Feminist Philosophy's topics - tribe.net

Looking for some good Feminist Theorists...

Sorrell — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:36:46 GMT

I am looking for some good feminist theory on Women in Prison; Female staff in prisons; Sexual assault on female inmates/staff in prisons...hoping that someone out there has a good book or journal article they know about? Thanks so much!

Sorrell

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

Feminism Now Making Everyone Unhappy

PaulaC — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:22:50 GMT

Thought this might be an interesting read for others.

http://jezebel.com/5303890/feminism-now-making-everyone-unhappy

"Feminism Now Making Everyone Unhappy

Ross Douthat, he of the thesis that feminism is the root of all women's unhappiness, has a new thesis: it also causes marital unhappiness and infidelity. Yeah, 'cause that never happened before Feminism ruined Marriage.

Douthat contrasts the essays by Sandra Tsing Loh and Cristina Nehring about the end of their marriages with the frenzied (and potentially career-ending) passion of — sorry for this mental image! — Mark Sanford and John Ensign. Douthat says:

So which is the real America? Is it Tsing Loh's dystopia, where everyone "works" grimly on their relationships, and post-feminist husbands happily cook saffron-infused porcini risotto but rarely practice seduction on their wives? Or is it tabloid country: The land of Jon minus Kate, and governors who vanish to "hike the Appalachian Trail"...
Ah, those "post-feminist" husbands, who cook in lieu of "seducing" their wives (note to Douthat: many women would consider a man cooking saffron-infused porcini risotto a form of seduction). Because, naturally, it is more naturally the man's role to initiate sex and the woman's role to pretend, at least initially, that she doesn't want it.

But Douthat's not done with condemning all that sexual equality that feminism hath wrought!

But both do put their finger on a post-sexual revolution paradox - namely, that the same overclass that was once most invested in erotic experimentation ended up building the sturdiest walls against the passions it unleashed.
In other words, the wealthy and privileged women with jobs and such (i.e. feminists and, by extension, Democrats) are frigid ice queens once they get bored with porn and premarital sex, while passion is reserved for Real Americans who didn't buy into that feminism claptrap about equality in the first place!

Douthat's got your number, ladies — safe sex is boring! Risking pregnancy is exciting!

The difficult scramble up the meritocratic ladder tends to discourage wild passions and death-defying flings. For bright young overachievers, there's often a definite tameness to the way that collegiate "safe sex" segues into the upwardly-mobile security of "companionate marriages" - or, if you're feeling more cynical, "consumption partnerships."
Yes, unwanted pregnancy and being stuck in boring dead-end jobs is what more Americans need to encourage more passion in their relationships. (What is up with Douthat's seeming obsessive opposition to contraception, anyway? Is this just a rhetorical way to get the women who sleep with him to agree not to use condoms or something?)

By comparison, Douthat just loves how Real America conducts its personal life!

This tameness has beneficial social consequences: When it comes to divorce rates and out-of-wedlock births, Americans with graduate degrees are still living in the 1950s. It's the rest of the country that marries impulsively, divorces frequently, and bears a rising percentage of its children outside marriage.
Ok, so, let's make sure I understand this correctly. Feminism (and safe sex) make for boring relationships designed only for upward social mobility, which is good for society and bad for relationships; but sexual freedom has empowered the lower class to make poor decisions about marriage and having a bunch of unsafe sex that Douthat doesn't like in the first place? So, he likes feminism, but he hates it? Is feminism Douthat's mom and does he have an Oedipal complex?

Douthat's got a solution to the problem he's yet to define really well, but which seemingly boils down to the fact that smart, career-oriented women don't have enough wild sex (possibly with Ross Douthat) and dumb sluts have too much.

Our meritocrats could stand to leaven their careerism with a little more romantic excess. (Though such excess is more appropriate in the young, it should be emphasized, than in middle-aged essayists and parents.) But most Americans, particularly those of modest means, would benefit from greater caution and stability in their romantic entanglements.
So, if you're young, career-oriented and, um, female, you should try less hard to get to the top of your profession and try to fall obsessively in love — but only if you're young and, naturally, childless. If you're poor, though, keep it in your pants and that ring on your finger.

Or, I don't know: maybe people regardless of their economic class should attempt to live their lives without listening to Ross Douthat's expectation of what would make them happier?"

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Thoughts on gender quotas for the US Supreme Court

timbo — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:53:10 GMT

I was thinking about this the other day and, frankly, I don't see a problem with their being gender super-minorities on the US Supreme Court. What do I mean by a 'super-minority'? Basically, I propose that there be a Constitutional Amendment whereby a majority minus one of the Supreme Court be women and men. Currently that would mean that there would be a legal requirement that four justices be men and four justices be women. The ninth justice would be the Chief Justice and would be of alternating gender--that is, if the previous Chief Justice was a man, then a woman would have to be appointed from the current pool of sitting Supreme Court justices who happened to be women. If the previous Chief Justice were a woman then the Chief Justice would have to be appointed from the pool of sitting Supreme Court justices who happened to be men.

Just a thought. Comments?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 3 replies

Enough Hormones on the Bench Already!

ammanaga — Sun, 31 May 2009 10:55:10 GMT

Personally, I have had it with all that testosterone. Haven't you? I mean... testosterone is the "anger hormone." And it is also associated with risk taking behaviors. That is why I am calling for equal representation from the other half of the population. You know, the one that has less testosterone. And a little bit more estrogen. Estrogen, being the hormone of love, can only bring balance to the important decisions made by our highest court.

Just about anything you want to know about Sonia Sotomayor can be found at: http://dissentingjustice.blogspot.com/2009/05/sonia-sotomayor-on-dissenting-justice.html . H/T to Prof. Darren Hutchinson at Dissenting Justice, for doing all the research. If it were not for him, I would know far littler about this Obama appointee.

IMO the MSM, even it's most liberal organs, are doing a terrible job of letting us know who our next SCOTUS appointee is. See: http://thenewagenda.net/2009/05/30/about-sonia-sotomayors-temper-and-the-nyts-sexist-bias/

Judge Sotomayor *will* be confirmed, despite their sexism and outright negligence. She has to be!

We just can't take anymore of those out of control hormones on the bench: http://thenewagenda.net/2009/05/29/men-overcome-by-feelings-about-sotomayor/

Amma

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

New book about men, religion and patriarchy

mrman — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:57:54 GMT

Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy:
http://tinyurl.com/desl9s

Since the early 1990s there have been various waves of interest in what is often described as “masculine spirituality”. While diverse, a commonality among these interests has been a concern that spirituality has become too feminine, and that men’s experiences of the spiritual are being marginalized. Masculine spirituality is therefore about promoting what it perceives to be authentic masculine characteristics within a spiritual context. By examining the nature of these characteristics, Numen, Old Men argues that masculine spirituality is little more than a thinly veiled patriarchal spirituality. The mythopoetic, evangelical, and to a lesser extent Catholic men’s movements all promote a heteropatriarchal spirituality by appealing to neo-Jungian archetypes of a combative and oppressive nature, or understanding men’s role as biblically ordained leader of the family. Numen, Old Men then examines Ken Wilber’s integral spirituality which aims to honour and transcend both the masculine and feminine, but which privileges the former to the extent where it becomes another masculine spirituality, with all its inherent patriarchal problems. Gay spirituality is then offered as a form of masculine spirituality which to a large degree resists patriarchal tendencies, suggesting a queering of spirituality could be useful for all men, both gay and straight.

Excerpted here:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/masculine_spiritualities_and_problem_patriarchy

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Piggish Ruby on Rails presentation gets blogged at...

timbo — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:05:42 GMT

http://www.blogher.com/tipping-point-women-tech-heres-hoping

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Sexist Hollywood Called Out by Meryl Streep

ammanaga — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:12:39 GMT

“Three of the nominated films this year (had) 26 men and one woman — ‘Slumdog‘ and ‘Milk,’ and ‘Frost/Nixon.’ You know, we accept it. It’s not unusual. But we would go nuts if three of the nominated films had 26 women and one man. It would be a very, very unusual thing. We’re still not telling everybody’s story in our country and that’s where we are.” -- Meryl Streep, 3/7/09

Who new? Who even thought about it? (Besides Meryl?)

I thought Hollywoodians were mostly "Progressives?" We keep hearing they are "Liberals."

Coulda fooled me!

Amma

PS. I realize I am quite late in posting this. But that doesn't negate it's salience as an issue for women in the performing arts. I read it back in March, shortly after Meryl said it.... but it got past my radar for great Feminist quotes.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

Multicultural Women’s Leadership Conference at UCB April 25-26

timbo — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:03:02 GMT

Multicultural Women’s Leadership Conference at UCB April 25-26

Details here:

http://www.engageher.airset.com/#_n.engageher+p.%2FHome%1Fhtml

Gloria Steinem, Yuri, Zia, Huerta, and more...would Angela Davis stay away? See link for schedule and details.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Help a student out by contributing to literature on women's issues!

Katherine — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:48:04 GMT

My name is Katherine Wilson and I'm a graduate student in San Francisco studying Psychology. I'm trying to gather information about women's attitudes regarding current societal issues. If you would like to participate in this study, the survey is listed here: womensattitudesresearch.webs.com/. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to complete and you can enter to win a $20 gift certificate at Amazon.com.

Thanks!
Katherine

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Questions to a sexworker!

Blackgrass — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:55:19 GMT

I hope this will be taken seriously..but putting aside all ones views/prejudices..what kind of questions would you ask off a sexworker either male or female, if you had the chance to ask? Please no stupid remarks, this is a chance to get those concerns or inquiries out of the way, & even maybe allow others to understand things that they may of not previously before known!

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 3 replies

feminism stigma

Blackgrass — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:02:25 GMT

feminism has got a real bad name with many sexworkers or pro sexworkers. Which is a shame considering the initial real issues that feminism eradicated or at least has got a long way to eradicate. the problem being that many feminists for instance I have `talked` to via internet are very against sexworkers & see them as adding to the power of patriarchy. When challenged their stance usually takes the form of saying `that sexworkers don`t even `know` they are abused or adding to the patriarchy problem...so as a result I have usually never been taken seriously by them...as they have this head on which says`you don`t know so therefore we cannot take anything you say (unless its agreeable to feminist policy) seriously.
& I`m kidding you not...have have had some of the most repressive conversations...not with men...but with female feminists.
Globally `they` have been cataclysmic with sexworkers & in USA for instance, `they` have linked with powerful christian movements...stoppping to giving out of condoms in third world countries...with a premise of saying that despersing condoms mean that you accept the sex industry in that given country........mad, mad! But what do you think? maybe you have a totally different take...something I might of missed, though I have racked my brain for understandings or excuses & as yet to come up with one.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 22 replies

Heidi Li's New "Fifty-One Percent" solution is up at

ammanaga — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:36:56 GMT

www.fifty-one-percent.org

Check it out!

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

No sex for you!!

Limeliberator — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:51:18 GMT

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5935532.html

As part of Bush's last "SCREW YOU" to American women, the Bush Administration is quietly trying to redefine "abortion" to include birth control. The Houston Chronicle says this could wipe out dozens of state laws that protect women's reproductive freedom and protect rape victims. And this proposed "rule change" doesn't need congressional approval.

I just signed a message to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, whose department is considering this rule change, telling him: "Contraception is NOT abortion"

Can you add your voice to this cause? Click here to sign the message: http://pol.moveon.org/contraception/?r_by=13468-9630306-WiieZux&rc=confemail

Thanks,
Dorothy

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 3 replies

New Agenda Press Release

ammanaga — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:09:32 GMT

Because Camp Obama seems to be having a dickens of a time finding qualified women to person their cabinet posts:

http://thenewagenda.net/media/press-releases/december-11-2008-cabinet-watch-10-to-three-in-race-to-22-women-behind/

"To reinforce the message that there is a rich pool of (woman) candidates, The New Agenda released the following bipartisan list of exemplary candidates for Cabinet positions. Three of those previously listed, Former State Dept. Asst. Secretary Susan Rice, New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, were tapped to be ambassador to the United Nations and heads of the Departments of State and Homeland Security.

* Founding executive director of American Rights at Work Mary Beth Maxwell
* Stanford University School Redesign Network director and head of Obama’s education transition team, Linda Darling-Hammond
* Founder of eBay Meg Whitman
* Former Hewlett- Packard CEO Carly Fiorina
* Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill
* Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar
* Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius
* Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
* The first woman 4-star General Ann Dunwoody
* Wisconsin Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton
* FDIC head Sheila Blair
* Former U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Comm. Chair Brooksley E. Born
* Former President, Morgan Stanley, Zoe Cruz
* Princeton University economics professor Cecilia Elena Rouse
* Former Citigroup, Inc. executive Sallie Krawcheck
* IL Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Director Tammy Duckworth
* Former Head PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, Kathleen McGinty
* CA Air Resources Board, Mary Nichols
* Former NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection Lisa Jackson"

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

ya

Jahgnath — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:52:01 GMT

chromatograph

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

Sarah Palin

adyashakti — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:13:43 GMT

So, what do we think of her, she's a woman, kind of...

Please share your thoughts...?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 19 replies

a spiritual take

Jahgnath — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:55:46 GMT

I've fucked thousands of women, and many MANY hos during Ayahuasca ceremonies in the JUNGLE....so you can imagine its not all "fun and games" like many liken it to being.....it is a FULL-TIME responsibility, DUTY, and requirement, and i will NOT back down from the call of DUTY.

If it's in my destiny to fuck hundreds of more bitches, whether or not during ceremony, then i must. I MUST.

you must understand. Time is running out.

bliss,

J

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

New Hampshire Makes History: State Senate Majority ... Women!

ammanaga — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:08:08 GMT

Read about it here:

www.nowhampshire.com/content/nh-makes-history-first-state-senate-female-majority

I knew there was a reason New Hampshire is in my list of places to retire to...

Live Free or Die! (I want my license plate to sat THAT, too. Haha.)

Amma

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

SNL to Savage the KING of Misogyny TONIGHT!

ammanaga — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:04:16 GMT

Saturday Night Live is gonna give us a real extravaganza to enjoy tonight!

Not only will they be featuring Johnny Mac.

But we can anticipate a skit mocking the "King of Misogyny" too!

TGW covers it here:

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2008/10/snl-to-savage-deranged-keith-olbermann.html

This weekend is turning into a real trip to the funhouse for me. Last evening we had a fabu Halloween party... at which we also celebrated my new Redhat status. And now THIS! Woohoo!!!

Quoting TGW now:

""Here's hoping SNL rises to the challenge of truly "savaging" the King of Misogyny."'

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

It's A Long Way To the Top for Women: Sexism Triggers Worst Journalism EVER in American Politics

ammanaga — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:35:36 GMT

""Hillary Clinton was unfairly labeled a "bitch" because she was too assertive and politically sophisticated.

Sarah Palin has been unfairly labeled "dumb" because she isn't assertive or politically sophisticated enough. And it isn't men who are doing the name calling or trying to hamper women from taking the giant leap to the White House. It is women-and, of course, the news media, whose reporters this election have left any semblance of objectivity at the door of their newsroom as they wallow in a Barack Obama coma.""

snip

""Simply, this presidential race, which triggered the worst journalism in American presidential politics, conjured up charges of sexism, not racism.

My colleague, author and political commentator Professor Nancy Snow said, "You know it's bad when a PR specialist in a classroom refers to Sarah Palin as a 'talking vagina,' and Gloria Steinem says that the only thing Palin has in common with Hillary Clinton is a shared chromosome. This country is much more sensitive to racist charges than sexist charges."

Snow said a charge of sexism conjures up bra-burning of the 1970 s and seems oh so 20 th century. "Everyone knows that racism persists but sexism persists just as much, if not more," she says. "Does anyone think it's any easier for an African-American or Hispanic woman than their male counterparts? Not a chance. And yet to point out the surround-sound of sexism comes across as victimhood. We're supposed to just get over it. That would never be said about racism.""

Read Professor Fellow's report here:

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_10708550

I read it with great interest, because my daughter is a journalism major. I had certainly hoped... even expected... that she would enter the work world as the equal of her male peers. The thought of her soul being battered in this way breaks my heart.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Ayaan HirsiAli, Mahnaz Afkhami, and Farah Ibrahimi :Tolerance of Intolerance is Cowardice

ammanaga — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:45:11 GMT

From: http://www.ayaanhirsiali.com/

"Ms. Hirsi Ali was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” of 2005, one of Glamour Magazine’s Heroes of 2005, and she received the Prix Simone de Beauvoir in 2008. She has published a collection of essays entitled The Caged Virgin and a best-selling memoir Infidel.

In response to the continuing threats to her life and in order to support the work of other dissidents, Ayaan Hirsi Ali has established the Foundation for Freedom of Expression. The Foundation is a charity organization which believes that open discourse, dialogue and freedom of expression are essential for the survival and vitality of liberal democracies. The Foundation will support Muslim dissidents who have been victims of violence, abuse or neglect, or who have been threatened with violence, because of their political or religious beliefs. It will do so by promoting and distributing their work, as well as by providing security and personal support when needed and wherever possible.""

I am aghast that this is happening in a "free" country in 2008!

I feel totally sickened. Especially reading Ms. Hirsi Ali's website after watching this:

http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/ps_ctn_02.html#

last evening.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 2 replies

Sexism Might Sell: But We're Not Buying!

ammanaga — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:50:32 GMT

Send a message to the media now:

http://www.womensmediacenter.com/sexism_sells.html

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 5 replies

seducing men to feminism

Fifi — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:19:12 GMT

In another thread a male participant proposed that, even though the women in this tribe may find it hard to swallow, that men needed to be seduced into feminism. I'm not interested in making this about who said what, I'm more interested in exploring this idea which I found rather offensive on a number of levels. Now, my main objection to it is that it seems to me to be proposing that women should adopt the same tactics of pandering to men and seducing them to get what we want that were normal back in the 50s....that we aren't worth listening to because we're equal human beings. Am I the only one who finds this retarded? And actually a call for the sort of pandering to male desires and ego that feminism emerged to address? And doubly offensive to be asked to suck dick *and* swallow so that men can feel good about feminism and women?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 21 replies

160th Anniversary of Seneca Falls Protest

ammanaga — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:51:13 GMT

http://july19action.blogspot.com/

If you attended a gathering, tell us about it!

