Interview: Jamie Anderson: Vehicle of feminism

Off Our Backs, Mar 2000

At fourteen, Jamie Anderson didn't have time to mull over the idea of feminism. She was too busy coming out.

"I had my first women lover at fifteen, a year after I came out, which was unknown at that time." Now, when she sees teens coming out at that age, tears well up in her eyes with pride. A firm believer in visibility, she is proud to have a part in letting young women know that it's okay to be a lesbian.

When Jamie finally found feminism, it was through a feminist bookstore in her area. "I devoured everything even though I was too young to understand some of it at sixteen."

No matter how she came out or how she found feminism, the women's music community is glad she did. Using song as activism, she is a vehicle of feminism running over the patriarchy.

oob: What was your favorite festival moment?

Anderson: I played the main stage at the National Women's Music Festival. I got to play with a band, which I love to do but can't usually afford it. They (the festival) paid enough for the band. You're in a theater with bright lights and you can't see the audience.

During the last song, I could hear the audience singing along with me. I could feel them there. When I left the stage I was told that they stood during the entire song.

oob: Which spelling of "women" do you pre?

Anderson: I actually prefer the conventional spelling of women. I don't get offended that the word man is in it. It all gets too confusing.

oob: When do you first remember hearing about feminism? Anderson: I was in high school in the early seventies. Betty Freidan was probably on TV. I don't remember what exactly was said but I remember it wasn't in a positive light.

oob: What does feminism mean to you?

Anderson: Pro-woman. It means we're strong and we deserve what's ours.

by: rebecca myers-spiers

1899: Illustrator Chas. Gibson introduces the Gibson Girls as the beauty ideal.

1900: Women are included in the Olympics (golf & tennis) and Margaret Abbot wins a gold medal in golf for the U.S.

1901: The washing machine debuts.

1909: In the "Uprising of the 20,000," women garment workers stike in NYC for better wages and working conditions; over 300 shops sign union contracts.

1911: Fire kills 146 women workers at Triangle Shirtwaist sweatshop in NYC.

1912: 20,000 suffrage supporters parade in New York City; 40 people hospitalized from assaults by spectators.

1913: Alice Paul and Lucy Burns lead 5,000 suffragists in Washington march for the vote.

1914: Mary Phelps Jacob patents the brassiere, leading to the demise of the corset.

1915: Jeannette Rankin, suffragist and pacifist, becomes the first woman elected to Congress; Margaret Sanger opens USA's first birth control clinic.

1918: More than 1.4 million women go to work in non-traditional jobs to replace men overseas during WWI.

1920: Nineteenth Amendment ratified giving women the right to vote; Kotex, the first widely-available sanitary napkin, is introduced.

1921: Edith Wharton wins the Pulitzer for Age of Innocence.

1924: The "Pap" test introduced for early detection of uterine and cervical cancer.

1926: First female to swim the English Channel, Gertrude Ederle, breaks men's record.

1928: Olympic 800-meter run declared dangerous for women, banned until 1960; Margaret Mead challenges the biological basis of gender differences.

1930: 77% of school districts won't hire married women as teachers, and 63% will fire women who get married.

1931: Tampons and home electric refrigerator debut.

1932: Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Atlantic.

1933: Eleanor Roosevelt becomes first U.S. president's wife to hold a press conference; Congress creates WAVES and WACS for non-combat military duty.

1936: United States v. One Package declassifies birth control information as obscene and contraception becomes available.

1938: Katherine Hepburn is forced out of RKO pictures for wearing slacks and refusing to do pin-ups.

1940: Nylon stockings go on sale in USA.

1944: "Rosie the Riveters" swell wartime women's workforce to 7 million; government sponsors 24-hour daycare for their kids.

1955: Rosa Parks sparks civil rights movement by refusing to go to the back of a Montgomery, Alabama bus.

1959: Pantyhose introduced.

1960: First birth control pill is sold.

1963: Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique begins third wave of feminist movement; Equal Pay Act passes.

1964: Civil Rights Act includes protection for women.

1965: Weeks v. Southern Bell knocks out restrictive labor laws and company regulations on the hours and conditions of women's work, opening many previously male-only jobs.

1966: National Organization for Women founded; Pampers diapers introduced by Procter & Gamble.

1972: Ms. Magazine's first issue of 250,000 copies sold out in 8 days.

1972: Anti-feminist Phyllis Schafly launches STOP ERA to fight the Equal Rights Amendment; Congress passes the Equal Employment Opportunity Act detailing anti-sex discrimination guidelines for employers; first rape crisis center and hotline opens; Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in federally-supported education programs.