Feminism and the Gender Revolution by Esther Nelson

The word “feminist” is familiar to most people today. It appears in news publications, television programming, popular literature, and even comes up in conversation occasionally.  Yet the term, “feminist,” writes Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie in her little book, We Should All Be Feminists, is heavy with stereotypes and negative baggage.  “[Y]ou hate men, you hate bras, you hate African culture, you think women should always be in charge, you don’t wear make-up, you don’t shave, you’re always angry, you don’t have a sense of humour, you don’t use deodorant.”

Here is the YouTube video featuring Chimamanda Adichie’s Ted Talk, We Should All Be Feminists:

Many people, including some of my students, recoil from the term “feminist.”  At times, a student may use the word apologetically, quite aware of the scorn and derision the word elicits—often palpably present in the classroom, but rarely articulated.  It’s easier to speak of women’s humanity with its inherent rights under the broad phrase, human rights.  Chimamanda Adichie speaks and writes eloquently about that compromise in the following paragraph:

“Why the word feminist?  Why not just say you are a believer in human rights, or something like that?  Because that would be dishonest.  Feminism is, of course, part of human rights in general—but to choose to use the vague expression human rights is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender.  It would be a way of pretending that it was not women who have, for centuries, been excluded.  It would be a way of denying that the problem of gender targets women.  That the problem…[is]…specifically about being a female human.” Continue reading “Feminism and the Gender Revolution by Esther Nelson”

What I Believe (Post-2016) by John Erickson

Ever since the election of You-Know-Who, I have been doing a lot of creative writing.

Ever since the election of You-Know-Who, I have been doing a lot of creative writing. Unlike academic publications, policy reports, or my dissertation, creative writing, much like my mentor Dr. Marie Cartier has written about, provided me with a needed escape from a world that seems to grow darker with each passing day.  In college, I served as Poetry Editor for the Wisconsin Review, the oldest literary journal in Wisconsin. Continue reading “What I Believe (Post-2016) by John Erickson”

Traveling Sexism by Anjeanette LeBoeuf

This summer I traveled quite a lot domestically. While I was in airports, on trains, waiting in lines, and going about my summer I kept coming across certain patterns and experiences which were becoming all too common and too significant to ignore; a mixture of overt and subtle sexism.

First it started out with one of my airport shuttle drivers wondering why I was traveling alone. While there is always room for small talk, I was struck with how – if I was male – that question would not have been asked. It reached the pinnacle when I was told by an older man to give up my seat for an elderly woman so he didn’t have to give up his seat – this was after he had stared at me for over 10 minutes when I first sat down using his eyes to voice his displeasure over me taking up two seats. Regardless of the fact that he, himself, was taking up 3.

Continue reading “Traveling Sexism by Anjeanette LeBoeuf”

Call for Contributions: She Rises Volume 3 Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality

She Rises Goddess Feminist Activism Collective Writing Project: Call for Contributions

She Rises: What … Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 3 Two books: The main book and a sectional booklet including poetry, prose, art, the like.

Coeditors include Deanne Quarrie, D.Min., Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.

I am the source, I dream the dreams, I am the spark, Creation lives in me. Jana Runnalls, The Source, Speaking in Tongues

Using She Rises Volume 1 and Volume 2 as a springboard, the collective writing project of She Rises Volume 3 aspires to interweave new patterns in the tapestry of Goddess feminist activism. She Rises Volume 3 invites possible contributors by asking the questions: What do you envision for Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? What is Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality for you? What do you seek from Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? What are our practices that will bring more Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality into the world?

You may like to engineer the question on your behalf or answer it for us all. Here are some examples of the question: “What keeps me continuing in Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?” or “What does Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality mean to me?”

The first volume evolved around stating/proclaiming the rational or cause of our Goddessian/Magoist commitment by answering the question, “Why Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?” and the second volume took a step further to ask the “How?” question, “How… Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?”

It is our hope that the question “What?” potentially produces a record number of ways we engage in Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality. We foresee the possibility that She Rises Volume 3 may become a guidebook of the common cause for Goddess feminists and activists.

She Rises, Volume One, asked WHY? and 93 contributors answered the question with depth, honesty, insight, creativity, imagination, and inspiration. She Rises, Volume Two, asked How? and 96 contributors answered the question with depth, honesty, insight, creativity, imagination, and inspiration.

Now we are asking What?  Your answers will offer:

  • a guidebook for those beginning their journey with Goddess feminism, activism, and spirituality,
  • a confirmation for those already engaged with Goddess feminism, activism, and spirituality,
  • another thread in the tapestry of Goddess feminism, activism, and spirituality that is being woven by women and men all over the World.

Let’s weave a tapestry of answers! Are you interested?

To be part of this weaving, please send your contribution to both emails (please indicate “She Rises Volume 3” in the subject line) See submission form and guidelines below:

Deanne Quarrie – deanne.quarrie@outlook.com

Helen Hwang – magoism@gmail.com

Primary Deadline: January 31, 2018

Submission details: 

Short writing – up to 200 words

Longer essays – up to 4,000 words

Research papers – 4,000-12,000 words,

Poetry – any length (please indicate formatting)

Art, photography, illustrations – any form, which may be accompanied by a descriptive paragraph attached as a separate Word file

Please include a brief bio of no more than 100 words at the end of your Word document.

Text: As attachment of Word files (.doc or.docx)

Font: Garamond or Times New Roman (12 font size, 1 spaced)

Style: Chicago Style, footnotes

Art, photography, and illustrations: As attachment of jpg files (must be 300 dpi)

For sample short writings, see below:
http://magoism.net/…/special-post-1-why-goddess…/

For ongoing submissions, see below:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/magoism/

Multiple proposals are allowed. The submission form is included below.

