Wednesday, August 20, 2008
I've actualy changed my mind about some things written on this blog. I've just made it public again because its the easyest way of refuting certian lies that are being said about me
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
In which the nectarine uses her litcrit geekossity to discuss monsters and how cultural tropes are not owned by certain sections of society
So belledame222 wrote
oh, well, as per frankenstein, they lay claim to that too, or at least luckywhosis did, i remember--she was threatening to write something about how that was really a parable of male appropriation of womens' bodies,
And you know frankeinstein can be read in such a way that it is about how men “create” women, I studied that very phenomonen a lot in uni because its something I'm very interested in. But one of the beautiful things about frankenstien and indeed the whole idea of the monstrous other is its nebulousnes, the fact that it is possible for there to be so many ways of reading, interpreting, and using the idea of the monstorous.
The idea of monstrosity is a strong and recurrent cultural trope that has been used by all sections of society pretty much for ever, Baldick points out that the idea of the monster has always had strong cultural resonance in relation to subversion:
“Long before the monster of Frankenstein, monstrosity already implied rebellion”1
so this would have been in the collective cultural consciousness of both Mary shelley and her readers and could be used to draw metaphors with the different literary movements the text came out of and the political influences that inspired it, as it still can be today. The trope of monstrosity has been used by writer from all places on the political specturum, In light of the fact that frankenstien is being discussed here it is sensible to use the contemporaneous examples of Burke and Paine and how they were both reacting to the same events and using the same metaphor but ending up at almost diametrically opposite positions. Burkes Reflections on the French Revolution was a vehemently anti revolutionary text which uses strong rhetorical and metaphorical language to describe those who took part in the revolution as monsters, whereas Paine who wrote The Rights of Man which fundamentally disagreed with Reflections also used the metaphor of monstrosity but instead of using it to describe revolutionaries, he used it to describe the aristocracy.
literature is not created in a vacuum but is embedded and created in the culture it arises from. A Marxist interpretation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein would have to take in to account the cultural and historical events surrounding the text, for example, the French revolution and the general upheaval in Europe and how that affected English politics and society Frankenstein can be seen a metaphor for the French government with
“the novelty, the rationality, the irrationality, in the consciously artificial order of revolutionary france 3
Some readings of the text would suggest that the text (or any text) has no definitive reading because of the complex way it was created. However this does not mean that it cannot be read in certain ways. By certain sections of society, at certain times in history it could be read as a reaction to capitalism, the industrial revolution and an alienated social order. and it is also possible to read it from the perspective of feminism, queer theory and as a critique of racism. A very strong symbol of alienation is the fact the monster has no name, which could be used to represent those parts of society who have no voice or authority. The text can be seen to explore how an alienated social order creates people who reject that society and so are again rejected by that society so becoming “other” and cannot overthrow the dominant powers because of this.
The text of Frankenstein can be read conservatively or radically in Political Shakespeare Dollimore argues that oppressed or marginalized groups often create their own meaning which is then co-opted by the dominant ruling groups to control them. but it is an eternal dialectic in which the marginalizes groups will always find there own ways of creating meaning. Dollimore suggests all texts and all culture should be read subversively
Ruling culture does not define the whole of culture, though it tries to, and it is the task of the oppositional critic to re read culture so as to amplify and strategically position the marginalized voices of the ruled exploited, oppressed and excluded4
or in fact write it using the same metaphors from different angles as the opressors.
I would argue that both the monstrous and the carnivalesque are spaces which the opressed, the otherised can carve out spaces for themselves to move and gather strength in.
lastly, there is no such thing as compleate originality, if you grow up in broadly the same culture as someone you will absorbe the same cultural tropes that they do
The work of art is the product of a negotiation, between a creator or class of creators, equipped with a complex, communally shared repertoire of conventions and the institutions and practices of society5
1 Baldick, C In Frankenstein’s shadow (New York: Oxford University Press,1987)p13
2 Baldick, C In Frankenstein’s shadow (New York: Oxford University Press,1987)p17
3Baldick, C In Frankenstein’s shadow (New York: Oxford University Press,1987)p16
4 Dollimore, J. Sinfield, A, eds., Political Shakespeare (Manchester: Manchester University Press,1989) p14
518 Bennet, A Royle, N Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory ,third ed
( Edinburgh: Pearson education limited,2004)p116 (originally Greenblatt)
oh, well, as per frankenstein, they lay claim to that too, or at least luckywhosis did, i remember--she was threatening to write something about how that was really a parable of male appropriation of womens' bodies,
And you know frankeinstein can be read in such a way that it is about how men “create” women, I studied that very phenomonen a lot in uni because its something I'm very interested in. But one of the beautiful things about frankenstien and indeed the whole idea of the monstrous other is its nebulousnes, the fact that it is possible for there to be so many ways of reading, interpreting, and using the idea of the monstorous.
The idea of monstrosity is a strong and recurrent cultural trope that has been used by all sections of society pretty much for ever, Baldick points out that the idea of the monster has always had strong cultural resonance in relation to subversion:
“Long before the monster of Frankenstein, monstrosity already implied rebellion”1
so this would have been in the collective cultural consciousness of both Mary shelley and her readers and could be used to draw metaphors with the different literary movements the text came out of and the political influences that inspired it, as it still can be today. The trope of monstrosity has been used by writer from all places on the political specturum, In light of the fact that frankenstien is being discussed here it is sensible to use the contemporaneous examples of Burke and Paine and how they were both reacting to the same events and using the same metaphor but ending up at almost diametrically opposite positions. Burkes Reflections on the French Revolution was a vehemently anti revolutionary text which uses strong rhetorical and metaphorical language to describe those who took part in the revolution as monsters, whereas Paine who wrote The Rights of Man which fundamentally disagreed with Reflections also used the metaphor of monstrosity but instead of using it to describe revolutionaries, he used it to describe the aristocracy.
literature is not created in a vacuum but is embedded and created in the culture it arises from. A Marxist interpretation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein would have to take in to account the cultural and historical events surrounding the text, for example, the French revolution and the general upheaval in Europe and how that affected English politics and society Frankenstein can be seen a metaphor for the French government with
“the novelty, the rationality, the irrationality, in the consciously artificial order of revolutionary france 3
Some readings of the text would suggest that the text (or any text) has no definitive reading because of the complex way it was created. However this does not mean that it cannot be read in certain ways. By certain sections of society, at certain times in history it could be read as a reaction to capitalism, the industrial revolution and an alienated social order. and it is also possible to read it from the perspective of feminism, queer theory and as a critique of racism. A very strong symbol of alienation is the fact the monster has no name, which could be used to represent those parts of society who have no voice or authority. The text can be seen to explore how an alienated social order creates people who reject that society and so are again rejected by that society so becoming “other” and cannot overthrow the dominant powers because of this.