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Woman is the N***** of the World

ammanaga — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:28:27 GMT

John & Yoko:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P91_H690z4

Woman is the nigger of
the world
Yes she is...think about it
Woman is the nigger of
the world
Think about it...do
something about it

We make her paint her
face and dance
If she won't be slave ,we
say that she don't love us
If she's real, we say she's
trying to be a man
While putting her down we
pretend that she is above us
Woman is the nigger of
the world...yes she is
If you don't belive me take a
look to the one you're with
Woman is the slaves of
the slaves
Ah yeah...better screem
about it
We make her bear and raise
our children
And then we leave her flat for
being a fat old mother hen
We tell her home is the only
place she would be
Then we complain that she's
too unworldly to be our friend
Woman is the nigger of
the world...yes she is
If you don't belive me take a
look to the one you're with
Woman is the slaves of
the slaves
Yeah (think about it)

We insult her everyday on TV
And wonder why she has no
guts or confidence
When she's young we kill her
will to be free
While telling her not to be so
smart we put her down for being so dumb
Woman is the nigger of
the world...yes she is
If you don't belive me take a
look to the one you're with
Woman is the slaves of
the slaves
Yes she is...if you belive me,
you better screem about it.

Repeat:
We make her paint her
face and dance
We make her paint her
face and dance We make her paint her
face and dance

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

Glass Slipper, Meet Glass Ceiling: A Year Women Won't Soon Forget

ammanaga — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:25:11 GMT

This is a quite well written editorial piece, that ties together the current societal experiences of women... younger and older:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/21/IN9B11A2MT.DTL&type=politics

""Yet "Sex" is more than a high-ticket shopping spree. In their love lives, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte all know that the Cinderella myth never comes completely true and that their emotions will usually betray them. They aren't happy with that, but they've sure learned how to cope. Their real power is in the safety net they altruistically provide for each other throughout all the missteps and tragedies.

More realistically, or at least seemingly so, traditional feminists tend to be armed with age and experience and sturdier shoes. They've been aiming for a bigger prize of elective and executive power much of their lives. They are determined to finally smash that barrier to the nation's highest office, for all it represents. They are the ones who laid the difficult groundwork for many of the workplace and lifestyle benefits that enable the younger, nontraditional types to go for the glass slipper instead.""

I haven't seen the "glass slipper" movie yet. But I have seen the "glass ceiling" Democratic Primary. And, damn... I really thought women were doing better than this in 2008.

Alas....

"" (Our) rage is particularly acute when discussing both mainstream and "progressive" media. Traditional feminists expected sexist attacks from the right, but not alleged lefty Chris Matthews saying that Hillary would never have been elected to the Senate had her husband not cheated.

The wound is opened anew when one of the most well-known exemplars of mainstream television suddenly dies and is revered as a "colossus" of journalism. This is the same man, the late Tim Russert, who chuckled benevolently when one of his guests, Christopher Hitchens on "Meet the Press," repeatedly called Hillary Clinton a "bitch." This is the same news icon who was satirized on "Saturday Night Live" as pitching softballs to Barack Obama and double whammy corkscrew change-ups to Hillary when he moderated a nationally televised debate. Women won't forgive him, even as he's laid to rest.""

Back to the drawing board, I guess. Cuz the patriarchy is not really interested in the liberation of women. Not even, and maybe particularly not, the "progressive" patriarchy. <sigh>

Of course.... there's really no such thing as "progressive patriarchy." Is there? Maybe that is what makes this particular wake-up call all the more painful...... and unforgetable. The loss of allies is never easy.

Amma

PS. This totally fascinates me: http://www.hireheels.com/ Because I really didn't think there were THAT many twenty or thirty somethings pulling for Hillary. But, there you have it: the crossection of "Sex in The City" with the Dem Primary.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 3 replies

Not So Fast Gloria... Hoist that Lever!

ammanaga — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:58:36 GMT

Hillary was barely cold in her political grave before the elite mothers of the feminist movement began to promise our allegiance to her rivals:

[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/us/politics/07women.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&fta=y&adxnnlx=1213607696-taqfeMiKaXS9yyyKKfQ[/url]

"“I don’t know any Hillary or feminist supporter who isn’t going to support Obama,” said Gloria Steinem, adding, however, that a stray few may write in Mrs. Clinton’s name on the November ballot. The question, Ms. Steinem said, is the degree of support these followers will offer Mr. Obama, whether they will merely pull levers for him or apply some of the vast energy and generosity they did for Mrs. Clinton.""

WHOA! HOLD UP, GLORIA!! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! .....

This is BRILLIANT:
[url]http://www.reclusiveleftist.com/2008/06/12/archimedes-lever/[/url]

"What’s interesting, though, is that many of my sister feminists — the prominent pundit types, not the regular Jane Doe types — haven’t yet grasped the import of what’s happening. Even some of those who supported Hillary are now heard to quietly mutter that it’s time to “unite the party.” They don’t recognize the great big lever in front of us because, well, we’ve never had a great big lever in front of us. We’ve talked about leverage for years, yearned for it, but never had it. Most of us have spent our entire political lives being taken for granted. We’re so used to voting Democrat no matter what that it’s become almost second nature." YES ARE GONNA HAVE TO TAKE TO THE STREET.

LOOKS LIKE IT'S UP TO JANE DOE NOW....

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Crone Wars

ammanaga — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:27:10 GMT

I love the title of the article!

And beyond that, I love what it has to say!

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13302

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

Fancy This: "Maudlin Optimism"

ammanaga — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:44:43 GMT

I learned the root origins of the word 'Maudlin" from Artwit... in response to one of Khrysso's blogs:

""The term comes from the stock character of Mary Magdalene in medieval morality plays,
where she is portrayed as histrionically weepy. The name Magdalene in the Oxford college of that
name is pronounced "maudlin." ""

I never really thought about it but... wow! What a feminist analysis could be done of THAT! Take a biblical heroine and reduce her to a one dimensional, weeping, penitant heap. Make a "stock character" of her. Then reduce her to a word: "Maudlin." Further... use the word to disparage women's grief and pain. Geesh.

I did a little search and found that the critics do not know if Frida Kahlo, for instance, was a "maudlin victim" type or not:
http://www.nytimes.com/specials/magazine4/articles/kahlo.html
WTF? Khalo a "victim?" How disparaging. I really think not.

Now... here is my question: how the heck did weeping in the "maudlin" tradition become associated with victimhood? Don't men (sorry for the broad brush, guys) know that it is therapeutic to weep? Is anyone *that* emotionally impaired.... as to disparage the act of weeping as somehow "playing the victim." Bah! I am personally so goddamn tired of feminism being somehow twisted into a form of "victimhood" I could puke.

Now here is an unusual spin on the word....

21] While I hate to lapse into *maudlin optimism* I am nonetheless concerned with what will become of ..... "
From: http://www.genders.org/g33/g33_mccallum.html

"Maudlin optimism?" What is that? Is that the concept that we weep in order to release ... to forgive ... to be forgiven ... and to move forward?

Well, fancy that!

Amma

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 4 replies

PINK on the Butt????

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:33:35 GMT

I saw a young girl the other day wearing a pair of pants with the words PINK across her buttocks. As feminists, what do you think is going on here? I am curious as to how this can be seen as empowering or anything other than degrading and exploitive. Your opinions and comments will be greatly appreciated.

j

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 14 replies

Join the pro-feminist “Cool Earth Party” tribe

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:41:41 GMT

The Democrats and Republicans are the paid agents of the oil, armament, and insurance industries. Their continued rule of America will assure a future of more imperialist war, a healthcare system that doesn't work, and no meaningful action on global warming (the single biggest threat to the future of humanity and a healthy planet).

The Cool Earth Party is being established on the principles of revolutionary democratic socialism. We call for an end to the dictatorial power of the wealthy through the nationalization of major industries and for the establishment of a planned economy run to meet human and environmental needs. This socialist society must be established within the framework of full democratic freedoms and multi-party proportional democracy. To be truly Democratic all parties running in elections will be legally guaranteed equal time in the media, big campaign spending will be outlawed, and electronic voting machines (which are presently used to rig American elections) will be eliminated.

Upon taking power the Cool Earth Party will establish a system of socialized medicine for the United States, end all U.S. military occupations of other countries, end U.S. military aid to repressive governments, and nationalize the auto and energy industries to carry out immediate emergency measures to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Cool Earth Party
http://tribes.tribe.net/coolearth

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Women's Power

adyashakti — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:38:53 GMT

Women's Power, the DVD
by Max Dashu, of Suppressed Histories Archives

What is the female reality that has been missing from most of what we see, hear, and read?
This DVD explores expanding cultural consciousness of women's experiences, achievements, and heritages by restoring women to cultural memory.

Watch / View excerpts from the dvd on ::
Monumental Women Farmers
Mother-Right: Equalitarian Societies
Woman Shaman
African Queens
Liberators

http://www.suppressedhistories.net/womenspowerclips.html

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

hello...

vba1 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:06:29 GMT

new to the tribe and thought you guys mind find these feminist blogs interesting:

http://echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com/
http://www.feministing.com/
http://www.feministe.us/blog/

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

SCUM Mynifesto

curiosity — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 05:05:40 GMT

i just read scum! how i ever delayed in adding it to my library i don't know but better late than never. anyone want to talk about it or is it taboo in a feminist circle? i realize some of the difficulties here and why the text was dropped from currency but i would like to reflect on it a bit.

i loved it! i loved her use of technology and her great reversal of the gender attributes- male being passive and female being assertive etc. brilliant stuff! gutsy!

if you are familiar with it or just to add some fodder to begin here is a quote...

“Completely egocentric, unable to relate, empathize or identify, and filled with a vast, pervasive,. diffuse sexuality, the male is psychically passive. He hates his passivity, so he projects it onto women, defines the male as active, then sets out to prove that he is (“prove that he is a Man”). His main means of attempting to prove it is screwing (Big Man with a Big Dick tearing off a Big Piece). Since he is attempting to prove an error, he must “prove” it again and again. Screwing, then, is a desperate compulsive, attempt to prove he’s not passive, not a woman; but he is passive and does want to be a woman.” p. 37 verso edition

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 58 replies

Female Enjoyment

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:46:32 GMT

of every type - food, sex, recreational

why are most people uncomfortable with it?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 7 replies

a backup resource for feminism tribes

msdynomite — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:04:55 GMT

Since Tribe has been having difficulties I realized it would suck to lose good places like this and the people in them. So I got proactive and made a "backup" site called Tribe Refugees, which includes some discussion groups to parallel favorite tribes.

I've created a Feminists, Not Man-Haters Group as part of the larger Tribe Refugees network. This was originally created to support the Feminists Who Don't Hate Men tribe, but I thought you here might find it useful as well.
You can use the site as a place to:
- chat during the donut times
- "backup" your Tribe contacts
- retreat to should Tribe just finally kick it

You need to first signup for the site (Tribe Refugees), then join the Group (Feminists, Not Man-Haters -- which is just a matter of clicking the Join Now link).
Feminists, Not Man-Haters: http://triberefugees.ning.com/group/feministsnotmanhaters
Tribe Refugees: http://triberefugees.ning.com/

If you'd like more information about the Tribe Refugees site:
How to Join: http://triberefugees.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1400844%3ATopic%3A25
About the Site: http://triberefugees.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1400844%3ATopic%3A4901
Similarities between Ning and Tribe: http://triberefugees.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1400844%3ATopic%3A6716

Please note: the site/group was intended to support this tribe, NOT compete or detract from it. I just thought you guys might like to know about it so you can bookmark it, or signup to squat your space, or go ahead and participate. :)

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 2 replies

Women's Shelter still needs help

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:33:35 GMT

A short while ago I posted about Pretty Bird Woman House, a reservation battered women's shelter that had been destroyed by vandals. They need to raise $35,000 and are still about $3000 away from their goal. They need to have raised that last three thousand by midnight TONIGHT.

Please pass this around to help them achieve their goal.

prettybirdwomanhousefund.chipin.com/pretty-bird-woman-house

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

Confusing philosophy with activism

jessica — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 04:57:32 GMT

Would it not behoove us to support our discussions with philosophical texts, and to discuss our points of view in good faith (that others are sincere and have also taken the idea of feminism to heart)? I think sometimes we forget this tribe is about feminist philosophy, and that there is also a "feminist activists" tribe.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 3 replies

is "patriarchy" the right word?

curiosity — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:17:18 GMT

i know that historically we have considered the oppression of womyn to be at the advantage of men and primarily a man's idea, however, does this really make sense to our postie mentality? with women oppressing womyn within patriarchy just as much if not more than men - have we come to a point of diminishing return by calling it a male dominated system? are we crippling the male's ability to contribute to the dismantling of this machine by saying it is their fault? are we misguiding womyn by placing the blame for their opression on men? is it really entirely the doing of men that have led us here? i am not contesting that oppression exists just questioning the way we label it and what we are doing about it.

please reply.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 3 replies

has anyone read?

el_Lobo — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:51:00 GMT

Amazon Grace: Re-Calling the Courage to Sin Big by Mary Daly

I am a big fan/student and have yet to get to this one... just wondering if someone had read and had thoughts?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Women's shelter needs help

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:15:47 GMT

I'm cross-posting this in several communities. Apologies to those who see the message more than once.

Pretty Bird Woman House, the only battered women's shelter on the Standing Rock Indian reservation in South Dakota, was destroyed earlier this year by vandals. What they didn't steal they smashed up: computers, clothes, the t.v.--then they burned down the shelter. Now PBWH is trying to buy another building, located next to a police station, but they need $70,000 and need help to raise the funds. Please pass this along.

prettybirdwomanhouse.blogspot.com/

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Invitation to join Men's Defense Issues Rights & Liberation

ZTM — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:34:41 GMT

I'm inviting all here to join a new tribe called:

Men's Issues Rights & Liberation

http://tribes.tribe.net/mensdefense

After heeding the call of feminism. There should be a echo off the canyon walls from the voice of men. This tribe is for those who have graduated from feminism, and may feel the need to express issues of men.

That men aren't all brutes. Disgusting and dirty.
That men can do things other than work a job and pay for things.
That men can be feminine without loosing their masuclinity.
That men should be trained or allowed to be gentle and caring as well.
That men can and should be strong and dignified, but are not robots.

Some woman may understand this but society does not.

So thats what the tribe is about.

We recognize the need for women's rights.
But if there needs to be a change in the view of women
Then the change of the view of what a man is - has to change too.
Becuase the old view is one that has a ugly and nasty view of women, and there is a reciprocal view of men amongst women now just as common.

Thus this tribe is dedicated to reform.
Focusing on defending men from hate oppression, and manipulation.

While we all understand the feminineity of women, and perhaps are understanding the masculinity of women.
We are all totaly blind and unelightened on the fact of the feminine within the masculine...
Thus the Men's Issues Rights & Liberation is not strictly a social oriented one but also a spiritual and emotinal one. Much of what we are told customerily today about what a man is - is cruel and destructive. Linguistics itself has been rigged to portray men as bad: "The Bad guys"

I ask you to join my tribe with an open mind.

A tribe where the sensitive/romantic anxious man can be respected and brought out in dignity, and not in shame.

Men have to go inward into the darkness and into the privacy of heart to heart communication to expose the injustices that have been instiutionalized crystialized and paved over against him in culture and in the psyche of every individual. This is heroic work, and no one but the man himself can do it, it is a surrender, and a realization of self. Women are of course welcome and encouraged to join the dialouge.

Namaste,
ZTM

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Me, mom & Morgentaler

Fifi — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:23:55 GMT

I'm sure all Canadian feminists know who Dr Henry Morgentaler is, and may be interested to know that there's a documentary coming out on his life. While there have been many documentaries about his fight to legalize abortion in Canada and ongoing support of access to safe abortion, this is the first documentary about who he is as a person.

My mom, who is also a doctor who campaigned for women's right to safe abortion and performed illegal abortions, knew Dr Morgentaler and considered going to work with him. Plus, my high school art teacher was his wife so I met him a couple of times over the years and found him to be a very warm and gentle man.

This links to an article about the new documentary coming out about him
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/wire/article.jsp?content=e10089A

And this is an older article which gives a good biographical account of Dr Morgentaler
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/series/morgentaler/

"Certainly, Dr. Morgentaler's younger patients at his Toronto clinic seem blithe about anything beyond their personal situation. They are free to choose, and why wouldn't they be?

Dr. Morgentaler has said he likes this attitude. Why shouldn't they take their human rights for granted? Their insouciance is a triumph, maybe the greatest triumph of all."

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

Solanas and women's anger

Fifi — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:45:12 GMT

This thread is being created to make space to discuss Solanas and her SCUM manifesto, and issues regarding women's anger. Since Solanas directed her anger towards men and patriarchal society - and men can't actually experience being an angry woman or treated the way women are by society and men - I'd ask any men who want to post in this thread to be respectful of that fact if they choose to post (keeping in mind that this *is* a feminist forum and by virtue of this not about censoring women's feelings so that men's don't get hurt or they don't get scared).

Here's the post from the other thread...

NA - I thought you may be interested to know that Valerie Solanas didn't grow up in some comfortable, snug middle class environment (since you've been discussing context). She first lived in Jersey with her parents (her father was a bartender) in a blue collar, ethnically diverse neighborhood. Then with her grandparents when her parents divorced (not sure of where or how they lived) and then with her mother in Washington, DC (not sure of the socio-economic situation here either). It's also relevant to remember that she was a performer as well as a writer, and herself said that the SCUM manifesto wasn't meant to be taken literally or acted upon. Seems to me that the impetus for shooting Warhol wasn't that he was a man but that he stole/lost her script (between the two of them there was enough paranoia and social anxiety that the outcome isn't really that unexpected).

