One Woman Army

What's with all the chaotic posting

A few people have emailed or commented lately about the tags on the end of certain posts - “this was a paid post”.

So to clarify, please check out this post from January - The Wage Gap, Student Survival, and Blogging for Pleasure.

Yes, I am pay per posting on a random basis now. I’ve had multiple conversations with friends about this - some think its great that I’m working on earning money to do something that I really really do love - writing and blogging. While others are adamant that I am selling out my feminist values and to my readership by doing so.

I would be curious to hear what readers think about this and any critiques especially on how you’ve enjoyed the posts so far that include a paidpost tag at the end - are they too blatant in their advertising? Or have I succeeded, as I have been trying to do, in keeping with the feminist and activist theme of this blog? I have been working hard at being creative in the posts I choose to accept, and in writing them so that I am maintaining my feminist content and standards. And I’ll admit its really tough at times - and there are posts that I hve chosen not to take although it could have early me up to $20 a post, simply because I saw absolutely no way of making it feminist in content or relatable to myself whatsoever.

So that’s a bit of an explanation for now - for more info read the archived post listed above and check out the PayPerPost ad on the sidebar as well.

And please, please comment.

-Artemis.

National Day of Truthtelling

Today, April 28th, is the National Day of Truthtelling taking place in Durham, North Carolina.

Although I am far away, my spirits are there with all my sisters who are telling the truth today and working to end violence against women. The Day of Truthtelling gets to the heart of stopping violence against women.

To heal - we must tell the truth.

To change - we must tell the truth.

To raise our voices - we must tell the truth.

To be believed - we must tell the truth.

To support one another - we must tell the truth.

To stop the violence - we must tell the truth.

I believe every single woman who says she is raped. Every. Single. Woman. I believe her when she says she said no. I believe her when she says she fought back. I believe her even if she says she was enjoying it but then changed her mind later. I believe her if she was wearing “sexy” clothes. I believe her no matter her sexual history. I BELIEVE HER.

Because No Means No. It doesn’t mean maybe later, or I’ll think about it, or keep talking me into it because I don’t really mean it, or… (insert anything here!!!!). NO MEANS NO!

So I will believe every single woman who says that she was raped, that she didn’t want it, that she didn’t understand it was rape, that she thought it was her fault and so she didn’t know it was rape. I will believe her. Because the hardest most painful, most difficult part of stopping violence against women, of healing oneself and violence, is to tell the truth about what happened to you. Not even to tell the truth to the world - but to tell it to yourself. To admit it to yourself. To speak the words.

So any woman who says she has been a victim of violence - I will believe her.

And that is the key to ending violence.

So today, my heart and passions are with all the women gathered from across North America who have come to march in solidarity in Durham, North Carolina, who will be attending teach-ins and workshops and speaking out their truths to eachother and to themselves.

Today is a Day of Truthtelling - but so should everyday be one.

-Artemis.

Thumbs up for provincial budget!

Media Release - For Immediate Release
April 27, 2007

Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women, Newfoundland and Labrador

“Advisory Council Gives Provincial Budget a Thumb’s Up”

“The Provincial Government gets a big thumbs up for this year’s budget”, says Leslie MacLeod, President of the Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

Many of the initiatives included in social spending indicate that government has been listening to the advice of women around the Province.  “We were very pleased to see the strong commitment to advancing the status of women in a variety of ways”, said Ms. MacLeod.

The Advisory Council was relieved to see a $25,000 increase in funding to each of the eight Women’s Centres around the Province. “Women’s Centres are an essential part of our communities.  They provide important resources to women and have been doing this on a shoe string budget”, said Ms. MacLeod.

The Advisory Council also received a significant budget increase. “We will have an additional staff member and more resources.  We will be able to do more to advance the issues that are important to women,” said Ms. MacLeod.

Women make up the majority of people who work for minimum wage, and women’s groups have been a vocal part of the lobby for $10 an hour minimum wage.  The announcement of an $8.00 minimum wage by April 2008 shows we’re clearly on the way to that target.

The new post-secondary student grant system and reduced interest on student loans, free text books, assistance to people who have high drug costs, improved health care for women, as well as improvements in social housing and justice services are all welcomed by the Advisory Council.

