Signal Boosting: spruik your social justice events in July-August

Events posted so far:

SlutWalks continue around the globe – check out the SlutWalk Toronto website which is keeping tabs on the Satellite Slutwalks.

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This post is open to any social justice activist to spruik any upcoming event/activism outreach: protests, vigils, petitions, fundraisers, film nights, book launches, festivals etc.

Guidelines:
1. Please include links to websites with full details (Facebook pages are fine).
2. Keep your plug brief! Date/place/time name of event and 100-200 word summary, please.
(2a. if your event is already being well plugged elsewhere, please be extra-brief!)
3. Please confine the plugs on this post to events occurring in July and August 2011 only. I’ll do another post next month.
(3a. Exception made for books/films launched any time and still available for purchase. Keep on plugging them so that people still hear about them if they missed out on the launch.)
4. “Nothing About Us Without Us”. If an event is challenged by others for lacking inclusion/actively marginalising groups being discussed at the event, the event will be reviewed and subsequently the promotional comment may be deleted. e.g. events centering transphobic opinions without balance from trans voices, or centering whorephobic opinions without balance from sex worker voices, will not stand.
5. The place to complain about these guidelines is on the Complaints page, NOT on this signal-boost post.

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Signal Boosting: spruik your social justice events in June-July

A bit late this month – apologies.

Events posted so far:

SlutWalks continue around the globe – check out the SlutWalk Toronto website which is keeping tabs on the Satellite Slutwalks.

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This post is open to any social justice activist to spruik any upcoming event/activism outreach: protests, vigils, petitions, fundraisers, film nights, book launches, festivals etc.

Guidelines:
1. Please include links to websites with full details (Facebook pages are fine).
2. Keep your plug brief! Date/place/time name of event and 100-200 word summary, please.
(2a. if your event is already being well plugged elsewhere, please be extra-brief!)
3. Please confine the plugs on this post to events occurring in June and Julyl 2011 only. I’ll do another post next month.
(3a. Exception made for books/films launched any time and still available for purchase. Keep on plugging them so that people still hear about them if they missed out on the launch.)
4. “Nothing About Us Without Us”. If an event is challenged by others for lacking inclusion/actively marginalising groups being discussed at the event, the event will be reviewed and subsequently the promotional comment may be deleted. e.g. events centering transphobic opinions without balance from trans voices, or centering whorephobic opinions without balance from sex worker voices, will not stand.
5. The place to complain about these guidelines is on the Complaints page, NOT on this signal-boost post.

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This June spruiking post is brought to you by the recently published novel Last Chance Cafe by Liz Byrski:

The novel centres on a group of older women asking themselves questions about the personal and political lives – past, present and future – negotiating their own feminist journeys while both mentoring and learning from younger women undergoing their own.

With aching empathy, Liz Byrski assembles a fallible cast of characters who are asking the questions we ask ourselves. What does it mean to grow older? Are we brave enough to free ourselves from the pressure to stay young? And is there ever a stage in life when we can just be ourselves?

Signal Boosting: spruik your social justice events in May

Events posted so far:

Saturday, May 7th is Boston’s Slutwalk

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This post is open to any social justice activist to spruik any upcoming event/activism outreach: protests, vigils, petitions, fundraisers, film nights, book launches, festivals etc.

Guidelines:
1. Please include links to websites with full details (Facebook pages are fine).
2. Keep your plug brief! Date/place/time name of event and 100-200 word summary, please.
(2a. if your event is already being well plugged elsewhere, please be extra-brief!)
3. Please confine the plugs on this post to events occurring in May and June 2011 only. I’ll do another post next month.
(3a. Exception made for books/films launched any time and still available for purchase. Keep on plugging them so that people still hear about them if they missed out on the launch.)
4. “Nothing About Us Without Us”. If an event is challenged by others for lacking inclusion/actively marginalising groups being discussed at the event, the event will be reviewed and subsequently the promotional comment may be deleted. e.g. events centering transphobic opinions without balance from trans voices, or centering whorephobic opinions without balance from sex worker voices, will not stand.
5. The place to complain about these guidelines is on the Complaints page, NOT on this signal-boost post.

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Feminism FOR REAL: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism

This May spruiking post is brought to you by the recently published anthology Feminism FOR REAL: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism, edited by Jessica Yee.

When feminism itself becomes its own form of oppression, what do we have to say about it? Western notions of polite discourse are not the norm for all of us, and just because we’ve got some new and hot language lately in equity-seeking movements like feminism — such as “intersectionality” — to use in our talk, it doesn’t necessarily make things change in our walk (i.e. actually being anti-racist).

Confronting the sometimes uncomfortable questions feminism has made us ask about what’s going on FOR REAL paved the many paths that brought the contributors of this book together to share their sometimes uncomfortable truths, not just about feminism, but about who they are and where they are coming from.

Call for submissions: sexual violence survivor stories/poetry/artwork etc

From the Souls Speak Out “About” page:

Soulspeakout.org was born out of the need for a safe space for survivors to tell their stories. Our original intent was to start a zine to distribute at local women’s shelters and support centers. However, this site has the potential to reach many more. We hope that you are able to use it as a safe space to reach out to other survivors or just have your voice heard.

This space is designed to be a healing, empowering and inspiring space for survivors of all ages, genders, sexualities, abilities, nationalities, cultural and social identities.

Feel free to contact us at any time as you explore and make this space your own.

Best wishes to Elisha, Maria, and Stefana as they build this safe space.  They’ve already made a strong start with their Resources page, so check them out and maybe submit your survivor story, if you feel it would help you or others to have it shared.

Quicklink: Derailing for Dummies has been updated

FYI: I have been alerted by the author that Derailing For Dummies (D4D) has five new entries:

• Being Offended Is Great For You!
• It’s Only The Internet!
• But If It’s Okay For Marginalised People To Use Those Words, Why Can’t I?
• I’m Just Saying What Other People Believe. I Never Said I Agree
• I Said SOME Marginalised People Do That, Not ALL

I’ve also updated the mirror of D4D here at FF101 to reflect these changes.

Changes

I’m about to update the template to something that is more accessible to more readers. Bear with us if a few things look wonky until the adjustment has been fully sorted out.

Netiquette

It’s pretty obvious from the structure of this site that there are some information pages that we wish people to read before they go on through the op-eds and FAQs contained in this blog-section. If what you write makes it obvious that you haven’t read the Introduction frontpage and the recommended links there before commenting on a blog-post, you will not be considered to be posting in good faith. Just some polite advice.