I find it interesting that women's anger, and even verbal expressions of female anger, are *still* taboo...particularly in the eyes of men when it's directed towards men. Particularly when one considers that anger is a healthy and natural response to being abused, and part of the process of healing. Seems to me that reviling of angry women is, once again, an attempt to mold/control women to male ends (being nice, soft and pretty and looking after them). Sometimes anger is not only justified but necessary. Which is not a defense of Solanis' work (which I tend to see as a piece of performative text and in the context of feminist and Queer performance art) but rather an understanding of why and how she was so angry, and the value of the work within the context it was written. That we're still talking about it today, indicates just how powerful a work it was *shrug*

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 29 replies

Can a feminst be "pro-life"

kip-Cherone — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:30:16 GMT

Anyone who has read my posts on abortion knows i'm almost troll like, in my stubbornness on this issue. but i keep comming back to more and more arguments that either, as in the NY Times yesterday, make ENTIRE arguments about "when life begins", without ONCE mentioning the word "woman"; or, make comments such as the one here, paraphrase of Kennedy.

But last month’s Supreme Court decision upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act marked a milestone for a different argument advanced by anti-abortion leaders, one they are increasingly making in state legislatures around the country. They say that abortion, as a rule, is not in the best interest of the woman; that women are often misled or ill-informed about its risks to their own physical or emotional health; and that the interests of the pregnant woman and the fetus are, in fact, the same. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/washington/22abortion.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

To me, making abortion illegal means teh state is pro Forced Pregnancies.

So teh question is quite simple. do you think, as feminists, that a postion can exist that is "pro-life" and feminist at teh same time?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 47 replies

a feminist rant - having nothing to do with philo !

kip-Cherone — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:59:58 GMT

Why are fat men accepted in the business world, with thier bellies hanging 6 feet out over they belt, which is buckled basicaly around thier manhood to make room for the bellies --- but women are chastized, stared at, and riduiculed with "you need to go on a diet", and basically take that diet stance from the time they are 13 till they die????

I'm a fat woman ! I'm as sloppy in skin and belly and boobie as any fat man.

I WANT FAT EQUALITY.

grins, ok, rant over.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 8 replies

adieu

blue-j — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:21:29 GMT

i tried. and failed. so, i'll join all of the other pro-feminist boys and leave. as fifi wrote so eloquently, loving men don't usually call themselves "feminist" anyway, right? i obviously don't belong in this particular room, at least according to some of you (i have been privately supported and encouraged by some women in this tribe to stay and continue posting, and i thank them for that).

the place and time and people just aren't coming together here. again, my apologies for mistakes i have made, and i wish you all only happiness and continued revolutionary success. peace.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

The Women's Room

lori — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:04:31 GMT

I just finished rereading this classic by Marilyn French. What a great book though the end is a bit dismal for the narrator. I'm angry all over again. I'm thinking of asking one of my male friends to read it, he's so sure he isn't sexist. LOL, it would be a rude awakening if he could even get through it. Male privilege is so deeply embedded in our culture I think many men (and women) just accept it as a given.

I love the women in this book, especially Iso!

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 7 replies

Doris Lessing wins a Nobel prize...finally!

Fifi — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 12:25:34 GMT

The fantastic and important author Doris Lessing just won a Nobel prize! Woohoo!

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/10/11/nobel-literature.html

http://www.dorislessing.org/

After writing the Children of Violence series (1951-1959), a formally conventional bildungsroman (novel of education) about the growth in consciousness of her heroine, Martha Quest, Lessing broke new ground with The Golden Notebook (1962), a daring narrative experiment, in which the multiple selves of a contemporary woman are rendered in astonishing depth and detail. Anna Wulf, like Lessing herself, strives for ruthless honesty as she aims to free herself from the chaos, emotional numbness, and hypocrisy afflicting her generation.

Attacked for being "unfeminine" in her depiction of female anger and aggression, Lessing responded, "Apparently what many women were thinking, feeling, experiencing came as a great surprise." As at least one early critic noticed, Anna Wulf "tries to live with the freedom of a man" - a point Lessing seems to confirm: "These attitudes in male writers were taken for granted, accepted as sound philosophical bases, as quite normal, certainly not as woman-hating, aggressive, or neurotic."

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 2 replies

Women and Science

kip-Cherone — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:11:18 GMT

posted on another thread by Lori
"Women in math and science is a very complex topic, worthy of another thread (I am one by the way). "

So 1) how do we actively change this perception
and perhaps more importantly

how do we get our daughters to want and love science and math. I do not at all buy into the idea that this is a biological thing. Cultural, sure. women are less good at math and science (maybe) because of culture. but i've seen nothing that really studies why it would be a biological cause.

so how do we engage our girls into science so they have that option available, when they are ready to start looking at "what do i want to be" both in the abstract (as 5 or 6 year olds), and the concrete "shit, i have to declare my major this year".

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 27 replies

Her Mother's Daughter

lori — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:19:49 GMT

Another amazing book by Marilyn French. This one really has me reeling. I'm blown away by how much I relate to it. There are so many pieces I would like to talk about: how our lives really are different as women, that men are the main source of grief for women (but it's taboo to talk about that), the ambivalence of mother-daughter relationships, on and on and on.

The narrator is a photographer working for a major magazine in the early sixties. She is clearly breaking ground as a woman.

"I had had enough wits about me to set the interview a week away. This gave me time to go through all my drawers, considering. I rejected all the pictures of angry or dismayed mothers, and most of those that were interesting, or close-ups of unusual objects like a stack of sewer pipes or a train wheel, or the inside of an iris. All baby pictures were taboo. I ended with a set showing men working, machines, and a few splendid landscapes. After all, I knew what World liked. I saw it every week in the Herald waiting room It was the best picture magazine--and the best paying--in the world. At the time, I regret to say, I did not think at all about concealed censorship; about how, if you want to get ahead in the world, you take your cue from what is established, and shoot the things the establishment enjoys seeing, and avoid those it does not."

Do we still censor ourselves as women? Is our world still somehow "less" than the world of men?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

where are our feminist philosophies headed next?

redbricolage — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:14:20 GMT

hi all. as i sit here pouring over my own self-indulgent dissertation materials, i can't help but wonder where you all imagine major shifts in feminist philosophy occuring. for me, the area of non-cog ways of knowing is up-and-coming, but what do your studies or thoughts tell you about what's next? if it helps: as butler's notion of performativity did to gender studies, so ______ will do to _______?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 41 replies

the anatomy of hell...

subliminalinertia — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:49:30 GMT

i'm taking this class about writing narrative for film, and the mythologies behind the 'hero's journey', which makes large references to jung's work and joseph campbell's work.. i approached the prof after the last class to mention that i felt the narratives being presented and discussed were uniquely male, which is an appropriate reflection of mainstream media, but why was he not making an effort to present more diverse narratives?
he was initially defensive, thinking i was criticizing him, which i wasn't, he's a great prof... but once we got over that he suggested that i make a lecture presentation as my class project. he said he would be willing to let me have a class to show a film of my choice and talk about it....

i'm kind of intimidated by this prospect, not sure if i should feel flattered or resent having the responsibility passed off to me, and trying to work out suitable ideas for a presentation.

i was thinking of showing a film by catherine breillat, perhaps 'romance' or 'the anatomy of hell'. and discuss narrative from a woman's perspective.

i'd be curious to hear any thoughts about this at all... do you think it is too severe, that i'll just scare people, or that it is a good reflection of feminine psychology?.......

anyway, i'm nervous about the idea and any feedback would be helpful.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 6 replies

Newbie from Seattle

Arctic Daisy — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:14:01 GMT

Hello All,
I am 39 years old and I first heard about Feminism last year. My boyfriend is a feminist and he introduced it to me. Let me tell you that it has been the most empowering experience of my life!
I have recently moved to Seattle and am looking for more feminist to hang with. Does anyone have any ideas about where I should look?
Thanks,
Daisy

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 5 replies

Great line from Ani Difranco

lori — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:25:35 GMT

Talking about feminism in today's world:

"Feminism ain't about equality, it's about reprieve."

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 3 replies

The Reign of the "Feminazis"?

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:59:12 GMT

The following was written in response to:

"The Reign of the Feminazis"
http://uspolitics.tribe.net/thread/ef5ca2f9-d43e-4ff1-86a1-510f505e819d

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why has the Equal Rights Amendment not yet been passed?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why do women not yet get equal pay for equal work?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why is talk radio dominated by sexist pigs?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why has the United States gotten away with invading a country for oil where there had been a secular government where women had made great advancements, only for the U.S. to impose a religious government with functioning death squads that is rapidly taking away women’s rights?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why did the U.S. government spend billions on CIA operations in Afghanistan that imposed the Mujahideen and Taliban governments that made the crime of teaching little girls how to read and write punishable by death?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why is the right to abortion slowly being taken away in this country?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why did the U.S. government impose, through a coup, and continues to support, the genocidal government of Guatamala that has slaughtered entire Indian villages for the profits of the United Fruit Company, while at same time denying women of all rights?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why does the U.S. government still treat revolutionary Cuba as an enemy, when it is in revolutionary Cuba where women have won many basic rights, including free abortion on demand.

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis", and as you claim, part of the "Feminazi" agenda is homosexual rights,

why is there not equal rights on marriage?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis", and as you claim, part of the "Feminazi" agenda is homosexual rights,

and why are homosexuals still descriminated against in the military?

The fact is that we still live in a sexist, homophobic, imperialist society.

Steven Argue, for Liberation News
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

men and feminism tribe

blue-j — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:54:09 GMT

I started a tribe for male feminists and women who want to discuss the role of men in feminism, so we wouldn't take up so much space around the topic in general feminist forums like this one. i invite all of you to join!

http://tribes.tribe.net/malefeminists

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 7 replies

Thought experiment anyone?

lori — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:06:30 GMT

I'm feeling kind of intrigued by this idea now. I'd like to come up with a stereotypical feminine behavior that is nonthreatening to discuss and try to understand what we mean by biology vs. culture, and whether or not it would be possible to design an experiment to test the hypothesis that the behavior is more cultural than biological. The hard part is finding a stereotypical behavior that is nonthreatening. Does anyone have any suggestions?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 34 replies

buffy the vampire slayer

blue-j — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 04:06:00 GMT

ok, is buffy kick ass feminist culture or shallow crapola? where do you stand in relation to the slayer?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 5 replies

are men oppressed under patriarchy?

curiosity — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 03:13:10 GMT

in the face of radical feminism i have a worthy project we men can get busy on while our culture works out the issues resulting from our phallo-rational universe. let's get men to understand they too suffer under the bonds of patriarchy.
this is great conversation for a party, especially if you smell a dominant male in the room. open his brain a little.
so i have my suspicions but i want to find out, how are men oppressed by patriarchy?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 37 replies

androcentrism in this tribe

blue-j — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 01:16:19 GMT

i am amazed how the ground shifted and suddenly boys came out of everywhere, and most of the female participants withdrew. i seemingly participated in this shift, though it's not what i intended. what happened?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 6 replies

where does gender and sexual freedom come from?

blue-j — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:34:12 GMT

i seem to be in a group of social constructionists, which i have been for many years, but i'm now coming around to including evolutionary biology and anatomy as i go. i'm trying to figure out what is, not just what i want it to be. (after all, even if something is statistically true of women and men as groups, even physiologically, that doesn't mean that you can assume anything about any individual you meet.) i do believe there are trends among the sexes that are fairly loose, but still discernible, but that any limbic or endocrinological factor is still subject to the cognitive considerations of the neocortex. now, does this mean we become free via our frontal lobes consideration of how we want to behave? i don't think so. i actually find myself to be a determinist now. not only a genetic determinist, but a memetic, historical, cultural, hormonal, nutritional... etc. determinist! i don't believe in an ahistorical "soul" that somehow makes decisions outside of its situation.

how do you all reconcile your experience and desire for freedom with materialism and determinism? can someone choose to be gay? what determines which person will become feminist, for example?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 44 replies

A Feminist Reading List

missroach — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 20:22:14 GMT

Lately I've been reading a lot of "pop" feminism stuff-- Feminine Mystique, Backlash, "Bitch", The beauty Myth, Cunt... its all well and good, but I'd like a little more hard-hitting stuff.

More stuff like Adrienne Rich, Gayle Rubin and the like.

What would be your suggestions for necessary reading for modern day feminists?

(aka: what should I put on my queue?)

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 10 replies

why womens studies?

Katheryn — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 01:43:54 GMT

Im taking 3 womens studies classes next semester. And one of the guys asked why take womens studies there are no men's studies!
and my ex boyfriend piped up "because the whole world is mens studies... "

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 7 replies

kayan organization

raz — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:52:43 GMT

http://www.kayan.org.il/

check it out

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

the problem of sexual objectification

blue-j — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:26:56 GMT

it's apparent that men sexually objectify women more often than the other way around, among heterosexual folks. what are the reasons for this? is it always a problem?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 16 replies

feminism and female interests

blue-j — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:56:08 GMT

should feminism support all female-centered interests, or just address historical oppression?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 89 replies

Beyond Rightist Lies, The Real Legacy of Che Guevara

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:32:47 GMT

Che Guevara helped bring women's rights, including access to birth control and free abortion on demand to the women of Cuba. -Steven

Beyond Rightist Lies, The Real Legacy of Che Guevara

By Steven Argue

I posted the following response at the “Activists” site in defense of the legacy of Che Guevara. A series of writings have been posted in opposition to Liberation News at that site.
http://allactivists.tribe.net/thread/95ca19a9-4594-4204-95c2-88cd31a8c00e

And Glen the troll strikes again. On another site he was blaming "progressives" for homelessness and public urination. In reality it is capitalism that causes homelessness.

Here Glen makes the absurd statement, "I'm sure all those peasants Che murdered were happy for the help."

Che never murdered any peasants, but he did save a lot of their lives. He started out as a doctor traveling throughout Latin America, giving medical care to the poor.

Che Guevara was in Guatemala as a doctor in 1954 when the CIA overthrew the Democratically elected Arbenz government. That government was seen as a threat to the profits of the Rockefeller family's United Fruit Company because Arbenz advocated land reform. So U.S. imperialism overthrew Arbenz and put a long series of military dictatorships in power that tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of peasants and kept the people in extreme poverty. At the time of the CIA intervention in Guatemala, Che advocated that Arbenz should arm the people to resist, but Arbenz was not a revolutionary socialist and refusing to arm the people was his downfall.

Later Che was in Mexico when he met a dissident in exile, exiled by the U.S. backed Batista dictatorship in Cuba. The name of that young dissident was Fidel Castro. The Batista dictatorship had murdered tens of thousands of people, many of them student activists.

Castro and Che and a number of other Cuban revolutionaries set out in a boat called the Granma from Mexico for Cuba, armed and ready to lead the insurrection against Batista. The day they were set to arrive a general strike was called in Cuba, but the Granma got caught in stormy waters and arrived three days late. When they arrived Batista knew they were coming and most were killed. Che, Fidel, and a few others managed to escape and make their way into the rural Cuban mountains. There the peasants fed them and they began to build the revolutionary army that overthrew Batista in 1959.

Upon taking power the Cuban revolution, as in any true revolution, liquidated the old power structure. A new revolutionary government was built and the murderers and torturers of the Batista government were put on trial. Eight hundred were executed for their crimes.

Before the Cuban Revolution, Rockefeller’s United Fruit Company owned much of the land. Peasants starved in the off-season and lacked medical care and access to education. When the Cuban revolution came to power in 1959, Fidel Castro’s promise of land reform was quickly carried out. This made Cuba an enemy of the United States government, and the Cubans have never been forgiven since. Later a broader socialist revolution in the economy was carried out.

In addition to land reform the Cuban revolution has provided free access to good healthcare, education for kids even in the most remote rural areas, free education through the university levels, an elimination of hunger, an end to legal discrimination and segregation that existed against Blacks, women’s rights including birth control and free abortion on demand, environmental policies that the World Wildlife Fund says are the only passing policies on global warming in the world, and a promotion of culture.

For the vast majority of the Cuban people today their lives are much-much better than they were under the Batista government. They are a highly educated people doing much better. For a small minority, the wealthy, that profited from the misery of capitalism, their lives got worse. Most of them are now living in Miami. In Cuba, the Cuban people still come out in their millions at rallies in support of the revolution and socialism.

Che didn’t kill peasants, he doctored them, and when he decided that wasn’t enough, he fought along side them to better their conditions.

After helping lead the Cuban Revolution, Che was caught and murdered by CIA and Green Beret trained, equipped, and led Bolivian soldiers in 1967.

Yet the model of Che’s revolutionary self-sacrifice and dedication continues to live on and inspire new generations of socialist revolutionaries. Likewise, Che’s dedication to socialism, including providing medical care to the poor, lives on with the Cuban revolution.

It is interesting that tiny poor Cuba under a U.S. economic blockade is able to provide good healthcare for everyone. Cuba, unlike the United States, does not let people die in the emergency rooms without treatment or turn sick people away from receiving healthcare because they lack insurance. Cuba has taken the profit out of illness and injury and provide healthcare as a human right.

Likewise, while the United States is sending military troops to set up death squad governments in Iraq and Haiti and to intervene in Afghanistan, the Phillipines, and prop up the death squad government of Colombia, Cuba instead sends doctors. Cuban doctors save lives. They are on the ground in a number of countries providing regular care, and they are also sent to countries in emergencies. A few years back Cuba sent doctors to Central America after a bad hurricane and saved many lives. Likewise they offered to send doctors to New Orleans immediately after Katrina, they were well trained in dealing with that type of situation and would have saved lives, but Bush refused to let them in. A similar thing happened with the Nicaraguan government refusing entry, but that government let the Cuban doctors in due to protests.