The Advisory Council congratulates the women of Labrador for their success in advocating for increased medical transportation coverage, lower electrical costs, and improvements in education and justice services.

“We are also delighted that a total of $30 million in tax cuts will directly improve the lives of women and families in the low income bracket,” said Ms. MacLeod.

However, the Advisory Council continues to give the federal government a big thumb’s down.  “If Harper’s government hadn’t turned its back on women’s issues, the Province would have significantly more money for child care and early learning programs”, said Ms. MacLeod.

“We would also be well on our way to solving serious problems with the egal aid system if the federal government believed in our right to ccess the justice system.”  Unfortunately, thanks to the federal government, access to both child care and legal aid continue to be serious problems for the women in our Province.

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It's a Media World

Can I just say how annoyed and disgusted I am at the media towards women lately?

Famous women are constantly under scrutiny and judgement - and I can’t tolerate how many women I see agreeing with the media’s critiques.

From Britany Spears’ head-shaving and rehab stints to Rosie-bashing to the point where she is now leaving the so-called “women’s point of view” show The View - its absolutely unfair.

Women must be portrayed either as a mother and savior (see: Angelina Jolie post-baby adoption phase and humanitarian) or slut (see: Paris Hilton). Its clothes-judging, body-judging, makeup and hair-judging, posture-judging, speech-judging chaos. Is it any wonder that the majority of Hollywood starlets are constantly working out, on diets, and skinny as hell?

What are we teaching the women of generation with all this judgement?

If anything - we’re teaching them its a body-conscious world, everything in the limelight and camera-lens, and its okay to bad-mouth and be bad-mouthed in return.

If you want proof of this - just check out teen pages on MySpace and Facebook.

-Artemis

Thursday Thirteen #7: Feminist Blogging

Thirteen Reasons Why I Blog

1. This is not a TT just about blogging in general - but rather one about being a female, feminist blogger. That is my primary reason for blogging and also my reason why I think its important.

2. As a female feminist blogger - I am able to reclaim my voice that has been lost and stolen from me.

3. … and hopefully enable other women to reclaim their own voice.

4. I am able to take part in a shared online community of sisterhood - fight the patriarchy and fuck shit up!

5. I can reclaim my voice while also staying within the protection that an anonymous blog affords me. Speaking up takes a lot of courage, and doing it from the safety of pseudonym can be an important tool for fucking shit up.

6. I can learn from other amazing incredible feminists.

7. I am adding to an online feminist dialogue.

8. I can critique to my heart’s content the world’s patriarchy.

9. I can be me. I can speak. I can shout. I can cry online. I can find others who see me and support me and understand me. And yes, even others who disagree with me.

10. I can dialogue and learn - by blogging my feminist opinions and stories, I start a dialogue. And that dialogue may lead me to new thoughts and critiques and opinions and knowledge.

11. I can reclaim my own power.

12. I can take a bit of time and space out of my day just for me - and for this 10 minutes in time, I have a voice, and no one can interrupt me. For a woman in this world, that is a lot.

13. My blog is all mine. It gives me strength and courage. I am fighting the patriarchy through words, and that is a powerful thing.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
Dewey, Christine, damozel, A Metamophaself of Gabrielle, (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Breaking news: breaking hearts for our sisters

Why I am glad I don’t live in the U.S.:

 

Supreme Court Upholds Abortion Procedure Ban
“Most Political Decision Since Bush v. Gore”

Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy

April 18, 2007

Today the Supreme Court upheld this nation’s first abortion procedure ban—a ban enacted by George W. Bush and conservatives in Congress. Five justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito—both installed by Bush and a Republican-majority Senate—ruled that the law does not violate a woman’s constitutional right to abortion.

Not since Bush v. Gore has the Supreme Court made such a political decision, or one that so completely distorts the law and disregards the U.S. Constitution.

The law is so vaguely written that it may ban the most common abortion procedure used after 12 weeks of pregnancy, and there is no exception to allow its use if the woman’s health is in serious danger. The joint ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood is a major step in the campaign to outlaw all abortions, first by chipping away at and then by fully overturning Roe v. Wade.

