Recently in Blogs Category
Tranny-alert.com--an site aimed at alienating and attacking trans people--was taken down after a flurry of online activism this weekend. A highly effective Call to Action against Tranny Alert was started by a Livejournal user named gudbuytjane and circulated widely by GLAAD and a chorus of other blogs.
Thanks to our own community blogger basketcasey who mobilized the feministing community to do their part. We're so grateful that we have voices in our community that can lead folks into this kind of rapid response when we're not on the ball.
We've received a ton of reader mail (and public requests) over the course of the past week asking us to blog about an article that appeared on Playboy's website about conservative women they'd "like to hate-f*ck." Several people have asked us write about it to "prove" we are against sexism and hatespeech directed at all women, regardless of their ideological orientation. Others are saying that, because we haven't blogged about this one article, which has since been taken down, we are ok with sexism directed at conservative women.
And I'm getting annoyed. Because this sounds really familiar. During the presidential campaign (and long after) conservatives liked to invent a narrative in which feminists did not decry sexism directed at Sarah Palin. These poor souls are all apparently unable to use The Google. Because if they were, they would have turned up:
Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: O'Reilly Edition
Palin Sexism Watch: Proud Uncle McCain Edition
Palin Sexism Watch: C-Word Edition
Palin Sexism Watch: Sex Doll Edition
Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Halloween Costume Edition
Palin Sexism Watch: Sexist Stereotypes Edition
Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Schoolgirl action-figure edition
Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Skirt-wearing, SexyMom edition
Palin Sexism Watch: VPILF Edition
And there's more -- including a recent post calling out the misogyny against Miss California Carrie Prejean.
What I find almost laughable is that most of the conservatives who have said, "HA! See? Feministing doesn't care about that Playboy article, and therefore all feminists are hypocrites!" are not folks who normally give two shits about sexism. They only care about this article because they think it's a "gotcha" moment.
The real reason I, personally, have chosen not to blog about the Playboy article (or the follow-up on a right-wing blog titled "liberals we'd like to hate-f*ck") is the same reason I choose not to write about every offensive thing published in Maxim or on many other sites that are repeatedly, link-baitingly sexist: because I (or any number of feminists) am not going to change the very editorial mission of these publications. My writing about how fundamentally screwed up an article is will not lead to more feminist or less sexist content in Playboy in the future. It will just give them many more hits. I'd rather spend my time calling out widespread media narratives that are sexist (i.e. Palin is a "VPILF") and trying to change them.
A new study shows that when girls do worse than boys at math, the likely culprit is culture.
Amanda gets her hands on an anti-choice manual - read it, if you can stomach it.
Ann and Dana bring you the third installation of "Ask a Feminist." This time it's door-opening protocol...
Emily at RH Reality Check calls out "pro-lifers" who abet in terrorizing abortion providers.
Saletan at Slate hits a new low with this headline: Is it wrong to murder an abortionist?
New research explores Twitter and gender
Julia Serano announces a show she'll be participating in at the 2009 National Queer Arts Festival: Girl Talk: A Cis and Trans Woman Dialogue.
Check out the Q&A that Damsel, a blog for and by feminist 20-somethings, did with me. I thought that they asked some great questions. An excerpt:
Damsel: I'm not going to lie: It really pisses me off when women who subscribe to feminist beliefs (and reap the benefits of the movement) refuse to call themselves feminists. Frankly, I think they're ingrates. You, on the other hand, have said you "don't actually care much" whether people wear the label. And you write for Feministing.com! Help me understand your reasoning.CM: First off, I champion you for feeling so strongly about the feminist label. I get it. I really do. But for me, the history of feminism is so complicated and the continued class issues so entrenched, that I really empathize with women who want to distance themselves from the label. Feminism was historically seen as a very white movement, and too often, it still resides in the upper echelons of society (colleges, fancy feminist organizations etc.). I hope that young women of diverse ethnic and class backgrounds identify, but if they don't, I don't want them to feel like they can't fight for gender justice alongside me and the other card carrying Feminists.
