Profile from Palestine: Lena Awwad ‘13

We recently sat down with this year’s Women’s Leadership Award winner, Lena Awwad ’13 and discussed her inspirations, influences and biggest learning experiences at Harvard. Lena is a senior in Winthrop House from the West Bank in Palestine, concentrating in Neurobiology with a secondary in Sociology.

Lena Awwad ’13
Photo credit: Hurnan Vongsachang

HCWC: What was your first impression of Harvard, when you arrived from the West Bank?

Lena: It was a big change for me. I am used to fighting for my education. Before this experience, education was not something I took for granted. The ease of transportation, getting to class and overall accessibility to education was a huge change.

HCWC: What student groups did you initially get involved with and why?

Lena: I am a pre-med student but I never joined any science related organizations. I joined groups related to human rights because even though I was far from home; I constantly felt the need to raise awareness for my cause. My cause is essentially advocating for peace, justice and equality in Palestine and raising awareness about the situation there. I am mostly involved with the Palestine Solidarity Committee, Harvard Islamic Society, Society for Arab Students, and Harvard Human Rights Advocates.

Interacting with members of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee exposed me to the diversity that this campus has to offer. Many of the members are neither Palestinian nor Muslim. They are students from different backgrounds all working together for one cause that they (and I) are very passionate about.

HCWC: Describe one initiative you were involved with.

Lena: During the fall semester of my senior year I heard from students at my alma mater, the Ramallah Friends School (RFS), that their SAT exams were canceled. I worked with a few RFS alumni and we contacted their testing center and their high school counselor, only to find out that the Israeli Authorities refused to release the exams to the testing center. Two of us decided to publish an op-ed in the Crimson (Israel vs. No. 2 Pencils) to raise awareness and to advocate for those students’ right to take the exam. We received a lot of pushback as our op-ed was published and taken down numerous times. “Israel vs. No. 2 Pencils” eventually went viral, and was brought up at a State Department briefing. Following these events, the exams were released and the testing date was rescheduled.

HCWC: What would you say was your most successful initiative?

Lena: Some people may disagree with this one, but the eviction notices campaign we started this year was in my opinion a huge success. Illegal evictions are a daily occurrence in Palestine and through this campaign, the issue gained a lot of visibility around Harvard and even on international media channels like Al Jazeera.

HCWC: Describe one woman who inspired you the most.

Lena: My mom is my inspiration. The Palestinian uprising started when I was in the 3^rd grade and we had to leave school when I was in the 5^th grade. Going to work, which was normally ten minutes away, became a 3-hour ordeal, but my mother continued to do so every day. She and my dad were both breadwinners who still went to work despite the barriers. During the first uprising when under Israeli law holding classes at universities became illegal, my mother who was an economics student, still attended underground classes, something I think is really admirable. Now she works as a development officer at the Canadian Representative Office in the West Bank.

HCWC: What would you say was your biggest achievement at Harvard?

Lena: Education and success can come through many different ways. I can’t say I succeeded in everything. But in the course of our advocacy we managed to reach out to a lot of students who normally wouldn’t have ever heard of any of these issues. That was a big achievement for us.

HCWC: Your cause is also very politicized. How have you managed dialogue with groups at Harvard that don’t share your views?

Lena: We did try to reach out to very neutral groups. It has been our goal to talk to such organizations, but in some cases the pushback we received was unexpected. At one point the Palestinian Solidarity Committee was banned from hosting an event at Hillel after people found out about a discussion we planned on having there. The idea of a student group being banned from a Harvard building is absurd. Such things happened years ago with the African American community and even with women. For it to be replicated with a different group of people at a different time makes no sense.

HCWC: What’s next for you?

Lena: I am not a political science or government concentrator, I have been interested in science all throughout. Things that came up in my life forced me to become interested in human rights but my passion will always be science. I will apply to Optometry schools this year but I am planning to take a year off to work with a Non-Government Organization in the West Bank. I want to unite the two areas of science and human rights, because actually they go hand in hand. My dad is a physician and in all the years he has practiced, he has never differentiated between people based on their race, religion, ethnicity or gender. That is what I admire the most and what I will continue to do in my work.

The Intersection of Hook-Up Culture and Rape Culture

With “Take Back the Night” wrapping up, a month to take a stand against rape culture and sexual assault, and in the aftermath of the Steubenville rape case, the issue of sexual assault has definitely been on my mind recently. The idea of consent can definitely be a confusing one, especially with the culture around sex on college campuses today, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts and internal dialogue about this issue with all the lovely HCWC blog followers.

