Tag Archive for "Personal Is Political"

Posts Tagged Personal Is Political

New Year’s Feminist Blogging Resolutions

It’s the end of December, and I’m still nibbling holiday meal leftovers even though I’ve forgotten what hunger feels like. So I think it’s about that time….time for some end-of-the-year reflection Last week, I posted the top ten international wins for women in 2009 (and resisted the urge to name the post “FTW”). This week, I’d like to offer a more personal take on the end of the year, and share my blogging resolutions with you, in the spirit of continued feminist[ing] progress and community-building.

It’s been an eventful and wonderful year. Being able to interact with you all, a fantastic community of people who just plain get it, has strengthened and invigorated my feminism in ways ...

By Courtney • 14 years ago

The Courage to be Cliche

File this under musings on radical love.
I’ve been thinking a lot about love and courage lately and something has struck me: sometimes I feel like my friends and I, and my generation of thoughtful feminist types more broadly, seem to conflate radical with original in a lazy, uninteresting way.
We don’t want to read the latest bestseller, listen to the latest hits, or participate in time-honored traditions for fear that it will make us seem like sheep. But in fact, this becomes it’s own form of unconscious conformity. In fact, it is sometimes radical to participate in traditions rooted in long histories, to like music that is popular and fun, to be inspired by ideas that have been inspiring ...

By ariel • 14 years ago

California Marriage Equality Initiative Fizzling Early?

It’s pre-election season in California! Monday, California’s second-most prominent gay marriage advocate, the Courage Campaign, backed away from its previous support of a 2010 repeal of Proposition 8 via press release:

The Courage Campaign today called for more research and time to change hearts and minds before returning to the ballot[…]
Said Rick Jacobs, the Courage Campaign founder and Chair, “We are taking the lessons learned from last year’s Prop. 8 campaign, the campaigns in Maine and other states to understand the fundamental work that must be done before moving forward in California. We also must come together as a community to create a broad coalition and governance structure, put in place a strong manager and secure the ...

The Courage Campaign today ...

By Rose • 14 years ago

The Wire’s gender problem

Stringer Bell is confused. “Whaddaya mean The Wire’s not feminist?”

The Wire, the HBO series that ran for five seasons, will apparently live on, despite its shelf life, in a class at Harvard. And Professor William Wilson, the self-admitted “huge fan” who will be teaching the class, is high off of The Wire’s Kool-Aid:

“I do not hesitate to say that it has done more to enhance our understanding of the challenges of urban life and the problems of urban inequality, more than any other media event or scholarly publication,” Wilson told the audience before poking fun at himself, “including studies by social scientists.”

As a racial justice advocate who loves politics and sexually diverse representations of people ...

Stringer Bell is confused. “Whaddaya mean The Wire’s not feminist?”

The Wire, the HBO series that ran for five seasons, will apparently live on, despite its shelf life, in a class at Harvard. And Professor ...

By Courtney • 14 years ago

Personal is Political: Crying While Arguing

Last night at our panel, Roxie bravely talked about a moment when she got into a big argument with her uncle about whether a woman had the capacity to be president. He was arguing that women were too emotional. She was arguing, of course, that emotion could be a fundamental tool in leadership positions. In the midst of this whole thing, of course, Roxie felt like she was going to burst into tears (she held it in until later).
Her brave admission reminded me of my own struggle within intellectual arguments, especially in my early 20s at Barnard and Columbia Colleges, to manage my own emotions. I remember one class, in particular, in which a classmate and I got into ...

Last night at our panel, Roxie bravely talked about a moment when she got into a big argument with her uncle about whether a woman had the capacity to be president. He was arguing that women were ...

By Jessica • 14 years ago

Well, I’m damn sure never getting married again.

I wasn’t planning on writing much else about getting married because I figured folks were getting sick of hearing all about it. (If I’m tired of hearing about it, I can’t imagine how others feel!) But over the last few days I’ve seen coverage of my wedding/marriage online – from Salon to Playboy to The Nation – with responses ranging from the congratulatory to the cruel. So I feel like I have to jump in.
When I first wrote about getting married the title of my post was, “Does the personal always have to be political? (And can’t it ever be private?),” because one of the biggest issues I was struggling with was ...

I wasn’t planning on writing much else about getting married because I figured folks were getting sick of hearing all about it. (If I’m tired of hearing about it, I can’t imagine how ...

By Miriam • 14 years ago

Why I love fall (hint: its not about the leaves)

Last week, around the first day of fall, this tweet was going around courtesy of Sinclair Sexsmith, sex blogger and gender writer.

RT @mrsexsmith: tomorrow is equinox; it’ll officially be fall, season for which my wardrobe was made. Yay sweaters & jackets!

I agreed with his tweet (strongly) and have been thinking more about how true this is as the weather has gotten steadily colder.
I love fall. It is hands down my favorite season. I do love the leaves, and the feeling of cool crisp air, and the newness of the season. But the main reason I love it is that the fall wardrobe is so much more me than any other season.
Pants, jackets, sweaters, vests. I love them ...

Last week, around the first day of fall, this tweet was going around courtesy of Sinclair Sexsmith, sex blogger and gender writer.

RT @mrsexsmith: tomorrow is equinox; it’ll officially be fall, season for which my wardrobe was ...

By ariel • 14 years ago

Personal is Political: University of California Walkout Today

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with coalitions and groups of student activists, student government leaders, statewide student organizers, University faculty, graduate students, and union workers around a Day of Action today, September 24, against the severe budget cuts and student fee hikes.
In the 1970s, student fees were less than $100. The University of California extols the virtue of a free public education, and thus charges “fees” instead of “tuition.” On July 17, 2009, the UC Regents, a board of decision-makers appointed by the Governor of California and including only one student, declared a state of fiscal emergency and granted UC President Mark Yudof emergency powers to make ...