."
Contributiom .,. tax-deductible. aa pmrided by law.

"LOVB MAY BR 81,JND, BUT

HANDWRITING'S NOT
Professional Analysis of Compatibility
Confidential report on cassette

Shelly Zaikis, C.M.G.
405-946-6928

ll

KE.MCO
PRINTING INC.
Kelley Mattocks
34CM301

1801 S. Broadway. Unll D •Edmond. Okla 73013

it's available

WEAVING WOMEN'S COLORS

Counseling Our Own: The Lesbian/Gay Subculture
Meets the Mental Health System by Chama Klein
looks at the establishing and development of gay
mental health institutions -- particularly the
Seattle Counseling Service -- and their history,
organization, philosophy, staff, clients, and
relationships with the lesbian/gay communities
and the established mental health system. It
chronicles lesbian/gay history and the struggle
for positive mental health services. 40% for 3+
books.
No distributors. Consultant Services
Northwest, 839 NE 96th St., Seattle WA 98115.

Lesbian Health Matters is back in print and
back at Bookpeople! $6.00 paper. Published by
the Santa Cruz Women's Health Collective it
explains gynecological exams, health and sexuality, alternative methods of fertilization (900
lesbian babies born in the bay area alone in
1986, I'm toldt, menopause, alcoholism, feminist
therapy and more ..

In Different Daughters: A Book by Mothers
of Lesbians, ed. by Louise Rafkin, twenty-five
mothers of lesbians trace the growth of their
relationships with their daughters, examine the
essential questions mothers of lesbians confront, and their struggles to accept and share
their daughters' lives. finally, . a lesbian focused, women's movement assuming book for moms!
Just in time for Mother's Day!
$8. 95pb,
$21. 95cl. March. Cleis Press, PO Box 8933,
Pittsburgh PA 15221 or PO Box 14684, San Francisco CA 94114. BP, IN, Bookslinger, The Distributors, New Leaf, B&T, Airlift & Benton Ross.

Getting Pregnant Your Own Way, by Lisa
Saffron, . is the new British guide to alternative
insemination. Published by The Women's Health
Information Centre, it's written primarily for
lesbian couples and single women (lesbian, heterosexual or celibate) who wish to have children
It considers issues from finding a donor, using
clinics, the specifics of how-to-do-it, health
issues (includes screening for AIDS, though the
focus here is on gay men & doesn't include IV
drug uses ..• ), telling your family and friends;
etc. factual sections are followed by women's
personal experiences. Very readable. Hopefully
it will soon be available from BP & Inland.
Meantime, order from WHIC, 52 Featherstone
Street, London ECI, England. L2. 95.

The Feminist Bookstore News

"Weaving Women's Colors: A Decade of Empowerment," a conference on the intersection.
of race and gender, will be held in Atlanta,
GA, June 24-28. This 9th annual conference
of the Nation.al Women's Studies Association.
will held at Spelman College, Agnes Scott
College & Emory University.
Featured speakers include Angela Davis,
Byllye Avery, Margaret Randall, & Ada Deer;
conference participants include Toni C&de
Bambara, Sonia Sanches, Minnie Bruce Pratt,
& Bernice Reagon. Four plenary sessions will
focus on a feminist agenda for the political
empowerment of African-American women, voices
of poor & working class women, the women's
movement, & women & the US Constitution.
This is an outstanding event from many
perspectives, and it is hoped many Arkansas
women will participate. Write NWSA '87,
Emory University, P.O. Box 21223, Atlanta, GA
30322, or call (404) 727-7845 or contact S'l.\ ""' ~S" lo ca 11 y.
up & c9m ing
•v

wild strings
Paby let rre neet ya! Paby let ne treat ya to a
Ybole lot of rre ! I strongly suggest that you
take JAfMINE up on their offer. Rush to Herland
and get your copy of JAfMINE'S llJI' llJI' new
release ''Wild Strings". The albtnn is full of
orginal naterial fran Carol Schnidt, Michele Isam
, and Lydia Ruffin.
It also incluges their
version of Harriet Tublen, not to nention
Aretha Franklin's ''Whole lot of t1:!". lhn' t miss
this one it gets a 5 star rating.

OUR RIGHT TO LOVE: A Lesbian
Resource Book

edited by Ginny Vida with the National
Gay Tusk Force
The first authoritative, comprehensive
resource guide on lesbianism ever written,
and still a treasure trove. ''From this
magnificent educational feast one draws
hope that the (lesbian experience) will be
regarded as a variation of the treasured,
another affirmation of the human spirit."

San Francisco Bay Guardian
Paperback $11.95

WAITING FOR THE MOON
Waiting for the Moon is the name of a new
movie about Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude
Stein, played by Linda Bassett & the marvelous
Linda Hunt. It is a made-up story but includes some real aspects of how they lived
together. Ask for it in local theatres.

up & coming

IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHER'S
GARDENS: Womanist Prose
This first collection of Walker's nonfiction
represents the views of a remarkable
writer over a period of years and ranges
over a wide variety of topics including
nuclear madness, motherhood, and
feminism.
Paperback $6.95

UA W!NS SEX DISCRIMINATION SUIT

saturday june 13

8 -12 pm

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I st unitarian church

13th & dewey

~

Less than a month after the Gay and Lesbian Student Assoc. lawsuit against it, the
University of Arkansas was back in federal
court. Ms. Adella Gray sued the school's
athletic department for sex discrimination,
alleging that Razorback football coach Ken
Hatfield fired her from her position as academic: co-ordinator for the department because
he wanted a man in the job.
After Gray's firing Hatfield immediately
hired an old football buddy in her place, at
50~ higher salary; he claimed he never saw
the applications of two others seeking the
job. Testimony during the trial revealed
that Hatfield had never read the UA's affirmative action policy and had given Gray neither a job description nor a written evaluation during her 3 years in . the job.
Hatfield said he fired Gray because he
wanted a "stronger disciplinarian" in the
job. While former students and professors
testified for Gray, Hatfield and ochers branded her "pushy" & criticized her for suc:h
things as going on vacation instead of ~~ic­
ing to see whether a key football player was
going to pass his swmner school courses •.
Judge H. Franklin Waters said he was initially troubled by the "seeming lack of
depth" of Hatfield's reasons for Gray's termination, but he also doubted Gray's credibility and c:onc:luded that the lack of periodic
employee evaluations, while not "strictly"
in compliance with the univer$ity's affirmative action policy, had "absolutely nothing"
to do with Gray's termination. He also said
that whiie Hatfield's reasons may' not have
been "very good," they were not given to hide
other reasons, suc:h as that Gray was female.
In his April 21 decision Judge Waters
ruled that Gray was dismissed because Hatfield wanted to have a person in the job with
whom he would feel more comfortable.• _.. "Mrs.
Gray's sex played no part in such deci.sion."
he said, and ruled against her.
--info Ark. Gazette

up & coming

THIS SPACE FOR RENT

$10
admission $3.00
write:

concessions available

BERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 N.W. 19th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73106

7.

national news
Over five-hundred activists from around
the country met last November in New York to
call for the October 11th National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. March
organizers are planning an ambitious series
of events in conjunctions with the march. The
weekend will begin on Friday, October 9th
with a March Against Death .- Hundreds of
people will march quietly past the White
House holding signs with the names of gays
and lesbians who have died from anti-gay
violence, suicide or from AIDS.
On Saturday
at 2:00 p.m. hundreds of couples will recite
vows in an outdoor celebration which will
reinforce the demand for recognition of gay
and lesbian relationships.
The
fourteen
Lesbian and Gay Bands of America will gather
in Washington's famous 3,500 seat Constitution Hall Saturday evening at 8100 p.m. for
a concert benefitting seven national organizations including the march committee. On the
day of the march gay veterans are planning a
memorial service in Arlington National Cemetary in memory of gay and lesbian people who
have given their lives in service to their
country. A meeting to found a gay and lesbian
congress will be held on Monday, . which also
-happens to be Columbus Day.
The last . two
events are planned for Tuesday, October . 13th,
when elected officials and government employees return from a holiday weekend. Many
people will visit their representatives to
lobby for the Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights
Bill while a massive act of non-violent civil
disobedience directed at the Supreme Court
will take place in protest of last summer's
sodomy ruling. The demands of the march are:
1.

Legal Recognition of lesbian and gay
lationships;

2.

The repeal of all laws that make sodomy
between consenting adults a crime;
A Presidential order be issued banning
anti-gay discrimination by the Federal

re-

. Government;
4. Passage of the Congressional Lesbian and

s.
6,

An end to racism in the u.s. and apartheid in South Africa.
For more information or to contribute
urgently needed operating funds, write to the
National March on Washington, P.O. Box 7781,
Washington, D.C. 20044 or call (202)783-1828.
8.

March for rights

3.

