Cover Story
by Beth Coleman
"We basically want to be a space for all women to feel comfortable."
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Feminist bookstore gives women a voice
A book display at "In Other Words" promotes several books about how women can get along without men.
When Catherine Sameh discovered feminism, she found her voice. She now makes a business of helping other women find their voices. Sameh, and her friends Catherine Tetrick and Johanna Brenner founded "In Other Words," a nonprofit women's bookstore. Located on 37th and Hawthorne, "In Other Words" is just one of many shops lining the street. The store is small and comfortable. Book displays and other artwork decorate the windows. In addition to books, "In Other Words" sells T-shirts, Xena the Warrior Princess hats, stationary, candles, cards, buttons and incense.
Sameh wants the store to be a place for women from all different walks of life. "We basically want to be a space for all women to feel comfortable, to feel that they can come in and discover women's writing. Once you get out of college, there aren't a lot of places where you can go and talk about issues. That's why we opened, to be a central place for different women's activities," Sameh said.
"In Other Words" offers many activities for women to participate in. On a regular basis the store hosts author readings, an open mike for women to read original works, educational events such as classes on non-sexist parenting and a health series.
Laural Lawrie volunteers her time at "In Other Words" because she wants to come out more as a member of the transgender community. "I just want to be more in touch with the women's community," Lawrie said. Lawrie likes working at the store because she can keep "in touch with the information flow. I can come in here and see the newest books; I can see the calendar of events and keep updated." Lawrie said.
Sameh's definition of feminism is broad. "[It is] basically the notion that women are full human beings and deserve everything that goes along with that. Beyond that, there are a lot of different definitions. We try to have all those different definitions here. We want to make all the different ways that people think about feminism available for people to discover," Sameh said.
To help focus the store's goal, "In Other Words" has printed a mission statement listing five goals: 1. To highlight the historical and contemporary accomplishments of women in all spheres of social and cultural life. 2. To present positive images of women. 3. To make the new scholarship by and about women available to women in the community who would not otherwise have access to institutions of higher education. 4. To provide forums for dialogue about the complex issues that women face. 5. To provide opportunities to increase understanding of the diverse experiences of women due to differences in ability, age, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
These goals are apparent from looking around the store. The small store has more than 10 different book sections. The sections include feminist thought, sexuality, autobiography, poetry, mystery, fiction, psychology and spirituality. The feminist thought section hides in the back corner of the store near the culture, art and autobiography sections. Feminist thought includes books covering feminist issues such as AIDS, mother-daughter relationships and women's liberation. One book in the feminist thought section is titled "The Feminist Critique of Language," edited by Deborah Cameron. In a chapter called "Linguistic, Social and Sexual Relations," the writer analyzes the sexist use of words such as "man" and "mankind." Although most people identify such terms as general, including men and women, some feminists disagree.
The autobiography section contains books covering the lives of famous women such as Roseanne Barr, Anita Hill, Virginia Woolfe and Martina Navratilova. Near the front of the store, fiction, mystery, and poetry books fill almost a whole wall. The fiction and mystery books are mostly by women authors. Some of the books could be found at any other book store, such as Sue Grafton's mystery books, "G is for Gumshoe" and " H is for Homicide." Others have a feminist twist and are unique to feminist bookstores.
Books on health and spirituality line the shelves on the wall facing the fiction section. A book by ordained Methodist minister Adele Wilcox is on display. Her book is called "Self and Soul -- a woman's guide to enhancing self-esteem through spirituality." One chapter is devoted to talking about how organized religion hurts women's self-confidence. Some specific examples of how organized religion oppressed Wilcox are: €She felt she had little value because women weren't allowed to be in charge of her youth fellowship. €She thought she should be good, right and perfect and if she had a problem it was a moral weakness. €She was taught that God was a male and didn't look or feel much at all like she did.
The spirituality section has a feminist commentary on the Bible. The Women's Bible was written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a famous women's rights activist in the 1800s. Stanton wrote that the first version of creation is more accurate than the second because, according to Stanton, the second version downplays the creation of women. According to Stanton, when Paul states that women should not have braided hair, he was merely trying to protect the women from the men -- not oppress them.
According to Sameh, some of the best-selling books in her store are books by and about young teen-age girls. Some of the titles in the young people's section are "What Are My Rights?", "The Girl's Guide to Life," and "Girls Speak Out -- Finding Your True Self." Many of the books compile essays about the life experiences of young girls.
The buttons on display at "In Other Words" are a window into the modern feminist's point of view. "Pro family, choice child"; "This country is run by men. Need I say more?"; "Worship me, like the goddess I am"; "Fetuses are NOT children, Abortion is NOT murder, Women are NOT incubators"; "Behind every woman is a man who takes all the credit"; "A woman's life is a human life".
"In Other Words" even gets a fair number of men shopping there. "We get a lot of men buying books for their kids or for their daughters, but also we have men that buy feminism theory, spirituality, and fiction," Sameh said.
Beth Coleman likes to laugh.
"In Other Words" is located on 37th and Hawthorne.
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