The text of Frankenstein can be read conservatively or radically in Political Shakespeare Dollimore argues that oppressed or marginalized groups often create their own meaning which is then co-opted by the dominant ruling groups to control them. but it is an eternal dialectic in which the marginalizes groups will always find there own ways of creating meaning. Dollimore suggests all texts and all culture should be read subversively
Ruling culture does not define the whole of culture, though it tries to, and it is the task of the oppositional critic to re read culture so as to amplify and strategically position the marginalized voices of the ruled exploited, oppressed and excluded4
or in fact write it using the same metaphors from different angles as the opressors.
I would argue that both the monstrous and the carnivalesque are spaces which the opressed, the otherised can carve out spaces for themselves to move and gather strength in.
lastly, there is no such thing as compleate originality, if you grow up in broadly the same culture as someone you will absorbe the same cultural tropes that they do
The work of art is the product of a negotiation, between a creator or class of creators, equipped with a complex, communally shared repertoire of conventions and the institutions and practices of society5
1 Baldick, C In Frankenstein’s shadow (New York: Oxford University Press,1987)p13
2 Baldick, C In Frankenstein’s shadow (New York: Oxford University Press,1987)p17
3Baldick, C In Frankenstein’s shadow (New York: Oxford University Press,1987)p16
4 Dollimore, J. Sinfield, A, eds., Political Shakespeare (Manchester: Manchester University Press,1989) p14
518 Bennet, A Royle, N Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory ,third ed
( Edinburgh: Pearson education limited,2004)p116 (originally Greenblatt)
Monday, January 15, 2007
Thinking about honesty
This has nothing to do with recent ruckus in the blogsphere, I've been thinking about it for a while. This is not my personal blog, my personal blog is elswhere and I use it to rant and whine and just genraly ramble on about stuff that either isn't relavant or is too personal to put here.
but I've been thinking: when does something become TOO personal? There are things I want to talk about on this blog that would make a whole lot more sense if readers had some backstory, some information about me but then i think but if I talk about stuff, if I really tell the truth I wont be taken seriously politicaly, wont be taken seriously as a feminist, as a woman, as a person, might not even be believed, or people would react to me diferently in the future, see me as "weird"
So I'm wondering what would you consider "too much" information in a forum such as this, what would make you take someone less seriously, or think they were weird or insane or whatever?
and what are the things that you arnt saying about yourself on your blog that maybe you want to say (use anon commenting for this if you want)
but I've been thinking: when does something become TOO personal? There are things I want to talk about on this blog that would make a whole lot more sense if readers had some backstory, some information about me but then i think but if I talk about stuff, if I really tell the truth I wont be taken seriously politicaly, wont be taken seriously as a feminist, as a woman, as a person, might not even be believed, or people would react to me diferently in the future, see me as "weird"
So I'm wondering what would you consider "too much" information in a forum such as this, what would make you take someone less seriously, or think they were weird or insane or whatever?
and what are the things that you arnt saying about yourself on your blog that maybe you want to say (use anon commenting for this if you want)
Friday, January 12, 2007
This is all I have to say, draw your own conclusions
So, I kind of consider my self kind of hardcore on the radical feminist stakes, I don’t buy into beauty practices, I don’t wear heels, I don’t dress feminine, I'm anti religion, anti marriage, anti porn, anti psychiatry, I think the current western construct of "family" is really bad for everyone, I'm pro choice, anti capitalism, ect, ect, blah, blah, blah and onwards and I don’t apologise for these political alignments
But, my best friend, the woman I love most in the world, who I would do anything for, who I have been really close to for twenty years, who may very probably have been my lover if she wasn’t entirely heterosexual, wears a padded bra, lives in heels, wears "girly" clothes is a pro life Christian in an extremely traditional heterosexual relationship (she does the ironing he pays the mortgage) never has any idea what is ever going on in the world outside her bubble.
Its not that we don’t talk about the differences between us, its not that we don’t talk about the important things in our lives, we do frequently, in fact I would go so far as to say she is one of the few people that I feel I can really let my guard down with. partly I think that this is because we are so different we have nothing invested in the labels each other gives to themselves but actually mainly I think its because she has always had my back, always been on my side, always been steady and reliable when I needed her, she is my rock and I don’t give a fuck how different she is from me.
But, my best friend, the woman I love most in the world, who I would do anything for, who I have been really close to for twenty years, who may very probably have been my lover if she wasn’t entirely heterosexual, wears a padded bra, lives in heels, wears "girly" clothes is a pro life Christian in an extremely traditional heterosexual relationship (she does the ironing he pays the mortgage) never has any idea what is ever going on in the world outside her bubble.
Its not that we don’t talk about the differences between us, its not that we don’t talk about the important things in our lives, we do frequently, in fact I would go so far as to say she is one of the few people that I feel I can really let my guard down with. partly I think that this is because we are so different we have nothing invested in the labels each other gives to themselves but actually mainly I think its because she has always had my back, always been on my side, always been steady and reliable when I needed her, she is my rock and I don’t give a fuck how different she is from me.
Monday, January 08, 2007
I am not a bumble bee
I am a WOMAN
And my (both metaphorical and literal)home is open to any woman of any stripe, who needs a place to hide, a place to sleep, a place to cry, a place to heal,a plate of food. I know what I beleive, I know where I'm standing but this does not mean that I have the right to tell other women who are also strugling with intersecting oppresionxs that I will only support them in that struggle if they align themselves in at exactly the same angle I do.