What leads to the confusion around what is sexual assault and consent? In my own attempts to answer this question, I have been thinking about how the casual attitudes about sex that pervade campus today, leading to a lower standard of desire for consensual sexual activity, can contribute to a perceived ambiguity around consent.

For those of you who haven’t heard of the Steubenville rape case, on March 17^th, two 16-year old boys were convicted of rape in Steubenville, Ohio. The trial has gotten a lot of press, and has certainly gotten people talking about how rape is treated in our society. Although I can’t even begin to scrape the surface of these issues in this blog post, I would like to share the perspective of Jessica Valenti and Jaclyn Friedman in their article in The Nation:

           “The defense for two high school football players accused of raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl will focus on issues of consent, specifically what “consent” really means. To defense attorney Walter Madison, who is representing one of the accused men, consent is not an affirmative “yes.” He told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that what happened wasn’t rape because the young woman ‘didn’t affirmatively say no.’”

The issue of “affirmative consent,” which Valenti and Friedman argue for in their article, has to do with “los[ing] the “ ‘no’ means no” model for understanding sexual assault and focus[ing] on “only ‘yes’ means yes” instead.” According to this model, “The only way to know that sex is consensual is if there’s a freely and clearly given ‘yes.’…most rapists already know they don’t have consent. It’s the rest of us who are confused. Affirmative consent removes this confusion.”

To me, the confusion people feel about the issue of sexual assault is closely connected to the culture around sex on campus today. I saw first-hand how the confusion around consent is sparked in a conversation I had my first year after Sex Signals. In the presentation, a hypothetical story was told about a woman and man who met up to study, and ended up having sex. In the story, the woman had made it clear earlier in the night that she did not want to have sex, and she did not say “yes” to the act. However, when they began having sex, she had not said no. And she had initiated hooking up in the first place. And kept on trying to kiss him. And didn’t try to fight him off once they began having sex.

The presenters explained to us that this was rape—the fact that the woman had not tried to fight the man off was not an indication that she wanted to have sex. As an audience member, this made sense to me. So, after the presentation, I was shocked to talk to a group of people who believed, quite adamantly, that the event described had not necessarily been rape. “I mean, it was confusing, right? She had made the first move! She had invited him to her dorm room! She hadn’t said no or physically stopped him during the act. There was some ambiguity there, right? This ambiguity made it seem like she was okay with having sex when she was in fact not. So, how was he supposed to know?”

The presenters had explained to us that Sex Signals was not an ambiguous situation, but people still saw it as such. So, why was ambiguity seen when there truly was none? Looking at how sex is viewed in hook-up culture has helped me explore how to answer this question. People thought that the situation was confusing because “she seemed okay with having sex.” It seems to me that being “okay with having sex” implies that one is not against having sex. Looking at this idea through the lens of consent, being “okay” with having sex seems to imply that one is not saying an “affirmative no.” On the other hand, “wanting to have sex” implies a specific desire to have sex, and would be more towards the type of “freely and clearly given ‘yes’” that Valenti and Friedman discuss in their article. The ideal is, of course, that everyone having sex would want to have sex and would say so, which would result in a lack of any sort of confusion. However, is that the mindset in today’s hook-up culture?

According to Donna Freitas in her article, “Time to stop hooking up. (You know you want to.)” it is definitely not. Frietas has been studying hookup culture on college campuses for the past 8 years, and she explains that, “Aside from the few students who said hooking up made them happy, the vast majority used less-than-glowing adjectives such as “whatever” and “mostly okay,” or were indifferent about it.” In fact, “fine” was the most common description of people’s hookups.

I suggest that this idea in hook-up culture that being “okay” with having sex is enough of a reason to have it contributes to the confusion around consent. If not particularly “wanting to have sex” has become the normalized model of sex, this model of sex doesn’t necessarily encourage only having sex when the answer is YES. Not “affirmatively saying no” is the standard not only of consent, but also of sexual desire. As long as the answer is not “no,” its yes, might as well.

I certainly do not mean to imply that hook-up culture leads directly to rape culture or acts of sexual assault. Casual sex can absolutely be consensual. However, understanding how popular opinions around sex contribute to the apparent confusion and ambiguity surrounding consent on campus today is an important step towards diffusing this ambiguity. The model of casual sex that is pervasive on college campuses today gives us a big reason to raise the standards of what is consent to avoid what is perceived as ambiguity. Hook-up culture just gives us all the more reason to spell it out.

