WOMYN Wednesday! [Deadline Tonight!]

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBTQ issues, queer women and Duke! The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visibility of queer women on this campus.]

The Deadline for submitting to this year's edition of WOMYN magazine is TONIGHT by MIDNIGHT. We're still looking for pieces-artistic submissions, allied support, personal experiences, LGBTQ cultural, political or Duke-related pieces. Email us your submission-as short (1 paragraph) or as long (2 pages) as you'd like-tonight to womynatduke@gmail.com.

Also-keep your eyes on this blog for annoucements about our Release Party for WOMYN, which will be in late October/early November. We're going to release WOMYN with a bang!

This week's WOMYN poll is:

"What is the best thing about being queer?"

Click here to vote!

Feel free to write your name and year (ex. Jane Doe, Trinity '11) if you'd like your response to be quoted in the magazine.

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Our goal these past few months, has been to increase the visiblity of LGBTQ women at Duke, ultimately culminating in a magazine. We don't want the conversations to stop with just one issue of the magazine (future magazine editors, we're looking at you!) or after today when the WOMYN Wednesdays stop. Raise your hand in class when someone implies that all women seek to date men. Create a safe-space in your dormitory if you are a RA. Work to end discrimination in your workplace or academic enviornments. And lastly, keep talking about LGBTQ women's issues on this campus, because that is the most important thing we can ever do-to keep the conversations going.

[Lower right, photo credit: National Coming Out Day logo, created by Keith Haring for the HRC.]

WOMYN Wednesday!

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visibility of LGBTQ women on this campus.]

BIG NEWS: The submission deadline for WOMYN magazine is in 7 DAYS, or NEXT WEDNESDAY!!! Don't miss out on a chance to publish your thoughts in this semester's publication! Email us your piece at womynatduke@gmail.com within the next week!

This week's WOMYN poll is:

"Would you speak up in class if you heard the following comment?" (see below)

Click here to vote! (We've also left a comment box for additional ideas or past experiences.)

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The following situtation happened in a Duke classroom last week:

In an 8:30am class, within the first 20 minutes of discussion, the conversation turns towards gender. One student in the classroom says, "My friend likes reading Glamour, Cosmo and watching Gossip Girl...but I mean, he's totally normal-he likes girls....".

No one in the class stopped the discussion to remind this student that her comment excluded roughly 10% of the population at large. Do you think you would have spoken up?

(You can view the results of the poll in WOMYN magazine when it hits campus late fall semester!)

[Photo credit: Upper Right, Matt Lyons: pimc2cm@gmail.com]

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Want to submit to WOMYN magazine? Click here to look at some ideas of what to submit. All are highly encouraged to submit - LGBTQ and straight-allied. Anyone with a Duke affiliation is eligible to write for WOMYN, including alumni, staff, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students alike.

Check out our website for more information on how to submit, and feel free to email us with any questions you might have: womynatduke@gmail.com.

WOMYN Wednesday!

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBTQ issues, queer women and Duke! The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visibility of queer women on this campus.]

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's poll. The responses were great, and if you haven't voted yet you still can.

This week's WOMYN poll is:

"Who is the most dateable female celebrity?"

Click here to vote!

(You can view the results of the poll in WOMYN magazine when it hits campus late fall semester!)

This week we want to take the typical Cosmo or Glamour magazine poll and ask our LGBTA community which woman they find the most intriguing. Who do you think is the most dateable female celebrity right now, LGBTQ or straight? If you'd like analyze this type of pop culture and where queer women's experiences fit into it, think about writing a piece for WOMYN!

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Want to submit to WOMYN magazine? Click here to look at some ideas of what to submit. (The submission deadline is September 15th.) All are highly encouraged to submit - LGBTQ and straight-allied. Anyone with a Duke affiliation is eligible to write for WOMYN, including alumni, staff, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students alike.

Check out our website for more information on how to submit, and feel free to email us with any questions you might have: womynatduke@gmail.com.

WOMYN Wednesday!

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBTQ issues, queer women and Duke! The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visibility of queer women on this campus.]

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's poll. The responses were great, and if you haven't voted yet you still can.