The right to reproductive freedom and an
end to sexism; the right to practice our
sexuality freely;

Gay Rights Bill;
An end to discrimination against People
With AIDS or those percieved to have AIDS
A massive increase in funding for AIDS
education, treatment, research,
and
patient care;

Del ta pays up
Apparently deluged with complaints by Gays , Delta Airlines
has developed a response to people protesting its treatment
of a Gay man 's family in settling a wrongful death suit.
Lawyers for Delta's insurance carrier threatened to
reveal Scott Agel off's homosexuality unless the family settled
for an amount which was less than that offered for non • gay
lives lost in a .1985 plane crash . Delta 's insurance
company's lawyers argued that because Ageloffwas gay and
therefore in a risk group for AIDS, his life expectancy was less
than others. Ageloff's parents sued. The court rejected
testimony about Ageloff's homosexuality and awarded the
family $1 million in damages .
.,,.
Delta Airline 's president R .W. Allen now says that it was the •
insurance company's attorneys who threatened the Ageloff
family, and he now" Assures you that Delta does not believe
that a person 's life may be valued on the basis of his or her
lifestyle . "

TOHR Reporter

Women's pro league
A new, six-team women's volleyball league
has been organized, according to a March NPR .
broadcast. The male organizer of the league
stated that in volleyball women can' do as
well as men, unlike in other sports, and the
games can be as exciting as men's games. He
also has introduced the innovation of having
the entire league owned. by one corporation,
which will eliminate "bidding wars." All of
the players, which include many Olympians &
amateur champions, have agreed initially to
a base salary of $5000/ye.ar plus bonuses for
wins. ESPN will broadcast weekly games and
the tournament in May. Most of the fans interviewed at a recent game of the San Jose
"Golddiggers" (unfortunate name) said they
were there to watch their idols play.

Up & Coaing

Sisterfire ! ·
Sisterfire! is a two-day, open-air festival in celebration of women artists to be
held outside Washington, O.C. on June 27 &
28. Alice Walker, Asian American. Dance Theatre, Holly Near, Odetta, Alix Dobkin, Women's
Chamber Music Society, Casselberry-Dupree,
Spiderwoman Theatre, & much, much more! For
info write Roadwork, Dept. SF, 1475 Harvard
St. N.W., D.C. 20009 or call 202-483-1010.

Up & Coming

call for submissions ...
SING HEAVENLY MUSE! Women's Poetry
and Prose , has announced a ~
competition with three awards of
$500 each and publication in a
special issue. Tho se sending
manuscripts must have published at
least five poems in two or more
publications and may not have
published a book of poetry. Send
a self-addressed, stamped envelope
to SING HEAVENLY MUSE ! , PO Box
13299, Minneapolis, MN 55414 for
complete guidelines. (Entries must
be postmarked before July 25, 1987).
oob

Kitchen Table : Women of Color Press
is seeking submissions from American
Indian women writers for possible
autumn,1987 or spring, 1988 publication. The Press is particularly
interested in receiving works of
fiction, either novels or collections of short stories , but will
also consider work in other genres,
including poetry and non-fiction .
Submissions should be typed and
double-spaced . Please do not send
complete manuscripts, but a repre~
sentative excerpt of no more than
· 30 pages. A cover letter , which
includes a summary of the whole
work from which the excerpt is
ta ken , shou ld accompany each submission . Address correspondence
to: Kitchen Table: Women of Color
Press, PO Box 908, Latham, NY
12110.
oob

Consuelo Concepcion, an Afro Puerto Rican radical feminist would
like to hear from radical lesbianfeminist separatists of color ,
Please send essays, correspondence,
etc. to C.M. Concepcion, 514
Northwestern Drive, Grand Forks,
ND 58201 .
oob

Third Woman are publishing a special issue focussed on "The
Sexuality of Latinas" . Manuscripts
may address how family contexts,
religious ideologies, community
norms and political values interact
in the formation of sexual experience . The themes may be
explored in narrative, theater ,
creative essays, journal entries,
letters, criticism, and visual arts
pieces. Manuscripts ( 25 pp max.,
3 copies with SASE) should be sent
to: Third Woman, c/o Chicano
Studies, 3404 Dwinell Hall, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.
oob

LESBIANS!
Call for ContributiQns

to

Lesbian Limericks
a new HerBooks title

KALLIOPE, a journal of women's art,
is planning a special issue on
"Women Portray Men". They are interested in artistic renderings
of men by women writers, visual
artists, photographers and others
for a special issue of KALLIOPE.
Work may concern any aspect of the
male gender. The deadline is June
30 , 1987. Send work to: KALLIOPE,
3939 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville,
FL 32205.
oob

Send:

0~"
~...._o

c.J>

and SASE to
, , t It I I I I

Deadline:

:fu\y.1 1 lC\'7

:
::'

II~,_,

-

Bean-0 Silverstein : .
181 25th Avenue
~ Santa Cruz, CA 95062 '
I;\ It t I I I I\ t I I I \ '

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES. I NC .
. . . a specialty center for women
I

Resource Library

Monthly Newsletter

Educational Public Programs

Books, Music, Art Sales
I

Cultural Events

announces

I

NEXT COLLECTIVE MEETING
JUNE 14, 4: 30 P. M.
call 733-9331 for location

SAT. 10-6. SUN. 1- 6
1630 N. W. 19 ST . OKLAHOMA CITY

The Herland Summer Garage Sale will be the
first weekend in August. Please bring any
items you wish to donate by Herland and we
will give you a receipt. Also, if you would
like to help staff the sale, volunteers are
welcome.

REBECCA R. COHN, Ph.D.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
' V'

Indhldual •••
Couplea ••• Group •••
Family Therapy

Norman, Okla.
321·2148

and now a word from our sponsors...
I

366-0923
848-6429
'

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Quality Service With That Personal Touch

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PENN PARK OFFICE COMPLEX• SUITE 102
llOCll N PENNSYLVANIA• OKLAHOMA CITY, OIC 13112

r------,
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Okla. City, OK 73127

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i.Mm94Mm94Mm94......,....Mm194Mm194Mm194~.-



VOLUME 4, NUMBER 6
JUNE 1987

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 NW 19, OKLA. CITY, OK 73106

Does sexist language matter ?
.., Margaret Curtis

When a non-sexist Biblical lectionary was
published not long ago, many male
newspaper columnists from all parts of the
natiQn suffered apoplectic fits. Sputtering,
fuming and smoking with the fire of protest,
they complained that feminists had really
gone too far this time.
Observing their furor from a cool
distance, I realized for the first time why
non-sexist language in religion is truly
necessary. "Those men have confused
themselves with God!" I thought. "They are
- behaving as though they had been persoiially threatened with castration.''
Until that time, I had been telling myself
that the use of imagery simply helps explain
our relationship to God and that imagery is
not who God is. Of course, we all know that
'God is not a human-like, male person. After
all, the Bible also uses feminine imagery in
describing God, and anybody who knows
about Biblical translation knows that the
original Hebrew words for Ood were nonsexist. It was male translators who later
changed those. words to words denoting
maleness only. Obviously, feminists who
want to return scripture to its original meanina are not springing something new upon
the world; they are simply trying to resolve
something very old.
Even so, what difference does it make?
How can sexist Janauage hurt us, anyhow?
I knew something about hurting because of
my volunteer work with battered women.
Once, in a film intaview with battering
mm. I observed a man slam his fJSt into his
palm and declare, "I have a right to
discipline my wife; she is my property!"
I also knew that psychologists who
counsel violent men had learned from the
men themselves that the root of their
violence toward women was the cultural

message that a man isn't really a man unless
he can dominate women.
What, l wondered, is in our culture that
conveys the message that women are
rightfully the property of men and subject to
their domination? Messages are conveyed in
many different ways, but nothing is more
basic to the message than words, because
words "stand in" or substitute for that
which we perceive as real. Just as the word
chair substitutes for something we can see,
touch and feel, the word God is a spoken or
written symbol for that spirit of life and love
which we cannot see, touch or feel, but
which, nevertheless, is perceived and even
worshipped as a reality.
Because God isa male word, how can we
possibly escape perceiving God as male? If
God is male, then maleness becomes
Godliness. If we worship God, are we ununconsciously worshipping ~? We have
reason to wonder, because we know that in
mo.u countries, male infants are preferred to
female offspring, especially when the child
is to be the first born or only child.
Psychologists also report that both men and
women rank men higher in esteem than
women.
in linking Godliness to malene.u, do we
uncomciously expect men to be like God, all
wise, good and powerful? If so, men will be
a great disappointment to women as well as
to themselves.
If men are to be like God, then who are
women to be like? Why, like men, of
course! We are congratulated when we
"think like a man.'' receive more pay when
we do work traditionally done by men, and
if we are to dress for success, then we must
wear tailored clothing, closely cropped hair
and scarves or bows at the neckline that will
substitute nicely for neckties.
Could this adaption to maleness be influt:need by the fact that women are included or absorbed into the generic term of