What do you all think? As Freitas discusses in her article, our views of sex have changed on campus; she describes dressing up as prostitutes for Halloween as an extreme form of “sexual exploration” in High School, and compares it to views of sex today, saying “My little adventure almost two decades ago seems innocent compared with hookup culture — a lifestyle of unemotional, unattached sex — so prevalent on campuses today.” Yes, our treatment of sex on campus has changed—but have our definitions of consent adapted? If the bar for enthusiasm around sex has been lowered, how can we raise the bar for consent?

On Healing: the Boston Marathon, Cracks, and Love

What does it mean to heal? What does it mean for us as a community to recover from something as devastating as the explosions that ended the Boston marathon just hours ago? What does it mean for us as individuals to overcome hardship?

It seems we, as humans, value people who have triumphed through adversity. People who have gone through turmoil, whether communal or personal, understand themselves in a deeper way; they are able to forge forth into the future. However, it seems we only value those who leave their troubles in the past.

What happens to those of us who are unable to forget our pain, whose bodies are irrevocably shaped by the adversities we’ve faced?

Sometimes, we are unable to forget what we’ve gone through. Sometimes our bodies are scarred, altered, or reshaped by our experiences. Sometimes our minds refuse to let go of those moments or stories that inform our understanding of the world, of ourselves. Sometimes even the smallest detail, something that seems innocuous—a butterfly, a handshake, a slight grimace—will take us back to a place that we don’t want to revisit. That’s ok. We don’t need to excuse who we are and what we’ve been through.

I imagine the explosions have scarred many. I imagine, even years from now, simple things may bring people back to this moment. Years from now, when we feel like we should be fully healed, we will be reminded of the pain that we, as a community, as individuals, have endured. That’s ok. Healing can be a lifelong process.

Poet Alfred Corn, in a letter to Mark Doty, offers the following metaphor: “I’ve been trying to write, myself, a poem about those ancient Japanese ceramic cups, rustic in appearance, the property at some point of a holy monk, one of the few possessions he allowed himself. In a later century, someone dropped and broke the cup, but it was too precious simply to throw away. So it was repaired, not with glue, which never really holds, but with a seam of gold solder. And I think our poems are often like that gold solder, repairing the break in what can never be restored perfectly. The gold repair adds a kind of beauty to the cup, making visible part of its history.”

I am of the opinion that we never truly forget the troubles of our past. Our community will irrevocably be shaped by the events that transpired today. We, as individuals, will forever be affected by the fear we feel. Time will soothe our pain, but it won’t reverse what has happened. That’s ok. We don’t need to forget and move on to flourish.

At this crucial moment, there is no room for hatred. Cries of “terrorism” and “blame the Muslims” have risen across the digital world. We must remember that we are all affected by violence. Instead of trying to place blame, we should recognize our pain, come together to support our communities, and work to prevent future violence.

We can’t erase our cracks. We can, however, repair them with love.

If you feel the need to talk, the counselors at Room 13 are available 7pm – 7am every night. They are located in Thayer basement. Alternatively, you may speak to them by calling 617-495-4969.

Women in the World 2013 Recap: Girls’ Education, Women in Syria Take the Stage

Check out this week’s blog post from HCWC intern, Suzanna on her experience at the Women in the World 2013 Conference. As seen in PolicyMic.

What an evening! Thursday night marked the kick-off proceedings for the Daily Beast‘s fourth annual Women in the World Summit here in New York City. The two day event, described as “an intimate and impactful gathering centered on vivid storytelling and live journalism,” seeks to raise consciousness about gender advocacy and inspire solutions to the world’s greatest problems.

From its speaker list, it certainly is rolling in the mainstream big leagues (on the first day, attendees got to hear from Christiane Amanpour, Barbara Walters, Angelina Jolie, and Meryl Streep) but perhaps more impactful, attendees heard the testimony of women who are making incredible changes in Syria, South Africa, and especially Pakistan.

The second day of the summit will be lived streamed, but to catch you up on what you missed, here’s a quick run-down of the first day’s events.

Firstly, this is swanky, y’all. Various corporation sponsors like Toyota, Coca-Cola, etc have really amped up the already beautiful venue with interactive stations displaying women’s initiatives and how you can get involved. Girl power gone glamorized. Time to find our seats!