Submission Form

Please fill out the following form and pasted it in the body of your email submission.

Your name and email address:

“I agree that my proposals may be published in the main book AND the secondary sectional book (poetry, prose, and art).”
Number of proposals and their genres:
List the titles/contents of attachments including your short bio:

Hillary Clinton, What Happened and What Happens Now? by Marie Cartier

“In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net. Now I’m letting my guard down.” —Hillary Rodham Clinton, from the introduction of What Happened

I just finished reading Secretary Hillary Clinton’s new book, What Happened. It is currently Number One on Amazon, outselling even Stephen King’s It and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale at this moment. Put another way- hardcover sales of the book are the highest for any non-fiction book in the past five years.

I’ve written several times during the past year regarding Hillary Clinton and the election of 2016. About the real meaning of “sanctity of life”—living a full life and voting for a candidate who believed in that for everyone, including women’s right to choose and also about the process of those trying to silence her/ shame her/ not listen to her and how she refused to be silenced.

Devastated after the election I wrote a post here on FAR. And months afterward, I wrote how many of us were not “over it” and were not “ready to play nice.” We, along with Secretary Clinton, are not “ready to play nice” still. And probably will not ever be. We may be willing to (as I will speak of later) lead with love and kindness—but that is different from “playing nice.”

Continue reading “Hillary Clinton, What Happened and What Happens Now? by Marie Cartier”

Who Does Islamic(s) Feminism(s) Belong To? by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente

Who does Islamic(s) feminism(s) belong to?

The answer to this question seems obvious: Islamic feminism belongs to all Muslim women who wish to adhere to it, and feminism is for everybody, as bell hooks said.

In reality however, it is not so easy. Even the most well crafted theories must be implemented by human beings who have been socialized under the Patriarchy’s rules and practices. Lived experience reminds us that feminisms of all kinds are marked by dynamics of power, internalized misogyny, lack of intersectionality, egos, and personal interests.

In this situation I wonder: Are feminisms, and Islamic Feminisms in particular, truly for everyone?

Continue reading “Who Does Islamic(s) Feminism(s) Belong To? by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente”

Discerning is the Journey by Katie M. Deaver

This past weekend I had the privilege of officiating for the wedding of a dear friend.  Despite having undertaken all of my graduate and doctoral degrees at a seminary, I had not seriously considered ordination since the beginning of my master’s program when I discerned that my calling was to the academic side of theology rather than to leadership of word and sacrament. When my friend called me nearly two years ago to ask that I officiate her wedding, it never occurred to me that something as simple as an online ordination process would push me toward further vocational discernment… and yet, I think, just maybe, it has.

As a long time church musician I am accustomed to being a part of people’s special days.  I have certainly played or sang for more than a few weddings, as well as other services that mark some  of the various stages of  life – baptisms, confirmations, funerals.  I’m no stranger to carefully (and prayerfully) crafting these types of services to fit the families and individuals involved, but I imagine I do leave a certain amount of professional space between myself and these events in most cases.

Continue reading “Discerning is the Journey by Katie M. Deaver”

Introducing the Kindreds Podcast by Katey Zeh

What do we mean when we call girls “bossy”?

How do we deconstruct the myth that women can’t get along?

What are the real costs of emotional labor?

Kindreds is a podcast for souls sisters. In each episode my co-host Ashley Peterson and I take on big questions connected to our faith and our feminism from our respective homes in Mississippi and North Carolina. From the question of “Should I have a kid?” to “What does it mean to make a feminist choice?” we explore issues of gender, culture, and the church.

My favorite part of every episode is when we lift up the incredible people doing the work of justice in the world as our “Kindreds of the Moment.” We’ve featured folks like Dr. Willie Parker, the people of the Faith Matters Network, and Eileen Matthews, creator of the #100DaysofFeministAds campaign. Continue reading “Introducing the Kindreds Podcast by Katey Zeh”

Learning Gratitude for the Gifts of Life on the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete by Carol P. Christ

In Crete we are always being given gifts—fresh cherries, ice cold bottles of raki, yogurt swimming in honey, and so much more. Over the years it finally hit me that this spirit of great generosity is a living remnant of the ancient Cretan egalitarian matriarchal tradition of gift-giving.

In egalitarian matriarchal cultures gift-giving is not something reserved for birthdays and holidays. It is a way of life rooted in the primary understanding that life is a gift that is meant to be shared.

Our lives are a gift from our mothers. Our individual lives have are not something we create or created for ourselves. We all emerged from the body of a mother. We were all given the gift of care and feeding by a mother or others. Our mothers did not create themselves. They emerged from the bodies of mothers and were cared for and fed by mothers or others. And so on back to the original mother of the human race, known as the African Eve.

Continue reading “Learning Gratitude for the Gifts of Life on the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete by Carol P. Christ”

Consideration by Valentina Khan

Yesterday I sat in my car, buckled and ready to reverse just when I looked out my side window to see the people getting into their car next to mine.

There was a very elderly lady being seated in the back ever so gingerly. Her caretaker (that is what she appeared to be) carefully buckled her in, and then offered her a sip of ice water. Meanwhile I was in mid reverse, my engine running, on the go, and yet the ladies didn’t notice anything around them.

Simultaneously the elderly lady’s wheelchair didn’t have its brakes on and rolled into my rear side door. Instantly, I thought OK a little rude, these people aren’t really being considerate of the tight space we are sharing, should I roll down my window and say with as much patience as I can “excuse me”? Or should I let it go? I let it go. Those immediate feelings of impatience and annoyance washed over me, because I made myself stop and observe the situation, and the details of these ladies. Continue reading “Consideration by Valentina Khan”