Calling All Feminist Bloggers
There are blog carnivals for historians (as you've seen here), for cat-lovers, for storytellers, for self-publicists ... the list goes on and on. (There's a partial list here.)
So I've decided it is time for the Carnival of Feminists to be launched.
The current plan is for it to be held on the first and third Wednesday of each month (or close to that date). Hosted by a different blogger for each edition, it aims to showcase the finest feminist posts from around the blogsphere.
The first edition will be hosted on here on October 19. Future hosts and other information will be found on the Carnival of Feminists homepage.
The Carnival hopes to build the profile of feminist blogging, to direct extra traffic to all participating bloggers, but particularly newer bloggers, and to build networks among feminist bloggers.
How to define feminist? Well that is up to each host. I don't intend to get into detailed debate about the issue: at the end of the day the choice of hosts will be mine, and then the direction of each edition will be decided by them.
Broadly, however, I'd say that a "feminist" post doesn't have to directly address what is commonly defined as "politics" - as we all know the personal is political, but there should be some sense in a post addressing women's place in the world. Posts should also be more than a collection of links, and include substantial original content.
Volunteers to host are exceedingly welcome - please do, otherwise I'll probably come calling! I will try to chose them from as wide a definition of "feminism" as possible.
Nominations for excellent posts (your own or by others) should usually be sent to the host of the next carnival, but if they've yet to be named, or if you have any other queries, you can reach me at natalieben (at) gmail (dot) com.
And for the inaugural edition - for which I'll stretch the date of posts back for up to a month, PLEASE SEND NOW! (You can drop a line in the comments or email me on natalieben (at) gmail (dot) com. Only one nomination per blog please - the best feminist post of the month. And please put "history carnival" in the subject line.)
Women
posted by Natalie Bennett at 10/13/2005 03:06:00 am
11 Comments:
Read more about carnivals here:
http://sciencepolitics.blogspot.com/2005/10/convergesouth-blog-carnivals.html
...and especially check the links within. The TTLB collection of carnivals is minor compared to the blogcarnival.com or the Meta-Carnival.
It seems to me that the term "feminist" is something a woman describes herself as when she is overcompensating for a deep and nagging suspicion that she isn't actually equal to or superior to a man. Kinda like a crutch that good, confident women don't need.
Lack of confidence is not something that I'm commonly accused of.
My definition of feminist? Well I rather like: any woman who doesn't want to be treated like a doormat i.e. stamped all over.
Wouldn't that, then, be the definition of a normal woman, rather than some sort of special classification woman? What do feminists them talk about? "Hi, I don't want to be a doormat" "Me neither. I also don't want to be a doormat". "Hey, I know, let's not be doormats together" ?!?
Or, should I adjust that definition to "a woman who is still hanging onto baggage because of previously being treated like a doormat". Well, hey, it may surprise you, but guys get on the wrong side of a pair of shoes too. The only difference is, we don't group up and find some identifying moniker which warns people of the chip on our shoulder.
Just something about which to think.
You are assuming of course that all feminists are women. I've had two nominations of posts by male feminists thus far.
And sadly there are many women who've been socialised to believe their place in the world is as a doormat.
Well, I think of "male feminist" as an oxymoron.
Anyway, point taken, but I guess I'm just thinking that feminism might be replaced by "humanism". I'm very pro-woman, but I'd never label myself a feminist. I'm also pro-man and pro-human.
Maybe I'm thinking that a call to talk about a particular subject might be better than a call for a particular subset of people who think of themselves in a particular way, well, you know what I mean. To me, "feminist" is simply the flip side of "male chauvinist".
For instance, the subject of women's rights in the middle east is more interesting when the POV is random, than when it comes from a tightly knit subgroup of people, don't you think?
On the other hand, I have NO idea why I'm here.......
Is there any way the carnival can have a more catchy title? "Carnival of..." is sickening by now.
I take your point about the title, but I think it is as well, particularly on what is likely to be a controversial topic, to be as straightforward as possible.
I was wondering why you were here John ... [grin] I'm also a humanist - you'll find plenty of postings about general human rights on this blog.
It is just that having experienced discrimination as a woman, and seeing and reading about many other women suffering similarly, I reserve the right to be particularly interested in trying to stop it.
Eh, recently divorced. I'm caught between an absolute love of women and a complete hatred of them. I feel like God is playing a large joke on me somehow. But that's a whole 'nother story.......
Anyway, I'm thinking that must be the reason.
Perhaps the problem is not with half of the human race, but the social institution of marriage? I don't fancy living in an institution myself, never have.
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