Michaela is a ballerina with the Dance Theatre of Harlem Company and was absolutely stunning. After hearing her own narrative as an orphan from Sierra Leone brought the United States, her grace and energy is even more impressive given the challenges she has had to overcome. Brava!

Tina Brown, who originally launched the first summit back in 2010, kicked off the night with introductory remarks. After a quick shout out to the college students in the audience (hey Harvard!), Brown reflected on this past year, mentioning specifically how social media has brought women’s interests to a “tipping point.” In an interesting reinterpretation of Sheryl Sanberg’s Lean In, Brown called on leaders to “lean on” institutions to end gender oppression.

One by one, WIW co-hosts came to the stage and presented a woman activist. These activists ranged from an undocumented mother working to end deportations that separate families across borders to an Egyptian woman who continues the fight for gender equality in her country. Almost more of a dance than a presentation, this segment seemed a bit odd. I would have preferred to hear these activists present their own stories in their own words and languages (most are international), but perhaps we will hear from them later. Particularly exciting was Meryl Streep’s heartfelt tribute to the late Irish labor activist Inez McCormack.

Next, Barbara Walters led a discussion on women in Syra with her central question, “Why should Americans care about what’s happening in Syria, particularly to its women?” Panelists Mouna Ghamen, cofounder of the Syrian State movement and coordinator of the Women Make Peace Platform, and Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International, met Walters’ direct questions with powerful persuasion.

Ghamen emphatically repeated that “women’s issues is a security issue, a foreign policy issue,” while Salbi endorsed the potential of women’s peacemaking as the region’s only hope. Over 70,000 individuals have died in the Syrian conflict and while Ghamen and Salbi both yearn for peace, they articulated the necessity that it ought to be a negotiated, political process that ends it. Ghamen insisted that she wants peace, but demands democracy.

The “South Africa’s New Power Player” segment was a bit of a misnomer since its honoree, Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, has been a part of South Africa’s activist, medical, and business leadership for many decades. The theater broke into stunned murmurs when Dr. Ramphele reminds us, “Every 34 seconds a woman is raped in South Africa. A mother, daughter, friend, it could be my granddaughter.”

Indeed, this inter-generational intimidate approach seems to be a central part of Dr. Ramphele’s activism. First, she cited her fortune for being “born into a family of strong women,” she then calls the great Nelson Mandela as a “father figure,” and proudly discusses the achievements of her son in mobilizing his own generation.

In another great moment, Dr. Ramphele encouraged women to be honest about what you don’t know, arguing that not knowing is not the same as stupidity. Rather, it offers opportunities for further understanding. I thought Dr. Ramphele’s most powerful reflection comes when she cites the importance of intersectionality in fighting oppression: “Whether it’s racism, gender equality, once you are a conscious being you have no choice but to be a change agent.”

 

This last panel, “The Next Generation of Malalas” was by far the true highlight of the night. The all-star Christiane Amanpour moderated a discussion between Humaira Bachal, founder of the Dream Foundation Trust, Khalida Brohi, founder of the Sughar Women Program, and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, CEO of SOC Films. The panelists are all extraordinary young women fighting for girls’ education in Pakistan, a cause for which the young Malala Yousafzai was attacked by the Taliban this fall. (You really should watch this entire discussion as it’s incredibly moving, and if I were to document all of the highlights I’d basically transcribe the entire conversation.)

Khalida explained to WIW how she was so collected while facing down men who threatened violence against Pakistani schoolgirls: “I think I was being patient because I knew one day this man would be working for me.”

All three panelists acknowledge the danger inherent in their activism since, as Sharmeen directly put it, “The more you speak out, the more we shake society, the bigger the target.”

But ultimately the audience was brought to a standing ovation when Khalida confided, “Before I left I told my dad, ‘Not doing this work would kill me. Doing this work will keep me alive. Let me go.” Stunning.

To conclude the evening, Angelina Jolie announced the establishment of the Malala Fund, a foundation that will be directed by Malala herself to continue her cause for girls’ education. “They shot her point blank in the head,” Jolie said, “and made her stronger.” The fund’s first work will be to take 40 girls out of domestic labor and place them into the schools with the goal as Malala herself said in a video presentation to WIW to turn “40 girls into 40 million girls.”

Stay tuned for more updates!