And my (both metaphorical and literal)home is open to any woman of any stripe, who needs a place to hide, a place to sleep, a place to cry, a place to heal,a plate of food. I know what I beleive, I know where I'm standing but this does not mean that I have the right to tell other women who are also strugling with intersecting oppresionxs that I will only support them in that struggle if they align themselves in at exactly the same angle I do.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
The Politics of Blogroling
In the interests of honesty and education I have updated my blogroll. These are the women I have on my bloglines feed so every time they post I read what they write. Pretty much the only thing they have in common is that they are women and I know I may well piss everybody off by putting women with such a wide range of political perspectives and views together but these are women who make me think and who I learn from even if I don't agree with them. I do consider myself a radical feminist (though there are people who consider me "not radical enough" and others who consider me "too radical") But I don't want to read only what radical feminists have to say and I don't want take part in the seige mentality culture that often takes place in all hyper politicised groups of people.
A lot of these blogs I don't even comment on for various reasons and I'd really apreciate it if you come across a blogger through my blogroll that you really don't agree with that you didnt start a flame war with them.
I will never delink someone because of what she writes because to me putting someone on your blog does not mean you condone eveything they say. Neither will I delink anyone beacuse they dont like being in the same blogroll as person X
A lot of these blogs I don't even comment on for various reasons and I'd really apreciate it if you come across a blogger through my blogroll that you really don't agree with that you didnt start a flame war with them.
I will never delink someone because of what she writes because to me putting someone on your blog does not mean you condone eveything they say. Neither will I delink anyone beacuse they dont like being in the same blogroll as person X
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Deborah Orr from The Independent Friday 29th December 2006
The final moment of shared experience this year, I guess, has been the universal shock and revulsion that greeted the ipswitch murders. It's too early to say whether the effect is temporary or not. But one of the more positive things that has come out of this awfull crime has been a general willingness to understand and sympathise with the women whose lives have been lost.
The problems of women who sell sex on the streets include child sexual abuse, drug addiction, care leaving, poverty, mental illness, poor educational attainment and all the rest of the usual stuff that makes people unable to compete on the inside of our skills-based market. One keeps on hoping that the capable population will wake up to the complexity and intractability of social exclusion, and find it in themselves to blame a little less and understand a little more. It would be a decent legacy to the suffolk women who died
The problems of women who sell sex on the streets include child sexual abuse, drug addiction, care leaving, poverty, mental illness, poor educational attainment and all the rest of the usual stuff that makes people unable to compete on the inside of our skills-based market. One keeps on hoping that the capable population will wake up to the complexity and intractability of social exclusion, and find it in themselves to blame a little less and understand a little more. It would be a decent legacy to the suffolk women who died
Friday, December 29, 2006
National Blogging while drunk day!
I Just told my partner it was national “Droging While Blunk day” so you know that’s kind of where I’m at
I love ideas, I love theory, I love talking politics and philosophy, I get stupidly exited about academic texts, sheesh I got the piss taken out of me at uni for being too geeky, in short I am a nerdilicious girly swot (or should that be womanly swot? hmm maybe) And I hate that we live in a culture that is so horribly anti intellectual and at this point someone is going to throw at me “but its okay for you, you have privilege” well bollocks, I mean I do have privilege but when most people of my socioeconomic background were doing the university thing I was either working crap jobs or stuck in the revolving door culture of phych units and I was still reading theory, even if I didn’t understand it all, even though I didn’t really have a framework to hang it on, So I think no ones got any excuse for you know just picking up a book now and then
But
theory is nothing with out practice, one of the main things that pissed me of about uni was that all these students would regurgitate whatever they had learned from their lecturers or studying or whatever and the compentmartalisation of that knowledge was really obvious, hardly any students ever took anything they learnt and went “hmm, you know how does this relate to the world “ one moron was absolutely hooked on Leavis, yes because obviously literature is completely timeless and has nothing to do with the time and culture its written in, the person in question then used Shakespeare as an example of timeless literature. I mean really do I have to make you eat Greenblat for you to understand anything he’s saying?
so where was i? oh yes I have read a whole bunch of feminist theory and thought a whole bunch about it and will continue to do such things But actually this doesn’t really change things, for me, for anyone unless u I use it as a foundation to work from to start my political activism so this year I have decided to put my money where my mouth was
and you know I think calling people names in the name of “feminism” is childish at best and anyway what the fuck does “handmaiden of the patriarchy” even mean? where does that even come from for fucksake, and you know what ? to me it sounds suspiciously like calling someone “traitor”
and what’s with this
I hate to be picky, but the person who wrote this isn't a radical feminist for two reasons- a radical feminist would never be intimate with a man or a person who was born male
What? Plenty of women who consider themselves radical feminists have been intimate with people who were born male plenty of radical feminist theorists have been for fucks sake, I think the terms the commentor was looking for are, separatist, and Political lesbian, also isn’t this incredibly narrow minded privileged view of radical feminism,. what it actually insinuates is only women who can live independently earn their own money and aren’t coerced or forced into marriage can be radical feminists, which to me is kind of saying that any feminist work done by women in countries where women do not have the freedoms that we have isn’t radical even though in those situations the women in question have a whole lot more to loose than I or the commentor ever will, that seems pretty radical to me.
Seriously anyway, the point I’m trying to get to is this
I don’t care,
really
I don’t care about the insular blog wars, about who’s calling who a feminist or a traitor or what ever. what I care about is what are you doing
What are you doing to make a difference for women, for feminism?
Are you standing beside me on the things we do agree on?
So I’ve decided my new years resolution is to be more active with my feminism
1)Build web site for the feminist group
2)Volunteer at the women’s refuge
3) Take part in race for life
4)also I sent an email to women in black asking if they could put me in touch with the coordinators of the Cardiff group and they were like “actually do you want to coordinate it seeing as we can’t get hold of them can we put you down as a contact?” and I’m thinking “gulp um..er” I’m not sure yet I’d really want someone else to help me but if there is no one else I guess I’ll do it.