Check out this fascinating blog, Tang Dunand, by a female AP reporter living in Afghanistan. With all the important developments there this week--ridiculous, misogynist law, courageous protests--it's nice to read the perspective of someone on the ground and see more varied photographs of women there in their own space. After taking a little friend to the emergency room she writes:
I worry that she lost too much blood. I worry that in a country like Afghanistan, the operation will go awry. I worry that she will not heal well in this war-torn, impoverished country and will be handicapped forever.I only knew Basmina from our brief encounters, but today I felt so intricately linked to her. In the longed-for before, I saw a bright and happy young girl with the possibility, no matter how dim, of a decent future. Later, as I tried to keep up her spirits in the hospital, her tiny little frame on the hospital gurney, I grieved deeply. Basmina was the drop that made me overflow.
As these events tossed about my head all day, I learned that Basmina means "fragrance." I don't have any pictures of her. I took for granted that her freckles and smile would be there to greet me tomorrow.
Thanks to J. Courtney Sullivan for the heads up.
So there has been a heated dialogue this past week, partially in response to the comment thread on my post about Focus on the Family last week. Queen Emily at Questioning Transphobia wrote an initial response to it, voz responded to the larger issue of how trans women's issues are treated at Feministing and Feministe, and Cara responded at Feministe yesterday.
I've been doing a lot of listening, and hearing, and reading. I have a lot of thoughts brewing about all of these threads.
There are two discussions I think need to come from this. One is a discussion about comment moderation and Feministing. It's a discussion we as bloggers often engage in, and one that crops up all of the time, as each of us find strategies for how to manage comment threads.
Moderating comments is probably the part of this work that I feel least adept at. I do agree that moderating is a part of our role as bloggers. It's a conversation that we plan on continuing at Feministing, and writing more about as a group. This is a group blog, and while we each moderate our own threads, we do have a collective comment policy. So more to come on that.
The other conversation is around gender identity related writing and activism. This is a conversation I am highly invested in, which is why I really appreciated reading Queen Emily's thoughts about the comment conversation and my original post. I'm invested in it because I'm a feminist, because I identify as genderqueer, because I have a strong agenda around gender. I have all sorts of thoughts and ideas about how feminism needs to evolve it's beliefs and interaction with the gender binary--including what trans inclusion looks like. At the WAM conference this year, Julia Serano, Jack Aponte, Kate Bovitch and I were on a panel to discuss these issues. I hope to post the video soon, but these are conversations I'm engaging in elsewhere as well.
These two conversations need to continue and I plan on further engaging. Unfortunately because of how life works, particularly my life where I have other responsibilities outside of this blog, I can't engage in that dialogue with all of you tonight, or tomorrow, or in the next few days. To acknowledge the fact that much of the criticims of the original thread revolved the comment moderation, I'm going to turn comments off on this post.
I'm going to be back on Monday, with more thoughts about this. I'll post a new thread then, with comments open.
Hey y'all, just thought you might want to check out the awesome book club that TPMCafe put together on The Purity Myth.
Lila at TPM got a great group of women together to discuss the book, and I couldn't be more excited to hear their thoughts: Hanne Blank, Katha Pollitt, Emily Bazelon, Amanda Marcotte, Echidne of the Snakes, Jennifer Baumgardner, and Leora Tanenbaum.
My post introducing the book is here, and Leora, Echidne, Amanda, and Hanne have already weighed in. Make sure to check it out!
I stumbled across the Annual Asian Women's Blog Carnival via Hyphen and it is a must-read selection of pieces by Asian women. This year's focus is on identity and is an extensive selection of posts about shattering cultural stereotypes, racism and other issues that affect the lives of Asian women.
Check it out now and give them some comment love as this is a very important and exciting new carnival.
Most industries are facing difficult times right now. Media, and independent media in particular, have long faced uphill battles, but the economic emergency is pushing many state and local newspapers to fold. As the bad news continues, I wanted to speak with someone about the possible ramifications of these losses.
Tracy Van Slyke, former publisher of the progressive, independent magazine In These Times, is the program director of the The Media Consortium, a network of the country's leading independent journalism organizations. (Full disclosure: Feministing is a member.) From their website:
"Millions of Americans are looking for honest, fair, and accurate journalism. We're finding new ways to reach them. Our strategy has three focal points: Making Connections, Building Infrastructure, and Amplifying Our Voice."