 

Jessica Valenti – Featured Feminist

In February, a group of HCWC interns had the pleasure of speaking with Jessica Valenti, Founder of Feministing.com. We asked Jessica questions about the events in her life that have led her to be a feminist, an activist, and the creator of a successful blog website. Because Jessica has also written several books that draw attention to feminism, women’s sexuality, and parenting we knew she would be a fantastic source of information about the different avenues of feminism any person could take over the course of their life. The advice she shares in this video was part of that conversation. We hope it encourages further dialogue within our extended community about what feminism is, what feminist activism can be, and, of course, what it means to be a feminist today.

Tell us: What makes you a feminist?

Jessica is currently a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Read more about Jessica on her website: http://jessicavalenti.com/

Follow Jessica on Twitter: @JessicaValenti

WOMEN’S WEEK 2013

Women’s Week has arrived! Read HCWC intern, Suzanna’s thoughts below on why YOU should get involved:

I say it every year and I’ll say it again–Women’s Week at Harvard College is my favorite week on this campus. It’s a time to celebrate women’s achievements, explore women’s issues, and encourage dialogue about the role of gender at Harvard and what it means to be a woman in today’s world. So obviously it gives me great pleasure to announce that starting Women’s Week 2013 will lift off this Friday, March 8^th. You should (or dare I say, need) to get involved in this year’s events and here are five reasons just to get you started:

1. Celebraction! One of the most engaging aspects of Women’s Week is its celebratory tone towards activism on campus and beyond. You’ll see this at our kick-off event Feminist Coming Out Day 2013: Coffee House and Open Mic. The emotional electricity is almost tangible as our peers perform incredible spoken word, songs, and offer testimonials on why feminism is central to their lives. Women’s Week promotes gender empowerment through an infectious energy that inspires its participants towards further action. Thus I give you the following entomology: Celebration + action = celebraction
2. All of the cool kids are doing it. Women’s Week has been directed by a coalition powerhouse composed of the Women’s Center, the Seneca, and Women’s Cabinet. Along with these bedrock organizations, each Women’s Week event is co-sponsored by its own student organization ranging from PBHA’s Athena Program to ECHO. You definitely know someone who has been involved in planning a Women’s Week event. I know from personal experience that they would love your support through your attendance.
3. 3.    It’s an event smörgåsbord. Our events this year are incredible, diverse in content and format. We have a discussion on HBO’s “Girls” that will include an interactive debate on its relevance to twenty-something lives along with a more traditional panel on personal and work-life balance. Don’t forget our TED-talk style Harvard Women Think Big featuring presentations from some rad Harvard Women or our Female Friendship Seminar by the Radcliffe Union of Students! From my behind the scene’s perspective, I can assure you that there has been so much thought and intention behind each event to ensure that each participant leaves feeling informed and inspired. (Also, true to smörgåsbord’s dennotation, there will be a lot of free food goodies)
4. 4.    Connect beyond Campus Along with marking the last week before Spring Break, Women’s Week intentionally coincides with International Women’s Day. Like Women’s Week, International Women’s Day was established out of a coalition dedicated to comprehensively improving women’s advancement through celebratory solidarity. IWD celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2011 and continues to be celebrated across the world. By celebrating IWD through Women’s Week at Harvard you will be a part of a worldwide movement, joining with other revelers in such places like Samoa, Austria, and Zambia.
5. Power Up “But why isn’t there a Men’s Week?” At this point in my Women’s Center career, I have learned how to deal with this question. In fact, I’ve learned that often times it’s an earnest question, not intending provoke. So why isn’t there a Men’s Week?  There isn’t a Men’s Week because the United States, more specifically Harvard College, has historically been and continues to male dominated.  Women’s Week offers an opportunity to engage in a dialogue related to (but not limited to) women, gender and feminism–topics that are not discussed or often marginalized on this campus.  So power up!  Get connected to your feminist side and get ready for a week of events aimed to challenge, motivated, and inspire all genders!!

Lynn Hershman Leeson: Waging Wars, Finding Peace

Originally published in PolicyMic as Dreaming is Risky Business: An Interview With Renowned New Media Artist Lynn Hershman Leeson.

Shutter (1990). Gelatin silver print. 20″ x 24″. Courtesy Lynn Hershman Leeson.

Lynn Hershman Leeson is a widely celebrated modern artist whose contributions to visual culture are multifaceted and revolutionary, amounting ultimately in one of the most versatile artistic careers of the past 40 years. As a central figure in the feminist art movement and “the most influential woman working in new media today”, her inventive multimedia approach, comprised of a wide range of photography, performance, internet/computer art, and film, have proven to be a unique and transformative approach in the struggle for equal representation for women in the arts and society at large.