5) Also I might join the women’s institute because, well, they seem pretty cool
I have no idea if this will make any sense in the morning but well, such is life. love to you all
I love ideas, I love theory, I love talking politics and philosophy, I get stupidly exited about academic texts, sheesh I got the piss taken out of me at uni for being too geeky, in short I am a nerdilicious girly swot (or should that be womanly swot? hmm maybe) And I hate that we live in a culture that is so horribly anti intellectual and at this point someone is going to throw at me “but its okay for you, you have privilege” well bollocks, I mean I do have privilege but when most people of my socioeconomic background were doing the university thing I was either working crap jobs or stuck in the revolving door culture of phych units and I was still reading theory, even if I didn’t understand it all, even though I didn’t really have a framework to hang it on, So I think no ones got any excuse for you know just picking up a book now and then
But
theory is nothing with out practice, one of the main things that pissed me of about uni was that all these students would regurgitate whatever they had learned from their lecturers or studying or whatever and the compentmartalisation of that knowledge was really obvious, hardly any students ever took anything they learnt and went “hmm, you know how does this relate to the world “ one moron was absolutely hooked on Leavis, yes because obviously literature is completely timeless and has nothing to do with the time and culture its written in, the person in question then used Shakespeare as an example of timeless literature. I mean really do I have to make you eat Greenblat for you to understand anything he’s saying?
so where was i? oh yes I have read a whole bunch of feminist theory and thought a whole bunch about it and will continue to do such things But actually this doesn’t really change things, for me, for anyone unless u I use it as a foundation to work from to start my political activism so this year I have decided to put my money where my mouth was
and you know I think calling people names in the name of “feminism” is childish at best and anyway what the fuck does “handmaiden of the patriarchy” even mean? where does that even come from for fucksake, and you know what ? to me it sounds suspiciously like calling someone “traitor”
and what’s with this
I hate to be picky, but the person who wrote this isn't a radical feminist for two reasons- a radical feminist would never be intimate with a man or a person who was born male
What? Plenty of women who consider themselves radical feminists have been intimate with people who were born male plenty of radical feminist theorists have been for fucks sake, I think the terms the commentor was looking for are, separatist, and Political lesbian, also isn’t this incredibly narrow minded privileged view of radical feminism,. what it actually insinuates is only women who can live independently earn their own money and aren’t coerced or forced into marriage can be radical feminists, which to me is kind of saying that any feminist work done by women in countries where women do not have the freedoms that we have isn’t radical even though in those situations the women in question have a whole lot more to loose than I or the commentor ever will, that seems pretty radical to me.
Seriously anyway, the point I’m trying to get to is this
I don’t care,
really
I don’t care about the insular blog wars, about who’s calling who a feminist or a traitor or what ever. what I care about is what are you doing
What are you doing to make a difference for women, for feminism?
Are you standing beside me on the things we do agree on?
So I’ve decided my new years resolution is to be more active with my feminism
1)Build web site for the feminist group
2)Volunteer at the women’s refuge
3) Take part in race for life
4)also I sent an email to women in black asking if they could put me in touch with the coordinators of the Cardiff group and they were like “actually do you want to coordinate it seeing as we can’t get hold of them can we put you down as a contact?” and I’m thinking “gulp um..er” I’m not sure yet I’d really want someone else to help me but if there is no one else I guess I’ll do it.
5) Also I might join the women’s institute because, well, they seem pretty cool
I have no idea if this will make any sense in the morning but well, such is life. love to you all
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Where I'm standing right now
So I’ve been away, and I didn’t think that I’d actually done much political thinking while I wasn’t around but actually I surprised myself, so I think I should clarify the position I’m coming from now.
1) I do not believe (and have never believed) that pornography and prostitution are the foundation that patriarchal misogyny is based upon. I believe they are a symptom of misogyny and then perpetuate misogynistic lies. I will fight for the eradication of both as most women do not have the choice to take part in prostitution and the argument that some enjoy it/make a satisfying living out of it is akin to the argument that capitalism is okay because a miniscule amount of people make megabucks from it.
2) While fighting porn and giving women choices other than prostitution are important they are by far not the only thing that need changing in this society and they include but are not limited to, violence against women, racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, reproductive rights,(and issues around motherhood,) international women’s issues, economic and educational oppression of women, prejudice against women with mental health issues, prejudice against women with disabilities. I will be educating myself about, writing about and being as active as I can on all these issues.
3) I am aware that many women disagree with me on many issues, however this does not mean I wont A) listen to them, B) work with them on issues that cover the common ground between us, and C) support them in anyway I can if things go pear shaped for them.
4) I changed my mind on many issues surrounding transgender, not least because I have been catching up on the feminist blogshpere and am absolutely shocked and horrified at the views and reactions of women who consider themselves to be open minded and unprejudiced and seem to be refusing to treat trans women as human let alone women. (I am writing a blog post about this to explain it further)
5) I refuse to be ashamed of or play down my bisexuality for fear of being accused of "not being radical enough" or "letting the side down"
1) I do not believe (and have never believed) that pornography and prostitution are the foundation that patriarchal misogyny is based upon. I believe they are a symptom of misogyny and then perpetuate misogynistic lies. I will fight for the eradication of both as most women do not have the choice to take part in prostitution and the argument that some enjoy it/make a satisfying living out of it is akin to the argument that capitalism is okay because a miniscule amount of people make megabucks from it.
2) While fighting porn and giving women choices other than prostitution are important they are by far not the only thing that need changing in this society and they include but are not limited to, violence against women, racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, reproductive rights,(and issues around motherhood,) international women’s issues, economic and educational oppression of women, prejudice against women with mental health issues, prejudice against women with disabilities. I will be educating myself about, writing about and being as active as I can on all these issues.
3) I am aware that many women disagree with me on many issues, however this does not mean I wont A) listen to them, B) work with them on issues that cover the common ground between us, and C) support them in anyway I can if things go pear shaped for them.
4) I changed my mind on many issues surrounding transgender, not least because I have been catching up on the feminist blogshpere and am absolutely shocked and horrified at the views and reactions of women who consider themselves to be open minded and unprejudiced and seem to be refusing to treat trans women as human let alone women. (I am writing a blog post about this to explain it further)
5) I refuse to be ashamed of or play down my bisexuality for fear of being accused of "not being radical enough" or "letting the side down"
Thursday, December 21, 2006
So to begin, bits and peices
I was tagged by
V ages ago before I dissapeared of the planet, so here goes. Erm apparently I lost number four.