This week's WOMYN poll is:

"Which political figure do you think has done the most for LGBTQ equality in the past year?"

Click here to vote!

(You can view the results of the poll in WOMYN magazine when it hits campus late fall semester!)

"You've got to elect gay people."

Harvey Milk (from his Hope Speech, 1978)

Whether they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer or straight-allied, LGBTQ-friendly individuals in positions of political power have done a lot for us this past year. Most recently, Judge Vaugh Walker, the District Judge of the Northern California District Court, overturned the Prop 8 ruling in the exciting trial this August. (A stay was recently decided on his ruling; click here to read the full story.) In addition to Walker, many other political figures have contributed a lot in the fight for LGBTQ equality. Who do you think has done the most for our community this year? Express your ideas and opinions in the poll and comments section this week, and let's start a discussion on politicians who fight for equality.

Did you know? There is a group of politicians that fight for LGBTQ-equality known as the National Stonewall Democrats? The group is one of the few LGBT-rights organizations that is officially affiliated with the Democratic party, and it was founded by Barney Frank in 1998.

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Want to submit to WOMYN magazine? Click here to look at some ideas of what to submit. (The submission deadline is September 15th.) All are highly encouraged to submit - LGBTQ and straight-allied. Anyone with a Duke affiliation is eligible to write for WOMYN, including alumni, staff, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students alike.

Check out our website for more information on how to submit, and feel free to email us with any questions you might have: womynatduke@gmail.com.

WOMYN Wednesday!

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBTQ issues, queer women and Duke. The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visibility of queer women on this campus.]

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's poll. The responses were great, and if you haven't voted yet you still can.

This week's WOMYN poll is:

"What is your favorite event at the LGBT Center?"

Click here to vote!

(You can view the results of the poll in WOMYN magazine when it hits campus late fall semester!)

Whether it's Fabulous Friday, the weekly Friday afternoon gathering from 4-6pm, or the Women Loving Women meetings which allow LGBTQ-identified women to build community monthly with shared dinner and conversation, the events that take place at the Center for LGBT Life at Duke offer a lot throughout the year. Which event is your favorite? Let us know by voting in the weekly WOMYN poll!

(Visit the Center for LGBT Life's website for more information, and post in the comments section if you want to share your ideas and experiences. We hope you are as excited as we are to come to all of the events again in a few short weeks!)

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Need an idea of what to submit to WOMYN? We're looking for various people to write short commentary pieces on the results of one of our polls. Contact us at womynatduke@gmail.com with a past poll topic that you'd like to anaylze, and we'll give you the results to write a piece!

Check out our website for more information on how to submit. (The submission deadline is September 15th, but there's no reason to wait!) All are highly encouraged to submit - LGBTQ and straight-allied. Anyone with a Duke affiliation is eligible to write for WOMYN.

WOMYN Wednesday!

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we are featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBTQ issues, queer women and Duke. The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visibility of queer women on this campus.]

This week we would like to annouce that we have WOMYN bookmarks! Let's make WOMYN one of the first things the incoming students see! Click here to download them directly, (or click here to access them on the WOMYN website). If you're a RA, work at a location on campus, or you're just plan awesome, print out some WOMYN bookmarks (be sure to print them double sided with SHORT edge binding in Microsoft Word), and leave them in locations around campus or hand them out to help let others know that LGBTQ individuals are welcome here.

(Need a little motivation? Do it for the Class of 2014! Think about how different your first year would have been if one of the first things you saw during orientation was a bookmark for a LGBTQ women's magazine. It would have been amazing.)

This week's WOMYN poll is:

"Who is your favorite character on the L-Word?"

Click here to vote!

(You can view the results of the poll in WOMYN magazine when it hits campus late fall semester!)

(Note: This piece contains a small *spoiler* of the 6th season of the show.)

"Everybody's straight until they're not." - The L-Word

The L-Word was originally produced by Ilene Chaiken, an openly lesbian screenwriter, and the show ran on Showtime for 6 seasons from 2004-2009. (Fun fact: Ilene Chaiken also coordinated The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air before her work with the L-Word.) The television series takes place in Los Angeles (although it was filmed in Vancouver, Canada) and focuses on the lives of a rotating group of lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters who live in West Hollywood.

