(Sleeping Goddess at Heligan, England)
The Fifteenth Carnival of Radical Feminists is now up over at Rage Against The Man-chine, and NineDeuce did a SPECTACULAR job. (Honestly, I'd say that even if three of my posts had not been selected.) I feel like I can see a noticeable improvement in the breadth and quality of submissions each month -- I am learning and stretching from each installment. I had already read a lot of the posts included, but it's so handy to refer you over there -- scan the offerings and go partake. Like creme brulee, it is.
I don't want to distract you from reading ALL of the Carnival. However, I'll give you some free samples here:
"If giving information about the killing of babies (meaning fertilized eggs) is so important and these people want to ensure that potential parents know that their actions will lead to killing babies, why isn’t this group working to inform men that having sex with a fertile woman who is on birth control is a murder attempt?" (GREAT logic!) -- by Marcella Chester at Abyss2Hope in her post Protest The Pill To Protect Life Or To Mock It?
"There is a hidden code to exploit women in the whole cultural and social scheme of romantic love, mostly because the concept of romantic love has been authored by men, and is based on men’s fractured understanding of women as primarily sexual objects. The patriarchal concept always denies the individuality of a woman as a human being." -- by Sarojini Sahoo at Sense & Sensuality, in her post It Is Risky for a Woman to Deal with Female Sexuality in India
"Consent and sexual readiness has been presented to us, through marketing and media, to be a look-a set of features-embodied by women/girls. Thus creating a situation wherein, if the “look” is present, the sexual meaning is implied. When sexual meaning is implied the first layer of consideration for the women’s interest in being considered sexual by another, as well as her legal ability to even be so, is removed. A layer of 'no' is gone." -- by Pisaquari at Buried Alive, in her post entitled No More No(Sexual Stigma p.2).
"Since black women were brought on this continent in chains we have never been given the luxury of being 'soft'. We have been the ultimate un-woman. We lead because that is how we have been able to survive in a world that has proven to be predatory." -- by Renee at Womanist Musings, in Men Troubles.
Regarding that last excerpt, Womanist Musings is one of my daily reads, a hot new voice. I want to take this chance to promote the new WOC Blog Carnival being started by Renee at Womanist Musings. Go to the link above for read about it, PASS IT ON TO YOUR SISTERS, and if you want to submit to that Carnival, go here.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
FIFTEENTH CARNIVAL OF RADICAL FEMINISTS IS UP
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
TWELFTH CARNIVAL OF RADICAL FEMINISTS IS UP!
The Twelfth Carnival of Radical Feminists is now up at Burning Times, and I'm deeply honored to say that one of my posts here, Feminism Unadulterated: The Politics of Housework, was recommended by the Carnival host Debs. Thank you, thank you. The list of articles in this month's Carnival looks especially juicy and illuminating, so go for it, folks. New writers/ideas/blogs to discover!
Another of my posts, the Helen 'Wheels' Keller piece at Maoist Orange Cake, also got honored. One of the folks I mentioned in that essay, author/director Terry Galloway, recently let me know she's finished her biography Mean Little Deaf Queer and it's being considered by a publisher. Here's hopin'!
I have volunteered to be an editor/host for this Carnival, and will filling that post in May. I am very much looking forward to reading all the essays submitted and having Meta Watershed display the results.
I also want to let you know, this weekend will be the Blog Against Theocracy, promoting Religious Freedom in America around the blogosphere, and I plan to participate in this effort here. Be sure to check in!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
NEW CARNIVAL OF RADICAL FEMINISTS IS UP!
Hey, ya'll -- Once again some of my posts have been selected for inclusion in this month's 11th Carnival of Radical Feminists, this time hosted by Holly Ord at the wonderful MenstrualPoetry.
I REALLY encourage you to hop over and read some of the other selected posts and expose yourself to new blogs. I always pick up a wealth of new ideas, well as new sites to add to my blogroll, from this excellent Carnival.
And, to give you advance notice, I've signed up to be a host of the Carnival myself next May. I'm very much looking forward to all the great reading I'll get to do, as well as giving back to my community. Thanks, Heart, for starting this shindig rolling!
According to the National Women's History Project, today in 1922 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which guaranteed women the right to vote. Only 86 years of enfranchisement. We got a LOT more way to go, sisters.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AS PER LIZA'S QUESTION:
A blog carnival is a periodic gathering of previously-published posts from other blogs which are all pertinent to a chosen subject which is hosted by a different blogger for each edition. This particular carnival aims to foreground the the finest radical feminist posts from around the blogsphere. The host reviews submitted posts and selects those which will be featured. Posts are submitted by their authors, using the entry form online found here for this Carnival of Radical Feminists.
There are hundreds of other carnivals on a wide array of topics. To peruse a list of what is available, go to the form link above and find the sidebar option.
The next (12th) Carnival of Radical Feminists will be hosted by Debs at The Burning Times. Entries must be submitted at the form above by 14 March 2008. The Carnival will go online on 21 March 2008.
About the Carnival of Radical Feminists:
The Carnival of Radical Feminists will be held each month on the full moon. Hosting responsibility will be shared, and at least to begin with, pending additional radfem suggestions and process, our goal will be to foreground posts in the feminist blogosphere which highlight or showcase radical feminist analsis, theorizing, process, events, politics, and ideas, and which celebrate and honor sisterhood as it has been herstorically envisioned by radical feminists.