1. One book that changed your life?
Promiscuities by Naomi wolf, Theres a whole bunch of stuff really wrong with this book and it does look at sexuality from a liberal feminst standpoint but it was the first time I realised that it was both normal and okay for women to have sexual feelings and autonomous sexualities.
2. One book you have read more than once?
Watership Down
3. One book you would want on a desert island?
The God Of small things, Lyricaly beautifull and heartbreaking and absoloutley making the conection about the personal and political (also incredible insight into the way children think)
5. One book that made you cry?
I think the only book I ever cried in was "Dragons of spring dawning" can't remember who wrote it but its part of the Dragonlance series.
6. One book you wish had been written?
I have no idea
7. One book you wish had never been written?
Emile: Or, On Education By Rousseau, Had a masively negative impact on female sterotypes
and education for women.
8. One book you are currently reading?
Women and madness: Mysogyny or mental illness, by Jane M. Ussher
9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Outercourse by Mary Daly
So anyway, what is the news in the blogsphere? Whos new and whos not around anymore?
V ages ago before I dissapeared of the planet, so here goes. Erm apparently I lost number four.
1. One book that changed your life?
Promiscuities by Naomi wolf, Theres a whole bunch of stuff really wrong with this book and it does look at sexuality from a liberal feminst standpoint but it was the first time I realised that it was both normal and okay for women to have sexual feelings and autonomous sexualities.
2. One book you have read more than once?
Watership Down
3. One book you would want on a desert island?
The God Of small things, Lyricaly beautifull and heartbreaking and absoloutley making the conection about the personal and political (also incredible insight into the way children think)
5. One book that made you cry?
I think the only book I ever cried in was "Dragons of spring dawning" can't remember who wrote it but its part of the Dragonlance series.
6. One book you wish had been written?
I have no idea
7. One book you wish had never been written?
Emile: Or, On Education By Rousseau, Had a masively negative impact on female sterotypes
and education for women.
8. One book you are currently reading?
Women and madness: Mysogyny or mental illness, by Jane M. Ussher
9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Outercourse by Mary Daly
So anyway, what is the news in the blogsphere? Whos new and whos not around anymore?
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Well, hey
Yes indeed, as witchy woo says it is nearly Christmas. Sorry for the absence, things got difficult for me, I was extremely burned out at the end of uni and emotionally, intellectually and politically exhausted. I became unsure of what I had to say to the world and whether the world was interested, I spent a lot of time hiding in Buffy and playing World of Warcraft. But here I am, I hooked up with a group of local feminists which is a real relief and a breath of fresh air for me. I'm slowly getting back in the swing of things, I am thinking I am going to try for one post a week to begin with. I hope you are all okay
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Nothing Safe to sacrifice
They will start with little things.Things too small for you to care about. The tone of your voice, the tilt of your head, sheilding your eyes from the light.And they will pretend this is a kind of protection to keep you safe, to stop you being noticed, to stop you becoming blind. But it becomes more, wraping you in bandages so you dont bruise, cutting out your tounge so you dont tear it on your teeth, shearing of your hair so no one can grab it from behind.
And this you teach your own children, your own daughters, so the powers that be approve of you, see how obedient you have become holding the line for your enemies.
And you are afraid, I know that, I can see that, of what else they will ask for, or what else they will take, from both yourself and your children if you do not let them erode you drip by drip
But with some of us everything did get taken so we have nothing left to loose, some of us have been so far down we know where the lies stop and the bedrock begins and you may think our edifices are unstable but the reason they sway is because we built them to withstand earthquake
My children will not be worn away by a world that tells them because they are female everything is wrong with them, my children will not be worn away by a world that tells them bigger, younger, thinner, straighter, richer, whiter, maler is better. Because these lies so badly burnt me I will teach every child I meet that this is not the way it was ever meant to be.
The light is ours now and we are coming up for air
And this you teach your own children, your own daughters, so the powers that be approve of you, see how obedient you have become holding the line for your enemies.
And you are afraid, I know that, I can see that, of what else they will ask for, or what else they will take, from both yourself and your children if you do not let them erode you drip by drip
But with some of us everything did get taken so we have nothing left to loose, some of us have been so far down we know where the lies stop and the bedrock begins and you may think our edifices are unstable but the reason they sway is because we built them to withstand earthquake
My children will not be worn away by a world that tells them because they are female everything is wrong with them, my children will not be worn away by a world that tells them bigger, younger, thinner, straighter, richer, whiter, maler is better. Because these lies so badly burnt me I will teach every child I meet that this is not the way it was ever meant to be.
The light is ours now and we are coming up for air
Monday, July 17, 2006
Grump, grump, grump
Yes I am in an extremly bad mood
1)It appears to be illegale for women to wear any kind of foot wear other than variations on sequined strappy heels. Seriously, I desperatly needed a new pair of shoes and went into cardiff where there were loads of sales so I thought I'd get something easily but no, it took me hours to find anything remotly resembling what I needed. If I could I would have bought mens shoes but my feet are too narrow. What pisses me of even more than the distinct lack of shoe choice is that for me my foot wear is not a choice I have to wear sturdy comfortable boots with plenty of ankle support because If I dont:
a)I cant stand up
b)I'm in considerable pain
c)my ankles collape
2)I am uber pissed with all this "but prostitution is a choice" shit and want to write about my experiences of being prostituted but the people who need to read it either don't come hear would just say I was biased because I had unplesant experiences with it.(tis also kind of graphic and disturbing)
3) I dont even have words to express how furious I am about the Israel/lebanon bulshit (and Blair and Bushes reaction to)
4)It seems even those men who we think "get it" can't see the woman for the leg hair
1)It appears to be illegale for women to wear any kind of foot wear other than variations on sequined strappy heels. Seriously, I desperatly needed a new pair of shoes and went into cardiff where there were loads of sales so I thought I'd get something easily but no, it took me hours to find anything remotly resembling what I needed. If I could I would have bought mens shoes but my feet are too narrow. What pisses me of even more than the distinct lack of shoe choice is that for me my foot wear is not a choice I have to wear sturdy comfortable boots with plenty of ankle support because If I dont:
a)I cant stand up
b)I'm in considerable pain
c)my ankles collape
2)I am uber pissed with all this "but prostitution is a choice" shit and want to write about my experiences of being prostituted but the people who need to read it either don't come hear would just say I was biased because I had unplesant experiences with it.(tis also kind of graphic and disturbing)
3) I dont even have words to express how furious I am about the Israel/lebanon bulshit (and Blair and Bushes reaction to)
4)It seems even those men who we think "get it" can't see the woman for the leg hair
Friday, July 14, 2006
A call to arms
I refuse to be. In
the madhouse of the inhuman
I refuse to live.
