International Women's Day events

In Toronto:

1) March 8 - Rally and March from OISE
Time and Place Date: Saturday, March 8, 2008
Time: 11:00am - 4:00pm
Location: OISE
Street: Bloor W (at St. George Subway)
City/Town: Toronto, ON

2) March 9 (?)

3) And in Ottawa - this looks really cool.International Women's Day Art Show

Corrective Lenses:
Challenging Representations of Women of Colour in Art

International women’s day art show and panel discussion

Featuring subversive reproductions of Gauguin, Michelangelo, Gerome, Metzel, Carr and others by women of colour artists from Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Turkiye.

Corrective Lenses:
Challenging Representations of Women of Colour in Art

International women’s day art show featuring subversive reproductions of Gauguin, Michelangelo, Gerome, Metzel, Carr and others by women of colour artists from Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Turkiye.

March 8, 4pm
Vernissage and panel discussion featuring:

Charmaine Nelson: McGill University Art History professor and author of Racism eh? A Critical Inter-Disciplinary Anthology of Race in the Canadian Context
Rosalie Favell: Award-winning photographer whose work has appeared in more than a dozen solo exhibitions and more than twenty group exhibitions around the world
Dipna Horra: a multi-media artist and visual arts reviewer with CBC
radio’s Ottawa Morning
Joanne St. Lewis: University of Ottawa Law professor and recipient of the 2008 Dreamkeepers Award conferred by the Martin Luther King Day Coalition.

Art exhibition March 8 –15 featuring the works of:
Sundus Abdul Hadi, Ilknur Demirkoparan, Rosalie Favell, Dipna Horra, Radha Jhappan, Meera Karunananthan, Joanne St. Lewis and Helina Tadesse

Location:
Jock Turcot University Centre, University of Ottawa

For more information, contact Meera Karunananthan: correctivelenses@gmail.com

Corrective Lenses is sponsored by the following University of Ottawa institutions: The Institute of Women’s Studies, Community Life Services, The University of Ottawa Women’s Resource Centre,The Social Justice Group, Common Law Section, Faculty of Law and the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa.

Must Read: A Question of APIA Feminism: Domestic Abuse/Intimate Partner Violence

I don't have much to argue with in Jenn's post, A Question of APIA Feminism: Domestic Abuse/Intimate Partner Violence, because I've read the same studies. But I would add that from the studies I've read, the main solution to decreasing the high incidence of intimate partner violence in the APIA community is awareness, or something I talk about frequently, visible APIA feminisms. Meaning the high incidence is due to 1) women not getting the help they need and 2) the lack of discussion about intimate partner violence in the APIA community, and, 1) and 2) go hand in hand. The lack of awareness added to 3) the insensitivity of domestic violence shelters towards Asian languages and cultures and 4) immigrants' ignorance about the U.S. legal system create a crisis.

Here are the (many) highlights of Jenn's post:

Existing studies of domestic abuse have historically neglected to collect racial or ethnic data on victims of domestic violence. In those studies that do collect racial or ethnic data, studies that have focused on Asian American women have varied widely in the reported frequency of domestic violence (summarized in this factsheet from the Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Abuse), suggesting that Asian American women might underreport domestic abuse or be less educated on recognizing the warning signs. Regardless, even these rough estimates are alarming: anywhere between 20-80% of APIA women report experiencing some form of domestic abuse or violence. At least one study (conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice) estimates that roughly 52% of Asian American women are victims of rape and/or physical assault (Exhibit 4), but notes that this only represents the incidence of reporting.

Within the Asian American community, studies suggest that reporting of domestic abuse varies along ethnic lines, as well as according to age and generational status. 61% of immigrant Japanese women, for example, reported some form of intimate partner violence, while a different study found 20% of Filipina women reported experiencing some form of domestic violence. A third study reported that 8% of Chinese women experienced “severe physical violence”, but that percentage doubled with “more acculturated” women (although this may represent a higher likelihood of reporting).

One of the most comprehensive studies conducted on domestic violence within the Asian American community was authored by the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project. Project AWARE (Asian Women Advocating Respect and Empowerment) surveyed nearly 200 Asian women in the D.C. area. That study noted that roughly two-thirds of surveyed women at least “occasionally” experienced some form of controlling behaviour or psychological abuse from their intimate partners in the year prior to the study; Project AWARE displays the forms of abuse that were surveyed in the full report.

