STEVE SCHACHT'S OFFICIAL HOMEPAGE

Teaching About Being An Oppressor
Some Personal and Political Considerations

Why Men Should be Feminists

Four Renditions of Doing Female Drag
Feminine Appearing Conceptual Variations of Masculine Theme

Misogyny On and Off The "Pitch"
The Gendered World of Male Rugby Players--[To be posted soon]

Steve Schacht is a self-identified radical feminist queer who is an associate professor of sociology and women's studies teaching associate at Plattsburgh State University of New York. He lives with his life partner, Lisa Underwood, in the North Country-well beyond upstate!-of New York. In both his teaching and research, Steve seeks to better understand and contest the various ways in which oppression is made possible. Ultimately, all his work has a specific focus that searches for more equalitarian ways to be in the world. He is author of many articles on feminism & men, queer theory, and alliance building across difference, as well as several books (Abbreviated curriculum vitae). He has given over 50 professional and invited university presentations and welcomes any opportunities to share his work with others (Speaking engagements).

This homepage offers an intergenerational perspective on oppression. Jaci, Steve's mother, became a radical feminist in the early 1970's. As described in more detail in the "Why Men Should be Feminist" piece, Jaci's radical feminist outlook has had a profound and wonderful long-term impact on Steve's life. She sadly passed away from cancer in 1980. The poems on this website represent both the despair and hope of the feminist journey she undertook while she was alive. It is through Steve, and in honor of her life, that the beauty of her vision of a nonoppressive future lives on.

I sincerely thank my dear friend, Nikki Craft, for her time, energies, and skills in making this homepage possible. Please direct all requests for permission to reprint materials off this page to me and, whenever possible, I ask that a small donation be made for their usage to support Nikki's important radical feminist activist work @ No Status Quo. Thanks, Steve

A Cross Generational Perspective

I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HER NAME A COLLECTION OF POEMS by JACI Drawings: Ann Aslanidis Computer Enhancement: Nikki Craft [Steve's mom's poetry circa 1975-79.]

By the time I met Jaci, she was 32 and I was 22. She was already a daughter, a wife, a mother, not a wife, a lover, an artist, a writer, a lover of animals, an incredible friend, a life long learner, a reader, a feminist. She was a woman on the journey of exploring the meaning of her own existence and the sense of her life. She embraced her vision with great passion and an urgency. She had beautiful hands and nails. She did not like the color pink. She did not wear lipstick. She really liked rootbeer.

She loved her two sons and fought to make them good and free men, responsible for taking care of themselves. I remember thinking she was tough on them, but understanding at the same time, that if the world were going to be a different place for our daughters, our sons would have to change. Jaci died of cancer when my daughter was 4. Her sons were young teenagers. She never got to see the men they would become. It never would have occured to her that it would be her own son that would be a feminist, a teacher, a partner, a writer, an artist. The one in the family, or the world for that matter, that would carry her vision and dream forward. The one that would work to change the world. The one that would cherish and understand her art and writing and share it with all of us.

Many years have passed since Jaci's death. I will be 53 this year, so Jaci would be 63. I wish she could be here with us. We held hands around her casket and sang "Rainbow Womyn". She would have so much to say and share. And, she would be so proud of Steve. She would be amazed. And as our children are a reflection of our selves on the good days and a reaction on the bad, she would remind us all that life is art. Jaci made great art.

Our good friend, Ann, died before Jaci. She killed herself by jumping from the 11th floor of her art studio. She left us all behind, including 2 young sons and a husband and other family. She was an incredible spirit, but had a serious problem with depression and abuse issues. I was the last person to talk to Ann. We were going to get together for lunch that day. Something happened. Do you think she could have just accidently fell out the window? I don't know why I still ask myself that question. I think it is my wish that somehow talking to me should have kept her alive. The last thing she said to me was how much she was looking forward to getting back into her studio. There was art to make! I guess life got in the way. Ann made great art.

After Ann and Jaci died I stopped making art and focused on my life as my art. Life is grand and good. I am a daughter, a big sister, an awesome mother, a wife, not a wife, an ex-widower, a teacher of children, a lover of music and science fiction, the proud mother of a dyke, a friend. I love to dance. I love to paint. I love to teach and be inspired by my children. I love to visit my daughter in New York. I still love to eat to much and when I think of who my special friends are I think of Ann and Jaci....

My love to all of you, Char