Womanism/Feminism…Feminism/Womanism
When we look at labels to describe activism by women we commonly use the term womanist, or feminist. Words mean something despite how casually we toss them around. They are how we order and understand our world. In an effort to be inclusive when we write about activism many will often write feminists/womanists. This acknowledges that some WOC have to some degree separated themselves and have taken on the label of womanists because of the history of racism within the feminist movement.
The problem with using these labels is that they often appear in a certain order. Most will write feminists/womanists rather than womanists/feminists. This may seem like a small insignificant point but what it does is that it once again sets up a hierarchy about what counts as real activism when it comes to women. If feminism is routinely placed first it sets up womanism as a ridiculous offshoot. When we consider that womanists largely identify as such because of racism in feminism, routinely placing it behind feminism only reaffirms the idea that white women still see WOC as secondary bodies.
Even though writing feminists/womanists is an attempt at inclusion, the order of the words appear means something because it speaks to who has power and privilege. Often unconsciously we reaffirm power dynamics in our society. Privileging certain bodies has become a naturalized phenomenon and it takes a conscious effort to decolonize your mind. These small slights do not go unnoticed even if they are unremarked upon.
Many WOC are rightfully distrustful of white women. There is a long history of betrayal and silencing. I have watched time after time as we are assaulted and our issues ignored. We are told that we focus to much on race in an attempt to destabilize our organizing. Womanism speaks about our lives, our needs and our existence in a way that feminism never has. It validates our experiences and places us in the center of the conversation. To place feminism before womanism continually only reifies the need for womanism.
The rift between WOC and white women needs to be healed. Each new slight just adds to the bitterness and contempt and is the equivalent of pouring salt into an open wound thereby further dividing us from each other. When there is such a large history of betrayal we cannot afford to continue to fuel the negativity as it only detracts us from our common enemy: patriarchy.
WOC are always going to have issues that are unique to us, and yet we share many issues in common with white women. The anger and bitterness often causes us to ignore their valid commentary and make sweeping assumptions. There will never be one monolithic woman that can represent us and the “sisterhood” will never cure all the hurt, but we need to think about how we speak to each other if we are going to move forward.
Our future lies in unity and not in separation. It is important that we leave room for forgiveness and it is essential that white women acknowledge the ways in which they have wronged us. This is a problem that we need to tackle together with patience and love. Both WOC and white women essentially want to see women succeed, we just don’t always agree with what constitutes “woman”.
Cross Posted from Womanist Musings
The Comments We Face
By starting a blog you automatically open yourself and your space up to people who may disagree with you. In some cases you may experience several comments from people who are not so nice in telling you why they disagree with a particular viewpoint you express on your blog. While most blogs will undoubtedly encounter the occasional irate comment, the feminist blogosphere is open to a completely different breed of troll infestations and Menstrual Poetry is no exception.
Most of the trolls that attack feminist spaces have a tendency to attack the people behind the blog using rash generalizations. Most of the trolls that attack feminist spaces are also men, although that is just a coincidence, right?
I received a comment on a post I wrote, about Glenn Sacks protesting domestic violence ads created by The Family Place back in December. The comment was deleted, but I think it is the best example of the type of comments to expect when simply speaking your mind and raising awareness about issues that affect women.
you fucking stupid cunt. how about you address the real cause of domestic violence– stupid cunts like you trying to run the country. you dumb cunt feminists always love to TALK about equality. but we both know you fucking morons are full of shit when the rubber meets the road.
women love to talk about how “strong and independent they are”.. yeah why don’t these fucking idiots pay their own way when they date then? exactly. because they CAN’T. they simply like to have their cake and eat it too.
why don’t these women pay for their own child support since they have special veto power over anything the man says regarding her pregnancy. women can defraud men and have them pay for someone else’s baby. women can have a baby even if a man doesn’t want her to have it. with power comes responsibility .but women are just power-hungry cunts who refuse to accept responsibility.
i look forward to more cunts like you getting beat the fuck up until you learn the message the hard way. you can only rob men of so many freedoms before they will start fighting back. and the female face looks like a good starting place.
you make men into criminals on your billboards before they are even born and then you have the fucking audacity to complain when men fulfill your requirements of them. comical.
Every feminist/womanist/humanist blogger I have ever spoken to about blogging has talked about the amount of obnoxious, sexist, and ridiculous comments they have received for simply speaking out about issues that need to be spoken out about and the comment above is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the comments we have to deal with go.