With the wolves of the market place
M Tsvetayeva
the madhouse of the inhuman
I refuse to live.
With the wolves of the market place
M Tsvetayeva
Sunday, June 25, 2006
I think critique is a good thing and I don’t think there is anything wrong with saying “actually I think you're wrong about that and this is why…” as long as we let other women come back at as with their own reasoning obviously we don’t ever have to agree with them but we do have to listen to them and we have to be able to examine our reactions enough that we can examine our defensiveness.
I hate it when I hear woman saying to each other across the internet “but you are attacking me and that is so not allowed” an online difference of opinion is not being attacked you are not in any danger from this other persons words and I think it completely minimises the problem’s of those who are getting attacked in the literal sense of the word. Telling some one you feel that they are attacking or silencing you is actualy a passive agressive way of trying to do the same thing to them and pretty much translates as "shut up you hurt my feelings and that's so against the rules."
To me being "attacked" means being thrown against walls being kicked in the ribs, having my hair pulled out, being choked, being suffocated, being raped, it does not mean someone somewhere on the internet strongly and possibly impolitely dissagreeing with me.
Being "silenced" means having your cultural forms of production shut down, being threatend with prison, ostracism, violence, death it does not mean some one refusing to post your comments on her blog.
Both of these things involve a level of power over that we as women do not have over each other through a computer screen.
We do not have to agree with each other, we do not even have to like each other
I think that I don't actualy care if I hurt the feelings of someone who reads this, If it is just your feelings that have ever been hurt then maybe you should examine how lucky you are anyway. I wont go out of my way to hut others feelings but I will say what needs to be said. I really think that in a forum such as a blog worrying about hurting peoples feelings is liberal bullshit. What I care about is wether women are safe and strong and out from under the patriarchy and I will do what I can to help any woman, anywhere get into that position. There is work to be done and I dont think it involved soothing ruffled feathers.
Conected to this is the fact that for me one of the absolute bottom baselines of feminism is that we examine our choices and behaviours and I hate the idea that often seems to bleed through that we can't call a woman on her choices because somehow all choices women make have an apolitical virtuousness about them, or all choices are equally made to “survive patriarchy.” I understand this and on lots of levels in lots of cases I agree with it, all across the world millions of women do things that they maybe know damages them selves or their sisters so they can survive patriarchy but I don’t think most of the women reading this fit in that box. I am talking about women who do what they do to stay alive, to feed their children, to keep a roof above their heads. I will not argue with those women about their choices because they are not choices they are survival strategies I will work to change things so they can get to a place where they can make choices. I am quite prepared however to discuss the choices women with privilege make but I don’t think this is about attacking or “silencing” anybody (and I would argue that any woman reading this is in a position of privelige.)
As a rule women don’t have each others best interests at heart and this is not a fault in us but a fault in the culture (yep the good old “divide and rule” rule of the Capriarchy) that always teaches us to read everything through the male gaze to become male identified, to see other women as threatening and it takes work and support from each other to become woman identified to see the world through woman’s eyes to make each other matter and the only people that are going to help us do that are other feminists. So we need to call each other out we need to challenge behaviours and assumptions I think what is important is the way we do it.
Firstly I do think reading something on a computer that was written by someone you don’t know inherently creates miss translations and disconnects.
One of the main problems I have seen is omeone reading a post and reponding to something init that wasnt in it, making conections that were never in the origional post in the first place.
So I think the thing to do is read the post like three times just to make sure what it is actualy saying not what we think it is saying or want it to be saying and when commenting or critiquing not to make assumptrions about what else this means about her beliefs and make sure she did actually say what you think she said.
Then even if we do vhemenently disagree I don’t think name calling helps, I have seen in discusions:
“Bigoted Bitch”
“Feminazii”
“Humourless”
“soulless”
“Fembots”
none of us are perfect and I don’t think any of us claim to be but why the name calling, it just inflames discusions it is perfectly posible to strongly and compleatly disagree with someone without resorting to kindergarten tactics or accusing them of "attacking" or "silencing" you.
I hate it when I hear woman saying to each other across the internet “but you are attacking me and that is so not allowed” an online difference of opinion is not being attacked you are not in any danger from this other persons words and I think it completely minimises the problem’s of those who are getting attacked in the literal sense of the word. Telling some one you feel that they are attacking or silencing you is actualy a passive agressive way of trying to do the same thing to them and pretty much translates as "shut up you hurt my feelings and that's so against the rules."
To me being "attacked" means being thrown against walls being kicked in the ribs, having my hair pulled out, being choked, being suffocated, being raped, it does not mean someone somewhere on the internet strongly and possibly impolitely dissagreeing with me.
Being "silenced" means having your cultural forms of production shut down, being threatend with prison, ostracism, violence, death it does not mean some one refusing to post your comments on her blog.
Both of these things involve a level of power over that we as women do not have over each other through a computer screen.
We do not have to agree with each other, we do not even have to like each other
I think that I don't actualy care if I hurt the feelings of someone who reads this, If it is just your feelings that have ever been hurt then maybe you should examine how lucky you are anyway. I wont go out of my way to hut others feelings but I will say what needs to be said. I really think that in a forum such as a blog worrying about hurting peoples feelings is liberal bullshit. What I care about is wether women are safe and strong and out from under the patriarchy and I will do what I can to help any woman, anywhere get into that position. There is work to be done and I dont think it involved soothing ruffled feathers.