Several studies (e.g. Understanding Violence Against Women by Cromwell and Burgess) have suggested that the problem of domestic abuse or intimate partner violence within the Asian American community may stem from unique cultural influences that affect a woman’s likelihood to recognize or report abuse by her partner.

Primarily, traditional Confucian principles of familial hierarchy have been traditionally used to define gender roles wherein husbands are superior to wives and sons superior to daughters; this hierarchy is reinforced by a social expectation of obedience and piety, and results in both men and women being socialized into accepting a superior/inferior relationship between intimate partners that can leave women susceptible to intimate partner violence. Indeed, an abusive relationship may be so normalized for a woman that APIA women by not recognize abuse as it occurs. Moreoever, our tacit acceptance of hierarchal intimate partner relationships may unintentionally reward patterns of domestic violence; in “Unheard Voices”, a study on APIA domestic violence, one survey participant said:

“I think its our cultures that allow it to happen. We do not hold somebody accountable for that kind of violence…you see that the batterer gets invited to parties, it’s the woman who gets isolated…”

Secondly, several Asian cultures have emphasized the importance of familial or social harmony, as well as to preserve social “face” over personal interests. Dasgupta and Warrier (1996) reported that within the South Asian community, the predominant motivation for wives were a belief in the rold of a “good wife”, described as including “sacrifice of personal freedom and autonomy… they felt responsible for the reputation of their families in India, were eager not to compromise their families’ honor with a divorce, and operated under the added pressure of preserving traditions and presenting an “unblemished” image of the community to the U.S. mainstream.”

The invisibility of Asian American women in the struggle to end intimate partner violence rests also in the Model Minority Myth, which has long discouraged mainstream America from imagining that the Asian American community might suffer from concerns such as mental disease or domestic violence. This reluctance to perceive the APIA community as flawed not only jeopardizes the idealistic image of the American immigrant, but may also be perpetuated within the community by APIA men and women who are unwilling to “air out our dirty laundry” in the eyes of mainstream America. As Dasgupta and Warrier reported in their 1996 study, men and women of Asian communities may feel a pressure to maintain “face” for their cultural traditions, heritages, or race in America, and as such may perceive a woman reporting intimate partner violence or domestic abuse as an affront upon that image.

The question foremost on my mind is why the Asian American community at-large isn’t angry about domestic abuse/intimate partner violence within our community? APIA feminists must maintain the focus of the debate on the unheard victims of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence. The unique sexism that APIA feminists must combat is the reluctance, both within and outside the APIA community, to address or even understand the concerns of Asian American female victims of physical and psychological assault. The implicit message being sent by our apathy is that abuse against APIA women is acceptable, so long as it is unheard or willfully misunderstood.

Read the whole thing.

**Cross-posted at my place.**

Link Love: Asian American Feminism

I'm deeply stunned and saddened at the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, one of my Asian feminist heroes, and am rendered speechless. Except to say it's George Bush's and his various puppet governments' fault.

Filipina poet Barbara Jane Reyes muses on a theme I've written about lately. That APIA women are their own worst enemy.

Reappropriate: Helen Zia: Be The Change. Zia, a Baby Boomer, was affected by Asian/Confucian sexism (father), I'm a Gen Xer affected by Asian/Confucian sexism (mother), the commenter who I'm assuming is a Gen Yer was affected by both Asian/Confucian and Western sexism (father) and Jenn is a Gen Yer affected by Asian/Confucian sexism (father) and so Zia was right when she said at last year's NAPAWF conference APIAs should get rid of their Confucian thinking.

Asian American Action Fund: Why APAs Should Vote Clinton. AAA does not endorse any candidate but it was interesting to see Clinton is the first choice in California and first choice among the elderly, poor/middle class (<$40,000), APIAs, Latinos and women in California.

Reappropriate: Podcast on Asian American feminism

Reappropriate: A Question of APIA Feminism: Introduction. Jenn is starting a series on Asian American feminism. Huzzah!

Happy New Year.

**Cross-posted at my place.**

Happy Winter Solstice

**Cross-posted at my place.**

It was fun blogging here.

Early on, Pizzadiavola expressed interest in intersectionality and Asian Americans. If you're a woman of color interested in intersectionality and communities of color, I just tagged 40 posts about this on my blog under intersectionality. Most feminists know about intersectionality in feminism, i.e., racism and classism in feminism, but few know about sexism in communities of color. My blog is probably one of the only places on the 'net to find commentary on this right now. I'm also proud of my women of color, violence against women, feminism and sexism tags so I hope people will check out my blog.