While I have important arguments with the Cuban government in saying that revolutionary socialism must be democratic as well as on the essential nature of the Theory of Permanent Revolution in the international program; it would be the height of socialist sectarianism not to recognize the significant gains that have been made through the Cuban revolution.

U.S. Hands Off Cuba!

End the Economic Blockade!

For The Right of US Citizens to Travel To Cuba!

U.S. Out Of Guantanamo!

For National Healthcare in The United States!

End US Imperialism Through Socialist Revolution!

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posted in Feminist Philosophy - 2 replies

Kurdish Culture, Repression, Women’s Rights, and Resistance

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:20:17 GMT

I thought some of you might find one of my latest articles of interest:

Kurdish Culture, Repression, Women’s Rights, and Resistance

By Steven Argue

The Kurdish people number at an estimated at 25-30 million people. They live in eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwest of the Zagros Mountains in Iran, and in Armenia. They also have a large émigré population in Western Europe. With 4-5 million people and 15-20% of the population the Kurds are the largest non-Arab minority in Iraq (CIA Iraq, 2007). They are also the largest non-Turkish minority in Turkey comprising 20% of the population (CIA Turkey, 2007). The Kurdish speaking people are 9% of the Iranian population (CIA Iran, 2007). In Syria, the Kurds are the largest minority with about 1.75 million people comprising about 10% of the population (Lowe 2006). The rise of nationalist xenophobia and war in Armenia after the fall of the Soviet Union has pushed most Kurds out of Armenia, but around 30,000 Yezidi Kurds remain comprising about 1% of the population (CIA Armenia, 2007).

The language of the Kurds, called Kurdish, is distinct from the Persian of Iran, the Arabic of Iraq and Syria, and the Turkish of Turkey. Thus the common language of the Kurds both separates them from the dominant cultures in the nation-states where they live and unites the Kurdish people as a nationality without a nation-state.

While being distinct the Kurdish language is most closely related to Persian, yet the origins of the varied Kurdish culture is partially influenced by the absorption of characteristics of the differing nationalities and cultures that have historically surrounded them.

In terms of religion the Kurdish people are mostly Muslim with both Shia (primarily of the Alevi sect), Sunni (primarily Shafi’i). There is also a large Sufi influence among many Kurdish Muslims, often cited as a moderating influence on Islamic fundamentalism. A small number of Kurds are also Yezidi Muslims and Christians. The Kurds also have a history that has included secular and atheist political leaderships.

The differing Kurdish religious identities have, at times, been a political factor both in divisions among the Kurdish people and in divisions, which distinguish them from the dominant nationalities. The strong Kurdish national identity is based on mutual language and a history of oppression. These factors hold the Kurds together as a people.

For the Kurdish people outrageous acts of oppression in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, and Syria have included mass murder, suppression of language rights, exploitation of Kurdish resources with nothing but poverty given in return, deprivations of national citizenships, and the brutal suppression of political representation.

Despite the oppression the Kurdish people have faced, they continue to speak their language and organize politically and, at times, militarily to fight back nearly everywhere they continue to live as a native population.

The Kurdish people are, in fact, the largest national minority in the world that has no homeland. Yet, it is largely their mutual language as well as their mutual oppression and a large amount of mutual poverty (despite some class differences) that continues to unite the Kurdish people. They desire borders that would change the map of the Near East. A better understanding of the Kurdish people is a key to understanding the entire region.

Kurdish Language and Literature

While being most closely related to Persian; the language of the Kurds, called Kurdish, is distinct from the Persian of Iran, the Arabic of Iraq and Syria, and the Turkish of Turkey. Historically many Kurdish intellectuals have written both in Kurdish in as well as in the languages of the dominating cultures (Blau 2007).

Despite a long history of oppression that includes the banning of the written and spoken Kurdish word, the Kurdish people have a rich literary history. Ell Herirl (1425-1495) is the first well-known Kurdish poet (Blau 2007). He, like the many patriotic Kurdish poets that followed, wrote of his love of Kurdish lands and its women (Blau 2007).

Up until very recently the Kurdish language was brutally suppressed everywhere in its native range except the Soviet Republic of Armenia. Armenian Kurds enjoyed special status as an ethnic minority in the Soviet Union including special programs for economic development. The Kurdish language, far from being banned, enjoyed sponsorship through state-sponsored Kurdish radio, a Kurdish newspaper, and Kurdish cultural events. After the fall of the Soviet Union Armenian Kurds lost language rights and other protections and most Kurds have been forcefully deported or have fled to Germany and other west European countries as well as to Russia (Mehrdad [date?]).

In Turkey, the Kurdish language was illegal up until 1991 when political and armed struggle forced the Turkish government to recognize some Kurdish language rights. Kurds and international human rights organizations, however, still complain of an oppressive situation imposed by the Turkish government (Human Rights Watch 2006).

In Iraq, Saddam Hussein, as a U.S. backed ally at the time, is famous for committing mass murder against the Kurdish speaking population. Today Kurdish literature is still repressed with a number of Kurdish journalists jailed by what the Kurdish leftist opposition considers to be a puppet government of the United States and central government.

Iranian policy forbids the Kurdish language and has attempted to assimilate the Kurds into the dominant Persian culture. Besides the state of war between Iraq and the Kurds in the Iran-Iraq war, there was also a state of war between the Iranian government and Iranian Kurds at that same time. More recently in 2005 the Iranian government opened fire on Kurdish protesters with attack helicopters killing 20 and wounding 200 (Amnesty International 2005). Despite the attempts by the Iranian government to stomp out Kurdish culture, Kurdish literature and histories are available in Iran in both Kurdish and Persian (Blau 2007).

In Syria, the written Kurdish language has been banned since 1958. In 1987 that ban was extended to Kurdish music and Kurdish videos (Amnesty International 2005). Hundreds of thousands of native Syrian Kurds have no citizenship rights, the Kurdish flag is illegal (but still flown), and numerous acts of repression have been documented.

Due to the fact that Kurdish culture is horribly repressed in all of their native lands, today it is the Kurdish Diaspora living in Europe, the United States, and Australia that create most of the new Kurdish literature. This includes poetry, children’s books, newspapers, and magazines. Sweden, with a very enlightened policy towards immigrant populations, encourages Kurds and other groups to continue their languages and cultures and allocates a large amount of money to the relatively small Kurdish population for Kurdish language publications (Blau 2007). In addition works in the Kurdish language are being produced in other countries where funding is harder to come by.

The tenacity of Kurdish culture owes much to its extensive historic roots, pride of its people in their literature and language, and refusal to die in the face of attempts at forced assimilation and brutal repression.

Kurdish Modes of Production and Their Development

Kurdish lands are rich and productive, and they sustain the Kurdish people both through pastoral activity as well as through agriculture (Izady 1992). The gathering of wild nuts, berries, and truffles are also important sources of food and income for the Kurdish people, especially in forested regions (Izady 1992). In addition some of the Kurdish lands are rich in oil resources, but the Kurds have been denied access to this oil wealth.

It is established that a number of domestic animals as well as cereal crops used around the world were first domesticated in Kurdish lands (Izady 1992).

Kurdish pastoralism takes place primarily in areas not suitable for agriculture because they are too high in elevation, to steep, or too low in precipitation (Izady 1992). Pastoral activities were once nomadic, but now encompass only lands within a few days of permanent dwellings. As a result some lands that were traditionally grazed are no longer used (Izady 1992).

Kurdish lands grow large amounts of wheat, barley, rice, cotton, tobacco, sugar beets, olives, corn, sunflowers, soybeans, fruits, and nuts. Many of these are cash crops sold to other areas of the Near East where there is far less arable land (Izady 1992).

In many areas of Kurdistan agriculture is still practiced with ox, mule, or donkey drawn wooden ploughs (Jaff 2007).

A merchant class of Kurds has arisen since the 1950s making a living off of capitalist exchanges (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia 2007).

While participating in the broader economy, household families are the most basic economic unit for rural Kurds. Such households are patrilocal containing the first son and his wife and their children. Households participate in reciprocal non-capitalist labor exchanges and share what the household earns. Urban Kurds often continue this family communal structure, but it sometimes falls apart in the face of wage earners no longer wishing to share their income (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia 2007).

Many rural Kurds also seasonally participate in construction labor in the cities, bringing additional income back to their families (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia 2007).

Reciprocal exchanges are not just confined to households. They also take place between neighbors and kin in a village, and are expected. These communal exchanges also take place among urban Kurds (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia 2007).

In addition tribal Kurds are expected to work for landlords and tribal leaders, with durations of labor not clearly defined (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia 2007).

The labor structure in Kurdish villages reflects the labor-intensive, technologically primitive, agriculture forced on them by the neglect of the oil rich nations many Kurds are part of. Meanwhile, due to discrimination, the petroleum and mining operations in Kurdish areas rarely hire Kurds (Jaff 2007). This contributes to Kurdish poverty in regions that are rich in natural resources; fueling resentment and separatist desires.

Kurdish Sexuality, Birth, Domestic Life, Descent, and Kinship

The Kurdish people are organized in patrilineal clans (Refugee Health 2007). As such there is patriarchal control of marriage and property, with women treated in many ways like property. In addition, political status is often the product of patrilineal descent (Refugee Health 2007). It is a male dominated culture where female sexuality is repressed and women are oppressed.

Rural Kurdish women are allowed to mingle with males, but they are not allowed to make their own decisions regarding sexuality or husbands (Hassanpour 2001). Marriage for Kurdish women is a form of bondage traditionally decided upon by the male members of her family (Hassanpour 2001). These decisions have often been made in the girl’s childhood, and sometimes even before she is born (Hassanpour 2001). In Kurdish Iraq such practices of arranged marriage have been on the wane for a number of years, but family permission and payments for brides are still the rule (Refugee Health 2007).

Rural Kurdish marriages are patrilocal (Hassanpour 2001). The family receiving the bride pays the family she came from (Hassanpour 2001). This price is seen as payment for the labor that will be lost when she moves to live with the groom’s family (Hassanpour 2001). To hold onto the wealth of the village marriages within the village are preferred and marriages between first cousins are often arranged (Refugee Health 2007). Families also sometimes exchange sons and daughters with the same family to save on expenses (Refugee Health 2007).

The male families of urban Kurds do not pay a bride price at the time of marriage. Yet if the male decides to divorce the woman, his family is contractually obliged to pay her family. Urban Kurdish women are also not permitted to ask for a man’s hand in marriage, nor decide to divorce. Divorced women do not have a right to custody of the children (Hassanpour 2001).

Polygamy also sometimes occurs amongst Kurds. In such cases the wives are ranked in status by their age (Hassanpour 2001). While polygamy is not the norm, up to four wives are allowed (Refugee Health 2007).

Like marriage, men hold women’s sexuality under a strict ideal of shame and constraint, including virginity before marriage (Hassanpour 2001). This “ideal” is upheld under the threat, and use of, male violence against women. Such violence includes beatings, pouring acid on faces, shaving heads, and even “honor” killings where women are murdered to by family members to bring back the family’s good name (Kurdish Women’s Rights Watch 2007).

While Kurdish women may be murdered for adultery, no similar treatment is dished out to Kurdish men for the same act (Hassanpour 2001).

Kurds tend to see having large families as the ideal. This grows out of the material need for more laboring hands in the rural areas where most Kurds live, as well as from religious beliefs that consider birth control immoral by Islamic law. Yet there are growing numbers of young couples that ask aid workers for birth control. The birth of a child is celebrated with a feast. (Refugee Health 2007)

While the Kurdish people are oppressed and denied many fundamental rights, Kurdish women are doubly oppressed. While some Kurds have claimed better treatment of women than most of the Islamic world, treatment of Kurdish women does appear to have many similarities to those of the dominating cultures. One difference with Iranian treatment is that Kurdish women are not forced to wear the veil and are generally allowed freer movement than in many traditionally Muslim societies including Iran (Refugee Health 2007).

In Iraq, however, Kurdish women are not historically better off. Currently the Kurdish nationalist parties in power, working with the U.S. occupation, have done much to undermine the gains made for women’s rights during the rule of Saddam Hussein. Under Saddam Hussein’s secular government, Iraqi women had many rights found nowhere else in the historically Islamic world except in the Asian republics of the former Soviet Union. Over 50% of Iraqi doctors were women. Iraqi women were allowed to walk unescorted in the streets, to drive, to freely criticize men, and the right to work and control their own funds. Today the Kurdish parties that the U.S. has put in control of Iraqi Kurdistan are working towards adding brutally anti-woman Sharia (Islamic Law) to the constitution that would strip women of more rights. Similar moves are being made by the U.S. imposed central government in Iraq.

In Turkey, it is well documented that the Turkish government has routinely used rape as a weapon in the their counter-insurgency measures against Kurdish separatists (Hilton 2002).

There are many historical examples of Kurdish nationalists and communists speaking out for women’s rights (Hassanpour 2001). Additionally Kurdish parties in Iraq that advocate women’s rights, such as the Worker’s Communist Party of Iraq, have been excluded by the U.S. occupation from participation in elections. Besides in Iraq, the use by the United States of rightwing misogynist Islamic forces against socialists and nationalists with progressive stands on women is well established, with the U.S. bankrolling of the Mujahideen holy war against women’s rights in Afghanistan in the 1980’s being another well known example.

Kurdish women, with the exception of those that lived in Soviet Armenia, have not had the benefit of the feminist movements of the west nor the social revolutions of the Soviet Union and China that greatly advanced women’s rights in those societies. While not achieving perfection, the Chinese and Soviet revolutions outlawed forced marriages and made other giant strides towards women’s equality including in the areas of women’s education, employment, and reproductive rights.

While outsiders may find it easy to judge Kurdish treatment of women, it is worth noting that up until now the Kurdish nation has been denied the right to make any fundamental decisions regarding any policies in their land without outside control. Given the record of the dominating countries, including the United States, it appears that it is only within the context of Kurdish self-determination that the problems of women’s oppression can be solved by the Kurdish people themselves.

Kurdish Political Organization

The Kurdish people have organized themselves into many political organizations that advocate language rights, freedom from the social chauvinism and violence of the dominant cultures, Kurdish independence, and in many cases socialism. These Kurdish political organizations often exist in direct contradiction to widespread feudal village structures and the oppression of women.

The Kurdish Worker’s Party (KKP), one of the main Kurdish resistance groups in Turkey, sees the continuation of feudal political structures on the village level as being the result of oppression and exploitation from the Turkish State. The following emic from the program of the KKP spells out this point of view:

"National oppression exercised by Turkish state through massacres, compulsory resettlement and forced immigration goes on brutally. This oppression manifests itself economically in the fact that Kurdistan is a domestic market for Turkey, plundered and destroyed; politically in the fact that the Kurds are under the oppression of a foreign state, and denied of national sovereignty; and socially and culturally in the national humiliation and cultural backwardness created by continuing tribalism, widespread ignorance and forced assimilation." (The Kurdish Worker’s Party Programme)

The KKP is one of nineteen different Kurdish parties in Turkey (Turkey 2004). Of these thirteen have been declared illegal by the central government, including the KKP (Turkey 2004). On the other hand the Democratic People’s Party, one of the few legal Kurdish parties, does participate in Turkish elections (Turkey 2004). They are a member of the reformist and generally pro-capitalist Socialist International. Parties with stronger political programs for Kurdish independence and for socialism are banned and communities identified with them have faced brutal counter-insurgency methods that have included massacres, the raping of women, and execution of leaders.

In Iraq, two Kurdish parties, working with the U.S. occupation, rule Iraqi Kurdistan. These are the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and three minor Kurdish parties that have participated in an electoral alliance with the PUK and KDP called National Democratic Kurdish List. In the Kurdish area the National Democratic Kurdish List received 89.55% of the vote in the 2005 elections (Iraq 2005).

While the 2005 vote may appear to show widespread support among Iraqi Kurds for the KDP – PUK –USA government, other reports contradict this. Mass protests have erupted in Kurdish areas against the occupation-imposed lack of electricity and water (Worker-Communist Party of Iraq 2007). In response the KDP – PUK –USA government has used violence against protesters and arrested a number of journalists (Worker-Communist Party of Iraq 2007). Involved in these protests is the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq, a political party with members across Iraq of all ethnicities that supports Kurdish rights. In Kurdistan the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq has protested U.S. policy on Kurdistan where they point out that although the Kurdish people in Iraq had gained a high level of economic independence in the last two decades, U.S. policy has in effect annexed Iraqi Kurdistan back into the central government (Worker-Communist Party of Iraq 2007).

Unlike the KDP and PUK, the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They did this while also opposing the government of Saddam Hussein. In addition the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq, at great risk to their lives, is carrying out a campaign in Kurdistan against the imposition of Sharia (Islamic Law) through the constitution of the puppet KDP and PUK government. They see this as horribly anti-woman and also argue that it will also further increase sectarian violence (Worker-Communist Party of Iraq 2007).

Syria has fourteen different Kurdish political parties (Syria 2004). These organizations are banned in a country where it is illegal to even raise the flag of Kurdistan, yet Syrian Kurds continue to struggle for a homeland.

Iran has five different Kurdish political parties (Iran 2004). These have been involved in a number of uprisings against the central government in the last few years that have faced brutal repression (Kamala 2004). One of these organizations leading the uprisings is the Kamala (Revolutionary Organisation of Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan), a socialist grouping that has been organizing armed struggle against the central Islamic regime. As strong advocates of women’s rights the Kamala were the first Kurdish organization to integrate women into their armed forces (Kamala 2004).

Prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution the Kamala was also one of many leftist and pro-woman organizations struggling against the brutal U.S. imposed monarchy of the Shah of Iran, but in a great tragedy for women and for Kurds, it was chauvinistic Islamists that got the upper hand (Kamala 2004). In their assessment of the Islamic regime the Kamala states, “The Iranian regime has imposed the a series of discriminative policies in Kurdistan, which has ultimately resulted in the military occupation of Kurdistan, widespread poverty amongst this massive population, the suppression of Kurdish culture, drug addiction (especially amongst youth), religious suppression, forced migration, imprisonment, terror, torture, and the Killing of whoever opposing these tyrannical policies."