Conected to this is the fact that for me one of the absolute bottom baselines of feminism is that we examine our choices and behaviours and I hate the idea that often seems to bleed through that we can't call a woman on her choices because somehow all choices women make have an apolitical virtuousness about them, or all choices are equally made to “survive patriarchy.” I understand this and on lots of levels in lots of cases I agree with it, all across the world millions of women do things that they maybe know damages them selves or their sisters so they can survive patriarchy but I don’t think most of the women reading this fit in that box. I am talking about women who do what they do to stay alive, to feed their children, to keep a roof above their heads. I will not argue with those women about their choices because they are not choices they are survival strategies I will work to change things so they can get to a place where they can make choices. I am quite prepared however to discuss the choices women with privilege make but I don’t think this is about attacking or “silencing” anybody (and I would argue that any woman reading this is in a position of privelige.)
As a rule women don’t have each others best interests at heart and this is not a fault in us but a fault in the culture (yep the good old “divide and rule” rule of the Capriarchy) that always teaches us to read everything through the male gaze to become male identified, to see other women as threatening and it takes work and support from each other to become woman identified to see the world through woman’s eyes to make each other matter and the only people that are going to help us do that are other feminists. So we need to call each other out we need to challenge behaviours and assumptions I think what is important is the way we do it.
Firstly I do think reading something on a computer that was written by someone you don’t know inherently creates miss translations and disconnects.
One of the main problems I have seen is omeone reading a post and reponding to something init that wasnt in it, making conections that were never in the origional post in the first place.
So I think the thing to do is read the post like three times just to make sure what it is actualy saying not what we think it is saying or want it to be saying and when commenting or critiquing not to make assumptrions about what else this means about her beliefs and make sure she did actually say what you think she said.
Then even if we do vhemenently disagree I don’t think name calling helps, I have seen in discusions:
“Bigoted Bitch”
“Feminazii”
“Humourless”
“soulless”
“Fembots”
none of us are perfect and I don’t think any of us claim to be but why the name calling, it just inflames discusions it is perfectly posible to strongly and compleatly disagree with someone without resorting to kindergarten tactics or accusing them of "attacking" or "silencing" you.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
A ramble about Woman only space
My university had a ratio of three women to one man, to me this was awesome it meant a lot of the time I spent exclusively with women, you’d think because of this it would be very woman aware wouldn’t you? Pfft, no such luck
It took us ages to persuade the support staff (porters, accommodation, estates etc) that not only was it not best practice to go into a woman’s room without another female it was extremely disrespectful and often threatening to the woman whose space it was.
In my second year I lived in an exclusively female hostel, however in my third year I had to live in mixed accommodation, My friends who rented a flat together on campus asked specifically that it be women only and were completely ignored by the accommodation officer.
I sat in a union council meeting where it was argued that because of the gender split the college needed a men’s officer as well as a women’s officer and it didn’t occur to anyone to wonder why if men were underrepresented because of this there were sixteen people in the room and only three of them were female
As women’s officer I wasn’t allowed to book women only nights in the union
I think because of experiences like this most women especially young women don’t understand that women only space is a possibility, often due to the cultural assumption that getting and keeping a man is the only thing that matters
Its not just actual physical space its emotional space as well one of the things that drives me barmy if I plan to spend time with one of my friends and she spends that time texting her male partner, or incessantly talking about him to the detriment of all other conversations.
The thing is women only space is not just group space, it is us only space too
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately especially in light of something Amy wrote Over here on Feminist reprise It really made me rethink some things, With all my partners when space and money have made it possible I have always had my own room, originally this was because I use to suffer from sensory overload and I would have times when I didn’t ever want to be physically near anybody, currently also because I am completely half assed when it comes to tidiness and my partner its not, and our sleep patterns very rarely meet in the middle due to work hours etc, anyway somewhere in the back of my head was the idea that when I was, better (which means what, I wonder) I wouldn’t need my own room anymore because I would be comfortable enough to share “the main” (ie his) room every night.
I have to say I am really surprised at myself for not thinking this through before because I think a lot about the way people sleep (for example one of my best friends and I regularly cuddled up in a single bed to sleep at uni and sooo many people thought that was so strange that it really made me think about culture and sleep behaviours)
But why would I automatically want to share a room with someone all the time just because we emotionally connect, why wouldn’t I want my own space where I can keep my stuff and have it all the way I want it? Where I can fall asleep when I want to without us having to negotiate when to turn the lamp of, when I can watch films I like rather than coming to the compromise of watching a film that neither of really want to watch but we thought the other one might like it. Where we know the times we curl up together it is because we really want to be there not because there is nowhere else to go.
Also I think there’s a thing about virtual women only space, of the women I love: Two are currently in America, two are in Ireland, two are in London, and one is in mid Wales, which doesn’t seem far, but is still a six hour train ride, public transport being what it is. And several are down on the south coast. But none of them are where I’m going to be. And my main connections with them at the moment is telephone and email, I think it is really important to make about making the effort, about making space in our lives exclusively so I can answer the emails or phone these women, about not putting it off because “I have more important things to do” and not letting ourselves get distracted by that, okay maybe I’m demanding but it drives me crazy if one of my friends phones me up and insists on doing something else at the same time, also boyfriends, one of my friends had a boy friend who every single time I phoned her would start clamouring for attention as if he were a six year old child. If we want to talk to each other, however we are doing it shouldn’t we do it properly? Shouldn’t we say to the men around us “I am going to/am interacting with this person now go away and maybe they will get pissed of, but if we matter to each othe wont we deal with that? I was in a situation where I hadn’t seen one of my friends for a week or so and I was in her room halls at uni, and some guy I didn’t know from Adam and she only knew because she had been allocated to live with him came in (without knocking) and sat on her desk and started talking crap, and he was so pissed when I said “actually this is a private conversation please leave” but so what?
And then in the summer I went to stay with a friend (the one I share a bed with so you know we are kind of close) and despite her telling her boyfriend that I was going to be there and that she was going to be spending time with me he found an excuse to be in her house every single day by the end it really felt as if he felt like he was having a lamppost pissing contest.
I do have a male partner and two other male friends but I am trying to make my life as women orientated as I feel is possible for me and that does mean having time and space both just for my self and just for other women. (strange as this may sound I might join the women’s institute!)
So this means
Not bothering making any more connections with men except those currently important to me
Only Buying books and music and other cultural products created (and if at all possible, produced, published, etc by Women)
Making sure my political activism is focusing on women’s issues,
Arranging my social time with mainly women that doesn’t include men.