Happy Winter Solstice and Holidays!

Be good.

Prostitution: Where Raciscm and Sexism Intersect

Prostitution: Where Raciscm and Sexism Intersect
Prostitution: Where Racism and Sexism Intersect*
by Vednita Nelson
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, 1993, Volume 1: 81-89.

Eleven Black women were strangled. Eleven Black women were sexually mutilated. The bodies of eleven Black women were dumped in abandoned buildings under piles of trash in a period of nine months

I had to ask myself. Where was the outrage? Why wasn't the community up in arms? Clearly there was a pattern here. All of the women were poor. All of the women were Black. All of the women were used in prostitution. There was no reason to believe that the killer would not strike again. So, I had to ask myself, where was the outrage? One Black male is beaten up by four white police officers and every Black community activist in the country, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson, is crying out against racist violence and the culture of poverty that precipitated the L.A. riots.(6) Eleven poor, Black women are murdered and mutilated, their bodies are thrown away like so much trash, and the only thing we hear, besides the deafening silence, is a local Baptist minister mourning that these women "were already among the walking dead."(7) Where do racism and sexism meet? If you ask me, they meet in a trash pile, in an abandoned building, in Detroit.

Racism makes Black women and girls especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation and keeps them trapped in the sex industry. It does this by limiting educational and career opportunities for African-Americans in this country.(8) It does this through a welfare system that has divided the poor Black family. If a mother works, or her children's father contributes to their support, her check and food stamps are cut by that amount.(9) Thus, poor Black women are left alone to find for themselves and their children on inadequate Aid to Families with Children(10) grants.

Racist stereotypes in the mainstream media and in pornography, portray Black women as wild animals who are ready for any kind of sex, any time, with anybody.(11) Additionally, strip joints and massage parlors are typically zoned in Black neighborhoods,(12) which gives the message to white men that it is alright to solicit Black women and girls for sex--that we are all prostitutes. On almost any night, you can see them slowly cruising around our neighborhoods, rolling down their windows, calling out to women and girls. And we got the message growing up, just like our daughters are getting it today, that this is how it is, this is who we are, this is what we are for.(13)

.....

How can mainstream feminists claim to care about Black women and racism when they fail to speak out against the white men who pay for the right to sexually abuse our daughters and sisters, or against the police who target these same women for arrest and imprisonment, while their abusers, the johns that prey on our community, go free? It is time for white feminists to stand beside US, to fight racist and sexist oppression, and to take the same risks we do. The mainstream feminist community must actively fight to end both systems. If not, the cry "sisterhood is powerful" will remain an empty slogan for Black women.

Read the rest of the article here.

No comments.

Help Yolanda & others get to the AMC!

Dear Friends,

As you know many WOC bloggers want to go to the AMC. Some of the bloggers have managed to get funds, I have posted the link in the sidebar to bfps blog which has the links to those bloggers that need funds. I believe Black Amazon is now covered (for the most part).

I'm just putting the word out for Yolanda as she asked me if there was some way I could make an announcement (she has been running around a lot lately). But you can still contribute to the other bloggers, which as I've mentioned, the link is in the side bar.

Here is the link to Yolanda's Paypal.

Thank you
-AD

Blogging for Choice: A Confession - How I went from being "Pro-Life" to "Pro-choice"

For my friend K, because you opened my eyes.



About seven years ago, I was ambivalent about 'abortion', I wasn't pro-choice you could say. At one point I even made it a point to declare that I would never abort my fetus even if it had been born anencephalic. Weird you say? No, it's the truth, this is how I felt at the time - in my early twenties.

In fact despite being agnostic, I felt that it was 'morally wrong' to kill 'potential life'. Of course the only person's life I didn't think about was the woman's.

I became a "feminist" before I became pro-choice, yes, you heard me correctly - I became a "feminist" before I became pro-choice, or at least I thought I was a feminist. I kept this hidden, to myself and never mentioned it in public (until today for the first time) - of course I didn't want to be ostracized by other feminists. In fact, you could say I even hid behind the whole "I would never do it - but if other women do it - it's okay" lie. You know the game where you assume "you're the centre of righteousness" and everyone else who does something differently is a dumb ass.

