Wednesday Femilinks, 25/06/08

"Trans people can wreak havoc on such taken-for-granted concepts as feminine and masculine, homosexual and hetero-sexual, because these words are rendered virtually meaningless when a person’s biological sex and lived sex are not the same."
Julia Serano, Writer, Scientist and Trans Rights Activist

Apologies for the delay... I really wish I didn't have a full-time job. Dublin Pride '08 was awesome! This article in indymedia Ireland has photos and a video, in which I am in for three seconds.

'Wanted' review (@ The Guardian) - Peter Bradshaw breaks the film down and denounces its mysoginist presentation. Of particular note is the casual size-ism the film presents, as well as its convoluted, adolescent-het-male plot, according to Bradshaw.

Off-limits humour (@ Shakesville) - Melissa McEwan carefully analyses what humour counts as off-limits, from a general perspective. She presents why we should consider some aspects of humour off-limits, such as the big wave of oh-so-progressive racism and misogynist humour. On the other hand, she posits that 'fair game' topics may revolve around choices rather than intrinsic nature (which isn't unproblematic, of course).

Excuses why some people don't believe in male privilege (@ Screaming into the Void) - Does exactly what it says on the tin, and namechecks the awesome Male Privilege Checklist.

Sexy blue space women of Mass Effect (@ Girl in the Machine) - Bombergirl dissects the presentation of the Asari, the all-female race of hit sci-fi videogame Mass Effect. She analyses the pros and cons of their characterisation, as well as the fact that they are all eternally youthful and physically 'perfect'.

Transgender people and the prison system (@ Curvature) - Cara writes about the horrifying experience of trans people in U.S. prison, with all kinds of abuse are prevalent such as denial of hormone treatment despite being prescribed it, sexual assault from both inmates and guards, and murder.

Friday flickr (@ The F Word blog) - A collection of amazing feminist snaps from around the world.

Monday Femilinks, June 16th 2008

"Humanity cannot be made equal by declarations on paper. Unless the material conditions for equality exist, it is worse than mockery to pronounce men equal."
Voltairine De Clayre, Anarchist feminist Writer

Let's get the ball rolling, yeah?

"You feminists just want to tell women to do what you want..." (@ Feminism 101) - An interesting thread about a typical anti-feminist tactic: the idea that women "choose" to be oppressed. Read on for great comments and links.

"Being a Feminist Boyfriend" (@ Feministe) - A great comment thread where many contributors chime in about their experiences about relationships and feminism.

"Uh-oh" (@ The Bilerico Project) - Allen presents some facts about the people selected to contribute their expertise in transsexuality/transgender to the new DSM-V. She explains why the appointment of certain individuals could be detrimental not only for trans* folk, but also to the queer community at large. (via)

"Men! Feminism needs you! (Not your privilege)" (@ The F Word) - A fantastic, insightful article by Anne Onne which addresses men who are new to feminism. Anne explains, in a succinct manner, why men may feel out-of-sorts in feminist spaces on the internet, and how men can challenge their privilege to positively contribute in these spaces.

"Why are women so critical of each other?" (@ The F Word) - Rosjke Hasseldine expounds on the issue of internalised mysoginy, and how this hurts solidarity between women. Hasseldine explores the reasons for the internalisation of mysoginy among women, and why this area needs to be explored and challenged within a feminist framework.

Introducing...

Welcome to Femilinking!

The purpose of this blog is to highlight interesting feminist writings published on the internet, linking to them as they are presented. Indeed, there are so many writings and perspectives that it is hard to digest it all.

Femilinking will highlight feminist and feminist-informed articles which I find particularly interesting and well-written. Posts will include links to relevant articles, as well as informative blurbs to help you decide how to spend your reading time (which I know many of us are in short supply of). I will also link to the sources, which will frequently be bigger feminist blogs. It is not the purpose of this blog to publish articles (which I'm leaving for great sites like The F Word). Rather, I'd like this to be a helpful resource for feminist activists. I may, from time to time, translate spanish-language articles with permission from authors, as I feel these perspectives are sometimes lost on the anglophone sphere.

Update frequency will be of one or two posts a week, possibly more depending on the amount of articles and time at my disposal.

My perspective is that of an intersectionality-informed feminist queer. As such, I believe that there are many different 'vectors' of oppression that bear down on any one person at any one time, such as class, gender, sexuality, gender and sexual identity, ethnicity, race, able-ism, size-ism and more. I believe it is important to study the overlaps in the different situations presented to us in society. I believe only by deconstructing these varied experiences, can we hope to begin breaking down oppression.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you find this new resource useful for whatever you need it.

-Ariel


(Graphic from www.infoshop.org)