man? (How many men would tolerare being
"included" in the generic term of woman?)
Worse, if women are absorbed into the
generic term of man, is there a subtle implication that men properly own or
dominate women?
If women are the property of men, then
it is inevitable that men will use women for
the sake of their own gratification. They
may not treat a woman like a person but like
an object, perhaps a sex object, an office
machine or even just another attachment to
the vacuum cleaner. If females are objects
designed to serve or gratify men, then it is
also inevitable that females will become the
victims of child molestation, incest, rape,
wife abuse, pornography, prostitution and
poverty.
Are we influenced to see women as the
property of men when, at marriage, we
allow men to attach their own names to their
wives very much as we label luggage with
our names to denote ownership? Although
we maintain property, we do not reward it
for simply fulfilling its function, which may
explain why so few states allow wives equal
ri&hts to marital assets.
In assuming their husband's names, do
women lose a sense of their own identity,
and do they assume that they are now important only in relationship to their
husbands? In relinquishing their right to
their family name, do women also lose a
sense of having any rights at all? (Until
recently, Georgia law merged a woman's
legal and civil rights with those of her husband, and anti-ERA groups opposed the
feminists who were working to have that law
abolished.)
In keeping only half her name, does a
woman assume she is only half as important
as a man? After all, men keep all of their
names. Does that implication connect to the
fact that women are paid about half what
men are paid for work?
If women are believed to be less than
equal to men, then true love between men

and women is not possible. How can a
woman love a person who holds her in subjection to him, and how can a man love a
person he regards as his inferior?
As long as it was permissible to regard
blacks and Jews as inferior, it was also permissible to victimize them, and as long as
women are less than equal, illferior, then
that is how long women will continue to be
the victims ·of discrimination, exploitation
and violence.
Clearly, inequity· begets violence, and if
we are ever to know love and peace on earth,
then we must have equality first, beginning
in the very language we use.
Margaret Curtis has 'been involved in
People of Faith for the ERA and the
Evangelical Women's Caucus.
SOUTHERN FEMINISI'/6

Spain;
a kiss is just a kiss
MADRI D--Hundreds of lesbians demonstrated on January 23 to protest
the harassment of lesbians and
gays in Spain.
Earlier that week, two women
who had kissed in public in Madrid's Puerta del Sol were approached by a po l iceman wh o asked
for their -identification. They
argued and fought with him.
He arrested them for contempt,
resisting arrest and public outrage. The women were held in a
high-security cell for 48 hours
before they were released. They
said they had been mistreated
and ridiculed by the police.
Hundreds of lesbians held a
peaceful protest on the site of
the arrest. While police watched,
the demonstrators chanted slogans
against the repression of lesbians
and gays and invited passerbys
to kiss them.
Many participants kissed each
other as a challenge to the police
and to show that it is a nonnal
thing to do.
--info fran

~

york native
Off Our Backs

lesbian mother's
custody upheld
KNOXVILLE--After six years of
litigation, a Tennessee judge dismissed a challenge to a lesbian
mother's right to custody of her
child. The win is particularly
significant in Tennessee, a .state
with a sodomy law carrying a penalty of five to fifteen years.
The suit was brought by the
child's grandparents, who had been
harassing the mother, .Royce Parrish, since 1982 by seeking custody and increased visitation
rights. The harassment continued,
despite the State of Tennessee's
bringing criminal charges against
them for alleged sexual abuse of
the child. According to the Lambda Legal Defense and Education
Fund, the jury acquitted the grandparents because they were prejudiced by Parrish's lesbianism.
The grandparents may try to appea 1 or file a new proceeding, but
for now the case is over.
by mj foley
info from Lambda Update (winter'87)
off ou r back s

"YES, BUT CAN SHE COOK?": Ortho
Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Johnson
and Johnson, is the possible object of a suit
by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission because of their
discriminatory hiring practices. The company's polfcy, as stated in a July 1980 letter
to divisional managers, is that women
have "inferiority complexes" and should
not be hired if they have "executive potential" or are "attractive." Some excerpts
from the letter: "On understanding
Women-Women are more sensitive than
men. They shame easier. They cry more
often. Women have more social problems
that create business problems. Profile of a
Female Worker - She's not 'pretty,' she's
not sexy, she should be neat, clean and
without frills. She should have the look of
someone who might clean her bathroom or
kitchen on her hands and knees. She went
to a state college, not a private university,
and not recently." <In These Times>

BREAK IN AT SAN FRANCISCO
WOMEN'S BUILDING: A peculiar
burglary at the S.F. Women's Building has
added one more organization to the growing list of victims of information thievery
and harassment.
In the early hours of March 11, the
Women's Building was broken into.
Valuables, other than a $20 check and $19
in cash, were ignored. A computer disk containing sensitive information, contact
names, phone numbers and lease information on organizations housed in the
Building was taken. File cabinets of
women's, Central American, lesbian/gay
and other organizations which have used
the Building over the past four years were
rifled.
The Women's Building, located in the
heart of San Francisco's Mis$ion District,
is a community center that provides support for women's projects and other social
change endeavors. Primarily focused on
the needs and interests of working class
women, women of color and lesbians,. the
Building is a hub of constant activity ranging from its own support groups and ~i­
lingual information and referral services,
to aerobics classes, to community
meetings and forums presented by a crosssection of women's, lesbian/gay, antiintervention and other progressive
organizations.
At a press conference Carmen Vazquez,
President of the Board ofDirectors of the
Women's Building, told reporters, "With
all due respect for the professionalism of
the San Francisco Police Department, we
take exception to their ~ategorization of
this incident as a burglary. Common
·thieves don't go rifling through the files of
Central America activists and take computer disks home with them. We call on
local authorities to take seriously these
violations directed at progressive individuals and organizations in the Bay
Area. The Women's Building has no intention of stopping its work!"
Ne w Dire ctions for Women

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR WOMEN -

PUBLISHED BY: HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES
CIRCULATION : 600
PHONE NUMBER (WEEKENDS): 524- 7108
GENERAL INFO: 733- 9331
672- 6459
794- 'l 464
1-353- 6861 (LAWTON)
VOLUNTEER INFO: . 672- 4141
ADVERTISING: 495-1094

Dear friends
I know how hard many of you have been
hit in these uncertain economic times.
Knowing this, I still must appeal to you,
those who benefit from the existance of
Herland. We are now in a severe struggle.
Our finances are extremely low and our
spirits are not much higher. Burnout has
taken many of us from the active roster,
and those of us who are left need your
help.
I ask you to reflect on the time when
there was no Herland, no newsletter, no
efforts to get you records and books, no
workshops, no spring and fall retreats,
no listings in national guides, such as
Places of Interest
to Women,
Gaia's
Guide, and Gayellow Pages for a women's
center such as ours in Oklahoma City, and
no Herland library. If you find the time
-' before
to be no different than the time
now, then this appeal is not for you and
you need not read on. BUT, if you
are
aware of our efforts and~nd them worthy,
please help us with our growth.
Our shelves are bare and we are not
individually capable of handling
the
total financial load of operating Herland.
Herland is a non-profit organization and
we volunteer because
we believe in the
cause.

So I ask you .
Do you want us to
continue, and will you help?
I know many
of you
have donated willingly of your
time as well as your money . For this we
thank you. Yet there are over 600 persons
receiving the newsletter. If everyone on
the mailing list would donate $12, which
is only $1 per month, we would be able to
stock shelves, try new things, plan concerts, sponsor workshops, and move to a
place that is warm in the winter and cool
in the summer, and we could have a place
that we all would be truly proud of. Think
of it.
All we need to do to raise $7200
if for 600 people to
donate $12. Please
take us seriously and send
a check
or
money order today, or drop by on a Saturday
or Sunday with your donation, when we are
open.
Sincerely,
BC/Herland Collective

YOUR ANNUAL DONATION HELPS SUPPORT THE PROGRAMS AND ACTMTIES OP HSR.
A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SERVING THE OKLAHOMA WOMEN'S COMMUNITY
Your donation. regardless of classification. entitles you to a 10,_ discount on store stock.
concert tickets, workshops and advertising; a monthly newsletter; use of the lending librar~·
and resources, and MORE.
Donations may be made via cash __
or check_. Please indicate if this
is a monthly plPd«e_.