Here's Tracy...
Lately, there have been some things going on in the loose, yet bizarrely limiting category of the feminist blogosphere. They have gotten me to thinking about social change, feminist activism and how it is connected to blogging and new media. This is one of those, "I am going to think out loud posts," so bear with me.
In light of recent conversations about inclusion and exclusion within the blog world, there are some facts that are apparent. Some voices are considered more legitimate than others and it doesn't exactly take rocket science to figure out why. Online interactions or power relations mirror the real world in many ways, so if you look at who is dominating dialog in mainstream media, sometimes you see those same patterns online. It is not true across the board, but generally, the words, thoughts and analysis of not just certain demographics, but also certain points of view, for example more centrist liberal ideology, is privileged.
But, I guess I already know that, since I have been blogging here for a long time and have felt first hand what it means to be a woman of color that says radical things in a very public way. It means getting threatened, it means being challenged, it means having my credibility laughed at, it means sometimes and often feeling delegitimized and stupid, it means not being linked, even when I wrote about something first. And blogging for what is considered a big feminist blog, it means being made to feel like an outsider, a betrayer to my community, someone who has stepped outside the confines of home and community, speaking my truths on someone else's soil (even though it is my soil, I have tilled and planted and I get to decide what grows and I have ownership of my croppage, and total rights to replant, haha, to continue with the metaphor if you will...). And obviously, I don't agree with all these criticisms, I can hear them, but in general, I know what I am doing and why I am doing it. I own that shit. But I am human and shit gets under my skin. I am sensitive, I get affected, I even cry (probably more often then I should.)
This analysis of race and class has been extended to which voices get heard in the feminist blogosphere. I don't want to minimize the extent to which it has been discussed, but I am not going to rehash old debates. I have written about the topic of racism and feminism before. But right now, I am just going to talk about myself. My work speaks for itself and I have let go of the belief that I can make everyone happy. Sometimes we won't get along, sometimes we just won't be friends.
What I am wondering about though is what is the meaning of all of this? Why do we blog? And is the reason we blog for our own individual voices to be heard? Or the voices of our communities? Hell, what does community look like online? I love many co-bloggers and commenters, both on Feministing and off, but my real friends are the ones I have met face to face, that have looked in my eyes and I into theirs. That does not mean that the community I build online isn't meaningful, it is. It is just different.
After working in the social change sector, I learned that everything is strategic and blogging has become one way to rally support around key issues. And it is a powerful way to do it. It is not perfect by any means, but despite all the opposition I have faced and despite all the racism that is embedded within this powerful tool and the inequitable power relations that are reproduced online, I realize this tool is not just about my own voice. It is about the stories we give light to, it is about the campaigns we support, it is about the tragedies we expose. Oftentimes, I am just the fire starter.
For me, staying rooted in a vision for social change and social justice allows me to make sense of the day to day pain of the racism, sexism, classism or othering I have experienced frequently here on the internet. I know I have a community of support behind me and I support them in the work that they do, by highlighting their campaign and their on the ground actions. That is why I blog, but obviously it is not the only reason.
I also blog because I know that I have had certain life experiences that are not documented in mainstream media or in mainstream feminism and I know there are young women everywhere that can relate to my stories. I also know there are people that appreciate my point of view and my analysis on issues, a perspective that is not often given in mainstream media. I blog because I have been given this tremendous opportunity that comes with great responsibility and I don't take it lightly. I do my best with the resources I have and I am here and I am present and I am "Fired up and Ready to Go!"
And sometimes, I get to meet people face to face and they tell me about how I changed the way they look at something, or someone running a campaign tells me that my exposure helped them get more support. And I feel really good about that and I realize that despite all the drama and all the problems with the tools themselves and the way they have manifested, I am doing what I want to be and I am accountable to who I need to be. I don't want to seem naive, because I know, we should all be so lucky. But I must say, I am lucky and I am thankful and I love blogging. And I am not going to apologize for my success at it.
