Four years ago, as I went to touch up my roots with a shade of red I’d been dying my hair since I was 18, I noticed that what had started as a few random strands of gray amidst my… Read More ›
Feminism
Creating Women’s Circles that Heal and Enrich Our Lives by Anne Yeomans and the Women’s Well
From 1994 until 2012, the Women’s Well, based in Concord, Massachusetts, offered thousands of women the opportunity to participate in women’s circles of all kinds. In the first and second parts of this series, Anne Yeomans, a co-founder of the… Read More ›
Meet the Bible Bitches: Interview with Rev. Laura Barclay and Sara Hof
What do you get when you have two ladies, one a Baptist Minister living in KY and one an agnostic living in LA, making jokes and talking about the Bible? Don’t know? You get the new and exciting podcast Bible Bitches!
Feminazi as Archetype by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Feminazi is an image and narrative created by patriarchy to control the liberation and recognition of women as autonomous political subjects, and to serve as a warning to thwart these processes. It is a label used for male supremacy… Read More ›
Why Are You So Angry? by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Please be warned, this post details violence against women. A new March 8. Another year protesting Another evening taking the streets of our cities around the world In Rome, in Lima and Santander A new slogan, a new banner, for… Read More ›
A Feminist Retelling of Cain and Abel by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Eve and Adam had many children. Two of them, the sisters Cain and Abel, were best friends. When they grew up, Cain became a farmer, and Abel became a shepherd. In their community, people shared what they had with each… Read More ›
The Feminist-O-Meter by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Have you heard about, applied or received the Feminist-O-Meter lately? The Feminist-O-Meter is a tool that often appears in feminisms and women rights activisms, fostering power struggles, cliques, jealousies and -if that is not enough – encouraging the reproduction… Read More ›
Breaking the Silence by Christy Croft
Yesterday, Time Magazine announced that its “Person of the Year” for 2017 would be “The Silence Breakers” – the name it has given to those women who helped launch and made headlines in the #metoo movement. This movement was started… Read More ›
Kintsugi for the Soul – Part I – by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Kintsugi is a Japanese art technique that consists of repairing broken porcelain or pottery with resin varnish dusted or mixed with gold, silver or platinum powder. It is the art of fixing what has been broken with a precious metal… Read More ›
Asking for Help by Carol P. Christ
I climbed trees and rode my bike and roller skated on sidewalks for hours on end when I was a child. As an adult, I have always been physically strong without having to work at it. Nor have I had… Read More ›
Please Keep It in Your Pants by Carol P. Christ
Trigger warning: this post describes sexual abuse Last week while responding to a comment on my blog, I suddenly remembered a series of incidents in which men I did not know exposed themselves to me in public places. The first… Read More ›
Rest and Renewal: Gifts of Women’s Ritual Dance by Laura Shannon
Samhain is past, and we in the northern hemisphere are once again entering the final outbreath of the solar year. At the winter solstice, light will be reborn. Until then, it is important to embrace the time of rest and… Read More ›
Women and the Ethics of Conflict by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Some time ago, trans-activist F. was the target of bullying and harassment via social networks that lasted months and included defamation on Twitter and Facebook, articles in feminist blogs and web sites, and letters to women’s organizations and public institutions… Read More ›
Reflections on Marriage by Ivy Helman
My partner and I are getting married in a little over a month. She, a lawyer, and I, a professor, live in the Czech Republic. Technically, we aren’t getting married because the Czech Republic doesn’t have marriage equality. Our relationship… Read More ›
Sometimes I Think I Am a Voice Crying in the Wilderness … by Carol P. Christ
Just last week I was dumbfounded when an acquaintance told me that his philosopher partner calls a woman leading a workshop on labyrinths “a tree hugger.” “What,” I wanted to say, “is wrong with being a tree hugger? Are we… Read More ›
Breaking Down the Concept of Arranged Marriages by Vibha Shetiya
