Archive for November 2009
The Flow: Like A Boy
Posted on: November 29, 2009
posted by Emilyn (Drew SDS) & Christa
We fucking love this video, so hopefully you do too.
Like A Boy
By Ciara
Thanksgiving weekend: The collision of my gender politics with my family, and the Second Shift in action
Posted on: November 28, 2009
Because it is a holiday weekend, I have spent the last two days around my family, including my parents,brother, and extended family. I never been incredibly close with my family, so I don’t spend a lot of time with them, and since I am often surrounded by progressive/feminist/activist/LGBTQQI/sex-positive/etc. friends 
and other folks at school, it’s always kind of disheartening when I leave the haven of this bubble. I hate to call it a bubble because it’s not like we as a community are oblivious to the thoughts, beliefs, and lives of people who don’t share our political beliefs, but sometimes to me it feels like a comfortable, cozy bubble, which is both a good and a bad thing.
It is not even as if I deal with a constant barrage of overtly sexist, racist, classist, homophobic, conservative and/or fundamentalist bullshit- my family (minus my neo-con, Fox News loving brother) is relatively liberal and they (even my brother, to a certain extent) are pretty accepting of my political views and activism/organizing. I make my dedication to reproductive rights no secret, and have no qualms discussing my feminist views and activism with my family. But I have observed things this weekend that have made me incredibly uncomfortable, and I share this because I’m sure some of you have seen the same, as it is the weekend of a capitalist, hetero-normative, materialistic, racist, and overall problematic holiday. The first instance came when my mother took no time to inquire about my sexuality due in part to my short hair, decision to take more women’s studies classes, friends, and activism. I told her that it was wrong to attempt to determine my sexuality on the basis of these things because there is no right or correct way for a female or queer person to be.
Disclaimers on this blog
Posted on: November 27, 2009
Hey all,
So I commented on Amber’s post about this but I was encouraged to make it into a post =], so here goes.
I’ve noticed throughout this blog that there are a lot of disclaimers before the meat of entries about the entries possibly being scatterbrained or not making sense or things of that nature. It makes me a tiny bit sad to see these because all of the entries kick so much ass! I’m including myself in this post too because the only other post I made had a disclaimer as well- even a plea for the other bloggers to add to it. I am very unsure myself about posting on this blog because, actually, all of the other posts make me feel so unworthy! Haha, I hate seeing women with brains out the wazoo coming down on themselves even a tiny bit. I can’t help but feel like it might be internalized patriarchy, but I also am not sure about that. Maybe there’s just a need to not feel as arrogant as the patriarchs we talk about! That’s how I justify it to myself, but I know a large part of it comes from my lack of confidence in my intellect.
So I just encourage everyone to think about maybe not including a disclaimer next time they post, so many great things are posted on this blog, I haven’t seen one lackluster post yet! It will be hard for me to exclude these disclaimers, but I think for me it will be worth a try.
What does everyone else think about this?
ALL my love,
Ellen, Drew SDS
-reposted from eleven o clock alchemy http://elevenoclockalchemy.wordpress.com/ -
-originally posted November 22, 2009-
About 5 years ago, I stopped hanging out and doing work in the anarchist community because it wasn’t meeting my needs. The community wasn’t doing the kind of work I’m most interested in, it was completely white-centric, and it tended to silence me when I got the most passionate. In short, the anarchist community in the city I was living in failed me.
But I never stopped considering myself an anarchist.
During my anarchist years, the same tiresome things kept happening. I’d attend meetings and it never changed: there was often a palpable feeling in the air “Who is this breeder? Doesn’t she know her kid isn’t welcome?” This always made me feel like saying, “Listen, you stinky motherfucker, your impressively righteous punk patches and by-the-book taste in music notwithstanding, you don’t get to decide whose party this is, and just because you’re uncomfortable with your own parents and class privilege doesn’t mean all parents, or all kids suck. It might mean that you suck, though. Now go throw a rock at a window and call it revolution.” Read the rest of this entry »
by Amber, Rochester SDS
So I’ve been thinking a lot about Robin’s post about men and their literary prowess and this is a result of what came out of my brain. Hopefully it all makes sense.