The truth was I didn't really know what 'pro-choice' meant. I just assumed it was a way for women to get 'rid' of 'babies'. As though women who did this did so because they were stupid, ignorant, selfish, heartless, vain about their figures, promiscuous without worrying about the consequences or were a combination of all of these things. Of course, I was none of those things - but 'these other women' supposedly were.

So how did I become pro-choice? I listened, I thought it over, I realized I wasn't being much of a feminist either - because if I was I would understand that only individual women can decide whether they can have a child or not at the right point in their life.

After some time I understood what it meant to be pro-choice, I understood that it was only the individual woman who knew what her circumstances were. There are many questions that no one can answer for a woman who is pregnant (or for that matter any questions that women need to answer for anyone else!), women's lives are too complicated as it is and many things effect their decision about continuing with a pregnancy:
- are they financially stable
- do they have a partner they want to conceive with (do they even want a partner)
- do they already have several children
- are they currently studying
- are they working
- are they in an abusive relationship (pregnant women experience the highest rate of DV)
- do they have supportive parents
- will they face ostracism from the community they live in (you know the word 'slut' only works one way really)
- will they be able to provide a stable and loving environment for their children (there are many children who need adoption already!)
- are they medically incapable/ will it harm them to have a baby/ will it harm the baby (if it's going to harm the baby - will this woman have the ability/finances/support to take care of a disabled child?)
- did their partner threaten to leave them/already left them
- is it just the wrong time in this woman's life?
- do they just not want a child (why should someone be forced to bear a child if they don't want one? - childbirth should be a joy - not torture!)

All these things came crashing down on me - and I realized I wasn't being much of a feminist at all if I couldn't trust WOMEN to make their own decisions for themselves. In fact I moved away from an ANTI-WOMAN PRO-LIFE rhetoric towards a WOMAN-CENTRED view.

Recently, however, my feminist principles took on a new challenge. A wonderful and dear friend of mine discovered she was pregnant. I have known this woman since she was a pre-teen, sometimes I think I feel a little protective of her - because she is much younger than I am. This woman like myself is a woman of colour, she is and has often been in and out of social assistance programs (as has her family), she also does not have a high-school diploma despite her extreme brightness, she comes from an abusive home and her boyfriend is an utter loser.

My friend came to me for advice about what she should do about this pregnancy because despite the odds and the challenges she really wanted to carry on with the pregnancy and NO ONE supported her in this decision. I cried many times that night, I cried for her education, I cried because I loved her, I cried for her future, I cried about her abusive family, her poverty, her lack of employable skills, her youth - I convinced myself that this woman did not know what she was talking about.

And then it hit me like a tonne of bricks, I was not adhering to a woman centred analysis, in fact I wanted my friend to have an abortion and it was for all the same classist/racist and anti-feminist reasons that I became pro-choice in the first place. My friend came to me because she loved me, because she trusted me, because everyone else had told her not to have the baby - she came to me for advice because she knew I was a feminist and had told her "that I love women".

With much pain, I did the right thing, I told her how I felt about her having a child at this stage in her life - but I also told her that only she knew what was right for her and that I would support her in whatever decision she wanted.

Her family is still not supportive, she's still in poverty, she still doesn't have a degree (BUT she's working on that - I wouldn't let that one slide!!!), she still has a dead-beat, unfaithful boyfriend - but you know what? My friend is also very happy with her decision, she also gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl I know (who've I've already offered to get some feminist books for!).

So what have I learned over the years? Pro-choice means being there for women, knowing that YOU do not live a woman's life for her, that you can't possibly experience/live her pain to know what she is going through. Pro-choice also means providing sustainable solutions for women so that if they choose to have/not have children they have OPTIONS such as universal daycare, health care, education, scholarships, housing, meaningful employment. Like everything else about women's lives - CHOICE does not operate in a vacuum separate from other decisions/realities of women's lives.

"Racialized Anger"

I am smitten with Zooeylive!!!! You've gotta read this.

Post your comments directly at Zooeylive's blog. Hurrah!

UPDATE: Have you seen this short film yet? I think it's befitting taking into consideration some of the comments that Zooeylive has on her post.

It's a 12 min film - "all ya 'efnik' ppl" will relate. Most of you "non-efnik" UKers will too - cause it's made in the UK.

Watch it - it's hysterical!

Holly Bolly! By Dishad Husain. 2004. London.

