[Wamvan] Walking for Rape Relief

Mon May 16 17:23:44 PDT 2011

Oh my...and this is why it is so important that we sit down to talk about WAM values. 

If a feminist organization claimed to be supporting 'women' but actually had a policy of excluding women with disabilities or Indigenous women or queer women or women of Colour or women with Dwarfism or women who wear the hijab, or fat women, or women with psychiatic labels, or working class /poor women...would we still want to say to the women who were excluded: "dont complain, dont fight that system that is out to kill you - ableism/colonialism/heterosexism/racism/heightism/Islamophobia/fat oppression/sane-ism/classism - within feminist organizations - it makes us look bad..."   ?????

Well, sadly, historically and in the moment this does happen, and women from all of these groups do receive exactly this message - BUT is this something we at WAM would want to do?

I hope not. So why then is it ok to say this to Trans women?

'Feminism' means a great many different things to different people - not every form of feminism is anti-oppressive - some forms are very much about reinforcing 'other' systems of oppression. I am not in favour of every brand of feminism. Some forms of feminism/strands within feminism are violent and abusive, and it is not resistance to these forms/strands that puts feminism in a bad light - it is the tolerance of these forms/strands by so many of us. We need to bring our critical analysis to those who use the term 'feminist' and ask if what they are doing really serves in the struggle against injustice, just as we would demand that other movements we might be a part of, like anti-ableist movements, anti-heterosexist movements, anti-racist movements, and so on, also be anti-sexist. 

Kalamity

Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 16:49:22 -0700
From: frieda.werden at gmail.com
To: wamvan at lists.resist.ca
Subject: Re: [Wamvan] Walking for Rape Relief

Dear Tami, et al.

I would like to see the battle for trans inclusion fought directly against the patriarchy, with feminist allies, instead of being fought primarily against feminist groups, with patriarchal allies. The fact that feminists are already stigmatized and hated by so many people makes it so easy to mount a damaging campaign against them - it's like shooting fish in a barrel.  All kinds of services for women are under daily attack. The very dailiness of their struggle makes them invisible to media. Violence against women and their children in their homes, discrimination against immigrant women who depend on a violent husband for the food for their children, the roof over their head, their status in the country, all that is just another dog bites man story. When a trans person or group attacks a feminist organization - oh, boy!  Girlfight!  The juicy hateful rumours go far and wide in the media and in the gossip stream, and people have one more reason to diss feminists and diminish the huge commitment and sacrifice of women like the ones who volunteer their souls at Rape Relief or at the Vancouver Women's Health Collective.

Last year, I sat with Jamie Lee Hamilton at a Liberal Party women's event as she gloated about how even though the Vancouver Women's Health Collective had, through direct negotiations, changed its policy with respect to opening the DTES Women's Pharmacy to trans persons, the group "didn't apologize," so "nobody in the community will support it" and so she believed it wouldn't survive.  It didn't survive (although the VWH is still trans-inclusive now).

Tami, you are a dedicated grassroots journalist, you are living the commitment to social change.  Please recognize these traits in your sisters. even if you don't agree with everything that has gone on. If you want to negotiate change in feminist organizations, please do it directly, and with all the patience, reason and respect that are at your command - just please don't get caught up in the legendary circular firing squads that keep activists picking off each other.

Yours sincerely,

Frieda

On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 3:48 PM, Tami Starlight <tamistarlight at gmail.com> wrote:

Terribly offensive!!

Minimize organizational oppression is NOT OK.

http://dawn.thot.net/nixon_v_vrr.html

This is but one example of oppression that continues with many of us - including me.

The idea that organizations are ok because they help women but oppress others?

That a select few oppressive types within the organization wish people would forget they did that and have that as their policy. Of course, many at VRR have no fucking idea - and those in positions of privilege and power within the organization like that.

Truth is free but freedom is earned with a lot of vigilance. 
Tami

On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 3:36 PM, Farida Hussain <faridahussain1 at gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Peeps, I'm walking to raise money for the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter. I know that some of us have trouble with their exclusivity, but the bottom line is that they offer a safe space for women escaping violence. We can't deny that this is a valuable resource. 

I'm willing to bus/bike out to wherever you are to collect money for my pledge. Just tell me when and where, and I'll be there -  even if it is for a small sum. 
You can email me separately at faridahussain1 at gmail.com, or use the listserve - both are fine by me. If you have any comments/questions/objections, I want to hear them.

Peace,Farida

Ps. The walk is on May 29 2011. Info here: http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/learn/resources/walkathon

-- 
Farida HussainStudent, JournalistUBC Graduate School of Journalism

Phone: 604 649 8619

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Meegwetch/Thank you/MerciTami M. StarlightVancouver, Canadatamistarlight at gmail.com

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WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org

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