Armenian Kurds have suffered as well. While Kurds were given special language rights in Soviet Armenia, after the capitalist counter-revolution Kurds in Armenia faced mass violence and forced deportations. I have found no evidence Kurdish political organization in Armenia today.

The fate of Armenia’s largely ethnically cleansed Kurds is what has been attempted by all other countries that dominate the Kurds, elimination of the Kurdish question through violence and forced assimilation. Yet there is stubborn resistance in the will of the Kurdish people that refuses to give up. Instead many Kurds become resistance fighters that are bold enough to see a redrawn map where Kurdistan gains its independence from Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. In addition many are also bold enough to see that future as one that ends feudal backwardness, promotes education, builds socialism, and brings equality for women.

The Socialization of Kurdish Children in Language and Culture

The defining trait of Kurdish culture is their language. The education of Kurdish youth in their native tongue is an essential component, not only in the preservation of Kurdish culture, but also simply in giving the best education to young Kurds. The reason for this is that young people often have many difficulties learning when they are taught in a foreign tongue.

In the early part of the 20th century British colonial authorities in charge of education in Iraq referred to the Kurdish language as “vernacular”. Their educational model was one of teaching in the Kurdish language only at the primary school level, with all higher education in Arabic (The Education of Kurdish Language, 1995-2003).

In 1926 the famous Kurdish nationalist Huzni Mukriyani suggested in a fictional conversation between a Kurdish father and son that ignorance was better than being taught in a foreign tongue. The father states, “My dear son, I like education and I am not an enemy of knowledge and enlightenment, but it is better for you to remain ignorant than to be unaware of your identity, not to study in your language and to serve the strangers...” (The Education of Kurdish Language, 1995-2003).

This emic view of Huzni Mukriyani’s of the over riding importance of children learning in Kurdish wasn’t just based on a nationalistic or romantic desire for cultural preservation, but also grew out of the practical desire of having Kurdish children be able to understand the language they were being taught in. This point was driven home in another line of the fictional conversation where the father states to his son, “You had better become a shepherd, [Or] do ploughing for me. These are better than taking lessons and not understanding them” (The Education of Kurdish Language, 1995-2003).

In the 1950’s, in Iraqi Kurdistan, demands by the Kurdish community for more education in Kurdish began to bear some fruit, but many instructors had difficulty teaching in Kurdish because they had been instructed in Arabic (The Education of Kurdish Language, 1995-2003).

In Turkey, Iran, and Syria education in the Kurdish language has been even more wanting. The Kurdish language was illegal in Turkey up until 1991 and education in the Kurdish language is still lacking (Human Rights Watch 2006).

Yet, as an oppressed people without many educational opportunities, Kurdish children continue to learn their language from their families and communities even when formal education is lacking. Thus, the Kurdish language continues to be passed on to the children, partly out of necessity, partly out of a nationalistic pride and refuses to die or be forcefully assimilated.

Religion In Kurdistan, Belief and Disbelief

Kurds practice a variety of monotheist religions including a number of varieties of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. In addition some Kurdish nationalist movements led by socialists have a strong history of atheism and secularism.

The wide variety of Kurdish religions is due, in part, to the absorption of differing religions from surrounding nationalities. These religions have moved through the region over differing historical times. The predominance of Islam began in the seventh century when most Kurds were converted (Encyclopedia Britannica 2007).

Most religious Kurds are Muslim of the Sunni denomination (Encyclopedia Britannica 2007). Kurdish Sunnis predominantly belong to the Shafi’I sect. Another Islamic denomination found among the beliefs of the Kurdish people is the Shia, primarily of the Alevi sect. A small number of Kurds are also Yezidi Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

There is also a large Sufi influence among many Kurdish Muslims, often cited as a moderating influence on Islamic fundamentalism in many areas, including the oppression of women. Others see that religious moderation; to the point it does exist among the Kurds, is the result of heavy influences from atheistic socialist forces leading many of the struggles against Kurdish national oppression.

While information on the rarest and most obscure religions is often very easy to come by, demographic assessments of atheism are difficult to nearly impossible to obtain for much of the world. This lack of important anthropological data is due, in part, to the fact that atheists are oppressed in much of the world and afraid to identify themselves when attempts are made at collecting such data. But, in addition, there is a glaring shortage of writings that attempt to look at the role of atheism on individual cultures. Perhaps this is due, in part, to the universality of atheism and its lack of quaint provincial deities, sects, or rituals as are found in the thousands of religions of the world.

A look at the political programs of the socialists that are playing a leading role in the nationalist liberation movements of Kurdistan does, however, reveal a strong influence of atheism and secularism in their advocacy of women’s rights and opposition to Islamic Law.

It is a tendency found in many mainstream anthropological writings to play up the role of various religions in different societies while ignoring the influences of atheism. Yet it has been atheistic leadership that has led major advances in women’s rights for much of the world’s population. Well known examples are the Chinese and Russian revolutions that outlawed forced marriages, bride prices, and other manifestations of female slavery still suffered by most Kurdistani women.

Likewise it is popular groups with atheistic programs, such as the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK) in Turkey, that advocate full emancipation for women. As the PKK states in their program:

“All laws reflecting male domination should be annulled. Violence against women, all forms of control on women’s bodies and lives resulting from outdated custom and traditional habits, and bride’s price should be forbidden.” (KKP Program, 2003)

This program of the PKK is in stark contrast to the harsh anti-woman positions of the Islamic capitalist governments of Iran, Turkey, and Iraq.

While there is good reason to study the role of religions in various societies, anthropological studies are often incomplete if they ignore the role atheism. Kurdish society is no exception where religious belief is mixed with a strong peppering of disbelief.

U.S. Imperialism and the Kurdish Question

While the regime of Saddam Hussein was no friend to the Iraqi Kurdish people, this of course has nothing to do with why the United States government hated Saddam Hussein. This hatred by the U.S. capitalist government is not based on humanitarian concerns. They hated Saddam Hussein for the good things he did, such as the nationalization of Iraqi oil that benefited the people of Iraq by keeping oil wealth in the country for social programs and benefited of the Iraqi economy.

America’s so-called concern for human rights can be seen in the past US interventions in Iraq. Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party first came to power in 1963. Immediately after taking power, based on lists provided by the CIA, they rounded up 5,000 leftists and trade-union leaders and murdered them. After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait we were shown pictures of Iraqi Kurds killed by poison gas in the U.S. media. What we were not told is why the US was silent when this was happening and the fact that the US supplied the gas to kill the Kurds and to kill Iranians in the Iran-Iraq war. While we are now told of the Iraqi repression of the Kurdish people we are not told of how the Turkish government is carrying out the same policies of genocide against the Turkish Kurds, and doing it with U.S. weaponry.

In addition to these proxy genocides by the U.S. government on the Kurdish people the U.S. government has participated directly in the war on Kurds. This occurred on February 15, 1999 when U.S. forces kidnapped Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan and turned him over to the genocidal Turkish government. Subsequently Abdullah Ocalan was sentenced to death for his role in defending Kurdish territory in Turkey from the murderous Turkish military. This U.S. kidnapping was admitted on CNN TV by former Turkish President and ethnic cleanser Suleyman Demiral.

Today, in Iraq, the basic question of Kurds getting a piece of the oil wealth is not on the imperialist agenda. Instead they are pushing through their puppet governments and outside pressure for the oil wealth to be privatized and turned over to U.S. corporations.

Many of the Kurds know that their national interests will never be served by the “liberating” forces of Turkey and Iran or British and American imperialism. This will only be established by the Kurds themselves and by the alliances they build with other anti-imperialist forces. British imperialism divided Kurdistan, a country with its own unique language and culture, into a minority inside the nations of Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and Iran. Today the Kurds are the largest nation without a homeland in the world. Imperialism, with its motto of divide and conquer, never has and never will solve the Kurdish question. A free and united Kurdistan will only be born through a sweeping socialist revolution that overthrows the capitalist regimes of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria while challenging the military dictates of the United States.

The mutual language and oppression shared by the Kurdish people has solidified the Kurdish identity, even though they have differing religions, and even though they are spread out into five different countries of origin where they are an ethnic minority in each.

Facing violence and attempts at forced assimilation there is stubborn resistance in the will of the Kurdish people that refuses to give up. Instead many Kurds become resistance fighters that are bold enough to see a redrawn map where Kurdistan gains its independence from Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. In addition, many Kurds are also bold enough to see that future as one that ends feudal backwardness, promotes education, builds socialism, and brings equality for women.

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References:

Banaz could have been saved. 20 March 2007. Kurdish Women’s Rights Watch. Accessed 5 April 2007. Available from:
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Blau, Joyce. 2007. The Kurdish Language and Literature. Institut Kurde de Paris. http://www.institutkurde.org/en/language/ Internet.

Chivers, C. J.. Hundreds Disappear Into the Black Hole of the Kurdish Prison System in Iraq. New York Times, 12/26/2006, Vol. 156 Issue 53805, pA12-A12

CIA, The World Fact Book, Armenia. CIA. Feb. 8, 2007.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/am.html

CIA, The World Fact Book, Iran. CIA. Feb. 8, 2007. http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps35389/2001/ir.html

CIA, The World Fact Book, Iraq. CIA. Feb. 8, 2007. https://cia.gov/cia//publications/factbook/geos/iz.html

CIA, The World Fact Book, Syria. CIA. Feb. 8, 2007.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/sy.html

CIA, The World Fact Book, Turkey. CIA. Feb. 8, 2007.
https://cia.gov/cia//publications/factbook/geos/tu.html

Donovan, Shane. Kurdistan. Harvard International Review, Fall2006, Vol. 28 Issue 3. p8-8.

Gunter, Michael. The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development. Middle East Journal, Winter2007, Vol. 61 Issue 1, p167-168.

Gunter, Michael. The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity. By: Middle East Journal, Winter2007, Vol. 61 Issue 1, p168-170.

Hassanpour, Amir. The (Re)production of Kurdish Patriarchy in the Kurdish Language. 2001. Accessed 5 April 2007. Available from:
http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~mojabweb/publications/0001E478-80000012/0695C74C-001257DC.-1/hassanpour_11.pdf

Hilton, Isabel. 28 May 2002. Turkey’s Record in Kurdistan is a Grim Warning for Afghan Women. The Guardian. Accessed 5 April 2007. Available from:
http://www.rawa.org/turkey2.htm

Human Rights Watch. Questions and Answers: Freedom of Expression and Language Rights in Turkey. 2006. Accessed 2 March 2007. Available from: http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/08/turkeyqa041902.htm. Internet.

Iran. Leftist Parties of the World. 15 July 2004. Accessed 24 April 2007. Available from: http://www.broadleft.org/ir.htm

Iran: Amnesty International calls for an urgent investigation into the killing of demonstrators. 5 August 2005. Amnesty International. Accessed 3 March 2007. Available from: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGMDE130432005. Internet.

Iraq. Leftist Parties of the World. 02 October 2005. Accessed 24 April 2007. Available from: http://www.broadleft.org/iq.htm

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Izady, Prof. M.R. 1992. Kurds, A Concise Handbook. Accessed 6 April 2007. Available from: http://www.kurdistanica.com/english/economy/agriculture/the_agriculture.html

Jaff, Dr, Akram. The Fractured Economy of Kurdistan. Accessed 6 April 2007. Available from: http://www.kurd.org/about/economy.htm

Kamala. 2004. Accessed 24 April 2007. Available from: http://www.komala.org/

Khan, Adnan. Kurds Matter. Maclean's, 12/25/2006, Vol. 119 Issue 51, p31-32.

Klein, Janet. Kurdish nationalists and non-nationalist Kurdists: rethinking minority nationalism and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, 1908–1909. Nations & Nationalism, Jan2007, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p135-153.

Kurdish Families - Kurdish Family And Households. 2007. Accessed 6 April 2007. Available from: http://family.jrank.org/pages/1025/Kurdish-Families-Kurdish-Family-Households.html

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Kurds. 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed 16 May 2007, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9275335

Kutschera, Chris. A sanctuary in Kurdistan. Middle East, Jan2007 Issue 374, p62-63.

Lowe, Robert. The Syrian Kurds: A People Discovered. Middle East Program. Chatham House. Jan2006,

Olson, Robert. Turkey's Policies Toward Kurdistan-Iraq and Iraq: Nationalism, Capitalism, and State Formation. Mediterranean Quarterly, Winter2006, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p48-72

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Repression of Kurds in Syria is widespread. Amnesty International. March2005. http://web.amnesty.org/wire/March2005/Syria.

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Syria. Leftist Parties of the World. 22 June 2004. Accessed 24 April 2007. Available from: http://www.broadleft.org/sy.htm

Talabany, Nouri. The Kurdish Case. Middle East Quarterly, Winter2007, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p75-78.

The Communist Party of Kurdistan (KKP) Program. 2003. Denge Kurdistan. Accessed 16 May 2007. Available from: Available from: http://www.dengekurdistan.com/index.asp?ziman=eng

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Worker-Communist Party of Iraq. 03 April 2007. Accessed 24 April 2007. Available from: http://www.wpiraq.net/english/index.htm

Yeğen, Mesut. Turkish nationalism and the Kurdish question. Ethnic & Racial Studies, Jan2007, Vol. 30 Issue 1, p119-151.

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Smear campaigns and inappropriate postings

timbo — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 04:02:12 GMT

http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&client=pub-0284989884927524&cof=FORID:1%3BAH:left%3BCX:Tribe%252ENet%3BL:http://images.tribe.net/tribe/images/redesign/masthead/minimast_logo.gif%3BLH:20%3BLP:1%3BGFNT:%23666666%3BDIV:%23cccccc%3B&adkw=AELymgV8VUYDmHzGDuKIShxmQ0DFAqI0UOc5eRoBIHYchlzg5pOH5wCSrWDSBvck_RaYY9BnkCqqy8ihWEMzz8BPtavRX7_qS76VIclBKO71PKS0KOfTKqY&q=%22Battle+for+the+Presidency%22+more:threads&cx=002846527314887894928:mwt8kywznm4&sa=N&oi=coopctx&resnum=0&ct=col4&cd=1

Comments?

Franky, who hasn't seen this where the feminist cause is subverted to socialism, the GOP, etc? I'm not saying the Democratic Party fully supported the Equal Rights Amendment...but smearing candidates before they've been asked the question is inappropriate use of the Internet. Further, the agent-provocateur frequently uses the tactic of imparting partisanship that is not there to progressive forums to drive a wedge between the potential allied factions that can be the difference between success or failure politically of a progressive agenda. It's an old tactic and a tiresome one. I just wanted to point out via the link above as an FYI to a decidedly anti-Democrat Party bent that has been enthusiastically been broadcast in dozens of tribes on or about June 8.

My favorite spam anti-Democratic smear posting by a certain gentleman? His posting an Anti-Democrat Presidential Candidates posting in...the AntiRepublican tribe! Good show, Geronimo! Of course, you don't care whether you alienate folks from our particular causes...it's whether you can drive a wedge between us and any potential Democratic allies...from >all< progressive causes simultaneously that is likely to be the effect, if not also the underlying motivation.

Perspectives?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 3 replies

Lesbians sentenced for self-defense. FREE THEM NOW!

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 02:47:08 GMT

FREE THEM NOW!
Lesbians sentenced for self-defense
All-white jury convicts Black women

By Imani Henry
New York

Published Jun 21, 2007 2:58 AM
On June 14, four African-American women—Venice Brown (19), Terrain Dandridge (20), Patreese Johnson (20) and Renata Hill (24)—received sentences ranging from three-and-a-half to 11 years in prison. None of them had previous criminal records. Two of them are parents of small children.

Their crime? Defending themselves from a physical attack by a man who held them down and choked them, ripped hair from their scalps, spat on them, and threatened to sexually assault them—all because they are lesbians.

The mere fact that any victim of a bigoted attack would be arrested, jailed and then convicted for self-defense is an outrage. But the length of prison time given further demonstrates the highly political nature of this case and just how racist, misogynistic, anti-gay, anti-youth and anti-worker the so-called U.S. justice system truly is.

The description of the events, reported below, is based on written statements by a community organization (FIERCE) that has made a call to action to defend the four women, verbal accounts from court observers and evidence from a surveillance camera.

The attack

On Aug. 16, 2006, seven young, African-American, lesbian-identified friends were walking in the West Village. The Village is a historic center for lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) communities, and is seen as a safe haven for working-class LGBT youth, especially youth of color.

As they passed the Independent Film Cinema, 29-year-old Dwayne Buckle, an African-American vendor selling DVDs, sexually propositioned one of the women. They rebuffed his advances and kept walking.

“I’ll f— you straight, sweetheart!” Buckle shouted. A video camera from a nearby store shows the women walking away. He followed them, all the while hurling anti-lesbian slurs, grabbing his genitals and making explicitly obscene remarks. The women finally stopped and confronted him. A heated argument ensued. Buckle spat in the face of one of the women and threw his lit cigarette at them, escalating the verbal attack into a physical one.

Buckle is seen on the video grabbing and pulling out large patches of hair from one of the young women. When Buckle ended up on top of one of the women, choking her, Johnson pulled a small steak knife out of her purse. She aimed for his arm to stop him from killing her friend.

The video captures two men finally running over to help the women and beating Buckle. At some point he was stabbed in the abdomen. The women were already walking away across the street by the time the police arrived.

Buckle was hospitalized for five days after surgery for a lacerated liver and stomach. When asked at the hospital, he responded at least twice that men had attacked him.

There was no evidence that Johnson’s kitchen knife was the weapon that penetrated his abdomen, nor was there any blood visible on it. In fact, there was never any forensics testing done on her knife. On the night they were arrested, the police told the women that there would be a search by the New York Police Department for the two men—which to date has not happened.

After almost a year of trial, four of the seven were convicted in April. Johnson was sentenced to 11 years on June 14.