Note: gender representation is biased, but overall a hysterical 12 mins.

Also for anyone visiting this blog - check out the new posts at reSisterance. The last three are especially good, link is in the blogroll!

"Of Cultural Appropriation and White Feminists"

I am cheating here because this is such a good post that it is worth repeating and distributing, plus there is no way I could ever write/analyze something so critically and honestly:

diaries of an eccentric nerd athaba hijibiji discusses: "Of Cultural Appropriation and White Feminists"

Just a delicious morsel of the article, so you get a taste:

a) If you are working on a cultural or literary tradition, please make sure that you know about it in all its possible complexities before you begin to work on it or pass authoritative judgements on it.

b) Learn to give other cultures their proper rights of ownership.

c)Please remember that we do not need a clueless white woman like you to prove the relevance of our literary works or to provide their feminist re-interpretations. We have already accomplished those tasks ourselves.

Especially worth reading is the discussion that follows.

If I was to add to this, I would say this is not just relevant to 'literary works' but also anything of 'another culture' that you relay on your blog which you do not 'fully understand' or view in it's myriad complexities and connectivities. This is why "Burqa-gate" was such a complex fiasco.

Comments are off, because you can comment directly on the writer's blog, which I am sure she would appreciate.

BTW: HAPPY NEW YEAR AND EID MUBARRAK!!!

How to Stop Being an Ignorant/Indifferent White Feminist...

Post dedication Yolanda, cause I don't want to see another WOC blogger leave.

Why'd I start this blog?

Actually, I had no intention of starting one because I'm not the best writer, and I read far too many blogs/articles per day to even try to summarize what I want to say. But at a certain point, I realized when I wrote comments on other people's blogs I was either a)muted b)'attacked'/'insulted' by librul white bois c)generally ignored. So, basically I started this blog for some space to call my own as a WOC.

Anyways, despite being 'political' there are indeed some topics I tend to shy away from (again because I don't think I am the best writer and we all tend to believe - 'someone else is already doing it, do I really need to?'). One of these topics I shy away from is the inability of white feminists to understand their own ignorance and perpetuation of 'racism'. Oh shite, shoot me cause I know y'all are thinking "bloody hell, there goes another one of those coloured gals playing the race card". Whine, whine, whine - is this all these coloured gals do?

It's really quite funny because if it wasn't for the internet I would not have any 'white' (white as 'dominant' not ethnic/religious minority) feminist friends. I do indeed surround myself with people of colour (both progressive and non-progressive). Having said that, I'm not a stranger to internet feminist communities and like many of you, I started out by participating at the Ms. Boards eons ago. At that time however, I was not 'officially' a feminist. I was a learner/lurker.

Over the years, one thing has been made clearer to me than ever - it's that the internet is a white space. Yeah, we can harp about how it's egalitarian - promises to be so etc... But anyone who has a site-meter should/can easily figure out which countries their traffic is coming from. Whatever happened to the golden promises of bridging the 'digital divide'... like everything else that's about inequitable distribution it's been thrown on the back-burner.

I digress, if the majority of bloggers are white and male, and the majority of feminist bloggers are white and middle-class it is no wonder that 'we' (WOC) are often discontent with the content of blogistan. Because I am not a separatist by any account and don't want to start a 'fight' (though there shouldn't be any for anything that I'm saying) I am trying to approach this matter as calmly and rationally as I can.

The following are just my suggestions about how you can stop being an ignorant/indifferent white feminist:

1) Stop quoting mainstream white conservative/liberal media for your 'token' race relations post. BUT if you do - try to look at that article from a 'third world perspective'/'Global South' perspective.

No, I'm fucking serious. You're all very quick to dissect mainstream news when they report/misreport some event that happens to any white woman. You instantly call bias when you see it. You're the first to point out "they're insulting said woman because they said this or that" (and I fully support you when you do this). But, don't you think that the same 'biased' lens is used to report on things that happen to the 'poor, oppressed, 'retarded', incapable, hopeless, voiceless' women of colour masses that comprise the majority of the world? You know it was this same 'save the women of Afghanistan' bullshit that was used by the US govt to invade Afghanistan, right? Women's rights didn't matter until GW wanted to invade a country, despite Afghan women who repeatedly called out for help under the Taliban often risking their lives to call out to the outside world.

