Sí Trends

Certain social rules are simply unbreakable. Boys wear pants, girls wear dresses and all feminist are man-hating war mongers. Well, not if Si blogger/poet Gabriela Garcia Medina has anything to say. With her poetry the L.A. native proves that change is inevitable and the revolution just may include men. Si Trends met with Medina after she performed at Massachusetts' LaSalle College to talk about her poetry and her political views.

Si Trends: One of your more famous poems is "My Intimate Revolution" and in it you spill the beans on Victoria's Secret and talk about your underwear. How sexy is that?
Gabriela Garcia Medina: Well for some people it talks about my underwear but for others it talks about more than just my underwear. I was at an event and I had just performed a political piece and I was dressed very feminine. I was wearing a low-cut shirt and high heels. After my performance a young man and his girlfriend approached me; the guy said that his girlfriend mentioned that I was a hypocrite. She was like, "How can I talk about social justice while dressing the way that I did." I thought that was very interesting and thought why couldn't I be a feminist, an intellectual, [or] a revolutionary because I like to dress in a feminine way. [That] inspired me to write "My Intimate Revolution," which isn't about my underwear at all. It's really about being a woman and being [able] to express my femininity however I choose.  

Si Trends: In your opinion is the feminist movement a counter-movement in itself?
GGM: There are different types of feminist movements for different people. There are the women of color feminist movement, there is a white woman feminist movement and they all represent a different thing. While white women were burning their bras, get birth control and their right to abortion, women in Mexico were being sterilized forcefully. There are different movements and class and race come into play when we're talking about what feminist movement we're talking about. Some women may see it as a counter-movement. I don't like to see anything that I do as counter anything. A counter to me means a reaction to something and a reaction to something to me isn't a free decision. So I don't see it as a counter-movement, I see it as an opportunity for self-expression and for redefining the way that things are structured.

Si Trends: Because men are taught to turn around and run from feminists . . . so this isn't the case?
GGM: [No], that's really sad because I think that men are victims of patriarchy as much as women are. I think it's unfortunate that the mainstream wants to make feminism this anti-male and hateful thing when I think it's actually women advocating to end patriarchy which is affecting men as well. And when women aren't free to be themselves in society men are hurt as well. All of us are missing out on this other way of thinking. I think it's totally spin by the media to make it a male-hating movement because it keeps us divided.

Si Trends: Do you get a lot of support from men?
GGM: I get support from men and women. My poetry about identity touches women more than it touches men. I don't feel it's my place to heal men; it's my place to heal women. I have men in the poetry community who feel it's their job to heal the young brothers. Yes I receive support from men [but] my goal as a woman of color is to support other women.

Si Trends: And you have written books too right?
GGM: My books are books of poetry. I also have different articles that I've written in them. I have an article about New York and L.A. [There's an] article about having a love/hate relationship with L.A., a one night stand with New York and considering leaving everything behind [to] move [East]. So, I write about a number of different things. I talk about politics, the transportation system, cops and spirituality. So my books contain a whole range of things that I have written.

Si Trends: What's your take on the upcoming Presidential election? Does the possibility that we may have either our first Black president or our first woman president excite you?
GGM: Of course, that's a big thing. I didn't used to believe in voting. I thought that voting for the lesser of two evils was just really stupid. I used to be really anti-voting. I thought that even if the democrats won it was a way for people to think that change was being made when it wasn't. It was a way to pacify people. For the first time I'm very excited about what's going to happen with the presidential election. Honestly at this point it, forget gender and forget race, comes down to who is the better candidate. I think Barack is the better candidate.

For more on Gabriela Garcia Medina go here.