I know full well the idea of it seeming that men are the ones doing all the reading of books about radical politics, (i.e. anarchism, racism, and histories in general). I can remember numerous times where I have been with my radical male friends and almost every single time they tell me about this book they found or this new book that they just read and suggest I read it. Or even being at SDS meetings, thinking back to all the meetings I’ve attended I know for a fact that the majority if not every single time someone recommends a book to read or offers up a book for someone to borrow it’s a male doing that. The one thing that is a huge issue for me is when a male says “Oh you should read this book. It’s a short read, I read it in a day.” Someone told me that about Chomsky on Anarchism, it took me around a week to get through the first ten or so pages and I remember eventually giving up on it because it was taking so long for me to read it.
The Flow: The Phoenix
Posted on: November 22, 2009
- In: The Flow
- 3 Comments
The Phoenix by Vanessa Nichols
At the dawn,
The sun sheds her cloak of mood, cloak and starry black skies
And stands naked, bright and shining,
Filled with yellow, and orange, and brilliance.
And all I can do is wish to be as lovely as she.
Such radiance! Like the Phoenix rising;
Arms turned into wings the color of glowing embers
Stretched as wide and far as the rays of the sun herself.
Bursting with passion and gold and blazing.
Too small and too wonderful to contain it all.
But we don’t believe in blinding flames anymore.
How can we dream of such light? Read the rest of this entry »
Why I’m More Inspired by UC Student Actions than I am by NYC Student Actions
Posted on: November 20, 2009
-reposted from facebook with permission-
written by Farah Khimji (former SDS member and organizer from Take Back NYU)
Look at the pictures. pics from new york all look similar to this:
UCLA
Concrete Ways Not to be a Total Dude Bro
i.e., I Can’t Believe You Guys Are Being for Real
by Adrian & Emilyn with special thanks to Christa.
an entirely accurate depiction of Emilyn (in the middle) and Adrian (on the right) defeating the metaphorical "monster" that is patriarchy.
DISCLAIMER: We recognize that the tone of this piece is probably a little aggressive or angry. That’s because we were really angry and upset and in a bad place when we wrote it. We’ve come back a few months later, removed some of the profanity, and tried to be not so confrontational. But it was also important for us to be able to express these things that we’ve felt for so long, and haven’t been empowered to say. So please, when you’re reading this, try not to get defensive, and try to acknowledge where we were when we wrote this.
dude bro: (noun) \ˈdüd \ˈbrō
1. a gender-normative male-bodied person who acts in a patriarchal way
2. one who is macho and/or overly- and obnoxiously-masculine, in the worst way(s) possible
dudely: (adj.)
1. something/someone with the qualities of a dude bro
2. dominated by men
cisgender: (noun.) (in this piece we use cismale/cismen/cisdude)
1. the contrast to trans on the gender spectrum
2. someone who lives and identifies as the sex they were assigned at birth
- Stop prowling (also, stop denying it when you are).
- Stop lying to yourself — you’re not a good feminist.
- STFU&L (shut the fuck up and listen). Read the rest of this entry »
Men and the Written Word
Posted on: November 15, 2009
by Robin, Philly
This is a topic I’ve been thinking about for a long time and have had a hard time drawing decisive conclusions about. At this point I’ve been noticing it consistently for about 2 and a half years, though, and I think it’s time to throw my thoughts out there to hear what other people think. (And when I say people, I mean, women, trans and gender variant people, and MAYBE some dudes if you’re gonna do something other than get defensive.)
What is up with men and books? So many activist men I know have read about a billion books. All about leftist history and anarchism/communism and racism and sexism, apparently. I’m not trying to say women don’t read books, but to be honest, most of my female friends read much fewer books than the males I know, and they are more likely to read fiction.