So this should make you wonder how WOC are used in the mainstream media. Here's a clue, they're primarily used to perpetuate the idea that all MOC are evil-coloured-patriarchs and they're cultures are backwards and stupid. This is called "R-A-C-I-S-M".

I am not saying that you point out the WOC oppression globally in order to perpetuate myths about them, but rather NONE of this 'documentation work' that you do is supported by adequate WOC analysis or references. I.e you post about it - without any contextualization. You rarely do that for ANY articles written about white women. You scoff and laugh at how they are written in favour of patriarchy.

It's easy to point out patriarchy exists everywhere, it's harder to get a clue on how mainstream media rarely points out stories of the strong women of colour that do amazing work ALL OVER THE WORLD. With all these pathetic coloured women that exist globally - you'd wonder how a diasporic south asian woman ever got 'radicalized'... huh?

Indeed, a very nice prof of mine did ask me this very patronizing question once "How'd you ever become a south Asian [emphasis hers] radical feminist?", to which I responded "the same way you became a white one".

So when you post up an article about how the oppressed, miserable coloured women of the world who are dying under evil-coloured-people's patriarchy - try in some form or shape to account for media bias.

2) Read more WOC books. As a WOC I've been indoctrinated into the same white patriarchal BS that all of you have too, and like you it was not by 'choice'. Like you, I too have to do my homework. I've read all the cornerstone feminist books that you have (more or less) - but how many WOC perspectives do you seriously read? Do you own more than 5 WOC books? Do you own at least 2-3 post-colonial feminist readers/compilations? Do you own any third world books written by WOC?

Even if you do, do you feel you thoroughly understand everything that is being said in those books?

Any feminist theory 101 class has that nice little 'minorities' section tacked on at the end, but seriously - do you think your education on WOC extends only thus far? Because if it does, well then - I too should stop reading all the new material that keeps on being added to this body of work daily. "Hey, we read bell hooks' "Ain't I a Woman" back in 1981, that's all the education we need to know. We're down with the you need your own space bit. We also clap when you make some noise too, we're not the R-word."

Like my own process of ridding myself of my own prejudices will NEVER come to a halt, neither does yours. You too must continually 'get with the program' and 'upgrade' your views. As we know feminism is not isolated from the other political/economic/social pogroms that happen in our world.

3) Stop reacting to our requests with knee-jerkedness. We're not attacking you, we're saying this cause we consider you our allies and if you really support women or claim to be a 'feminist' i.e. one who fights for 'women's rights' then you better realize "I am a woman too" or maybe you need to read "Ain't I a Woman" a few hundred times again.

Such knee-jerkedness is similar to the way privileged white men respond to your accusations of sexism. Accusations that we as women also support.

The funny thing is, y'all probably feel you need to walk on eggshells before you address anything cultural/racial... funny thing is as you will see further in this post how much I have had to hold in over the past few months when I visit your blogs.

4) Don't use us as tokens. This rarely happens in blogistan, but it does happen more often than not in the 'real world'. Many of you feminist bloggers are quick to point out that 'your blogs are not educational resources for men', instead men should take it upon themselves to educate themselves about their own privilege. Likewise, you as white women need to do the same. We are not your token pieces. We are not 'obligated' to 'educate' you about race relations or anything else for that matter.

Like you, on some days I want to just 'shoot the shit'. I do not want to post about feminism/racism/whatever else. I too just want to put up a youtube video and bop my head up and down...

5) This should be fucking self-explanatory: Stop tolerating racist shit on your blogs. And by racist, I'm not only talking about 'overt' racism (which should be obvious) - but the kind of ignorant remarks that I do not have the time or energy to respond to but have read on more than one occasion.

As a radical leftist I am usually quite unforgiving and though my little blog does not matter much - there is a reason why your ass will never be on my 'blogroll' regardless of how big/important/analytical/famous it is. Largely it's because you just don't get it. I may link to a wonderful post you've written, I may link to ten of them because the quality of your writing is amazing and I completely recognize that - but I will never put you on my blogroll. ('yeah, yawn whoop dee doo AD, who cares!').

Some examples:

a) Reclusive Leftist: I really don't know why I am bothering when you continue to tolerate such a vile 'troll' just because you two are 'friends'. Disgusting that's all I can say. Poltergeist - don't even f'ing bother posting here - I will indeed delete every single comment you make.

b) I Blame the Patriarchy:

In which there are at least half a dozen really fucked up comments:

Quote: What really annoyed me about all this was the way some Indian men would come to the West, enjoy the sexual freedom offered here and then go back to India to marry the virgin their families had found for them.