Even with Buckle’s admission and the video footage proving that he instigated this anti-gay attack, the women were relentlessly demonized in the press, had trumped-up felony charges levied against them, and were subsequently given long sentences in order to send a clear resounding message—that self-defense is a crime and no one should dare to fight back.

Political backdrop of the case

Why were these young women used as an example? At stake are the billions of dollars in tourism and real estate development involved in the continued gentrification of the West Village. This particular incident happened near the Washington Square area—home of New York University, one of most expensive private colleges in the country and one of the biggest employers and landlords in New York City. The New York Times reported that Justice Edward J. McLaughlin used his sentencing speech to comment on “how New York welcomes tourists.” (June 17)

The Village is also the home of the Stonewall Rebellion, the three-day street battle against the NYPD that, along with the Compton Cafeteria “Riots” in California, helped launch the modern-day LGBT liberation movement in 1969. The Manhattan LGBT Pride march, one of the biggest demonstrations of LGBT peoples in the world, ends near the Christopher Street Piers in the Village, which have been the historical “hangout” and home for working-class trans and LGBT youth in New York City for decades.

Because of growing gentrification in recent years, young people of color, homeless and transgender communities, LGBT and straight, have faced curfews and brutality by police sanctioned by the West Village community board and politicians. On Oct. 31, 2006, police officers from the NYPD’s 6th Precinct indiscriminately beat and arrested several people of color in sweeps on Christopher Street after the Halloween parade.

Since the 1980s there has been a steady increase in anti-LGBT violence in the area, with bashers going there with that purpose in mind.

For trans people and LGBT youth of color, who statistically experience higher amounts of bigoted violence, the impact of the gentrification has been severe. As their once-safe haven is encroached on by real estate developers, the new white and majority heterosexual residents of the West Village then call in the state to brutalize them.

For the last six years the political LGBT youth group FIERCE has been at the forefront of mobilizing young people “to counter the displacement and criminalization of LGBTSTQ [lesbian, gay, bi, two spirit, trans, and queer] youth of color and homeless youth at the Christopher Street Pier and in Manhattan’s West Village.” (www.fiercenyc.org) FIERCE has also been the lead organization supporting the Jersey Seven and their families.

The trial and the media

Deemed a so-called “hate crime” against a straight man, every possible racist, anti-woman, anti-LGBT and anti-youth tactic was used by the entire state apparatus and media. Everything from the fact that they lived outside of New York, in the working-class majority Black city of Newark, N.J., to their gender expressions and body structures were twisted and dehumanized in the public eye and to the jury.

According to court observers, McLaughlin stated throughout the trial that he had no sympathy for these women. The jury, although they were all women, were all white. All witnesses for the district attorney were white men, except for one Black male who had several felony charges.

Court observers report that the defense attorneys had to put enormous effort into simply convincing the jury that they were “average women” who had planned to just hang out together that night. Some jurists asked why they were in the Village if they were from New Jersey. The DA brought up whether they could afford to hang out there—raising the issue of who has the right to be there in the first place.

The Daily News reporting was relentless in its racist anti-lesbian misogyny, portraying Buckle as a “filmmaker” and “sound engineer” preyed upon by a “lesbian wolf pack” (April 19) and a “gang of angry lesbians.” (April 13)

Everyone has been socialized by cultural archetypes of what it means to be a “man” or “masculine” and “woman” or “feminine.” Gender identity/expression is the way each indivdual chooses or not to express gender in their everyday lives, including how they dress, walk, talk, etc. Transgender people and other gender non-conforming people face oppression based on their gender expression/identity.

The only pictures shown in the Daily News were of the more masculine-appearing women. One of the most despiciable headlines in the Daily News, “‘I’m a man!’ lesbian growled during fight,” (April 13) was targeted against Renata Hill, who was taunted by Buckle because of her masculinity.

Ironically, Johnson, who was singled out by the judge as the “ringleader,” is the more feminine of the four. According to the New York Times, in his sentencing remarks, “Justice McLaughlin scoffed at the assertion made by ... Johnson, that she carried a knife because she was just 4-foot-11 and 95 pounds, worked nights and lived in a dangerous neighborhood.” He quoted the nursery rhyme, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” (June 15)

All of the seven women knew and went to school with Sakia Gunn, a 19-year-old butch lesbian who was stabbed to death in Newark, N.J., in May 2003. Paralleling the present case, Gunn was out with three of her friends when a man made sexual advances to one of the women. When she replied that she was a lesbian and not interested, he attacked them. Gunn fought back and was stabbed to death.

“You can’t help but wonder that if Sakia Gunn had a weapon, would she be in jail right now?” Bran Fenner, a founding member and co-executive director of FIERCE, told Workers World. “If we don’t have the right to self-defense, how are we supposed to survive?”

National call to action

While racist killer cops continue to go without indictment and anti-immigrant paramilitary groups like the Minutemen are on the rise in the U.S., The Jersey Four sit behind bars for simply defending themselves against a bigot who attacked them in the Village.

Capitalism at its very core is a racist, sexist, anti-LGBT system, sanctioning state violence through cops, courts and its so-called laws. The case of the Jersey Four gives more legal precedence for bigoted violence to go unchallenged. The ruling class saw this case as a political one; FIERCE and other groups believe the entire progressive movement should as well.

Fenner said, “We are organizing in the hope that this wakes up all oppressed people and sparks a huge, broad campaign to demand freedom for the Jersey Four.”

FIERCE is asking for assistance for these young women, including pro-bono legal support, media contacts and writers, pen pals, financial support, and diverse organizational support. For details, visit www.fiercenyc.org.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Articles copyright 1995-2007 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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Pro-War Democrats Battle for the Presidency

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 01:31:58 GMT

Pro-War Democrats Battle for the Presidency

By Steven Argue

Every four years the American people are subjected to the farce of bourgeois democracy, a “democracy” where only the candidates chosen by the very wealthy have any chance of being elected. That season of nicely dressed pathological liars and false hopes is now upon us.

Since the corporate media of the United States has long ago abandoned any semblance of reporting on anything of substance about candidates such as voting records and actual political views, it is up to the writers for the left press and Indy-media to do so.

A front-runner in the race is pro-war Democrat Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton has voted for every war the United States has carried out since she came into office in 2000. Those pro-war votes include the Iraq war. She also voted to take away our civil liberties by supporting the “Patriot Act” and its renewal. Hillary Clinton, like many Democrats, pounds the war drum for the racist Zionist state of Israel even louder than the Republicans. In addition she voted for the anti-immigrant wall.

In her recent successful run for Senate Hillary Clinton amassed more than 22 million dollars, making her the biggest campaign finance recipient running for Senate in the country. Her money came from such corporate interests as drug and hospital conglomerates, Wall Street finance interests, real estate developers, and rightwing corporate media mogul, Rupert Murdoch.

Barack Obama

Another front-runner and “rising star” of the Democrat Party is Barack Obama. Like Hillary Clinton, Obama has voted for the Patriot Act by voting to renew it in 2006. He also voted for the racist anti-immigrant wall as well as the “guest worker” program that denies immigrants rights, but allows them to come to this country to be exploited and under-paid. Obama also voted for the so-called “Class Action Fairness Act” that makes it harder for the people to sue corporations.

One might think that Obama, as a black man in racist America, might have something to offer on issues dealing with the suffering caused by the racist police state, mass incarceration of the poor, lack of healthcare, and dramatic drop in the standard of living of the multi-racial working class and poor. Instead Barack Obama plays into racist stereotypes, blaming the victims of racist America rather than the corporate criminals, stating:

"Such wisdom might help us move beyond ideological bickering and serve as the basis of a renewed effort to tackle the problem of inner-city poverty. We could begin by acknowledging that perhaps the single biggest thing we could do to reduce such poverty is to encourage teenage girls to finish high school and avoid having children out of wedlock. . ." Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, pps. 255-256

The inner cities of America have, by and large, been abandoned by the same capitalists that got rich off of the jobs they have now exported, just as the victims of hurricane Katrina were left to die by this same racist system. Yet the best thing to do according to Barack Obama is for black girls to stop having children out of wedlock.

In his book Uncle Obama not only lets this racist system off the hook, but he praises one of the worst anti-working class reforms of the Clinton administration stating, "we should also acknowledge that conservatives-and Bill Clinton-were right about welfare as it was previously structured." Bill Clinton’s welfare reform has caused homelessness, hunger, and less access to other basic necessities for the poor in America, but Barack Obama says Bill Clinton and the conservatives were right.

Both Obama and Clinton have voted for war appropriations. The fact that they both decided at the last minute to vote against war appropriations in the most recent vote on supplemental war appropriations is a symptom of the fact that the war has not gone as planned. The war has not gained the desired oil loot for U.S. corporations and has caused a number of growing problems for U.S. imperialism including internal dissent in the United States. And while Clinton and Obama have finally voted against war appropriations this time, their pro-war Democrat Party garnered plenty of other votes to keep the imperialist war going.

In his book, Barack Obama makes clear his support for the billions being squandered on lining the pockets of the military contractors stating, “given the depletion of our [military] forces after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we will probably need a somewhat higher [Pentagon] budget in the immediate future just to restore readiness and replace equipment.” (Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, p 307).

Joe Biden

Another Democrat candidate is Joe Biden. Unlike many Democrat presidential candidates that have tried to distance themselves from the war that they voted for to begin with, in the most recent vote on war appropriations Joe Biden voted with the majority of the Democrats and Republicans in the Senate putting billions of dollars towards the continued U.S. imperialist slaughter of the Iraqi people.

John Edwards

Another presidential candidate with a pro-war record is John Edwards. Edwards voted for the war against Iraq and campaigned as a vice presidential candidate on the pro-war John Kerry ticket. At that time both candidates defended their votes for the war. John Edwards has since apologized for his vote for unprovoked military aggression and mass murder (without using that wording and without recognizing that his vote for war was a criminal act).

Yet when Edwards was running for the position of vice president in 2004 this what he had to say on his pro-war vote:

“We need to stick to this [defending their Iraq war votes]. We should stand by our votes, say we would vote that way again. If you admit a mistake, it shows weakness in time of war. That's what the Republicans want us to do.” (John Edwards's changing tune on the Iraq vote, Scot Lehigh, The Globe, April 17, 2007)

Bill Richardson

Another candidate trying to paint himself as an antiwar candidate of the people is presidential candidate and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson. Richardson doesn’t call for immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but instead calls for a slow withdrawal. In the early 1990s he did vote against the U.S. war to reinstate the anti-woman pro-U.S. corporate oil monarchy in Kuwait, but later said he regretted that vote. In addition Richardson is a strong supporter the pro-corporate anti-worker NAFTA, GATT, and WTO. On the death penalty Richardson, like many Democrats, says it is a good thing.

Well over one hundred inmates in the United States have had their convictions overturned as a result of new DNA evidence being brought to light, with some of these being death penalty cases. Still prosecutors have fought against the use of DNA evidence to overturn old convictions, even when the lives of innocent people are on the line. In racist America, death penalty juries are always more likely to convict because all who oppose the death penalty are excluded from these juries, making them juries that are more biased towards supporting the prosecution. Blacks often face all or mostly white death penalty juries. These are juries likely to contain a number of people who think that all Black people are criminals, making these jurors incapable of weighing the evidence and understanding the concept of reasonable doubt even in those rare circumstances when the evidence is fairly presented.

Why would anybody support the death penalty being carried out by a system that has been proven to make so many mistakes? The answer lies in the fact that the death penalty is an instrument of terror used by the American ruling class against the working class, poor, and people of color. On the one hand when such innocent people are executed it has no importance to the likes of Joe Biden because to them the lives of the poor and people of color are cheap. But for the ruling class, the added bonus of the death penalty is when it is used in political cases to silence dissent such as with the executions of Nicola Sacco, Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Julius Rosenberg, Ethel Rosenberg, the Haymarket martyrs, and the threatened execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. As governor, the fact that Joe Biden has no problem with the death penalty means that he already has blood on his hands.

Dennis Kucinich

Likewise Dennis Kucinich is portraying himself as the standard bearer of peace, love, and liberalism, but has voted in favor of the frame-up of Mumia Abu-Jamal. The resolution Kucinich voted for falsely claims, “Mumia Abu-Jamal stood over Officer Faulkner and shot him in the face, mortally wounding him…” Yet this is not what the eyewitnesses said. For instance eyewitness William Singletary says, "Mumia Abu-Jamal didn't shoot Daniel Faulkner. The passenger in the right-hand side of the Volkswagen [that Faulkner had stopped] got out of the car and shot him. When Mumia came on the scene, we [Singletary and another man] were on the police radio trying to radio for help." ("Witness: Abu-Jamal didn't do it" Philadelphia Daily News Dec. 8, 2006)

In the last presidential election Dennis Kucinich portrayed himself up as an anti-war candidate of the Democrat Party. Yet on his web site the Kucinich campaign stated that Kucinich, “Supports a strong and efficient military. He believes that the current practice of procuring ever more costly weapons has the effect of weakening military readiness. As the cost of new weapons systems rise, the cost of merely replacing aging weapons with new ones becomes prohibitively expensive. As a result, U.S. military forces shrink, while they become at the same time more expensive to maintain and more prone to failure.”

So Kucinich advocates more frugal and efficient spending on imperialist terror and murder.

This is the same position taken by two U.S. generals waging the war in Iraq. During the U.S. invasion of Iraq General Stanley McCrystal complained, "It was enough for the enemy to show a little resistance and some creative thinking as our technological superiority begun to quickly lose all its meaning. Our expenses are not justified by the obtained results. The enemy is using an order of magnitude cheaper weapons to reach the same goals for which we spend billions on technological whims of the defense industry!"

Similarly General Richard Mayers commented on precision-guided munitions, "The rate of their use is incompatible with the obtained results. We are literally dropping gold into the mud!"

The contradiction here was purely limited to the difference between the pure profiteering of the military industrial complex and the desire for actual cost effective results for imperialist victory on the battlefield.

Dennis Kucinich spoke to a gathering of the Southern California Americans for Democratic Action claiming, "We [he and the congress] did not authorize an eye for an eye. Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on September 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan. We did not authorize the Administration to wage war anytime, anywhere, anyhow it pleases. We did not authorize war without end. We did not authorize a permanent war economy. Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy."

Yet that is exactly what Kucinich and the rest of the congress, with the exception of California Democrat Barbara Lee, agreed to with their votes authorizing Bush’s endless war on the world. The entire Democrat Party in both the Senate and Congress, with only one exception, voted for Bush's war.

Since a different vote was later taken authorizing the US war in Iraq, the most practical application of this vote by Kucinich was to authorize the US war in Afghanistan.

In stark contrast to Kucinich’s vote for war Mumia Abu-Jamal wrote on March 2002:

“When U.S. President George W. Bush spoke about an "endless war," some took it as mere political speech, or rhetoric designed to gain the top spot on the evening network news. I did not. "W" is an agent of his class, the wealthy oil merchants of the land, and his intentions are to press for an ever-wider war in all corners of the earth, to make the world safe for capital exploitation and unbridled commerce. This will eventually become a war that reaches into a slew of countries in the Middle East, on behalf of the rich and powerful elites who rule. Make no mistake: this is a war that has nothing to do with democracy. The U.S. enters the region, armed to the gills, not to defend democracies, but to defend theocracies; to defend kings, princes and sultanates; to defend U.S. access to vast oil resources in the region.” Mumia Abu-Jamal

The U.S. war in Afghanistan has in fact killed tens of thousands of civilians and brought the Afghan nation back to the chaos of fragmented warlord rule last seen after the various U.S. trained and financed Mujahideen forces defeated the Soviet backed PDPA government.

The day after the September 11 attack this author wrote:

“Today the clerical fascists of the Taliban rule Afghanistan. The CIA put them in power with billions of dollars in U.S. military aid. This massive U.S. intervention in Afghanistan was in opposition to the revolutionary PDPA government that came to power in 1978 on issues of promoting women’s rights and land reform. Literacy campaigns began teaching the poor and women how to read and write.

“Foreign religious fanatics and wealthy defenders of the old feudal system came together in a terrorist organization called the Mujahideen (from which the Taliban were later formed). With billions of dollars in assistance from the U.S. [starting under the Jimmy Carter presidency] these fanatical cutthroats waged a holy war that included killing woman for teaching little girls how to read and write and throwing acid into the faces of women who had become liberated from the veil. The Taliban came to power as a result of this U.S. intervention.

“Will a U.S. war now against the Taliban and former CIA aid recipient Osama Bin Laden set things straight? No. It will be the people of Afghanistan who suffer death and destruction from war as the U.S. attempts to install a puppet government friendly to U.S. corporate (oil) interests” Steven Argue, Liberation News, September 12, 2002

Kucinich, the “peace candidate”, as much as he may now want to deny it, voted for the war in Afghanistan and played his part in making it happen.

On the war in Iraq Kucinich now states, "There is only one way in which the United States will withdraw from Iraq, prior to the end of President Bush's term: Congress must vote to cut off funds." (Rep. Kucinich, The Huffington Report) This position not only ignores the role of the people of the United States, Britain, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere rising up and resisting the war and imperialist occupations, but it is also is being put forward by a politician that voted for the war in Afghanistan, wants a leaner meaner imperialist military, voted for the racist legal lynching of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and who has worked hard to bring the anti-war movement back into the pro-war Democrat Party.

Some may argue that Kucinich is not perfect, but he’d make a better president than Bush. Yet it is unlikely that Kucinich has any intention of winning the presidency. His role is one of bringing the anti-war movement and others who are breaking from the establishment and the twin parties of war and racism back into the fold of the pro-war Democrat Party. Kucinich makes this point clear when he states, "The Democratic Party created third parties by running to the middle. What I'm trying to do is to go back to the big tent so that everyone who felt alienated could come back through my candidacy" (Counter Punch, April 2003).

Yet that tent Kucinich speaks of is one that, despite its name, is not democratic. It is a tent dominated by big capital and the politicians subservient to it. It is under this tent that the ruling class would like to swallow up the legitimate opposition of the people towards war and turn us into the water boys for the “responsible” politicians of the Democrat Party.

