Global South feminists are reclaiming refugee discourse this 7th July.
Recently, 49 white South Africans claimed “refugee” status in the United States – a move that dangerously conflates white settler discomfort with real exile.
Register now and join efforts to create a Pan-Afrikan, Anti-Imperial, Feminist Migration and Foreign Policy: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UPaQd5lTSIOyZkCLiseuUA#/registration
I am a #NastyWoman because I believe in love, acceptance, equality, kindness, respect, and the power of my voice.
As a #feminist and #gender #fiction #writer, I know words and wording matter. They shape the information flow and the emotions of the reader.While the linked article is excellent, I especially commend the Live Science columnist, Kristina Killgrove, for including the meta byplay amongst scientists pointing out how the study authors used language to hedge admitting to discovering a real life instance of matriarchy. They didn't want to offend some overly sensitive patriarchal man. I'm quoting the section below from the article.
"We preferred using 'female-centered' instead of matrilineal because the latter is about how people define kin," Somel [the study's author] said. "Çatalhöyük households could have been matrilineal, but we think using more general terms might be preferable. It is always good to be cautious," he said.
But Benjamin Arbuckle, an archaeologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who was not involved in the study, wrote in a perspective in Science that "if the sex patterns were reversed, there would likely be little hesitation in concluding that patriarchal power structures were at play."
The columnist goes on to include this:
"This is reflective of the difficulty that many scholars have in imagining a world characterized by substantial female power despite abundant archaeological, historic, and ethnographic evidence that matriarchal fields of power were and are widespread," Arbuckle said.
If you find yourself censoring so as not to offend, don't do that. It will ruin your work and give you a bad rep. Use the right words, then explain why they are right and why others might mistakenly see them as inflammatory.
„Die Ehe ist genau wie jene andere paternalistische Einrichtung – der Kapitalismus. Er nimmt dem Menschen sein Geburtsrecht, hemmt sein Wachstum, vergiftet seinen Körper, verdammt ihn zu Dummheit, Armut und Abhängigkeit.“ — Emma Goldman, happy birthday https://dietzberlin.de/emma-goldman-oder-freiheit-um-jeden-preis
Alba Hernández Sánchez and Aldessa Georgiana Lincan, founders of the Romnja Feminist Library, speak about creating spaces of community and belonging through their platform. Access the interview and the library below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6HNBmLXXn4&ab_channel=FemSoc
https://romnjafeministlib.com/
Sandra Carmona
"I was stalked for years. Writing thrillers gave me a way to reclaim the narrative, to give power back to women who are often silenced or disbelieved. I write to process, to provoke, and to fight back."
https://inkican.com/author-interview-s-z-estavillo-feminist-thrillers/
in the shade of time
she changes with every sun
embracing the new!
#MastoPrompt - clang
#DailyHaikuPrompt - shade
In an introspective mood today...
ART
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/metamorphosis-portrait-art-sharon-cummings.html
Hey all y'all need to stop using "guys" in mixed company.
- My trans girlfriend is not a guy.
- My cis girlfriend is not a guy.
- I'm not a guy (or a girl, but that's not relevant here).
Misgendering is misgendering—even if "everyone's doing it".
Patriarchy shouldn't be the default.
#WritersCoffeeClub #WCC 2025.06.18 — The eye of the duck: Share a ‘nonessential’ scene in one of your works that ties the piece together. CW: Uncomfortable fictional discussion about women being oppressed.
I didn't know I do this Eye of the Duck thing, but apparently I do. A lot, apparently.
The Eye of the Duck is a scene - often flashy or surreal - which is NOT essential to the general action or plot of the film, but which reveals a key theme or element of the film more succinctly than the actual plot. —https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueFilm/comments/4m3vii/the_eye_of_the_duck_david_lynch/
This is a great question for assessing the texture of a novel.
This surreal scene is from Mars Needed Women. As the narrator puts it, "Five sols later, Stan's wife, Gwen, and May Ri got to talk. Somehow it turned into an interview." The whole chapter is an interview, the same way another chapter is an op-ed. Sometimes different formats better express major themes in a story. If the reader hadn't gotten that the story is about women fighting oppression, learned what oppression is often disguised as, and what it makes women do, this sequence ought clear up that misunderstanding. May Ri is the protagonist. Gwen, 45, is married to Ezekiel Stan, the in-person villain in the story. There are other villains, but none this in-your-face. I added gloss in brackets for outrages established at the top of the scene.
May Ri: You're a first contract colonist. What made you sign-up?
Gwen (sighs): Naïve? Heard Mars "needed women" in a sermon about brave men. I'd be 14 in two weeks, but rushed out into the fields to record an application. I tugged up peanuts setting flowers in the ground, got sweaty under the sun, got mud on my big sister's flimsy top and shorts and paid hell for that. The shoulder kept sliding off, and I kept pulling it back "barely" in time. I giggled. I made sure the wind pressed the cotton against my chest. The shorts rode up into the crack of my butt when I bent over. I smiled and wriggled it.
Father served an elite niche farm-fresh clientele; I got to be retro-exotic! I lied about my age.
Ezekiel liked them young.
(Waves a thumb at the 16-year-old nisei [1st generation Martian] co-wives behind her [both pregnant].)
Our town's minister okayed my EM Corp. contract when I promised to pay for church repairs. I also paid off father's mortgage. Nine months later I landed at Elysium. Nine months later I bore Gabriel.
Good enough?
Now tell me, how did you meet Ezekiel?
May Ri: He tried to rape me.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #feminist #writer #author
#sf #s ff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSMarsNeededWomen
After attending #PubConf2025 yesterday, I chatted with a friend that expressed wanting to get of Instagram.
They have been intrigued by me saying, that #Mastodon always has been a pretty #queer space.
Now I’m looking for the right #instance to recommend. But the choices are overwhelming.
Where would a queer, #feminist, intellectual, English language #writer, #educator in arts, secular Jewish, pro Palestinian, gen-X person feel at home?