The first lesson you must learn when starting a blog where you point out the mass hypocrisy of patriarchal society and speak about the fundamental rights people, including people with a vagina, should have is develop a thick skin because there will undoubtedly be people, especially those who happen to be men, who disagree with you and in fact think that the patriarch should continue to rule over our lives.
Rihanna Is Erased By Do Something.ORG When They Confront Domestic Violence
Earlier this morning I was sent a link about a campaign run by DoSomething.org. In an effort to raise awareness about violence against women they have created a re-enactment of the beating that Rihanna allegedly received from Chris Brown.
Extreme Trigger Warning on the video.
At the end we are told that 1 in 3 teens are abused in a relationship and viewers are encouraged to go to DoSomething.org/Abuse to get three free bracelets, one blue and two black to raise awareness. Violence against women is just the latest cause to get the “Bono of activist treatment” (read: the bracelet, or the ribbon certification).
These bracelets have become the symbol of our so-called concern for diversity and tolerance, and yet they function just like any other fashion appendage. Does anyone really know what each one of the multi colour bracelets and ribbons even means anymore? We have this social idea that putting on a symbol of an issue somehow means we have performed some sort of activism. The bracelet, or ribbon allows us to profess a stated belief without making any concrete efforts for change. It functions more as a badge of inertia than anything else.
I fail to see how we can possibly praise this video as womanists/feminists and yet Courtney of Feministing has completely endorsed this video.
While I could understand why some people would be outraged by this bold PSA tactic, I’m completely in support of what Do Something is doing. They’re making the incident–which has been so obscured by the media hype, ignorant commentary from pundits and the public alike, and so much disrespect–real again. A woman, a man, out of control emotions, and inexcusable violence. If Rhianna weren’t already horribly outed by this whole incident, I might feel like it were an invasion of her privacy, but at this point, it’s just so public. It seems like the most respectful thing we can do for Rhianna is make sure that this whole thing inspires young people to get educated about relationship violence–as the ad does.
So, because she has already been violated once, what’s one more time? We can comfort ourselves with the belief that no matter how triggering it may be for her to be held up as the “role model” for battered women, it’s for a good cause. Let’s remove the last bit of agency and self respect that she has by co-opting her experience without permission because ultimately we secretly identify with her abuser anyway; how else could we justify displaying a total lack of solidarity with the victim ?
This is about realism right; so showing simulated violence which in no way reflects the real terror she must have felt as Brown spilled her blood all over his car is showing the horrors of domestic violence? Hearing the monotone drone of the narrator as he describes what have must have been the most terrifying moments in her life, instead of her screams of pain and fear is meant to place her in the center of this incident?
In the final act of co-option the woman chosen to play her isn’t even black. So in a bid once again for realism, it is somehow appropriate to replace a black woman with a white woman? What does this tell us about which bodies are valued in this society? Are we to feel more sympathetic to this pseudo-victim because she is white? Are we meant to have an easier time identifying with her because of whiteness? In a world in which the black woman is daily devalued, replacing her physical body without commentary and assuming that whiteness can represent her is truly a racist act. Just as in Richard Wrights, The Outsider, though both white women and black women are victims of violence, it is the harm done to the white female victim that is understood as the truly criminal act. This is not because we value white women universally, but because we over value whiteness to the extent that any crime committed against it is considered a true social violation.
This video is not the least bit groundbreaking and in fact plays on racism and false images of violence to promote hipster activism. We live in a society that believes that problems can be solved through capitol rather than engagement. We wear our so-called causes around like latest fashion accessory happily moving from issue to issue, as each social problem comes in and out of vogue. Though this model has failed to produce any tangible results, we continue to embrace it because we like our activism like McDonalds; fast, cheap and full of unidentifiable ingredients.
Cross Posted from Womanist Musings
Where Have All the Morals Gone?
I have not brought up the topic of the Rihanna/Chris Brown controversy, and for good reason. Just like media publications are supposed to keep the identities of domestic violence victims secret, I also believe it is important not to trivialize domestic violence and abuse, which is exactly what popular publications have done by not only identifying Rihanna as the woman who Chris Brown brutally attacked, but publishing pieces without the moral code of telling their readers that there is no excuse for what Chris Brown did.
Domestic violence cases are often looked at from several different views and most of them include shaming the victim. Victim shaming has sadly become a normality in society and by not educating people, especially teens, of the statistics and true dangers of domestic violence, victim shaming will continue. It is never okay for a man to raise his hand or beat his girlfriend. When the topic of domestic violence comes up, many people jump at the chance to say something to the effect that women are also abusers and as a woman whose childhood could make up several books about how this is completely true, when it comes to beating your significant other, take a look at who the obvious physical threat is. Males are more of a physical threat to females, no matter what kind of spin you put on the topic. But these and many other truths about domestic violence are often cast aside in order for people to play the blame game and that is exactly what happened in the Rihanna/Chris Brown case.
