104 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
104 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
Letters
|
||
|
||
Dear Sekhmet,
|
||
Hello and thankyou to the organisers of the 3rd Annual Anarcha-Fem
|
||
Conference. I had a relatively foul time at the Conference by it wasn't
|
||
your fault. In fact if everything had been as nice as the organisation I
|
||
would have had 48 hours of blissdom and rejoicement.
|
||
|
||
A friend and I agreed that aspects of the conference in fact resembled
|
||
less of a meeting of progressive radicals and more of our first few days
|
||
at high school.
|
||
|
||
As women who don't meet mainstream expectations of femaleness, (ie we are
|
||
active rather than passive) we all cop a lot of shit. We reap few of the
|
||
benefits allotted to those who conform and comply. Given this, and given
|
||
anarchy and feminism's commitment to creating alternatives communities,
|
||
why the hell some people had to put up with put-downs and more ridicule
|
||
and alienation, in what should have been a safe environment for all
|
||
women, I don't understand.
|
||
|
||
Some bigot-boy comedians I once had the misfortune of having a
|
||
conversation with, told me, when I complained about their
|
||
homophobic/racist/sexist jokes, that all humour offended somebody. I
|
||
couldn't be bothered pursuing that issue, they'd heard my point of view
|
||
and they didn't matter that much to me. But when I see humour used by
|
||
women as a tool to make themselves feel important and loved ( I do think
|
||
we can and should find other ways to feel this), and has the dastardly
|
||
but very real side effect of making other people feel stink, at a
|
||
conference with should be challenging cretinous behaivour not giving it
|
||
space, it matters.
|
||
|
||
To all women and to all the moments when women weren't too cool, (and/or
|
||
were feeling strong enough) to meet new people, have new conversations,
|
||
to laugh at themselves and to make an effort to ensure other people were
|
||
feeling happy and safe, thankyou.
|
||
|
||
Maria
|
||
Palmerston North
|
||
p.s (q) What do you do if you're
|
||
driving along and see a space-man?
|
||
(a) You park in it man!Letters
|
||
|
||
Thank you for your comments, the collective felt it was important to
|
||
reply to some of your serious concerns. We would like to emphasise
|
||
though that there were many good things that came out of the conference
|
||
and difficult issues like the ones you describe. We hope in future that
|
||
with better organisation, more time, more emphasis on bonding and
|
||
building trust that these issues can be overcome next time. So that we
|
||
can maintain the high level of emotional satisfaction and support we
|
||
women expect from each other.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Dear Sekhmet,
|
||
It was great to be at the 95 Anarcha-feminist conference at Makahika
|
||
Lodge in February. Its bloody cool to have an annual get together which
|
||
is women only space. I found on the whole women respectful of others
|
||
talking space and listening well and spouting interesting ideas too. The
|
||
workshops were diverse and practical and to look at areas where anarchism
|
||
has fallen short was good too. Like talking about how to support te tino
|
||
rangatiratanga in this land in practical instead of just token ways.
|
||
Another new thing was lesbian workshops which I thought was really
|
||
important considering the good lesbian turnout. I also want to say thanks
|
||
to Lou for her skills in food mastery or mistressy I should say.
|
||
|
||
What changes would I like to see next year? Well more time when women are
|
||
less tired for getting to know each other. More of a chance to talk about
|
||
what we would like out of the weekend, and the kind of respect we would
|
||
like from others. But I must say it was a fab time for exploring ideas,
|
||
common interests and differences and yeah lets do it again. If youve got
|
||
any ideas for next year send them to us
|
||
|
||
Bye bye
|
||
Caitlin
|
||
Wellington
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Dear Sekhmet,
|
||
Today I witnessed a truly horrendous sight. I was up at Victoria
|
||
University using the Sutherland Room which is for students with
|
||
disabilities. Interestingly enough I had been reading on the subject of
|
||
Images of Women for a womens studies course. I look up to see this *!:*!
|
||
man wearing a T-shirt with the words Shut up stupid bitch splattered
|
||
across his chest. I felt so fucken pissed off my first reaction was to
|
||
pull out a gun and put a gaping hole right through the middle of his
|
||
macho puke torso. Why not? Hothead Piscean would have had his guts for
|
||
garters. However that is fantasy and that option was out. My next idea
|
||
was to throw paint t him - still impractical given the circumstances.
|
||
What should I do? Tell him what I think of his taste in shirts, well
|
||
isnt that what he wanted, feminist backlash?
|
||
|
||
I left the room having done nothing but fume (damn - no smoke came out my
|
||
ears) and decided to ask my anarch-fem mates for ideas. So let me know
|
||
what you think of this one and other sexist slap in your face situations.
|
||
What youve done, would like to do.
|
||
|
||
Write to SEKHMET but dont call our 0800 number coz we aint got one.
|
||
See ya
|
||
Caitlin
|
||
Wellington
|
||
|
||
|