Oh yeah, you know cause those really crazy fucked upeth horny brown men can't keep their hands off pure white pussy, those beastly, junglee savages! Of course this comparison can only be made because 'civilized and educated white men never, ever expect women to be virgins for them'.

Um, sorry lady - it's because women in the west are repeatedly and openly hyper-sexualized (of course not because it's their fault) globally.

In which ANOTHER commenter in the same thread makes this totally unnecessary comparison about a 'middle eastern' person she knew to this 'poor, helpless Indian woman' that was being discussed. I.e. essentially equating 'one brown evil religion with the next'.... Cause you know there are only 2 billion Muslim and Hindu's globally, right? And they're all kinda middle eastern and brownish.

Quote: Within the past five years, a 17-yr-old middle-eastern girl in the vicinity was murdered by her cousins for dating someone other than her intended.

c) Pandagon, Punkass Blog. ahhh, I'm tired - I don't want to say anything past 'burqa-gate' and your totally bitching on WOC in your comments section cause you 'just didn't get it'. (I recognize these have already been discussed to death, but I will use them as examples).

and I'm sure there are a shit load more....

Again, if you are going to come back and attack me about using you as examples - reread #3 again. If you are true to your word about being a feminist, not just a 'white feminist in particular', my criticisms of such behaviour are not unwarranted and you will do what you can to either 're-educate yourself' or to call yourself a 'white feminist' or 'white womanist'.

6) Making culturally irrelevant comparisons (or allow such comments to take place in your threads without drawing attention to them - see above). Wut? I.e. if you are not fully familiar with the context or reasoning of the cultural/racial comparison you are trying to make it is best to refrain from making it and sticking to something in which you are making a more effective, informed and intelligent point.

For example

a) I Blame the Patriarchy:

QUOTE: "Writing in the Australian, Pamela Bone complains that when a bunch of Muslim feminists (Muslim feminists! What’s next, “gay Republicans”?) met in New York last week to fix an agenda for dispelling a couple of anti-Muslim rumors going around (that they’re terrorists, and that Islam oppresses women), the media gave it a big fat pass. Bone thinks it should have been front page news on accounta Muslim feminists have the solution for the war on terror."

What is going on here? Twisty did you KNOW that it was MUSLIM - YES, MUSLIM Feminists who managed to organized to get rid of the bill to pass Sharia in Ontario? And guess who took the media gave the credit too at the end of the day???? White feminist lawyers who assisted the Muslim women's case. Go figure.

Also, many religious minorities (like myself) call ourselves "hindu-atheists" or whatever-atheists in recognition of the fact that we are religious minorities and that religious intolerance at the hands of WHITE CHRISTIANS is something that has happened to us, and continually happens whenever we encounter ignoramuses of whatever religion.

Whatever.... I hate religion as much as the next radical leftist person, but oddly enough if you talk to women who've experienced DV they'll tell you "God helped them to survive". It's a fact. Women can't just 'sod-off god' you know... for whatever reasons.

Twisty, again I repeat I totally LOVE your witty, intelligent and smart writing - but if I don't point this shit out - I will suffocate.

b) Women's space:

Quote: Like O.J., my ex was a tall, athletic, charismatic, charming, handsome black man. Like Nicole Brown Simpson, I am blonde and Nordic looking. Simpson and I are both mothers of biracial children, both abuse survivors. Just as nobody believed O.J. was an abuser, nobody believed my ex was an abuser either. He was just so charming and charismatic and fun to be around. Except when he wasn’t.

Heart can you tell me what this was about? I really never understood what relevance it was to point out that Nicole Brown and you were both white and blonde and that both your oppressors were black and male. um, so?

What was the point? Unless, you think racial connections have any bearing on male violence.

Look, again I repeat none of this is about 'breaking connections' or 'bitching at people' it is because I am tired of reading bogus on the net. I am tired of being an 'invisible minority feminist'.

We all need each other. In my heart of hearts I truly believe that it is our politics that unite us, because I only know how much it hurts when other minorities ignore racism/sexism/classism in favour of their limited 'privilege'.

Note this has been Edited. PS. Please do not comment because you think 'I'm bashing your enemy'. This is not a radical feminist or white feminist bashing post. Thank you.