There is a pandemic going on when it comes to violence and teens are not being given the education and support they should be receiving, as proven by what several teen girls have had to say about the pop stars:
“I thought she was lying, or that the tabloids were making it up,” one girl said.
Even after they saw a photo of Rihanna’s bloodied, bruised face, which had raced across the Internet, they still defended Mr. Brown. “She probably made him mad for him to react like that,” the other ninth grader said. “You know, like, bring it on?”
Should he be punished? No, said the girls, whose names were withheld at the request of the school. After all, they said, Rihanna seemed to have reconciled with Mr. Brown.
“So he shouldn’t get into trouble if she doesn’t feel that way,” one girl said. “She probably feels bad that it was her fault, so she took him back.”
Her friend nodded. “I don’t think he’ll hit her like that again,” she said.
On a Facebook discussion, one girl wrote, “she probly ran into a door and was too embarrassed so blamed it on chris.”
All of the phrases I emphasized are exactly what society has been saying again and again when they are shaming the victims of abuse. These teens are not making these statements up, they were taught to react and question cases of abuse like this. They were taught that patriarchy is A-OK and as females, we all must remain in line because if we get abused, we had it coming or “must have done something to make him angry”.
This point is driven home even further by the fact that the Boston Public Health Commission recently interviewed 200 teens and found that 46% said Rihanna was responsible for what happened and 52% said both bore responsibility, despite knowing that Rihanna’s injuries required hospital treatment.
In order to truly educate children and teens about domestic violence and even that domestic violence exists and is a problem in our culture, completely disregarded by society due to obscene amounts of victim shaming, we must set better examples for them and how to react when a controversy like this strikes them in their celebrity-driven world. It is never okay for a man to lay a hand on a woman in a violent matter and shaming Rihanna while apologizing for Chris Brown is not helping any situation, anywhere.
RAINN’s Technology Access Project: Offering Free Website & Email Services to Affiliates
Most of us have relied on the internet for valid, educational information. A lot of us have relied on the friends and support systems we have cultivated online to help sort out our feelings, opinions, and problems in our day to day lives. We undoubtedly live in a society where a great amount of people have become reliant on technology but there are still needs to be met when it comes to the information and support many of us need via the internet world, especially those of us who have survived or are still surviving abuse and trauma. RAINN is the nation’s largest anti-sexual assault organization that has aided so many survivors in need of support and advocates of survivors in need of information. RAINN has not only helped people through their 1-800 hotline, but because they understand the reliance we have on technology and the fact that more survivors are willing to open up via the internet, where they can remain completely anonymous, they opened up a 24/7 online hotline.
In an effort to bring more technology-based support to survivors, they are ensuring that all of their affiliates across the country have the ability to have a web presence of their own for the survivors in need in their areas. Because the vast amount of companies, organizations, and people who use the internet do not have the knowledge necessary to create a clean, functional, and user-friendly web presence of their own, RAINN has started the Technology Access Project that will offer all of RAINN’s participating affiliates a free website and free email services to help aid and support their base of survivors, as well as to educate those in their areas about abuse and trauma, and also how to heal, starting in Spring of 2009. The Technology Access Project is made possible by Grant no. 2008-TA-AX-K012, awarded to RAINN by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice.
This is a monumental step forward for survivors in need of RAINN and their affiliate’s support and services. Because they are offering websites and email services for free, they are ensuring that every single participating affiliate of theirs has the ability to create a web presence without any financial burden or even technical experience. RAINN’s technical staff will be available for any affiliate who is lacking in technical experience to walk them through the brief setup process and they will also be available to answer technical questions for as long as they are using the service. Best of all, your domain name will not be owned by RAINN; ownership will be retained by the affiliate even if they decide to stop using RAINN’s service.
I am thrilled that RAINN has decided to do this and that the Office on Violence Against Women saw a need for technological support and filled it, making RAINN’s Technology Access Project possible.
Sex-Positivity
I'm passionate about sex-positivity and believe every sexual being should have the freedom to explore their sexuality safely and without condemnation. I even lost my ad network after my refusal to censor myself after reviewing feminist porn.So if you're in the market for sex toys, porn, books, etc. take a look at the retailers below, all of which are feminist-friendly.
Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