Whether you love it or you hate it, the L-word was one of the first primetime television shows that focused almost solely on queer women. In this way, the L-word was a major success, but in many other aspects it failed to live up to some of the expectations viewers had about the program. The show lacked an accurate portrayal of diversity in almost every way possible. Ethnic/racial diversity, socioeconomic status (they live in West Hollywood), gender expression and bisexual and transgender characters all seemed to be missing in the primarily white, lesbian and affluent cast of the show. In addition, some viewers thought that the show's final season, which ends with the murder of one of the main characters, fufills the stereotypical older LGBT literature plotline of the tragic lesbian ending.

But despite its flaws, it was arguably one of the most successful and popular LGBTQ-women's series to date. Due to its wide popularity, this week we wanted to focus on the show that placed queer women in a much more visible section of the media. Who's your favorite character? And what did you love/hate about the show? Let us know in the comments field your opinions and ideas about the L-Word. (If you're comfortable with your quote appearing in the magazine, feel free to add your name and your Duke affiliation.)

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Want to submit to WOMYN magazine? Don't wait until all of the schoolwork hits this semester-get your submission in now! (Remember how difficult Physics 53 and History 190C were during the school year?) The submission deadline is September 15th.

Check out our website for more information, and feel free to email us with any questions you might have: womynatduke@gmail.com. All are highly encouraged to submit - LGBTQ and straight-allied. Anyone with a Duke affiliation is eligible to write for WOMYN, including alumni, staff, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students alike.

Womyn Wednesday!

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBTQ issues, queer women and Duke! The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visibility of queer women on this campus.]

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's poll. The responses were great, and if you haven't voted yet you still can.

This week's WOMYN poll is:

"What is the most important LGBT rights legislation that has yet to be passed (or repealed)?"

Click here to vote!

This week we want to focus on the political legislation that many LGBT activists are currently fighting for all around the country. Most recently, the Matthew Shepard Act was passed and signed into law by President Obama in October 2009. Not only was the Matthew Shepard Act the first federal legislation to create federal protections for transgender individuals, but it also removed a past requirement that mandated that the victim of a hate crime had to be involved in a federal activity, such as voting or attending school.

The Matthew Shepard Act made crimes motivated by gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability fall under the umbrella of the federal hate-crime law of 1969. The experiences and statistics of LGBT individuals, especially LGBT youth, show that this legislation is an important necessity for the safety of our community.

What other legislation(s) do you consider the most important for our LGBT community today?

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Want to see the results of this week's poll? Pick up a copy of the WOMYN magazine in late Fall when it hits the newsstands!

Have an idea for next week's poll? Let us know, or email us to guest write it!

Want to submit to WOMYN magazine? Click here to look at some ideas of what to submit. (The submission deadline is September 15th.) Check out our website for more information on how to submit, and feel free to email us with any questions you might have: womynatduke@gmail.com.

Womyn Wednesday!

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBTQ issues, queer women and Duke! The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visibility of queer women on this campus.]

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's poll. The responses were great, and if you haven't voted yet you still can.

We would also like to announce that we are now accepting submissions from alumni in the magazine! After talking with some past queer female alumni from Duke, we think that including alumni voices would bring a really great perspective to the magazine, and it would also serve as a great resource for current Duke students. We're really excited about connecting with our greater LGBTQ Duke community, so be sure to let your graduated friends know they can submit!

(Thanks to Tina Siadak, Summer Puente and Chantel Liggett for collectively coming up with the ideas in this poll. Go team!)

This week's WOMYN poll is:

"Which of these images comes to mind when you hear the term 'queer woman'?"

Click here to vote in this week's WOMYN poll.

Note: the responses are images for this week-you may select more than one option. Also, please note that by including a photo here, we are in no way making a statement about the photographed individual's sexuality.

Image 1, 2 (right) and 3 (bottom)

This week we want to hear your ideas on the stereotypes of queer women and how LGBTQ-identified women are perceived. This poll is meant to spark discussion. Can anybody ever "look queer"? Can the girl making out with a boy identify as queer? Could a softball player be queer? Is the woman with short hair wearing the sweater vest queer? Maybe the woman wearing a sari is queer? Or could it be the girl in the Hollister ad with a man? What does being queer mean?