It is such "responsible" politicians, including Kucinich, that voted in their vast majority to back the racist legal lynching of Mumia Abu-Jamal. It is outrageous that that the Democrat party would vote in its House majority to condemn a French city for daring to make an issue of this racist legal lynching, while at the same time doing nothing about the liar and killer, Bush. But then again that should be no surprise either since the Democrat Party voted in its majority for the war in Iraq.

Hillary Clinton

In a press conference on August 21, 2006 George Bush Jr. finally admitted what Liberation News has been pointing out since before the U.S. invasion of Iraq. That Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th. Yet Bush had used a supposed connection as a pretext for the U.S.’s unprovoked aggression against Iraq. In addition, Bush Jr. also admitted that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.

Most of the Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, Hillary Clinton included, supported going to war with Iraq. Today Hillary Clinton has no remorse for that murderous decision stating, "Obviously, I've thought about that a lot in the months since. No, I don't regret giving the president authority because at the time it was in the context of weapons of mass destruction, grave threats to the United States, and clearly, Saddam Hussein had been a real problem for the international community for more than a decade." Hillary Clinton: No regret on Iraq Vote, CNN.Com

In trying to let themselves off the hook many Democrats claim that Bush “did not fairly represent intelligence”. Feeble cries by these politicians today that their votes for war weren’t their fault because they were lied to by Bush not only make them look stupid, they are an insult to the intelligence of the American people. Clinton, however, is worse in not even distancing herself from this “justified invasion” and “weapons of mass destruction” lies.

While the Democrats helped promote the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq had no right to defend itself, Liberation News pointed out that it is the United States that has the weapons of mass destruction. Instead we supported the right of Iraq to acquire the weapons necessary to defend themselves from U.S. aggression. There can be little doubt that if Iraq had acquired those weapons they might not be in the mess they are now.

Yet for Bush Jr. and Hillary Clinton Iraqi weapons were never the real motive for mass murder in Iraq. The capitalist ruling class, and their Democrat and Republican representatives, thought that they could use their superior military power to quickly move into Iraq and establish by force a stable neo-colonial puppet regime, and then make massive profits from the privatization of the Iraqi economy, especially oil. It is the failures of this imperialist plan, in the face of Iraqi resistance and growing unpopularity at home, that has forced some Democrats to try to rethink, or at least distance themselves from, the Bush policies they have supported.

Just as Liberation News opposes the U.S. occupation and corporate looting of Iraq, we also denounced the starvation blockade that was carried out through the UN by the Bill Clinton administration. That blockade, partially due to the capitalist nature of the Iraqi economy under Saddam Hussein, cost the lives of about a million people, many of them children. While a socialist economy like that of Cuba could have made sure that everyone in Iraq had food, blame for this mass murder should also be put on the Bill Clinton administration. Likewise, it was this Clinton starvation blockade that also weakened Iraq for the Bush invasion.

Today, while the U.S. occupation of Iraq has murdered well over 655,000 people and the U.S. starvation blockade of Iraq murdered a million or more, the U.S. government and its puppets in Iraq had the nerve to put Saddam Hussein on trial, and execute him, for propaganda purposes. Yet the worst crimes of the Saddam Hussein regime were also carried out when he was directly backed by the United States. In the 1980’s the U.S. was giving massive military assistance to Iraq to help Saddam Hussein commit genocide against Kurds and carry out a bloody war with Iran at a time when Saddam Hussein was being used as an asset of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East. Likewise the CIA helped Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party come to power, supplying them with the names of 5,000 socialists and labor leaders that the Ba’athists subsequently rounded up and executed.

Yet to those who claimed that an invasion of Iraq would be a chance for the U.S. to finally set things straight and set up a democracy in Iraq, Liberation News responded before the U.S. invasion saying:

“In the 1970s Iraq nationalized its oil fields. This helped the Iraqi people by taking a chunk of the profits made off of oil out of the hands of the international oil monopolies and instead keeping them in Iraq. This money helped pay for free healthcare and education. As such this was a socialist measure carried out by Saddam Hussein’s capitalist government. It was also a measure that stood up to the interests of the rich and powerful nations. For both reasons socialists supported the nationalization of Iraqi oil while those measures infuriated the imperialists...

“While defending Iraq against imperialist attack and supporting their right to defend themselves socialists also recognize that Saddam Hussein is a capitalist leader and that the Iraqi people have their own scores to settle with him. Yet any government set up by a US occupation army will not be democratic and will only lead to the privatization of the resources that American oil monopolies intend to steal...”

“U.S. imperialism will never solve the question of women’s liberation in the Middle East. Unlike all of the US supported governments and forces in the Arab World, Iraqi women have many rights found nowhere else in the Arab World except in the Asian republics of the former Soviet Union. Over 50% of Iraqi doctors are women. Iraqi women are allowed to walk unescorted in the streets. They are allowed to drive. Iraqi women can even freely criticize men. In addition Iraqi women have the right to work and control their own funds. This is in stark contrast to the treatment of women under the repressive U.S. backed governments of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia where women have no rights what-so-ever.

“The U.S. ruling class hates governments like Iraq, Libya, and Venezuela who use the profits of their oil resources partly to benefit the people with social programs. Likewise they love governments like that of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that strip the people of all their rights and keep the oil profits in the hands of the international oil monopolies and their corrupt local servants. Today in the United States we face unemployment, homelessness, and a lack of health care. The billions of dollars the U.S. will squander on killing Iraqis to steal their resources should be spent to benefit the working class and poor of the United States instead.” -From Liberation News: What Is Socialism, and Why We Oppose The Invasion of Iraq

What was predicted is reality. Those predictions were not from a crystal ball. They were accurate because they were based on the past behavior of U.S. imperialism. Today in Iraq the U.S. has set up a puppet Islamic government with functioning death squads and torture chambers. Socialists have been excluded from participating in elections and unarmed demonstrators have been shot down and murdered in the streets by U.S. troops and troops of the puppet Iraqi government. The puppet Islamic government also opposes women’s rights and women’s rights have deteriorated dramatically since the U.S. invasion. The rebuilding of basic infrastructure, such as electricity, has lagged way behind what was rebuilt by Saddam Hussein after the massive U.S. bombardment of Iraq in 1992.

With the exception of the privatization of Iraqi oil, all of the predictions have shown themselves to be true and the only reason that Iraqi oil isn’t completely under the direct control of U.S. oil monopolies now is because of the union resistance of 23,000 organized oil workers as well as the general resistance by the Iraqi people to the idea of Iraq’s resources being looted by U.S. corporations.

For the working class in the United States there is ever growing frustration with a war that is costing many lives and billions in dollars while needed programs for healthcare, jobs, the environment, and disaster relief do not get the funding they need. Just as the new imperialist masters of Iraq have shown a criminal lack of interest in the rebuilding the Iraqi infrastructure, so too they left the people of New Orleans.

Yet for the ruling class their failure in Iraq is not in the murderous, undemocratic, and anti-woman puppet regime they have set up and the money that has been squandered in doing it, but in the failure of that regime to deliver the stability needed to acquire the oil loot. They complain that oil production in Iraq is below prewar levels and the occupation by U.S. and British troops serve as targets for the insurgency.

The words of Hillary Clinton, an icon of Democratic Party liberalism, makes abundantly clear that what she opposes is not the oil war itself, but the fact that Bush is not winning it:

“Let us not confuse the leadership’s failures with either the remaining mission in Iraq or the war on terrorism or with our support for our troops. What we have here is a failure of leadership to accomplish that mission. What was hailed as our shortest war has now become one of our longest. What was hailed as a model of democracy teeters on the brink of complete anarchy. What was the leadership that quickly claimed credit for success has been lethargic in the face of misjudgments and setbacks.” Hillary Clinton

As a result of imperialism’s failure in Iraq some Democrats that voted for the war like John Kerry have called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this year. Yet the Kerry-Feingold plan actually calls for keeping troops in Iraq that are "critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces." The Kerry-Feingold plan also calls for "an over-the-horizon" troop presence in the region that could come to the aid of a failing puppet government in Iraq as well as intervene elsewhere in the so-called war on terror. (Lawmakers begin Bitter Debate on U.S. Troop Withdrawal Plan for Iraq, FOXNews, online report, June 2, 2006)

Hillary Clinton even opposed the Kerry-Feingold plan and voted against it arguing against any withdrawal timeline.

Unlike Hillary Clinton and the leading Democrats, Liberation News sees nothing good that can come from the continuation of the U.S. war against Iraq. The U.S. occupation of Iraq is doing nothing for anybody except the capitalists that are profiting from the war and the tax dollars of the American people. We call for no support to the Democrats and we demand: Iraq to the Iraqis! U.S. Out Now!

Liberation News calls for ending the war through building the mass movement in the streets; striking against arms producers; hot cargoing war materials on the docks, trains, and trucks; and building towards a general strike against the war. Likewise we support the right of military personal to refuse orders and resist this war. We support students, such as those at UC Santa Cruz that have repeatedly driven military recruiters off campus. And we call for building the socialist movement to end imperialism through socialist revolution.

The Role of Peace Action (Formerly Sane / Freeze)

Hillary Clinton’s record is clearly pro-imperialist war. Yet the group “Peace Action” gives Hillary Clinton the passing grade of voting for peace 89% of the time. Other Democrats are given similar scores by these political hacks.

“Peace Action” is deceiving the anti-war vote. Why? Because Peace Action is a pillar of the status quo that sees no alternative to delivering votes to what they see as the “lesser evil” Democrat Party, even when the Democrats are equally pro-war. This strategy has made “Peace Action” an obstacle to peace and a pillar of the status quo of war.

Every few years the ruling class of the United States parades its selected representatives in front of the American people to give us the chance to vote for their so-called “lesser” and “greater evil” representatives in the Democrat and Republican Parties. The corporate media and liberal pro-war groups like “Peace Action” ignore the real anti-war candidates and back pro-war Democrats by misrepresenting their records to the people.

Liberation News urges all of the super-exploited workers that go door to door raising money for the Peace Action bureaucracy to quit your meaningless jobs and look for better work while looking for ways to hook up with the real anti-war/anti-imperialist movement that is marching in the streets. Likewise we urge all of the liberal and leftist minded people that give money to Peace Action to stop doing so and instead participate in the mass anti-war movement in the streets with your bodies, minds, and your money if you can afford it.

No to the twin parties of war and oppression! Yes to the independent organization and mobilization of working people!

Obama, Clinton, and Richardson, Supporters of Racist Israel

Hillary Clinton, like many Democrats, has pounded the war drum for the racist Zionist state of Israel even louder than the Republicans. The U.S. gives Israel billions of dollars in military aid every year and Senator Clinton’s vote backs that money for death. Israel is a racist settler state established in 1949 that has denied the original inhabitants, the Palestinians, many basic rights, often including the basic right to live. Besides denying Palestinians the same rights to travel, jobs, housing, and education as allowed Jews, the racist and religious Zionist State has used massacres and other forms of terror, wars, and torture to drive out the original Palestinian inhabitants.

Likewise Israel is always at war with its Arab neighbors. Israel’s recent attack against Lebanon where their aerial bombardment of the civilian population murdered 1,150 people and destroyed vital infrastructure is only the latest such terrorism by Israel. Yet Hillary Clinton recently told a pro-Israel rally “We will stand with Israel because Israel is standing up for American values as well as Israeli ones.”

She’s got it wrong, the mass murder and racism of Israel are in league with the values of American ruling class, as has been seen in Iraq, but these are not the values of the American people.

Claims of Israel being the victim, bombing and invading Lebanon on the pretext of two Israeli soldiers taken prisoner do not hold water in light of the fact that Israel is holding 2,000 Lebanese prisoners in their torture chamber dungeons from their previous invasion of Lebanon. In addition numerous reports say those two Israeli soldiers were captured in Lebanon, not in Israel. Those reports are from such sources as AP, Hindustan Times, and AFP.

On Israel “anti-war” Richardson shares Hillary Clinton’s views stating, “I am firmly committed to one of the United States' closest and most important allies - the State of Israel. Throughout my career, I've steadfastly supported Israel, obtaining a consistently pro-Israel voting record in Congress and defending Israeli interests as Ambassador to the United Nations.”

Barack Obama also backs racist Israel stating, “The United States and Israel share important interests - promoting a peaceful Middle East, combating terrorism, and encouraging reform in the Arab and Muslim world.” Likewise as a senator he has backed the massive military aid the United States gives Israel every year and says he will continue this policy as president stating he will, “insist on fully funding military assistance to Israel”.

For Socialist Democracy!

Let me be clear on this point, Obama and Clinton, and the rest of the pack will not betray us. They cannot betray us because they were never with us. Under the current politics most Americans would never have heard their names if they were on our side.

A truly democratic society would eliminate corporate control of the elections by nationalizing the corporate media and allowing all candidates equal access to the airwaves, cable, and print. Likewise a truly democratic society would carry out a sweeping “campaign finance reform” through the nationalization of the means of production (using that wealth for human and environmental needs rather than decadence and deception).

Up against the likes of Hillary Clinton, with her millions of dollars in corporate bribes, a sympathetic corporate media, growing police state, and increasing electoral fraud, it will take a socialist revolution to bring democracy to the United States.

How we can all resist:

Tell the truth!

Build the mass movement in the streets!

Strike against arms producers!

Become ungovernable!

Hot cargo war materials on the docks, trains, and trucks!

Build towards a general strike against the war!

Support the right of military personal to refuse orders and resist this war!

Drive military recruiters off campus!

No tolerance or excuses for the pro-war, racist, and capitalist Democrat Party!

Build the socialist movement to end imperialism, racism, environmental destruction, and capitalism!

End U.S. imperialism through socialist revolution!

Subscribe to Liberation News:
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

a Quote from Planned Parenthood v. Casey re: women's biological autonmy

kip-Cherone — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:04:16 GMT

"The mother who carries a child to full term is subject to anxieties, to physical constraints, to pain that only she must bear. That these sacrifices have from the beginning of the human race been endured by woman with a pride that ennobles her in the eyes of others and gives to the infant a bond of love cannot alone be grounds for the State to insist that she make the sacrifice. Her suffering is too intimate and personal for the State to insist, without more, upon its own vision of the women's role, however dominant that vision has been in the course of our history and our culture. The destiny of the woman must be shaped to a large extent on her own conception of her spiritual imperatives and her place in society."
------

Is this not the crux of this entire debate about women? that some people want to relegate women to being "respected due to our roles (and sacrifices) as mothers and in that context, insist that we WANT and MUST do this sacrifice" while others are perfectly content to let each woman deal with her own choices as grown ups.

I read more and more legislation (proposed and passed), and the recent Opiinion of the Carthart decision, and find myself feelign like it was written to address the needs of 5 year olds.

so, is it teh biological case that pregnance turns us into blithering idiots who cannot figure out for ourselves, what risks we are wililng to take; when we are willing to take them. how we view our own selfless and selfish sides, etc?

Oh, and by the way, honerable Kennedy, i do not need you telling me that i shall regrete my decision. 20 years and i've not regretted it yet.

(I wonder, sometimes, where the women are who are - not proud per say - but fully content, fully actualized, fully happy with thire choices to have abortions and who are willing to stand up to these right wing nut jobs (well, not so nutty any more, these are now "centrists" saying this) and say "my body, my choice, my life, my happiness. stay the fuck out !)

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Video: Feminism discussion on Bloggingheads.tv

cortelyou — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:36:16 GMT

Journalist Garance Franke-Ruta (The American Prospect, The Garance ) and Law Professor Ann Althouse (Althouse, University of Wisconsin Law School, etc.) discuss various issues of feminism in America.

http://bloggingheads.tv/video.php?id=231

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

And so it begins: Supreme Court upholds Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act

cortelyou — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 18:19:43 GMT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_abortion_25

For the first time since the court established a woman's right to an abortion in 1973, the justices upheld a nationwide ban on a specific abortion method, labeled partial-birth abortion by its opponents.

The 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

The law is constitutional despite not containing an exception that would allow the procedure if needed to preserve a woman's health, Kennedy said. "The law need not give abortion doctors unfettered choice in the course of their medical practice," he wrote in the majority opinion.

Doctors who violate the law face up to two years in federal prison.

---

Possibly a very troubling precedent.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 8 replies

interactive art project on my tribe page needing comments

bragitta — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 09:39:10 GMT

I am creating an interactive art project
where I create an art piece and question
then the comments it receives will inspire the next art piece and question
as a group evolution art project

so
if you could hop on over to my tribe page
and answer a few of the questions
and if you like the project enough
become a new friend and become part of the project

thanks!!!
Happy spring!
bragitta

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Sexualization of girls

cortelyou — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:01:32 GMT

Message and the Media
Our girls deserve better

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/26/EDGC7N72QC1.DTL

Sexualization has serious consequences. When girls internalize the messages around them, they are more likely to have low self-esteem, feel ashamed of their bodies, suffer from depression and eating disorders, take up smoking and have unprotected sex. Even their ability to think clearly and do well on math and logic problems suffers when their attention is focused on how they look. In other words, sexualization contributes to some of the most serious problems facing adolescent girls today.

There may be consequences for society as well. If pop culture is saturated with images in which girls are sexualized, will we begin to project adult sexual desires onto children? Will we come to believe that children want to have sex with adults, thus making child sexual abuse seem "normal" and perhaps increasing the demand for child prostitution?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 19 replies

The decline of rape

cortelyou — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:44:46 GMT

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-males18feb18,0,7287489.story

NEWS FEATURES, political commentaries and institutional reports incessantly berate the sexual excesses of modern teenagers. "Reports of young studs 'playing rape' … during recess, of 9-year-old sexual harassers and fifth-grade rapists and sodomists have become too common to pass off as simply anomalous," wrote conservative Manhattan Institute researcher Kay Hymowitz. The progressive Media Education Foundation, which distributes educational videos, warned in "Deadly Persuasion" of "widespread and increasing violence against women" by young men incited by brutal, misogynist popular culture and corporate advertising.

