9th march feminist gathering
the 9th march feminist gathering, at the hackney social centre, was an enjoyable and interesting event.
the thing that struck me most about it was that it was a truely mixed, and fairly diverse, event and crowd, and one that appeared/seemed/felt genuinely comfortable and 'safe' from any overt tensions (that there might sometimes/othertimes be). it was really good to be in friendly respectful mixed feminist space, especially because of the way that intersects with some of my own recent thoughts and articulations[0].
i talked with lots of friendly and interesting people, in friendly and interesting ways, about friendly and interesting things - some of whom i had met before (including some of you here *waves*), and some of whom i hadn't - though mostly it was snatches of conversation that (as often) leave me wanting more, and feeling slightly unfulfilled.
despite being much later than i'd planned, i caught the end of a workshop that had interested me: 'sex workers and feminists: why they need each other', and i think it was interesting, but i'm struggling to recall[1] now - i don't think i was able to hear all of what was being said. and later there were two trans specific workshops, both of which i made it to, and one of which i faciliatated[3] *smile*[4] - 'f-T-eminism: a discussion of feminsim from a male-identified trans perspective'[7], and 'solidatiry between trans and feminist movements'[8]. i was pleased to notice that, whilst haivng overlap, they didn't cover the same ground really, and it was nice to participate in the two very different spaces and subjects. both could have done with a lot more than an hour's discussion tho. and both attracted alot of interest. i (and the events organisers!) was expecting there to be 4 of us or so for the 'f-T-eminism' workshop i faciliated, but there were about 20 of us i think[9]... and i was pleased that it attracted as diverse a crowd (possibly even more so, i wasn't policing it) as i had hoped, spanning much of the 'f' to 'm' spectrum, with a nice spread of those in the middle. i intend to write some more about what actually came out of the workshop (if i can recall[1]) later/seperately. it was really pleasing to have what i thought was a really interesting and vital subject/perspecitve attract the interest i thought it should warrant - that there were a lot of interested (&interesting) others who were wanting these conversations too. that it illustrated that (especially to others?)(and illustrated the diversity of gender idenitites and presentations to those same others perhaps?) was an outcome in itself. ok, like i said, more about it later. the 'solidarity...' workshop seemed to produce some interesting ideas about what and who the feminist and/or women's movements (as said, they seem(ed) to be used interchangeably) should include... to start to address ways in which the discriminaiton against transwomen within the 'women's movement' could be addressed and redressed... and challenged/explored gender in itself a bit. one thing i particularly liked thinking about was wone person's idea about how the women's movement, and women's space, could be inclusive to all trans- and poly- genders... that that was radical feminism. maybe some more about that later too. it was also a workshop space in which the diferent waves of feminism came to the fore/were present in its participants (well, maybe not first wave...) (this wikipedia page describes different waves and strands of feminism). it was interesting to recognise myself within that, and how that positioned me relative to some of the others present, too - straddling second and third wave feminism, having become aware in the 1980s.
[0] i've been thinking alot about feminism recently.. and about my own relationship with/to it, especially as my gender presentation and identity, and consequently how i am/can be involved in the feminist movement, changes.
[1] my memory is not very good lately.. i suspect reasons for this[2] - maybe in another post....
[2] aside from being very tired.
[3] a post about my thoughts about my approach to facilitation later maybe too... if i remember[1]
[4] the smile was very much self-congratulatory on making it to my 'own'[5] workshop *winky smile*
[5] *chuckles to remember conversation with nyecamden in which i denied i was 'running' a workshop, or owned it in any way...*[3][6]
[6] heheheh, i'm enjoying the self-referencing, and circular footnotes *grin*
[7] that should have been its subtitle... what was actually on the flyer (someone elses words, whihc i didn't get to correct cos my submission was a bit last minute) was 'f-T-eminism: a workshop on feminism for male-identified trans people'.
[8] which might've been better titled 'solidatiry between trans and women's movements'.. tho i think that is in my mind.. it seems that feminist and women are interchangeable, and men/non-women have to be pro-feminists... more investigation of this is required by me...