We hope the Carnival of Radical Feminists will build the profile of radical feminist bloggers, will direct extra traffic to participating bloggers, and particularly newer radical feminist bloggers, and will build radical feminist community worldwide.
All submissions consistent with herstoric radical feminism are welcome, whether they are written by men or women, and even if the blogger does not specifically identify as a radical feminist (yet!).
We define radical feminism as follows:
---We believe that women are oppressed worldwide by patriarchy, the “rule of the fathers”;
---We seek to abolish patriarchy;
---We understand patriarchy to be a system of structures and institutions created by men in order to sustain and recreate male power and female subordination. The structures of patriarchy include, but are not limited to, the law, medicine, religion and the traditional family;
---Women’s oppression is rooted in both the structures of our society and in capitalism and white supremacy. Patriarchy includes not only male rule but also heterosexual imperialism and sexism (Charlotte Bunch);
---In order to abolish patriarchy, we must challenge its root components and causes which we locate in oppression of females by males;
---We believe that the uprooting of sexism simultaneously inaugurates the uprooting of racism, class hatred, homophobia, lesbophobia, transphobia, ageism, ableism, competition, hierarchy, ecological disaster, and economic exploitation of all kinds;
---The revolutions, so-called, which the world has known to date, have been coups-d’etat between men which have pruned certain branches but have left the root embedded for the sake of preserving male privilege over all women (Robin Morgan);
---We are a journey of women becoming. We do not seek reconciliation with the fathers; rather, we affirm our original birth, our original source, movement, surge of living. We Re-member our Selves (Mary Daly);
---We are woman-identified and woman-centered. We put women first, not only in our politics but in our personal lives;
---The expression of our politics is concrete: we oppose pornography, prostitution, the institution of marriage and the traditional family, sadomasochism, compulsory heterosexuality, gender coercion, and dominance hierarchies of all kinds; we endorse, support and work to envision and create peaceful, respectful, noncoercive, relationships, structures and institutions which affirm the importance of all human beings, all creatures, and the earth;
---We affirm lesbianism and lesbian separatism as revolutionary paths for all women who choose them.
---We understand gender as a structure and system of subordination, and as such, we seek its eradication.
---We pursue and celebrate sisterhood.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
NINTH CARNIVAL OF RADICAL FEMINISTS
The Ninth Festival of Radical Feminists went up today at Unconventional Beauty, and I urge you to read not just the excellent blogs and posts honored there, but also (and especially) La Doctorita's introductions and reviews of each. She really dispenses justice and analysis. Here's how she began her post:
"when i first learned that the ninth carnival of radical feminists would take place on christmas eve, it seemed like a strange juxtaposition: a celebration of female thought, power, and expression sharing the night with a celebration of male-centric religion and rampant consumerism. after some thought, however, i can draw two meanings from this confluence of events: first, that both recognize the power of female creation, and that the radfem carnival can fuel a reinterpretation of our preconceived notions of christmas; and secondly, that the radfem carnival can illuminate and stand in opposition to the holiday’s materialistic and misogynistic tendencies."
And the first blog she mentions is Allecto talking about Firefly and Serenity. I read all of the essays and posts offered by this remarkable Carnival each month, and always find my mind and heart expanded. It's a serious gift these Carnival hosters offer us.
Oh, and yes, three of my posts from last month are honored:
Claiming Your People: Think Big
Hate Crimes and the War on Terror
Finding The Empty Spaces in Immigration Rhetoric
But go read the others. Your big gift under the tree.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
EIGHTH CARNIVAL OF RADICAL FEMINISTS!
The Eighth Carnival of Radical Feminists is up at One Salford Feminist, and Pippa knocks our socks off with her reviews (what is it about Brit feminists, they are the technicolor version of us, so very attractive!) She singles out a few of my posts last month for mention -- Who Were The Witches?, Life in a Wheelchair, Disability 101, and Broad Cast 8 November 2007. (Thanks, Pippa, really). But honestly, you need to go read through ALL of the selections, it's a monthly treat that's better than dark chocolate cake with raspberry filling.
I was particularly excited to discover the interview with Cathy Cade, a lesbian photographer whom I knew (a little) in the Bay Area and whose work has utterly shaped our movement -- you've seen her photos, whether you know it or not.
When I was living on the land collective in Durango, I ran across a black and white photo in some book or magazine that was of two young lesbians in a park. One was sitting on a bench, and the other was kneeling in front of her. They were either fighting or having an intense discussion, but the love between them was palpable. The one sitting was tall, had a blonde buzz-cut and was wearing cut-off overalls, with hairy legs and boots. Her lover was shorter, darker, with small glasses and her hand tenderly on her lover's knee. I completely identified with the kneeling woman, and I wanted to go find a lover exactly like the blonde woman in overalls. They remained my model of what lesbians should look like for at least the next decade. It wasn't until 20 years later that I found out Cathy Cade took that photograph.
Here's a few of the other topics covered in this Carnival (I'm not going to list the links here because I MEAN IT, go over there and read for yourself):
The military invasion of the Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.
The Truth About Planned Parenthood.
U.S. Board of Immigration: FGM Not Grounds for Asylum.
Sexually Vulnerable Black Women: Can America Empathize?
Pornification of Halloween. (great fodder for those of us were discussing this at Maoist Orange Cake) -- and
Crochet Vulva!
Feminism builds strong bodies and minds twelve ways. Eat up.
Posts