One of the first things my American friends and family ask me when they learn I used to be married to an Indian man is: was it an arranged marriage? I understand the intrigue, the bewilderment and even horror that… Read More ›
Recalling the Courage of Shamima Shaikh by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Shamima Shaikh’s name may be unfamiliar for you and many who are not deeply informed about Islam and gender issues in South Africa or who tend to identify Muslim women and/or activism for women’s rights in Islam with the Arab region. Why… Read More ›
Earth Dreaming, Water Dreaming: How Elemental Dreams Offer Healing for the Earth and Us by Jill Hammer
I once dreamed I was giving a lecture on a spiritual philosophy called magmatheism. The literal meaning, I thought when I awoke, would be something like “belief in the divinity of molten rock.” I had the sense this dream was… Read More ›
Shakespeare’s Sister Revisited: A Circle of Female Lineage by Mary Sharratt
What do groundbreaking 17th century poet, Aemilia Bassano Lanier, and 20th century feminist icon, Virginia Woolf, have in common? A lot actually. In her 1929 essay, “A Room of One’s Own,” Woolf imagines the tragedy of Shakespeare’s brilliant sister, Judith,… Read More ›
“He Owes Us Nothing”: A Very Bad and Very Sad Theology by Carol P. Christ
While waiting to get off a plane last week, I overheard a serious young woman explaining a recent theological insight to her half-asleep and equally young husband. “You see,” she began, “what I just learned is that though He owes… Read More ›
Religion, Race, and Feminism in an Era of Elusive Enlightenment by Salaam Green
The warrior spirit is not only the coherent ability to resist circumstances outside of one’s making; but the ability to fight the war within all of us thus managing discomfort and chaos with the force of authenticity. Recently an enlightened… Read More ›
Reflections on Trauma, Part II: YOLOCAUST by Stephanie N. Arel
In light of the recent attacks on Jewish cemeteries —the desecration of Mount Carmel Jewish Cemetery in Philadelphia and the toppling of more than 150 gravestones at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in Missouri — along with my reminiscing that a year… Read More ›
We the People by Joyce Zonana
During the January 21st Women’s March in New York City, I was inspired and delighted by so many of the signs women and men had crafted to express their opposition to the current disastrous regime in the United States: “Grab… Read More ›
“Girl . . . You’re Gonna Make It” by Carol P. Christ
Why did this song,* this program, this woman mean so much to Oprah and Michelle, to you, to me? Because Mary Tyler Moore was one of our first role models of cheerful independent womanhood. Why does this song still bring tears… Read More ›
Outraged? Yes, I Am! by Karen Leslie Hernandez
Readers, please note: this post includes accounts of rape and violence agianst women and quotes distrubing statements of assault made by Donald Trump. These are easily identifiable by the use of italics or as indented, quoted text. Of course I’m… Read More ›
The Women’s March on Washington: I’ll Be There in Spirit by Carol P. Christ
The Women’s March on Washington has released its statement of vision and principles, and what a stunning testimony to intersectional feminism and collaboration it is! The statement is woman-centered, while at the same time addressing a multitude of issues that… Read More ›
The Importance of Religion for Eco-Feminism by Ivy Helman
“Why is religion important to ecofeminism?” A student, in the Master’s course I teach at Charles University, asked this as we began the class session dedicated to the topic. Given the overwhelming presence of atheism in the Czech Republic, I… Read More ›
Don’t Treat Religious Women Like Second Class Feminists by Gina Messina, Jennifer Zobair, and Amy Levin
It seems like every few weeks another young, female celebrity proudly and publicly declares she is not a feminist: Shailene Woodley. Katy Perry. Kelly Clarkson. Kendall Jenner. These women often justify their refusal to claim feminism by explaining they do… Read More ›
Supporting Embodiment: Societal and Jewish Views on Body Modification by Ivy Helman
Embodiment is a feminist principle which has, as its basis, two fundamental criteria. First, humans require their bodies to live. We must acknowledge that our existence is tied to our bodies. This fact grounds us in this world. Here, and… Read More ›
Women, Theology and Identity as Believer by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Like all my reflections, this is not intended to be conclusive, but rather, to share some impressions about theology and the way in which women are created or given an identity as believers. In the androcentric and misogynist narratives of… Read More ›