ADDRESS
CITY
STATE_ZIP_ _ PHONE
MAIL TO: Herland Sister Resources, Inc

Upon receipt of your annual donation, you will
receive your Friends of Herland card. to be pre·
tented for store and concert discounts, and a
receipt for your tax purposes.
Benefactor
Sl,000.00+
Sponsoring
500.00•
Contributing
200.00+
Sustaining
75.00+
Household
40.00+
Associate
25.00+
Special
10.00+
(Student Senior Citizen 60 years & older. Other)

~~~~h~.;.~·C~~y. OK 73106 ~

'

1 Night Only
The versatile & inspiring

l·I

llll)S

&

•
,
.
,
I< I N s
I) 1: I. 1:

'~

s

A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
TO HELP
PEOPLE WITH AIDS
For just one dollar you can make a significant
difference to someone with AIDS. Stamps, similar
to Easter and Christmas.seals, with the message
STAMP OUT AIDS, are being sold nation wide$ LOO buys 6 stamps- the money raised to be
targeted specifically to AIDS service organizations
through the NATIONAL AIDS NETWORK.
Multiply your dollar by thousands of concerned
citizens, and you can imagine how much you ca n
help improve the quality of life for someone
with AIDS.

'~

I~

THE SECOND FRET
3009 N. Classen

SAT. JUNE 13-9PM
TICKETS $5

a ni9ht you'll rememher!

For further information, call:
(212) 354-8899

John Glines, Project Director
STAMP OUT AIDS
240 West 44th Street
New York. N.Y. 10036

·--------------------------Please send me _ _ set(s) of "STAMP OUT AIDS"
stamps @ $1 per set of 6. Enclosed please find
$
, plus a self-addressed
stamped envelope.
Name·~---------------

Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

"Brilliantly original!"
Ann Loureiro, I.R. S. Records
City

State

Zip

HAWKINS & DELEAR's cassette Midnite Silence
available at Herland Bookstore or by sending $5.95 to:
LADY SLIPPER
P. O. Box 3124
Durham, NC 27705
919- 683- 1570

If paying by check, make payable to:
"National Aids Network/STAMP OUT AIDS."
Contributiom .,. tax-deductible. aa pmrided by law.

"LOVB MAY BR 81,JND, BUT

HANDWRITING'S NOT
Professional Analysis of Compatibility
Confidential report on cassette

Shelly Zaikis, C.M.G.
405-946-6928

ll

KE.MCO
PRINTING INC.
Kelley Mattocks
34CM301

1801 S. Broadway. Unll D •Edmond. Okla 73013

it's available

WEAVING WOMEN'S COLORS

Counseling Our Own: The Lesbian/Gay Subculture
Meets the Mental Health System by Chama Klein
looks at the establishing and development of gay
mental health institutions -- particularly the
Seattle Counseling Service -- and their history,
organization, philosophy, staff, clients, and
relationships with the lesbian/gay communities
and the established mental health system. It
chronicles lesbian/gay history and the struggle
for positive mental health services. 40% for 3+
books.
No distributors. Consultant Services
Northwest, 839 NE 96th St., Seattle WA 98115.

Lesbian Health Matters is back in print and
back at Bookpeople! $6.00 paper. Published by
the Santa Cruz Women's Health Collective it
explains gynecological exams, health and sexuality, alternative methods of fertilization (900
lesbian babies born in the bay area alone in
1986, I'm toldt, menopause, alcoholism, feminist
therapy and more ..

In Different Daughters: A Book by Mothers
of Lesbians, ed. by Louise Rafkin, twenty-five
mothers of lesbians trace the growth of their
relationships with their daughters, examine the
essential questions mothers of lesbians confront, and their struggles to accept and share
their daughters' lives. finally, . a lesbian focused, women's movement assuming book for moms!
Just in time for Mother's Day!
$8. 95pb,
$21. 95cl. March. Cleis Press, PO Box 8933,
Pittsburgh PA 15221 or PO Box 14684, San Francisco CA 94114. BP, IN, Bookslinger, The Distributors, New Leaf, B&T, Airlift & Benton Ross.

Getting Pregnant Your Own Way, by Lisa
Saffron, . is the new British guide to alternative
insemination. Published by The Women's Health
Information Centre, it's written primarily for
lesbian couples and single women (lesbian, heterosexual or celibate) who wish to have children
It considers issues from finding a donor, using
clinics, the specifics of how-to-do-it, health
issues (includes screening for AIDS, though the
focus here is on gay men & doesn't include IV
drug uses ..• ), telling your family and friends;
etc. factual sections are followed by women's
personal experiences. Very readable. Hopefully
it will soon be available from BP & Inland.
Meantime, order from WHIC, 52 Featherstone
Street, London ECI, England. L2. 95.

The Feminist Bookstore News

"Weaving Women's Colors: A Decade of Empowerment," a conference on the intersection.
of race and gender, will be held in Atlanta,
GA, June 24-28. This 9th annual conference
of the Nation.al Women's Studies Association.
will held at Spelman College, Agnes Scott
College & Emory University.
Featured speakers include Angela Davis,
Byllye Avery, Margaret Randall, & Ada Deer;
conference participants include Toni C&de
Bambara, Sonia Sanches, Minnie Bruce Pratt,
& Bernice Reagon. Four plenary sessions will
focus on a feminist agenda for the political
empowerment of African-American women, voices
of poor & working class women, the women's
movement, & women & the US Constitution.
This is an outstanding event from many
perspectives, and it is hoped many Arkansas
women will participate. Write NWSA '87,
Emory University, P.O. Box 21223, Atlanta, GA
30322, or call (404) 727-7845 or contact S'l.\ ""' ~S" lo ca 11 y.
up & c9m ing
•v

wild strings
Paby let rre neet ya! Paby let ne treat ya to a
Ybole lot of rre ! I strongly suggest that you
take JAfMINE up on their offer. Rush to Herland
and get your copy of JAfMINE'S llJI' llJI' new
release ''Wild Strings". The albtnn is full of
orginal naterial fran Carol Schnidt, Michele Isam
, and Lydia Ruffin.
It also incluges their
version of Harriet Tublen, not to nention
Aretha Franklin's ''Whole lot of t1:!". lhn' t miss
this one it gets a 5 star rating.

OUR RIGHT TO LOVE: A Lesbian
Resource Book

edited by Ginny Vida with the National
Gay Tusk Force
The first authoritative, comprehensive
resource guide on lesbianism ever written,
and still a treasure trove. ''From this
magnificent educational feast one draws
hope that the (lesbian experience) will be
regarded as a variation of the treasured,
another affirmation of the human spirit."

San Francisco Bay Guardian
Paperback $11.95

WAITING FOR THE MOON
Waiting for the Moon is the name of a new
movie about Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude
Stein, played by Linda Bassett & the marvelous
Linda Hunt. It is a made-up story but includes some real aspects of how they lived
together. Ask for it in local theatres.

up & coming

IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHER'S
GARDENS: Womanist Prose
This first collection of Walker's nonfiction
represents the views of a remarkable
writer over a period of years and ranges
over a wide variety of topics including
nuclear madness, motherhood, and
feminism.
Paperback $6.95

UA W!NS SEX DISCRIMINATION SUIT

saturday june 13

8 -12 pm

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13th & dewey

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Less than a month after the Gay and Lesbian Student Assoc. lawsuit against it, the
University of Arkansas was back in federal
court. Ms. Adella Gray sued the school's
athletic department for sex discrimination,
alleging that Razorback football coach Ken
Hatfield fired her from her position as academic: co-ordinator for the department because
he wanted a man in the job.
After Gray's firing Hatfield immediately
hired an old football buddy in her place, at
50~ higher salary; he claimed he never saw
the applications of two others seeking the
job. Testimony during the trial revealed
that Hatfield had never read the UA's affirmative action policy and had given Gray neither a job description nor a written evaluation during her 3 years in . the job.
Hatfield said he fired Gray because he
wanted a "stronger disciplinarian" in the
job. While former students and professors
testified for Gray, Hatfield and ochers branded her "pushy" & criticized her for suc:h
things as going on vacation instead of ~~ic­
ing to see whether a key football player was
going to pass his swmner school courses •.
Judge H. Franklin Waters said he was initially troubled by the "seeming lack of
depth" of Hatfield's reasons for Gray's termination, but he also doubted Gray's credibility and c:onc:luded that the lack of periodic
employee evaluations, while not "strictly"
in compliance with the univer$ity's affirmative action policy, had "absolutely nothing"
to do with Gray's termination. He also said
that whiie Hatfield's reasons may' not have
been "very good," they were not given to hide
other reasons, suc:h as that Gray was female.
In his April 21 decision Judge Waters
ruled that Gray was dismissed because Hatfield wanted to have a person in the job with
whom he would feel more comfortable.• _.. "Mrs.
Gray's sex played no part in such deci.sion."
he said, and ruled against her.
--info Ark. Gazette

up & coming

THIS SPACE FOR RENT

$10
admission $3.00
write:

concessions available

BERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 N.W. 19th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73106

7.

national news
Over five-hundred activists from around
the country met last November in New York to
call for the October 11th National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. March
organizers are planning an ambitious series
of events in conjunctions with the march. The
weekend will begin on Friday, October 9th
with a March Against Death .- Hundreds of
people will march quietly past the White
House holding signs with the names of gays
and lesbians who have died from anti-gay
violence, suicide or from AIDS.
On Saturday
at 2:00 p.m. hundreds of couples will recite
vows in an outdoor celebration which will
reinforce the demand for recognition of gay
and lesbian relationships.
The
fourteen
Lesbian and Gay Bands of America will gather
in Washington's famous 3,500 seat Constitution Hall Saturday evening at 8100 p.m. for
a concert benefitting seven national organizations including the march committee. On the
day of the march gay veterans are planning a
memorial service in Arlington National Cemetary in memory of gay and lesbian people who
have given their lives in service to their
country. A meeting to found a gay and lesbian
congress will be held on Monday, . which also
-happens to be Columbus Day.
The last . two
events are planned for Tuesday, October . 13th,
when elected officials and government employees return from a holiday weekend. Many
people will visit their representatives to