She directed three feature films starring Tilda Swinton – Conceiving Ada, Teknolust, and Strange Culture – that have been shown at the Sundance Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival, among other prestigious venues worldwide. Teknolust was awarded the Alfred P. Slone Foundation Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology. Additionally, Hershman Leeson was the first woman to receive a tribute and retrospective at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1994.

Her most recent film, !WAR: Women, Art, Revolution has received widespread critical acclaim for its retelling of the feminist art movement through interviews with respected artists and critics such as Miriam Schapiro, Judy Chicago, the Guerrilla Girls, Hannah Wilke, and Marcia Tucker. Featuring an original score by Carrie Brownstein of the band Sleater-Kinney and the IFC comedy Portlandia, !WAR is an incredible compilation of images and stories that fundamentally rewrite an essential history that has innumerable ramifications for today’s increasingly polarized political and artistic climates. Her work is in the collections of many renowned institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the National Gallery of Canada, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Walker Center, and Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Her work will be shown in an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, entitled 19 New Acquisitions, as well as at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The latter show, The Agent Ruby Flies, will focus on Hershman Leeson’s commissioned web project for the museum. A touring retrospective organized by the Henry Gallery opened in 2005 with an accompanying monograph from the University of California Press, Secret Agents, Private I: The Art and Films of Lynn Hershman Leeson. Hershman Leeson is also a Professor Emeritus at the University of California Davis and an A.D. White Professor at Large at Cornell University.

_____________

Interview between William Simmons and Lynn Hershman Leeson, January 28, 2013

WS: In the introduction to your 1996 anthology Clicking In: Hot Links to a Digital Culture, you state, “Presumptions about communities, identity, property, physicality, art, science, and values are being digitally rewritten. A symbiotic relationship to technology exists. It defines culture as culture defines it.” Nearly 20 years later, this assertion, with its simultaneously hopeful and cautionary vision, could not be timelier. What are the ramifications of the complete integration of personal identity, be it gender, sexuality, race, etc., with a technology-saturated culture, especially for those of us who grew up in the Digital Age?

LHL: I think the ramifications are a bit heinous in this era of lost and unrecoverable privacy, despite searches for deep selves and the splaying of information due to hive like-mindedness and a hybridity of existence that denies individual eccentricities. 

I am tending to agree with Jaron Lanier in his book You Are Not a Gadget.  More profound are the evolutionary biological shifts that are happening because of the ability to now program DNA.

WS: Your wide-ranging body of work is marked by a commitment to video and performance as privileged media of exploring issues of identity.  As you consider the trajectory of your career and the history of feminism and the arts, what has been the enduring impact of these specific media? What advice might you offer young advocates for social change who hope to create transformative works of art through new media and the internet?

LHL: I think that what is critically important is that people have a driving vision. The media will follow.  Every medium has one that speaks to its community, whether it be social sculpture or wax casting.  So concentrate on what and why change is necessary and the most effective way to achieve that. All else will follow.

WS: Your 2011 film !WAR: !Women, Art, Revolution follows the history of  the feminist art movement from its inception without glossing over the fracturing and insecurity that left many wondering if their years of work had come to naught. What would you say to those who are pessimistic about the efficacy of feminism, especially those who have forsaken activism for fear that society is simply unchangeable?

LHL: Anyone pessimistic didn’t live through or note the enormous change that we created.  Change is implicit with growth and creativity, and as the film points out, never give up and keep your sense of humor. Great shifts are occurring invisibly but constantly.

WS: You have said that “dreaming is a risky business,” a fact that is manifest in the hours of footage you utilized to create !WAR. It is clear that you and your contemporaries faced countless deterrents to your vision for equality. What is your dream for 2013? What risks do we face in accomplishing it, and how can they be overcome?

LHL: My dream for 2013? To keep my health and energy and add to the creative metasticization of culture(s) through a few projects I am working on which point out an evolutionary shift.  I do not see risks ever.  I only see opportunities and the implications of not taking them, and the need for courage and vision as a radical and important part of the medium’s composition. XX  

All images are under copyright and reproduced with permission of Lynn Hershman Leeson.

William Simmons would like to thank Lynn Hershman Leeson for her warmth and generosity. He can be reached at wsimmons@college.harvard.edu or followed on Twitter.