Bush used his allies’ control in Congress to push through anti-abortion legislation, and he used their power to confirm anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court—justices who have now upheld that same legislation.

The National Organization for Women and other advocates predicted as much, and fought tooth and nail against the confirmation of Roberts, and even more passionately against Alito, who replaced Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Now we see that apparently, everything Roberts and Alito said at their confirmation hearings about respecting precedent was a pack of lies.

When the time came for women’s rights supporters in the Senate to prevent confirmation of Sam Alito, the “fifth vote” against abortion rights, only 25 senators stood up for women. And indeed he was the fifth vote for the majority in today’s decision. The senators who voted to end the Democratic filibuster, thus allowing Alito to join the court, must be reminded that their failure led to this day. We must stop the stacking of the federal courts and work toward a congressional majority that supports women’s rights.

Tellingly, seven years ago in Stenberg v. Carhart, the Supreme Court ruled against an almost identical ban enacted in Nebraska. The clear precedent set by Stenberg in 2000 was the reason three U.S. Courts of Appeal declared the federal ban unconstitutional. But last year the Bush administration pressed on with appeals to the Supreme Court by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

So why did Gonzales forge ahead when a clear precedent had been set only six years earlier? And why did the court uphold this ban, effectively undoing that precedent? In the dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explains it quite clearly:

Though today’s opinion does not go so far as to disregard Roe or Casey, the Court, differently composed that it was when we last considered a restrictive abortion regulation, is hardly faithful to our earlier invocations of the ‘rule of law’ and the ‘principles of stare decisis.’

In other words: The Supreme Court changed, stupid!

This is a clarion call for feminists, progressives and everyone who cares about justice, equality and democracy. We must link arms and say “No more.”

We must elect a Congress that will repeal this ban and a president who will sign the repeal.

November 2008 can’t come soon enough.

###

For Immediate Release
Contact: Mai Shiozaki, 202-628-8669, ext. 116; cell 202-641-1906

Burnt out - can you tell?

My thesis is getting to me.

I need a thesis support group - desperately. Along with an additional 20 hours in a day, or extra several days in a week. I have working like mad lately as I NEED to be finished, need to get done this degree. I have participants who are soon leaving, and have been working to get them interviewed and wrapped up. Scheduling group sessions. So so tired, so burnt out.

But as always, in awe of these women and so glad they have trusted me to tell their stories, to share their stories with me.

After Monday, hopefully I will be more relaxed, following several interviews and a supervisors meeting.

-Artemis.

Retreat and a little time for peace

There is simply nothing quite like being in the company of amazing, wonderful, like-minded, strong women.

Last night I headed out on a retreat full of such women - feminist friends and sisters. Wonderful, spirited, strong, courageous. I am always filled with love and inspiration from being around them - from being in the presence of so many great women.

I need more of this in my life.

More sisterhood. More time for peace. More time for relaxation.

I do not forsee any of it upcoming to the extent I need it in my life in the near future, unfortunately.

But it gives me something to work towards.

Thursday Thirteen #6: Sisterhood

Thirteen Reasons why Sisterhood Rocks!1. Sisterhood helped me discover myself.

2. Sisterhood helped me discover solidarity.

3. Feminism and finding it and building on it.

4. Help - need help? Call your sisters?

5. No family? No birth sisters? You’ve got millions around the world.

6. Sisters understand when you’re grouchy and that you have every right to be and don’t blame it on PMS.

7. Nothing like an evening of wine, chocolate and some sister-talk.

8. Support.

9. Ultimate friendship.

10. Connection - we’re all in this fight against patriarchy together - no matter class, age, race, sexuality, culture, experience.

11. I know I can always rely on a sister.

12. Bonds.

13. I cannot truly express what sisterhood has done for me - developing my feminisms, helping me find myself, helping me find confidence. There are no words and I cannot sum it up in 13.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

* Jenny, ….

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Still here!

Yes lovely readers, I am still here. A bit frazzled as of late with work and thesis stuff - but still here

Today, I am longingly wishing for a trip somewhere - ANYWHERE! Yes, a trip if forthcoming in July but that is soooo long away.

I am thinking of ways to make money right now without selling my soul to be able to take a trip sooner, rather than later