Evidence supporting the claims of rising teenage sexual violence is seldom offered. Commentators instead ask, given today's salacious ads, slutty preteen styles, women-hating rap lyrics, MySpace.com, designer porn and binge-drinking orgies, how could young people not be "hooking up" more randomly, more violently and younger?

Yet crime reports, victimization surveys and public health measures consistently reveal something else: large declines in the percentages of young women reporting violence against them, especially sexual attacks, and of young men committing rape and other violent offenses. [CONTINUED]

---

Why is rape in the US on the decline over the past 3 decades?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 4 replies

Politics of women's health

kip-Cherone — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:25:54 GMT

http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1437_reg.html
The Politics of Women's Health
Exploring Agency and Autonomy
Susan Sherwin and Feminist Healthcare Network

For four years this interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners, including physicians, lawyers, philosophers, and social scientists, collaborated closely on the development of these essays. The result is an examination of both the real world of women's health status and health-care delivery in different countries, and the assumptions behind the dominant medical model of solving problems without regard to social conditions. The writing is also informed by some of the authors' own experiences with women's health issues: birth, menopause, major surgery, and providing care for mothers and grandmothers.

Rather than focusing on types of medical interventions, The Politics of Women's Health asks what feminist health-care ethics looks like if we start with women's experiences and concerns. It begins to unravel two key concepts of women's empowerment- agency and autonomy-that apply to all areas of concern to women
============================

Has anyone read this, or have any similar works/articles/books they would recomend. i tripped upon an article that i cannot actually find, and it had me wondering about actual academic level philosophy being done on the issue of "politicalizaion of women's health issues". I can see it easily with abortion, but the intro to the article talks about eveyrthing from how menapause is viewed and marketed, to how breast cancer has become a money making tool, etc.

thanks in advance.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Feminism As Applied To Teaching

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 01:19:00 GMT

Since I've largely decided to go into the public education system as a history teacher, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the way that history is taught in perspective to feminism-- I've been thinking a lot about my own public school education and how women in history were portrayed in our still classically-styled education systems.

Maybe I'm just having retroactive paranoia but are women, in particular women in positions of governmental power, judged more harshly in history than their male counterparts? How can we start to gain a more objective perspective on our own understandings of women throughout history? And, more importantly, what would be the best way of injecting feminist philosophy into our perspective on world history?

Book recommendations would be greatly appreciated, as well as any and all opinions.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 7 replies

It's Official: Americans ready for a woman President

hillaryclinton — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:48:00 GMT

In a CBS News poll this week, 92 per cent of Americans said they'd vote for a woman from their own political party if she's qualified...."The public is perfectly willing to elect women to high office," said Scott Keeter at the Pew Research Center.

Read More
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/International/2007/02/08/3558267-sun.html

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 5 replies

This Obsession with Sex...

BabylonPriestess — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 22:37:10 GMT

Why is it that everywhere one turns these days it is nothing but sex, sex, sex? Everywhere! SEx on T.V., Sex in the movies, sex in magazines...and not just smut pages...EVERY magazine has something to say about it. Sex in clubs, sex in the bathrooms at schools ofr Goddess' sake! What si happening to the world?!?! Do not get me wrong..I am a bit of a Succubus...but damn! Do we, as a species, as "Evolved" as we supposedly are...have nothing better to doo, think, or talk about...than SEX??

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 23 replies

Have women fared well or badly in the world's religions down through the ages?

cortelyou — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:13:04 GMT

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2007/01/women_and_religion/

Various bloggers answer the Newsweek question of the week.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 21 replies

On the theory of being upstaged by political change

timbo — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:11:44 GMT

So, I found myself being amazed the other day when I turned on CNN and lo it seemed that a woman had been chosen to be Speaker of the House of the United States of America. Oddly, I needed to be reminded that, indeed, this was a day that 100 years ago had seemed a long way off...as indeed it turned out to be, namely that an actual woman had become Speaker of the House. But, indeed it has.

Why was I surprised to discover that I had forgotten that this was indeed a very important occassion? That is a good question. Partially, it is probably because I don't worry about whether it is possible or not...although I do fear the folks she will be up against in the Executive branch don't like it and don't care for it and probably will do everything they can to prevent Speaker Pelosi from doing the job the People want her to do. I mean it is an amazing thing, to be reminded about how important a woman becoming third inline to be President of the United States is should, say, Cheney and Bush both be impeached and convicted simultaneously. In any case, it is interesting that for many of us (or is it just me?) that this historic moment seemed to just jump out of the pages of the paper, the radio, and the TV (if we actually pay much attention to the blaring media these days) with an amazing thing happening for equality and women's rights.

Perhaps it is just not amazing enough...yet.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 8 replies

Current organ donor networks could provide option for infertile women

carlwebb — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:59:32 GMT

Current organ donor networks could provide option for infertile women

Current organ donor networks appear able to supply human wombs, or uteruses, for transplantation as a possible approach to treating infertility, researchers report in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Giuseppe Del Priore of New York Downtown Hospital and colleagues came to this conclusion after participating in a local organ donor network retrieval team for over 6 months.

Approximately 1,800 heart-beating, but brain-dead, organ donors were identified through an existing donor network. The removal of several organs took place in about 150 of the donors and 9 had specifically consented to donate their uterus.

The uterus was removed without complications in eight donors. Tissue testing suggested that the organs were, in fact, suitable for transplantation.

The researchers point out that the transplant of organs that are not needed to preserve life raises ethical issues. Thus far, the only human uterine transplant that has been performed was “controversial and unsuccessful.”

Nevertheless, they note that surgical techniques have improved and the successful retrieval of a usable human uterus brings the possibility of such transplants closer.

“Our hope,” the team concludes, “is to eventually restore reproductive function through transplantation of a human uterus.”

Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 1 reply

Olympics are not equal, lets change that.

Katheryn — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 03:28:20 GMT

Women are not allowed to compete in ski jumping. The next winter Olympics are being held in 2010 in vancouver. Lets write letters to the IOC (international Olympics Commitee), the Canadian Government, haman rights groups, other feminists.
thanks!!
love and respect
-Kathy

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

Question?

timbo — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 18:47:43 GMT

Is the statement "Contraception is demeaning to women" indicative of a logical ability to analyze the world? Is it a subjective projection of the wishes of a myopic mindset on how the world should work? And if so, why would one have such a position?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601929.html

In any case, I'd just like to say that appointing someone with that mindset to actually oversee a contraceptive program speaks volumes for the contempt that the Bush Administration feels for a majority of Americans. And, honestly, I find it sad to report this here. But, also, report it I must since the "philosophy" of forcing women to be subject to the vagaries of childbirth seems to be back in vogue...as long as it doesn't have to pass Senate confirmation.

Anyways, this basically falls into the category of a guy, a doctor in this case, telling women that he only has their best interest at heart when he doesn't want to "demean her" by giving her contraceptives. It is an attempt to fit women into a single category where they can be controlled, not by their own feelings and thoughts, but by some kind of wisdom brought down the mountain by some mystical mental midget. I mean, who better to put in charge of handing out contraception to formulate a plan to stop women from being demeaned by contraception?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 3 replies

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Herodias-in-Space — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:54:25 GMT

Please, everyone remember to vote tomorrow. Polls show that the election has become very tight in many states, and this means that turnout matters more than ever.

If you are not certain where your polling place is located, please find out today.
If there are ballot initiatives in your state or district, please decide on your votes now so you are prepared tomorrow.

Because of potential irregularities in the voting process, if your cellphone has a camera bring it along and be prepared to document anything that seems "off."

If your district uses touch-screen machines without a paper trail, make sure you review your votes at the end, and that the machine is actually reflecting the votes you cast. In early ballotting in Florida, some touch-screen machines have been recording Democratic votes as Republican.

If you are registered but are not found to be on a voting list, insist on casting a provisional paper vote.

Please try to take back our democracy!

~Herodias in Space

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

men who want to be feminists

kalsang — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 17:53:56 GMT

I was responding to a post in Jeff's dynamics thread, and thought I should actually start a new thread.

As I said, I wore myself out talking about issues years ago, especially with educating men about women's issues.

I think men have a huge role, not in helping me or other women directly, but in teaching boys, and other men. Boys have no effing clue about how to treat women and girls. And they have very few role models. There's a dearth of fatherhood in this country and the boys are in a tragic state. So are the girls, but the only way to stop violence is to get to the boys, and this cannot be done by women. Boys are surrounded by women, and they need real men around them. (Cf Robert Bly, Michael Meade, Sam Keane.)

One of the most moving things I ever listened to was two older men telling a violent young teen about how disgusted they were at the way he treated women, especially his mother.

If men focused on cleaning up the male act, then women would be a lot better off. I think it is THE most important thing men can do. (Just as, in a parallel issue, it's up to white people to clean up racism. Black people are sick of the entire subject.)

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 16 replies

The Meaning of Life - Documentary Part 1

cortelyou — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:05:50 GMT

A documentary I filmed and edited about people talking about their own meaning of life.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=61VXSZrAdQ4

Enjoy!

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

dynamics in this tribe

blue-j — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 04:49:51 GMT

i find this tribe to be the oddest arena sometimes, not what i expected. men tend to contribute the most, and when a disagreement occurs, everyone stops posting.

i would hope for this to be a place where women (and male feminists) could speak their minds, but it doesn't feel that way to me. does anyone have any insight to share about the dynamics here? i don't know, maybe feminists are chilling in another tribe more?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 18 replies

All Women Team Takes Yahoo! Hack Day Top Prize

cortelyou — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 05:34:22 GMT

All Women Team Takes Yahoo Hack Day Top Prize

http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/01/all-women-team-takes-yahoo-hack-day-top-prize

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 2 replies

Education and Orgasms

cortelyou — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 05:31:18 GMT

Educated women have more orgasms, says survey
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061004/women_orgasm_061004/20061004?hub=Health&s_name=

Link to survey results:
http://www.sexscience.org/uploads/media/JSR_43-3_Richters.pdf

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

The Electa & Oedipus complexes

Blackgrass — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:05:27 GMT

The Family Romance by Freud has & is a contentious subject for many...& has also been marred & hidden behind some people fears around incest or abuse....especially when it comes to the Electa Complex...tell me do any of you have any views on this deep & hidden aspect to our sexual personae?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 24 replies

When are males going to be liberated?

Paul — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:29:22 GMT

I was thinking about the words that are used to (negatively) control males, particularly their gender expression. The words fag, faggot, bitch, creep, weirdo, loser, dork, nerd, etc come to mind. What words are used to (negatively) control women? to prevent women from doing/saying something that is (seen as) "not appropriate" for women? No doubt "bitch" or "slut" function this way. Don't they? How effective are these words in controlling women? I know from personal experience that the words above (in the second sentence) are VERY effective in controlling males. It seems to me that women have been effective in lessening the hold that destructive sexual/gender stereotypes have on them. But males are still in the vise-like grip of destructive sexual/gender stereotypes. The oppressive impact of gender stereotypes on women has been widely recognized. But the destructive impact of gender stereotypes on males is not (as far as I know) widely recognized. When women talk about freeing themselves from gender oppression, people take that discourse seriously. When males talk about freeing themselves from gender oppression, they are ridiculed. Why? Is it because males are seen as "privileged"? Is it a "privilege" to have these words (sentence two) constantly hanging over every male, ready to pounce if he does not behave in exactly the "right way" every single nanosecond? The worst thing about being a male is being expected to be a mechanical device. Women should work to free both females and males from gender oppression. I believe that women cannot be completely free from gender oppression until males are. When are males going to be liberated?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 4 replies

what is a "real man" or "manhood"?

Paul — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 03:13:54 GMT

Not being a "real man" myself and having been assaulted many times by males (including my father) who considered themselves to be "real men" expressing their "manhood" and who wrongly considered me to be a "faggot" (or at least vulnerable), I can't find anything good or positive in the idea of a "real man" or "manhood." It seems to consists solely of (some type of) violence; It seems to be nothing more than the belief that might IS right, violence and hierarchy deified, hatred of thought/critical thinking, worship of death, extreme emotionality. The more violent a male is, the more of a "real man" he is considered to be. No matter how far along the violence spectrum (from nonviolence to inflicting gruesome torture) a male is, he does not cease to be a "man." In the view of a "real man," inflicting pain on others needs no justification; "manhood" itself is enough. Sayings like "it takes a man to be a dad" bother me. What does this mean? Does it mean that at least one parent must be devoted to "kicking ass and taking names"? If so, then it is no more than institutionalized bullying and tyranny; better that a child have no "dad." Does it refer to the idea that children are inherently evil and must be bullied into being good? Is it just that we define the male parent as the "dad"? "Being a man" confers "legitimacy" (even among many, perhaps most, women) on a male. A "real man" must constantly monitor his feelings and behavior to make sure that he is not doing or feeling anything "feminine." So he becomes a monster-bully constantly seeking victims. Only by victimizing someone can he prove his "manhood." "Real men" are fixated on (dishonestly) dividing the world up into neat little categories (usually two): e.g. one is either a "real man" or a "bitch/woman/faggot/coward." This is the ultimate "real man" consideration. This kind of thinking is completely antidemocratic & fascist. When the majority of the people are seen by some (especially males in power) as "not legitimate," how long can democracy last? Nazi Germany was a "real-man" state. I believe that "real-man" thinking should stop. No woman is expected/required to be a "real woman" and assaulted & stigmatized when she is not. Or am I wrong about this? I believe that we should have a matriarchy or strict sexual equality and that males should embrace femininity; when males can be feminine and still be considered "legitimate," then the world will be a better place for everyone (male & female).

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 8 replies

acquisition of gender and sexuality

blue-j — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 04:25:33 GMT

can anyone advise on some of the more respected and nuanced works on the acquisition of gender and sexuality? my education is a little dated and i need to find some core works to reference in some writing i'm doing. thanks in advance for sharing!

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 0 replies

The Whore Stigma

Blackgrass — Tue, 02 May 2006 11:52:14 GMT

The whore stigma & the value of sexuality is one of the most difficult issues we have yet to overcome.
The value of womans sexuality comes from the `beginning` of prehistory...when women gave birth, seemingly, to the men, without their involvement...the aattachment to creation & the honour of it, was thus placed at womens feet (& honoured with respected reverance & gifts)...because women (seemingly) `created` alone...they too, had the task of death to deal with. Thats why in history women have had this association with birth-death...`we bore into this world...therefore we carry over into the next`.
The threat of women to anothers whoring, is plain & simple `competition`...albeit sub-conscious at times...the same rules for men..it is natures aspect of survival at its finest.
Ancient Whores gave up the energy of birthing, this was part of the beginnings of patriarchy...few whores had children but wives did....an whores energy was not interrupted by the birth process, whilst the wives energies were comsumed by nurture to their children.
thus the roots of division from good girls to bad girls has evolevd, created by mankind & supported by a divide in womankind....so in effect you have three-quarters of humankind against the quarter of womankind who represent symbolically the Sacred Whore, thus the whore stigma was born.

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 5 replies

Where are the female philosophers?

Blackgrass — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:32:22 GMT

There seems to be very few female philosophers...why is this? And also why do you think that original thoughts about the female personality or sexual personality has only seemingly be written by men?
Yes, camuille paglia did her bit in `sexual personnae` & Simone de beaviour in hers....but there seems to be no serious study done by modern female philosophers or psychologists come to that! Or am I missing some huge pool of feminine enriched ways of thinking...that are not masked by political enthusiams, like feminism?

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 22 replies

Batwoman is back ... as a lesbian

carlwebb — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 00:25:58 GMT

DC Comics superheroine returns with a ‘different point of view’

NEW YORK - Years after she first emerged from the Batcave, Batwoman is coming out of the closet.

DC Comics is resurrecting the classic comic book character as a lesbian, unveiling the new Batwoman in July as part of an ongoing weekly series that began this year. The 5-foot-10 superhero comes with flowing red hair, knee-high red boots with spiked heels, and a form-fitting black outfit.

“We decided to give her a different point of view,” explained Dan DiDio, vice president and executive editor at DC. “We wanted to make her a more unique personality than others in the Bat-family. That's one of the reasons we went in this direction.”

The original Batwoman was started in 1956, and killed off in 1979. The new character will share the same name as her original alter ego, Kathy Kane. And the new Batwoman arrives with ties to others in the Gotham City world.

“She's a socialite from Gotham high society," DiDio said. "She has some past connection with Bruce Wayne. And she's also had a past love affair with one of our lead characters, Renee Montoya.”

Montoya, in the “52” comic book series, is a former police detective. Wayne, of course, is Batman's true identity — but he has disappeared, along with Superman and Wonder Woman, leaving Gotham a more dangerous place.

The “52” series is a collaboration of four acclaimed writers, with one episode per week for one year. The comics will introduce other diverse characters as the story plays out.

‘Trying for overall diversity’
“This is not just about having a gay character,” DiDio said. “We're trying for overall diversity in the DC universe. We have strong African-American, Hispanic and Asian characters. We're trying to get a better cross-section of our readership and the world.”

The outing of Batwoman created a furor of opinions on Web sites devoted to DC Comics. Opinions ranged from outrage to approval. Others took a more tongue-in-cheek approach to the announcement.

“Wouldn't ugly people as heroes be more groundbreaking?” asked one poster. “You know, 200-pound woman, man with horseshoe hair loss pattern, people with cold sores, etc.?”

DiDio asked that people wait until the new Batwoman's appearance in the series before they pass judgment.

“You know what? Judge us by the story and character we create,” he said. “We are confident that we are telling a great story with a strong, complex character.”

DiDio spent most of the morning fielding phone calls from media intrigued by the Batwoman reinvention.

“It's kind of weird,” he said. “We had a feeling it would attract some attention, but we're a little surprised it did this much.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13070024/

posted in Feminist Philosophy - 12 replies