lobby for the Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights
Bill while a massive act of non-violent civil
disobedience directed at the Supreme Court
will take place in protest of last summer's
sodomy ruling. The demands of the march are:
1.

Legal Recognition of lesbian and gay
lationships;

2.

The repeal of all laws that make sodomy
between consenting adults a crime;
A Presidential order be issued banning
anti-gay discrimination by the Federal

re-

. Government;
4. Passage of the Congressional Lesbian and

s.
6,

An end to racism in the u.s. and apartheid in South Africa.
For more information or to contribute
urgently needed operating funds, write to the
National March on Washington, P.O. Box 7781,
Washington, D.C. 20044 or call (202)783-1828.
8.

March for rights

3.

The right to reproductive freedom and an
end to sexism; the right to practice our
sexuality freely;

Gay Rights Bill;
An end to discrimination against People
With AIDS or those percieved to have AIDS
A massive increase in funding for AIDS
education, treatment, research,
and
patient care;

Del ta pays up
Apparently deluged with complaints by Gays , Delta Airlines
has developed a response to people protesting its treatment
of a Gay man 's family in settling a wrongful death suit.
Lawyers for Delta's insurance carrier threatened to
reveal Scott Agel off's homosexuality unless the family settled
for an amount which was less than that offered for non • gay
lives lost in a .1985 plane crash . Delta 's insurance
company's lawyers argued that because Ageloffwas gay and
therefore in a risk group for AIDS, his life expectancy was less
than others. Ageloff's parents sued. The court rejected
testimony about Ageloff's homosexuality and awarded the
family $1 million in damages .
.,,.
Delta Airline 's president R .W. Allen now says that it was the •
insurance company's attorneys who threatened the Ageloff
family, and he now" Assures you that Delta does not believe
that a person 's life may be valued on the basis of his or her
lifestyle . "

TOHR Reporter

Women's pro league
A new, six-team women's volleyball league
has been organized, according to a March NPR .
broadcast. The male organizer of the league
stated that in volleyball women can' do as
well as men, unlike in other sports, and the
games can be as exciting as men's games. He
also has introduced the innovation of having
the entire league owned. by one corporation,
which will eliminate "bidding wars." All of
the players, which include many Olympians &
amateur champions, have agreed initially to
a base salary of $5000/ye.ar plus bonuses for
wins. ESPN will broadcast weekly games and
the tournament in May. Most of the fans interviewed at a recent game of the San Jose
"Golddiggers" (unfortunate name) said they
were there to watch their idols play.

Up & Coaing

Sisterfire ! ·
Sisterfire! is a two-day, open-air festival in celebration of women artists to be
held outside Washington, O.C. on June 27 &
28. Alice Walker, Asian American. Dance Theatre, Holly Near, Odetta, Alix Dobkin, Women's
Chamber Music Society, Casselberry-Dupree,
Spiderwoman Theatre, & much, much more! For
info write Roadwork, Dept. SF, 1475 Harvard
St. N.W., D.C. 20009 or call 202-483-1010.

Up & Coming

call for submissions ...
SING HEAVENLY MUSE! Women's Poetry
and Prose , has announced a ~
competition with three awards of
$500 each and publication in a
special issue. Tho se sending
manuscripts must have published at
least five poems in two or more
publications and may not have
published a book of poetry. Send
a self-addressed, stamped envelope
to SING HEAVENLY MUSE ! , PO Box
13299, Minneapolis, MN 55414 for
complete guidelines. (Entries must
be postmarked before July 25, 1987).
oob

Kitchen Table : Women of Color Press
is seeking submissions from American
Indian women writers for possible
autumn,1987 or spring, 1988 publication. The Press is particularly
interested in receiving works of
fiction, either novels or collections of short stories , but will
also consider work in other genres,
including poetry and non-fiction .
Submissions should be typed and
double-spaced . Please do not send
complete manuscripts, but a repre~
sentative excerpt of no more than
· 30 pages. A cover letter , which
includes a summary of the whole
work from which the excerpt is
ta ken , shou ld accompany each submission . Address correspondence
to: Kitchen Table: Women of Color
Press, PO Box 908, Latham, NY
12110.
oob

Consuelo Concepcion, an Afro Puerto Rican radical feminist would
like to hear from radical lesbianfeminist separatists of color ,
Please send essays, correspondence,
etc. to C.M. Concepcion, 514
Northwestern Drive, Grand Forks,
ND 58201 .
oob

Third Woman are publishing a special issue focussed on "The
Sexuality of Latinas" . Manuscripts
may address how family contexts,
religious ideologies, community
norms and political values interact
in the formation of sexual experience . The themes may be
explored in narrative, theater ,
creative essays, journal entries,
letters, criticism, and visual arts
pieces. Manuscripts ( 25 pp max.,
3 copies with SASE) should be sent
to: Third Woman, c/o Chicano
Studies, 3404 Dwinell Hall, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.
oob

LESBIANS!
Call for ContributiQns

to

Lesbian Limericks
a new HerBooks title

KALLIOPE, a journal of women's art,
is planning a special issue on
"Women Portray Men". They are interested in artistic renderings
of men by women writers, visual
artists, photographers and others
for a special issue of KALLIOPE.
Work may concern any aspect of the
male gender. The deadline is June
30 , 1987. Send work to: KALLIOPE,
3939 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville,
FL 32205.
oob

Send:

0~"
~...._o

c.J>

and SASE to
, , t It I I I I

Deadline:

:fu\y.1 1 lC\'7

:
::'

II~,_,

-

Bean-0 Silverstein : .
181 25th Avenue
~ Santa Cruz, CA 95062 '
I;\ It t I I I I\ t I I I \ '

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES. I NC .
. . . a specialty center for women
I

Resource Library

Monthly Newsletter

Educational Public Programs

Books, Music, Art Sales
I

Cultural Events

announces

I

NEXT COLLECTIVE MEETING
JUNE 14, 4: 30 P. M.
call 733-9331 for location

SAT. 10-6. SUN. 1- 6
1630 N. W. 19 ST . OKLAHOMA CITY

The Herland Summer Garage Sale will be the
first weekend in August. Please bring any
items you wish to donate by Herland and we
will give you a receipt. Also, if you would
like to help staff the sale, volunteers are
welcome.

REBECCA R. COHN, Ph.D.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
' V'

Indhldual •••
Couplea ••• Group •••
Family Therapy

Norman, Okla.
321·2148

and now a word from our sponsors...
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366-0923
848-6429
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SHIRLEY M. HUNTER. M.A.

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LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR

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Quality Service With That Personal Touch

TERI HOELTZEL
SUSAN BROOKS
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P.O. BOX 270033
Oklahoma City. OK 73127

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PENN PARK OFFICE COMPLEX• SUITE 102
llOCll N PENNSYLVANIA• OKLAHOMA CITY, OIC 13112

r------,
I Loral C. Reeves

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1014 Cedardale Drive
Okla. City, OK 73127

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i.Mm94Mm94Mm94......,....Mm194Mm194Mm194~.-



VOLUME 4, NUMBER 6
JUNE 1987

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 NW 19, OKLA. CITY, OK 73106

Does sexist language matter ?
.., Margaret Curtis

When a non-sexist Biblical lectionary was
published not long ago, many male
newspaper columnists from all parts of the
natiQn suffered apoplectic fits. Sputtering,
fuming and smoking with the fire of protest,
they complained that feminists had really
gone too far this time.
Observing their furor from a cool
distance, I realized for the first time why
non-sexist language in religion is truly
necessary. "Those men have confused
themselves with God!" I thought. "They are
- behaving as though they had been persoiially threatened with castration.''
Until that time, I had been telling myself
that the use of imagery simply helps explain
our relationship to God and that imagery is
not who God is. Of course, we all know that
'God is not a human-like, male person. After
all, the Bible also uses feminine imagery in
describing God, and anybody who knows
about Biblical translation knows that the
original Hebrew words for Ood were nonsexist. It was male translators who later
changed those. words to words denoting
maleness only. Obviously, feminists who
want to return scripture to its original meanina are not springing something new upon
the world; they are simply trying to resolve
something very old.
Even so, what difference does it make?
How can sexist Janauage hurt us, anyhow?
I knew something about hurting because of
my volunteer work with battered women.
Once, in a film intaview with battering
mm. I observed a man slam his fJSt into his
palm and declare, "I have a right to
discipline my wife; she is my property!"
I also knew that psychologists who
counsel violent men had learned from the
men themselves that the root of their
violence toward women was the cultural

message that a man isn't really a man unless
he can dominate women.
What, l wondered, is in our culture that
conveys the message that women are
rightfully the property of men and subject to
their domination? Messages are conveyed in
many different ways, but nothing is more
basic to the message than words, because
words "stand in" or substitute for that
which we perceive as real. Just as the word
chair substitutes for something we can see,
touch and feel, the word God is a spoken or
written symbol for that spirit of life and love
which we cannot see, touch or feel, but
which, nevertheless, is perceived and even
worshipped as a reality.
Because God isa male word, how can we
possibly escape perceiving God as male? If
God is male, then maleness becomes
Godliness. If we worship God, are we ununconsciously worshipping ~? We have
reason to wonder, because we know that in
mo.u countries, male infants are preferred to
female offspring, especially when the child
is to be the first born or only child.
Psychologists also report that both men and
women rank men higher in esteem than
women.
in linking Godliness to malene.u, do we
uncomciously expect men to be like God, all
wise, good and powerful? If so, men will be
a great disappointment to women as well as
to themselves.