[9] should i have counted? is that 'good'/'right' facilitator behaviour? *winky smile*[3]
the thing that struck me most about it was that it was a truely mixed, and fairly diverse, event and crowd, and one that appeared/seemed/felt genuinely comfortable and 'safe' from any overt tensions (that there might sometimes/othertimes be). it was really good to be in friendly respectful mixed feminist space, especially because of the way that intersects with some of my own recent thoughts and articulations[0].
i talked with lots of friendly and interesting people, in friendly and interesting ways, about friendly and interesting things - some of whom i had met before (including some of you here *waves*), and some of whom i hadn't - though mostly it was snatches of conversation that (as often) leave me wanting more, and feeling slightly unfulfilled.
despite being much later than i'd planned, i caught the end of a workshop that had interested me: 'sex workers and feminists: why they need each other', and i think it was interesting, but i'm struggling to recall[1] now - i don't think i was able to hear all of what was being said. and later there were two trans specific workshops, both of which i made it to, and one of which i faciliatated[3] *smile*[4] - 'f-T-eminism: a discussion of feminsim from a male-identified trans perspective'[7], and 'solidatiry between trans and feminist movements'[8]. i was pleased to notice that, whilst haivng overlap, they didn't cover the same ground really, and it was nice to participate in the two very different spaces and subjects. both could have done with a lot more than an hour's discussion tho. and both attracted alot of interest. i (and the events organisers!) was expecting there to be 4 of us or so for the 'f-T-eminism' workshop i faciliated, but there were about 20 of us i think[9]... and i was pleased that it attracted as diverse a crowd (possibly even more so, i wasn't policing it) as i had hoped, spanning much of the 'f' to 'm' spectrum, with a nice spread of those in the middle. i intend to write some more about what actually came out of the workshop (if i can recall[1]) later/seperately. it was really pleasing to have what i thought was a really interesting and vital subject/perspecitve attract the interest i thought it should warrant - that there were a lot of interested (&interesting) others who were wanting these conversations too. that it illustrated that (especially to others?)(and illustrated the diversity of gender idenitites and presentations to those same others perhaps?) was an outcome in itself. ok, like i said, more about it later. the 'solidarity...' workshop seemed to produce some interesting ideas about what and who the feminist and/or women's movements (as said, they seem(ed) to be used interchangeably) should include... to start to address ways in which the discriminaiton against transwomen within the 'women's movement' could be addressed and redressed... and challenged/explored gender in itself a bit. one thing i particularly liked thinking about was wone person's idea about how the women's movement, and women's space, could be inclusive to all trans- and poly- genders... that that was radical feminism. maybe some more about that later too. it was also a workshop space in which the diferent waves of feminism came to the fore/were present in its participants (well, maybe not first wave...) (this wikipedia page describes different waves and strands of feminism). it was interesting to recognise myself within that, and how that positioned me relative to some of the others present, too - straddling second and third wave feminism, having become aware in the 1980s.
[0] i've been thinking alot about feminism recently.. and about my own relationship with/to it, especially as my gender presentation and identity, and consequently how i am/can be involved in the feminist movement, changes.
[1] my memory is not very good lately.. i suspect reasons for this[2] - maybe in another post....
[2] aside from being very tired.
[3] a post about my thoughts about my approach to facilitation later maybe too... if i remember[1]
[4] the smile was very much self-congratulatory on making it to my 'own'[5] workshop *winky smile*
[5] *chuckles to remember conversation with nyecamden in which i denied i was 'running' a workshop, or owned it in any way...*[3][6]
[6] heheheh, i'm enjoying the self-referencing, and circular footnotes *grin*
[7] that should have been its subtitle... what was actually on the flyer (someone elses words, whihc i didn't get to correct cos my submission was a bit last minute) was 'f-T-eminism: a workshop on feminism for male-identified trans people'.
[8] which might've been better titled 'solidatiry between trans and women's movements'.. tho i think that is in my mind.. it seems that feminist and women are interchangeable, and men/non-women have to be pro-feminists... more investigation of this is required by me...
[9] should i have counted? is that 'good'/'right' facilitator behaviour? *winky smile*[3]