Image 4, 5 (right) and 6 (bottom)

Why is it that we might associate one image with queer, but not another? Is this a misunderstanding of what it means to be LGBTQ? Let us know what you think by voting, and feel free to respond in the comments section as well if you are comfortable being quoted in the magazine. (Please provide your name and Duke affiliation as well, ex. "Jane Doe, Trinity '11).

Image 7, 8 (right) and 9 (bottom)

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Want to see the results of this week's poll? Pick up a copy of the WOMYN magazine in late Fall when it hits the newsstands!

Have an idea for next week's poll? Let us know, or email us to guest write it!

Want to submit to WOMYN magazine? Click here to look at some ideas of what to submit. (The submission deadline is September 15th.) Check out our website for more information on how to submit, and feel free to email us with any questions you might have: womynatduke@gmail.com.

Womyn Wednesday!

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBT issues, queer women and Duke! The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visiblity of queer women on this campus. A special thank-you to Chris Perry, the editor of the BDU blog!]

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's poll. The responses were really great, and if you haven't voted yet you still can. We would also like to announce that the deadine for submissions to WOMYN magazine is September 15th. Click here to look at some ideas of what to submit. (Remember that submissions are rolling, so the sooner you submit, the better!)

This week's WOMYN poll is: "Does Duke seem like a safe place for someone to come out of the closet? Have you come out of the closet at Duke? Why or why not?"

Click here to take this week's WOMYN poll. Or answer in the comments section below!

The now nationwide slogan, "Gay? Fine by Me." originated at Duke back in 2003. Do we, as Duke students, still feel this way today? The goal of WOMYN is to increase the visibility of queer women on this campus, and it is intrisically linked to this question. The presence of out, visible LGBTQ students on Duke's campus changes everything. This week's question is complex, because even after telling that first friend on the quad or finally outing yourself in the middle of a class, the process is continual and much larger than a single yes or no. Therefore, this week we decided to leave an open blank in the poll so that you can tell us your comments, ideas and personal experiences of coming out at Duke in addition to your vote. Surveymonkey.com is completely anonymous, but if you would like to include your name (and a brief note of your affiliation to Duke) in your response to have your quote appear in the magazine, we would definitely love that as well.

Want to view the results? Check out the UPB newstands when WOMYN is realesed on campus in late October!

Upper Image: National Coming Out Day logo created and donated by Keith Haring to the Human Rights Campaign.
Middle: Matt Lyons, Trinity '10 (pimc2cm@gmail.com)
Contact WOMYN by email (womynatduke@gmail.com) or by visiting our website.

Womyn Wednesday!

WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBT issues, queer women, Duke, and a combination of the three! To this end, we're going to post a weekly poll here on the blog so that we hear everyone's voice in the magazine. The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visiblity of queer women on this campus, and we can't think of a better way to reach our community and beyond than the BDU blog. A special thank-you to Chris Perry, the editor of the BDU blog, who is letting us post a weekly poll!

Our first WOMYN poll is:

Who is your favorite out, queer, woman-identified celebrity role-model?

Click here to take the first WOMYN poll.

Want to view the results? Check out the UPB newstands when WOMYN is realesed on campus in late October!

Why are there so many options to choose from? The honest truth is that, we (Jack, Jess McD., Summer, Brandy, and Michelle) had difficulty providing just the 11 names (well, its technically 12, unless you want to count Tegan and Sarah as a unit). At one point we had a list of 15-16 women. It was actually a pretty powerful exercise to work on and realize the countless LGBTQ-identified women who have so profoundly impacted our culture. We picked 11 names but there are so many others that we're missing, so we also added a "submit your own" field if you have a different favorite.

And don't forget - submissions are now being accepted for the magazine! Click here to look at some ideas of what to submit. (Remember, submissions are rolling, which means that you have a better chance of getting your piece published if you send it in earlier, and it's less work for us!) Contact WOMYN by emailing us (womynatduke@gmail.com) or by visiting our website.