If men are to be like God, then who are
women to be like? Why, like men, of
course! We are congratulated when we
"think like a man.'' receive more pay when
we do work traditionally done by men, and
if we are to dress for success, then we must
wear tailored clothing, closely cropped hair
and scarves or bows at the neckline that will
substitute nicely for neckties.
Could this adaption to maleness be influt:need by the fact that women are included or absorbed into the generic term of

man? (How many men would tolerare being
"included" in the generic term of woman?)
Worse, if women are absorbed into the
generic term of man, is there a subtle implication that men properly own or
dominate women?
If women are the property of men, then
it is inevitable that men will use women for
the sake of their own gratification. They
may not treat a woman like a person but like
an object, perhaps a sex object, an office
machine or even just another attachment to
the vacuum cleaner. If females are objects
designed to serve or gratify men, then it is
also inevitable that females will become the
victims of child molestation, incest, rape,
wife abuse, pornography, prostitution and
poverty.
Are we influenced to see women as the
property of men when, at marriage, we
allow men to attach their own names to their
wives very much as we label luggage with
our names to denote ownership? Although
we maintain property, we do not reward it
for simply fulfilling its function, which may
explain why so few states allow wives equal
ri&hts to marital assets.
In assuming their husband's names, do
women lose a sense of their own identity,
and do they assume that they are now important only in relationship to their
husbands? In relinquishing their right to
their family name, do women also lose a
sense of having any rights at all? (Until
recently, Georgia law merged a woman's
legal and civil rights with those of her husband, and anti-ERA groups opposed the
feminists who were working to have that law
abolished.)
In keeping only half her name, does a
woman assume she is only half as important
as a man? After all, men keep all of their
names. Does that implication connect to the
fact that women are paid about half what
men are paid for work?
If women are believed to be less than
equal to men, then true love between men

and women is not possible. How can a
woman love a person who holds her in subjection to him, and how can a man love a
person he regards as his inferior?
As long as it was permissible to regard
blacks and Jews as inferior, it was also permissible to victimize them, and as long as
women are less than equal, illferior, then
that is how long women will continue to be
the victims ·of discrimination, exploitation
and violence.
Clearly, inequity· begets violence, and if
we are ever to know love and peace on earth,
then we must have equality first, beginning
in the very language we use.
Margaret Curtis has 'been involved in
People of Faith for the ERA and the
Evangelical Women's Caucus.
SOUTHERN FEMINISI'/6

Spain;
a kiss is just a kiss
MADRI D--Hundreds of lesbians demonstrated on January 23 to protest
the harassment of lesbians and
gays in Spain.
Earlier that week, two women
who had kissed in public in Madrid's Puerta del Sol were approached by a po l iceman wh o asked
for their -identification. They
argued and fought with him.
He arrested them for contempt,
resisting arrest and public outrage. The women were held in a
high-security cell for 48 hours
before they were released. They
said they had been mistreated
and ridiculed by the police.
Hundreds of lesbians held a
peaceful protest on the site of
the arrest. While police watched,
the demonstrators chanted slogans
against the repression of lesbians
and gays and invited passerbys
to kiss them.
Many participants kissed each
other as a challenge to the police
and to show that it is a nonnal
thing to do.
--info fran

~

york native
Off Our Backs

lesbian mother's
custody upheld
KNOXVILLE--After six years of
litigation, a Tennessee judge dismissed a challenge to a lesbian
mother's right to custody of her
child. The win is particularly
significant in Tennessee, a .state
with a sodomy law carrying a penalty of five to fifteen years.
The suit was brought by the
child's grandparents, who had been
harassing the mother, .Royce Parrish, since 1982 by seeking custody and increased visitation
rights. The harassment continued,
despite the State of Tennessee's
bringing criminal charges against
them for alleged sexual abuse of
the child. According to the Lambda Legal Defense and Education
Fund, the jury acquitted the grandparents because they were prejudiced by Parrish's lesbianism.
The grandparents may try to appea 1 or file a new proceeding, but
for now the case is over.
by mj foley
info from Lambda Update (winter'87)
off ou r back s

"YES, BUT CAN SHE COOK?": Ortho
Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Johnson
and Johnson, is the possible object of a suit
by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission because of their
discriminatory hiring practices. The company's polfcy, as stated in a July 1980 letter
to divisional managers, is that women
have "inferiority complexes" and should
not be hired if they have "executive potential" or are "attractive." Some excerpts
from the letter: "On understanding
Women-Women are more sensitive than
men. They shame easier. They cry more
often. Women have more social problems
that create business problems. Profile of a
Female Worker - She's not 'pretty,' she's
not sexy, she should be neat, clean and
without frills. She should have the look of
someone who might clean her bathroom or
kitchen on her hands and knees. She went
to a state college, not a private university,
and not recently." <In These Times>

BREAK IN AT SAN FRANCISCO
WOMEN'S BUILDING: A peculiar
burglary at the S.F. Women's Building has
added one more organization to the growing list of victims of information thievery
and harassment.
In the early hours of March 11, the
Women's Building was broken into.
Valuables, other than a $20 check and $19
in cash, were ignored. A computer disk containing sensitive information, contact
names, phone numbers and lease information on organizations housed in the
Building was taken. File cabinets of
women's, Central American, lesbian/gay
and other organizations which have used
the Building over the past four years were
rifled.
The Women's Building, located in the
heart of San Francisco's Mis$ion District,
is a community center that provides support for women's projects and other social
change endeavors. Primarily focused on
the needs and interests of working class
women, women of color and lesbians,. the
Building is a hub of constant activity ranging from its own support groups and ~i­
lingual information and referral services,
to aerobics classes, to community
meetings and forums presented by a crosssection of women's, lesbian/gay, antiintervention and other progressive
organizations.
At a press conference Carmen Vazquez,
President of the Board ofDirectors of the
Women's Building, told reporters, "With
all due respect for the professionalism of
the San Francisco Police Department, we
take exception to their ~ategorization of
this incident as a burglary. Common
·thieves don't go rifling through the files of
Central America activists and take computer disks home with them. We call on
local authorities to take seriously these
violations directed at progressive individuals and organizations in the Bay
Area. The Women's Building has no intention of stopping its work!"
Ne w Dire ctions for Women

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR WOMEN -

PUBLISHED BY: HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES
CIRCULATION : 600
PHONE NUMBER (WEEKENDS): 524- 7108
GENERAL INFO: 733- 9331
672- 6459
794- 'l 464
1-353- 6861 (LAWTON)
VOLUNTEER INFO: . 672- 4141
ADVERTISING: 495-1094

Dear friends
I know how hard many of you have been
hit in these uncertain economic times.
Knowing this, I still must appeal to you,
those who benefit from the existance of
Herland. We are now in a severe struggle.
Our finances are extremely low and our
spirits are not much higher. Burnout has
taken many of us from the active roster,
and those of us who are left need your
help.
I ask you to reflect on the time when
there was no Herland, no newsletter, no
efforts to get you records and books, no
workshops, no spring and fall retreats,
no listings in national guides, such as
Places of Interest
to Women,
Gaia's
Guide, and Gayellow Pages for a women's
center such as ours in Oklahoma City, and
no Herland library. If you find the time
-' before
to be no different than the time
now, then this appeal is not for you and
you need not read on. BUT, if you
are
aware of our efforts and~nd them worthy,
please help us with our growth.
Our shelves are bare and we are not
individually capable of handling
the
total financial load of operating Herland.
Herland is a non-profit organization and
we volunteer because
we believe in the
cause.

So I ask you .
Do you want us to
continue, and will you help?
I know many
of you
have donated willingly of your
time as well as your money . For this we
thank you. Yet there are over 600 persons
receiving the newsletter. If everyone on
the mailing list would donate $12, which
is only $1 per month, we would be able to
stock shelves, try new things, plan concerts, sponsor workshops, and move to a
place that is warm in the winter and cool
in the summer, and we could have a place
that we all would be truly proud of. Think
of it.
All we need to do to raise $7200
if for 600 people to
donate $12. Please
take us seriously and send
a check
or
money order today, or drop by on a Saturday
or Sunday with your donation, when we are
open.
Sincerely,
BC/Herland Collective

YOUR ANNUAL DONATION HELPS SUPPORT THE PROGRAMS AND ACTMTIES OP HSR.
A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SERVING THE OKLAHOMA WOMEN'S COMMUNITY
Your donation. regardless of classification. entitles you to a 10,_ discount on store stock.
concert tickets, workshops and advertising; a monthly newsletter; use of the lending librar~·
and resources, and MORE.
Donations may be made via cash __
or check_. Please indicate if this
is a monthly plPd«e_.

ADDRESS
CITY
STATE_ZIP_ _ PHONE
MAIL TO: Herland Sister Resources, Inc

Upon receipt of your annual donation, you will
receive your Friends of Herland card. to be pre·
tented for store and concert discounts, and a
receipt for your tax purposes.
Benefactor
Sl,000.00+
Sponsoring
500.00•
Contributing
200.00+
Sustaining
75.00+
Household
40.00+
Associate
25.00+
Special
10.00+
(Student Senior Citizen 60 years & older. Other)

