Women's Lives Matter & Women's Life Matters

Sounds great! I'd love to learn more about it when it happens. And your blogs are interesting too - I've used a translator on a couple of posts as well.

saltnpepa: Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to Vienna last year. I would love to participate on the next gathering, though!

allecto: Thank you! I am so very happy that you've started blogging again!

ninkasi: I'll see if I can get around to it next week.

citywood: I've recently found your blog too and I love it!

Hello izzie. Welcome.

Hi izzie

Your collective looks great, I have checked out your blog too (and used that google translate thing). I am involved in a feminist collective, where (i'd say) about half of us identify as radical feminist, there are a few socialist, queer feminists and some women who are broadly 'feminist'. From your blog, it looks like your collective is similar in that there are women involved with different feminist perspectives? if so, I just wondered how those different political perspectives are negotiated within the collective? do queer and radical feminists clash? also, have you had to deal with divisive issues, particularly whether or not trans m to f people can join the collective? has that, or anything else, been a divisive issue and if so, how did you deal with it?

Respect

AM

riverein:

Amazon Mancrusher: Yes, you are correct. Although we started out from a radical feminist basis, we have welcomed women with different feminist perspectives. Some of them have been involved in Queer organizations – where they felt they didn’t really have a voice – and/or who have come from countercultural movements. Also, a few have come from the academy/Gender Studies programs, being the only place where they could find some support and meet other people. I feel that we must respect different backgrounds from each member; I cannot authoritatively preach how they must act and think. What I think that is most urgent now is to unite, for there is so much we can do together. Our process of deconstructing patriarchal ideologies and practices is a collective one.

Everyone makes suggestions of material for readings (we are currently/will be reading and discussing the works of Simone de Beauvoir, Audre Lorde, Germaine Greer, Carol Hanisch and Carol J. Adams). Differences are solved collectively through discussions, and if we can’t reach a consensus we will drop the issue. Actually, we usually have more practical matters to solve than ideological ones.

As for MTF people being able to join, we have come to a consensus that the collective must be made up only of females, as we are organized around our shared experiences as women. It is also a consensus that we are an anti-pornography/prostitution/BDSM/butch-femme roles group.