Trying to get a job that involves women as my main client base.
There must be more so all sugestions welcome.
It took us ages to persuade the support staff (porters, accommodation, estates etc) that not only was it not best practice to go into a woman’s room without another female it was extremely disrespectful and often threatening to the woman whose space it was.
In my second year I lived in an exclusively female hostel, however in my third year I had to live in mixed accommodation, My friends who rented a flat together on campus asked specifically that it be women only and were completely ignored by the accommodation officer.
I sat in a union council meeting where it was argued that because of the gender split the college needed a men’s officer as well as a women’s officer and it didn’t occur to anyone to wonder why if men were underrepresented because of this there were sixteen people in the room and only three of them were female
As women’s officer I wasn’t allowed to book women only nights in the union
I think because of experiences like this most women especially young women don’t understand that women only space is a possibility, often due to the cultural assumption that getting and keeping a man is the only thing that matters
Its not just actual physical space its emotional space as well one of the things that drives me barmy if I plan to spend time with one of my friends and she spends that time texting her male partner, or incessantly talking about him to the detriment of all other conversations.
The thing is women only space is not just group space, it is us only space too
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately especially in light of something Amy wrote Over here on Feminist reprise It really made me rethink some things, With all my partners when space and money have made it possible I have always had my own room, originally this was because I use to suffer from sensory overload and I would have times when I didn’t ever want to be physically near anybody, currently also because I am completely half assed when it comes to tidiness and my partner its not, and our sleep patterns very rarely meet in the middle due to work hours etc, anyway somewhere in the back of my head was the idea that when I was, better (which means what, I wonder) I wouldn’t need my own room anymore because I would be comfortable enough to share “the main” (ie his) room every night.
I have to say I am really surprised at myself for not thinking this through before because I think a lot about the way people sleep (for example one of my best friends and I regularly cuddled up in a single bed to sleep at uni and sooo many people thought that was so strange that it really made me think about culture and sleep behaviours)
But why would I automatically want to share a room with someone all the time just because we emotionally connect, why wouldn’t I want my own space where I can keep my stuff and have it all the way I want it? Where I can fall asleep when I want to without us having to negotiate when to turn the lamp of, when I can watch films I like rather than coming to the compromise of watching a film that neither of really want to watch but we thought the other one might like it. Where we know the times we curl up together it is because we really want to be there not because there is nowhere else to go.
Also I think there’s a thing about virtual women only space, of the women I love: Two are currently in America, two are in Ireland, two are in London, and one is in mid Wales, which doesn’t seem far, but is still a six hour train ride, public transport being what it is. And several are down on the south coast. But none of them are where I’m going to be. And my main connections with them at the moment is telephone and email, I think it is really important to make about making the effort, about making space in our lives exclusively so I can answer the emails or phone these women, about not putting it off because “I have more important things to do” and not letting ourselves get distracted by that, okay maybe I’m demanding but it drives me crazy if one of my friends phones me up and insists on doing something else at the same time, also boyfriends, one of my friends had a boy friend who every single time I phoned her would start clamouring for attention as if he were a six year old child. If we want to talk to each other, however we are doing it shouldn’t we do it properly? Shouldn’t we say to the men around us “I am going to/am interacting with this person now go away and maybe they will get pissed of, but if we matter to each othe wont we deal with that? I was in a situation where I hadn’t seen one of my friends for a week or so and I was in her room halls at uni, and some guy I didn’t know from Adam and she only knew because she had been allocated to live with him came in (without knocking) and sat on her desk and started talking crap, and he was so pissed when I said “actually this is a private conversation please leave” but so what?
And then in the summer I went to stay with a friend (the one I share a bed with so you know we are kind of close) and despite her telling her boyfriend that I was going to be there and that she was going to be spending time with me he found an excuse to be in her house every single day by the end it really felt as if he felt like he was having a lamppost pissing contest.
I do have a male partner and two other male friends but I am trying to make my life as women orientated as I feel is possible for me and that does mean having time and space both just for my self and just for other women. (strange as this may sound I might join the women’s institute!)
So this means
Not bothering making any more connections with men except those currently important to me
Only Buying books and music and other cultural products created (and if at all possible, produced, published, etc by Women)
Making sure my political activism is focusing on women’s issues,
Arranging my social time with mainly women that doesn’t include men.
Trying to get a job that involves women as my main client base.
There must be more so all sugestions welcome.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Public service anouncement
Just to say: there may be a break in transmission for about a week due to moving home from college and various issues with emotional fall out relating to that and general busynes. Though feel free to e-mail me if you like.
Have updated side bar in no particular order but these are the blogs I check everyday.
I have so much going round my head I can never decide what to write about, The first post on the mental health series is coming soon and I will probably write some stuff about ladyfest but what would you all like to see?
Ideas for activism.
Radical feminism and Heterosexual privilege.
The importance of women only space.
Knowing the enemy? Weather or not it is valuable to know what people on the other side think and how to do that without supporting them financially. (and by “other side” I mean scary right wingers, not other feminists)
Why we really need to get over this “oh you are judging me/hurting my feelings” thing when we are trying to engage in political debate.
And/or anything else you might be interested in and think I might enjoy writing about
See you soon
(and thanks for the comments on the thread about relationships, I have read them and am thinking on them)
And you never know Stray Girl might get off her backside and finish that post shes writing on eco-living!
Have updated side bar in no particular order but these are the blogs I check everyday.
I have so much going round my head I can never decide what to write about, The first post on the mental health series is coming soon and I will probably write some stuff about ladyfest but what would you all like to see?
Ideas for activism.
Radical feminism and Heterosexual privilege.
The importance of women only space.
Knowing the enemy? Weather or not it is valuable to know what people on the other side think and how to do that without supporting them financially. (and by “other side” I mean scary right wingers, not other feminists)
Why we really need to get over this “oh you are judging me/hurting my feelings” thing when we are trying to engage in political debate.
And/or anything else you might be interested in and think I might enjoy writing about
See you soon
(and thanks for the comments on the thread about relationships, I have read them and am thinking on them)
And you never know Stray Girl might get off her backside and finish that post shes writing on eco-living!
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