~~~~h~.;.~·C~~y. OK 73106 ~

'

1 Night Only
The versatile & inspiring

l·I

llll)S

&

•
,
.
,
I< I N s
I) 1: I. 1:

'~

s

A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
TO HELP
PEOPLE WITH AIDS
For just one dollar you can make a significant
difference to someone with AIDS. Stamps, similar
to Easter and Christmas.seals, with the message
STAMP OUT AIDS, are being sold nation wide$ LOO buys 6 stamps- the money raised to be
targeted specifically to AIDS service organizations
through the NATIONAL AIDS NETWORK.
Multiply your dollar by thousands of concerned
citizens, and you can imagine how much you ca n
help improve the quality of life for someone
with AIDS.

'~

I~

THE SECOND FRET
3009 N. Classen

SAT. JUNE 13-9PM
TICKETS $5

a ni9ht you'll rememher!

For further information, call:
(212) 354-8899

John Glines, Project Director
STAMP OUT AIDS
240 West 44th Street
New York. N.Y. 10036

·--------------------------Please send me _ _ set(s) of "STAMP OUT AIDS"
stamps @ $1 per set of 6. Enclosed please find
$
, plus a self-addressed
stamped envelope.
Name·~---------------

Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

"Brilliantly original!"
Ann Loureiro, I.R. S. Records
City

State

Zip

HAWKINS & DELEAR's cassette Midnite Silence
available at Herland Bookstore or by sending $5.95 to:
LADY SLIPPER
P. O. Box 3124
Durham, NC 27705
919- 683- 1570

If paying by check, make payable to:
"National Aids Network/STAMP OUT AIDS."
Contributiom .,. tax-deductible. aa pmrided by law.

"LOVB MAY BR 81,JND, BUT

HANDWRITING'S NOT
Professional Analysis of Compatibility
Confidential report on cassette

Shelly Zaikis, C.M.G.
405-946-6928

ll

KE.MCO
PRINTING INC.
Kelley Mattocks
34CM301

1801 S. Broadway. Unll D •Edmond. Okla 73013

it's available

WEAVING WOMEN'S COLORS

Counseling Our Own: The Lesbian/Gay Subculture
Meets the Mental Health System by Chama Klein
looks at the establishing and development of gay
mental health institutions -- particularly the
Seattle Counseling Service -- and their history,
organization, philosophy, staff, clients, and
relationships with the lesbian/gay communities
and the established mental health system. It
chronicles lesbian/gay history and the struggle
for positive mental health services. 40% for 3+
books.
No distributors. Consultant Services
Northwest, 839 NE 96th St., Seattle WA 98115.

Lesbian Health Matters is back in print and
back at Bookpeople! $6.00 paper. Published by
the Santa Cruz Women's Health Collective it
explains gynecological exams, health and sexuality, alternative methods of fertilization (900
lesbian babies born in the bay area alone in
1986, I'm toldt, menopause, alcoholism, feminist
therapy and more ..

In Different Daughters: A Book by Mothers
of Lesbians, ed. by Louise Rafkin, twenty-five
mothers of lesbians trace the growth of their
relationships with their daughters, examine the
essential questions mothers of lesbians confront, and their struggles to accept and share
their daughters' lives. finally, . a lesbian focused, women's movement assuming book for moms!
Just in time for Mother's Day!
$8. 95pb,
$21. 95cl. March. Cleis Press, PO Box 8933,
Pittsburgh PA 15221 or PO Box 14684, San Francisco CA 94114. BP, IN, Bookslinger, The Distributors, New Leaf, B&T, Airlift & Benton Ross.

Getting Pregnant Your Own Way, by Lisa
Saffron, . is the new British guide to alternative
insemination. Published by The Women's Health
Information Centre, it's written primarily for
lesbian couples and single women (lesbian, heterosexual or celibate) who wish to have children
It considers issues from finding a donor, using
clinics, the specifics of how-to-do-it, health
issues (includes screening for AIDS, though the
focus here is on gay men & doesn't include IV
drug uses ..• ), telling your family and friends;
etc. factual sections are followed by women's
personal experiences. Very readable. Hopefully
it will soon be available from BP & Inland.
Meantime, order from WHIC, 52 Featherstone
Street, London ECI, England. L2. 95.

The Feminist Bookstore News

"Weaving Women's Colors: A Decade of Empowerment," a conference on the intersection.
of race and gender, will be held in Atlanta,
GA, June 24-28. This 9th annual conference
of the Nation.al Women's Studies Association.
will held at Spelman College, Agnes Scott
College & Emory University.
Featured speakers include Angela Davis,
Byllye Avery, Margaret Randall, & Ada Deer;
conference participants include Toni C&de
Bambara, Sonia Sanches, Minnie Bruce Pratt,
& Bernice Reagon. Four plenary sessions will
focus on a feminist agenda for the political
empowerment of African-American women, voices
of poor & working class women, the women's
movement, & women & the US Constitution.
This is an outstanding event from many
perspectives, and it is hoped many Arkansas
women will participate. Write NWSA '87,
Emory University, P.O. Box 21223, Atlanta, GA
30322, or call (404) 727-7845 or contact S'l.\ ""' ~S" lo ca 11 y.
up & c9m ing
•v

wild strings
Paby let rre neet ya! Paby let ne treat ya to a
Ybole lot of rre ! I strongly suggest that you
take JAfMINE up on their offer. Rush to Herland
and get your copy of JAfMINE'S llJI' llJI' new
release ''Wild Strings". The albtnn is full of
orginal naterial fran Carol Schnidt, Michele Isam
, and Lydia Ruffin.
It also incluges their
version of Harriet Tublen, not to nention
Aretha Franklin's ''Whole lot of t1:!". lhn' t miss
this one it gets a 5 star rating.

OUR RIGHT TO LOVE: A Lesbian
Resource Book

edited by Ginny Vida with the National
Gay Tusk Force
The first authoritative, comprehensive
resource guide on lesbianism ever written,
and still a treasure trove. ''From this
magnificent educational feast one draws
hope that the (lesbian experience) will be
regarded as a variation of the treasured,
another affirmation of the human spirit."

San Francisco Bay Guardian
Paperback $11.95

WAITING FOR THE MOON
Waiting for the Moon is the name of a new
movie about Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude
Stein, played by Linda Bassett & the marvelous
Linda Hunt. It is a made-up story but includes some real aspects of how they lived
together. Ask for it in local theatres.

up & coming

IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHER'S
GARDENS: Womanist Prose
This first collection of Walker's nonfiction
represents the views of a remarkable
writer over a period of years and ranges
over a wide variety of topics including
nuclear madness, motherhood, and
feminism.
Paperback $6.95

UA W!NS SEX DISCRIMINATION SUIT

saturday june 13

8 -12 pm

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Less than a month after the Gay and Lesbian Student Assoc. lawsuit against it, the
University of Arkansas was back in federal
court. Ms. Adella Gray sued the school's
athletic department for sex discrimination,
alleging that Razorback football coach Ken
Hatfield fired her from her position as academic: co-ordinator for the department because
he wanted a man in the job.
After Gray's firing Hatfield immediately
hired an old football buddy in her place, at
50~ higher salary; he claimed he never saw
the applications of two others seeking the
job. Testimony during the trial revealed
that Hatfield had never read the UA's affirmative action policy and had given Gray neither a job description nor a written evaluation during her 3 years in . the job.
Hatfield said he fired Gray because he
wanted a "stronger disciplinarian" in the
job. While former students and professors
testified for Gray, Hatfield and ochers branded her "pushy" & criticized her for suc:h
things as going on vacation instead of ~~ic­
ing to see whether a key football player was
going to pass his swmner school courses •.
Judge H. Franklin Waters said he was initially troubled by the "seeming lack of
depth" of Hatfield's reasons for Gray's termination, but he also doubted Gray's credibility and c:onc:luded that the lack of periodic
employee evaluations, while not "strictly"
in compliance with the univer$ity's affirmative action policy, had "absolutely nothing"
to do with Gray's termination. He also said
that whiie Hatfield's reasons may' not have
been "very good," they were not given to hide
other reasons, suc:h as that Gray was female.
In his April 21 decision Judge Waters
ruled that Gray was dismissed because Hatfield wanted to have a person in the job with
whom he would feel more comfortable.• _.. "Mrs.
Gray's sex played no part in such deci.sion."
he said, and ruled against her.
--info Ark. Gazette

up & coming

THIS SPACE FOR RENT

$10
admission $3.00
write:

concessions available

BERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
1630 N.W. 19th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73106

7.

national news
Over five-hundred activists from around
the country met last November in New York to
call for the October 11th National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. March
organizers are planning an ambitious series
of events in conjunctions with the march. The
weekend will begin on Friday, October 9th
with a March Against Death .- Hundreds of
people will march quietly past the White
House holding signs with the names of gays
and lesbians who have died from anti-gay
violence, suicide or from AIDS.
On Saturday
at 2:00 p.m. hundreds of couples will recite
vows in an outdoor celebration which will
reinforce the demand for recognition of gay
and lesbian relationships.
The
fourteen
Lesbian and Gay Bands of America will gather
in Washington's famous 3,500 seat Constitution Hall Saturday evening at 8100 p.m. for
a concert benefitting seven national organizations including the march committee. On the
day of the march gay veterans are planning a
memorial service in Arlington National Cemetary in memory of gay and lesbian people who
have given their lives in service to their
country. A meeting to found a gay and lesbian
congress will be held on Monday, . which also
-happens to be Columbus Day.
The last . two
events are planned for Tuesday, October . 13th,
when elected officials and government employees return from a holiday weekend. Many
people will visit their representatives to
lobby for the Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights
Bill while a massive act of non-violent civil
disobedience directed at the Supreme Court
will take place in protest of last summer's
sodomy ruling. The demands of the march are:
1.

Legal Recognition of lesbian and gay
lationships;

2.

The repeal of all laws that make sodomy
between consenting adults a crime;
A Presidential order be issued banning
anti-gay discrimination by the Federal

re-

. Government;
4. Passage of the Congressional Lesbian and

s.
6,

An end to racism in the u.s. and apartheid in South Africa.
For more information or to contribute
urgently needed operating funds, write to the
National March on Washington, P.O. Box 7781,
Washington, D.C. 20044 or call (202)783-1828.
8.

March for rights

3.

The right to reproductive freedom and an
end to sexism; the right to practice our
sexuality freely;

Gay Rights Bill;
An end to discrimination against People
With AIDS or those percieved to have AIDS
A massive increase in funding for AIDS
education, treatment, research,
and
patient care;

Del ta pays up
Apparently deluged with complaints by Gays , Delta Airlines
has developed a response to people protesting its treatment
of a Gay man 's family in settling a wrongful death suit.
Lawyers for Delta's insurance carrier threatened to
reveal Scott Agel off's homosexuality unless the family settled
for an amount which was less than that offered for non • gay
lives lost in a .1985 plane crash . Delta 's insurance
company's lawyers argued that because Ageloffwas gay and
therefore in a risk group for AIDS, his life expectancy was less
than others. Ageloff's parents sued. The court rejected
testimony about Ageloff's homosexuality and awarded the
family $1 million in damages .
.,,.
Delta Airline 's president R .W. Allen now says that it was the •
insurance company's attorneys who threatened the Ageloff
family, and he now" Assures you that Delta does not believe
that a person 's life may be valued on the basis of his or her
lifestyle . "

TOHR Reporter

Women's pro league
A new, six-team women's volleyball league
has been organized, according to a March NPR .
broadcast. The male organizer of the league
stated that in volleyball women can' do as
well as men, unlike in other sports, and the
games can be as exciting as men's games. He
also has introduced the innovation of having
the entire league owned. by one corporation,
which will eliminate "bidding wars." All of
the players, which include many Olympians &
amateur champions, have agreed initially to
a base salary of $5000/ye.ar plus bonuses for
wins. ESPN will broadcast weekly games and
the tournament in May. Most of the fans interviewed at a recent game of the San Jose
"Golddiggers" (unfortunate name) said they
were there to watch their idols play.

Up & Coaing

Sisterfire ! ·
Sisterfire! is a two-day, open-air festival in celebration of women artists to be
held outside Washington, O.C. on June 27 &
28. Alice Walker, Asian American. Dance Theatre, Holly Near, Odetta, Alix Dobkin, Women's
Chamber Music Society, Casselberry-Dupree,
Spiderwoman Theatre, & much, much more! For
info write Roadwork, Dept. SF, 1475 Harvard
St. N.W., D.C. 20009 or call 202-483-1010.

Up & Coming

call for submissions ...
SING HEAVENLY MUSE! Women's Poetry
and Prose , has announced a ~
competition with three awards of
$500 each and publication in a
special issue. Tho se sending
manuscripts must have published at
least five poems in two or more
publications and may not have
published a book of poetry. Send
a self-addressed, stamped envelope
to SING HEAVENLY MUSE ! , PO Box
13299, Minneapolis, MN 55414 for
complete guidelines. (Entries must
be postmarked before July 25, 1987).
oob

Kitchen Table : Women of Color Press
is seeking submissions from American
Indian women writers for possible
autumn,1987 or spring, 1988 publication. The Press is particularly
interested in receiving works of
fiction, either novels or collections of short stories , but will
also consider work in other genres,
including poetry and non-fiction .
Submissions should be typed and
double-spaced . Please do not send
complete manuscripts, but a repre~
sentative excerpt of no more than
· 30 pages. A cover letter , which
includes a summary of the whole
work from which the excerpt is
ta ken , shou ld accompany each submission . Address correspondence
to: Kitchen Table: Women of Color
Press, PO Box 908, Latham, NY
12110.
oob

Consuelo Concepcion, an Afro Puerto Rican radical feminist would
like to hear from radical lesbianfeminist separatists of color ,
Please send essays, correspondence,
etc. to C.M. Concepcion, 514
Northwestern Drive, Grand Forks,
ND 58201 .
oob

Third Woman are publishing a special issue focussed on "The
Sexuality of Latinas" . Manuscripts
may address how family contexts,
religious ideologies, community
norms and political values interact
in the formation of sexual experience . The themes may be
explored in narrative, theater ,
creative essays, journal entries,
letters, criticism, and visual arts
pieces. Manuscripts ( 25 pp max.,
3 copies with SASE) should be sent
to: Third Woman, c/o Chicano
Studies, 3404 Dwinell Hall, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.
oob

LESBIANS!
Call for ContributiQns

to

Lesbian Limericks
a new HerBooks title

KALLIOPE, a journal of women's art,
is planning a special issue on
"Women Portray Men". They are interested in artistic renderings
of men by women writers, visual
artists, photographers and others
for a special issue of KALLIOPE.
Work may concern any aspect of the
male gender. The deadline is June
30 , 1987. Send work to: KALLIOPE,
3939 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville,
FL 32205.
oob

Send:

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c.J>

and SASE to
, , t It I I I I

Deadline:

:fu\y.1 1 lC\'7

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Bean-0 Silverstein : .
181 25th Avenue
~ Santa Cruz, CA 95062 '
I;\ It t I I I I\ t I I I \ '

HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES. I NC .
. . . a specialty center for women
I

Resource Library

Monthly Newsletter

Educational Public Programs

Books, Music, Art Sales
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Cultural Events

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NEXT COLLECTIVE MEETING
JUNE 14, 4: 30 P. M.
call 733-9331 for location

SAT. 10-6. SUN. 1- 6
1630 N. W. 19 ST . OKLAHOMA CITY

The Herland Summer Garage Sale will be the
first weekend in August. Please bring any
items you wish to donate by Herland and we
will give you a receipt. Also, if you would
like to help staff the sale, volunteers are
welcome.

REBECCA R. COHN, Ph.D.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
' V'

Indhldual •••
Couplea ••• Group •••
Family Therapy

Norman, Okla.
321·2148

and now a word from our sponsors...
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