Personally, I detest “vanguarditis”. I never liked it in the Left, and find it especially distasteful weaseling its way into the Women’s Movement. I think that if anything like a “vanguard” exists at all, it continually shifts and changes from group to group within a movement, depending on the specific strategies and contradictions that arise at given times, and on which groups are best equipped and placed to meet and deal with them – when and if called for by the movement as a whole… I don’t like more-radical-than-thou games any better than more-oppressed-than-thou games. I don’t like credentials games, intimidation-between-women games, or “you are who you sleep with” games. I don’t like people being judged by their class background, their sexual preference, their race, choice of religion, marital status, motherhood, or rejection of it, or any other vicious standard of categorization. I hate such judgments in the male power system, and I hate them in the Women’s Movement. If there must be judgments at all, let them be not on where a woman is coming from, but on what she is moving toward; let them be based on her seriousness, her level of risk, her commitment, her endurance.– Robin Morgan, from a speech delivered as the keynote address at the West Coast Lesbian Feminist Conference in Los Angeles in 1973

Robin Morgan was married to a leftist, one of the founders of the Gay Liberation Front in the 70s. They had a son. They divorced in the 70s, and Morgan has lived as a lesbian ever since. Her life and work speak for themselves.

Sigh.

Heart

True, and imagine, if there were no women to raise and influence men/sons,

then the possibility of freedom in a male’s world/or home, I think would be impossible.

We can teach women–who teaches the men? Patriarchal men?

or do we just have two worlds divided, one side men, another side women?

I dedicate this post to my son, who has, yes, taught me to be a better person and yes,

a wiser feminist and humanist and yes, radical.

PS. I happen to know a number of lesbians and guess what? The ones I know HAVE HAD CHILDREN–these are lesbian couples who have chosen to have children. They are kind and loving parents and are able to hold intelligent conversations. Who knew?

Anyway,
“the unbelievably sexist treatment of Clinton that just flies across the radar, what that is all about, and so on.” Heart said…

I think a lot of the sexism directed against Hillary was “caught” and commented on. But the rest of it still is invisible. I see sexism all the time, and non-white people in white dominant societies see racism all the time.

But sometimes, the tide turns in a subtle way, and you realize that in a coded language sort of way, women speak up and turn the tables on sexist men. They use “reversal” and it’s an effective tactic.

There is sexism all over the place, but either people are “pretending” it’s not there, or they are afraid to confront it. I’m never quite sure what the case is with this.

Every time you speak up against sexism, you’ll find people sneaking up to you later to secretly agree with you, and dozens or hundreds of other people sit in silence and never confront it. It is the human hurd mentality to sit silently.

I know white men are always bitterly complaining about “political correctness.” I rarely hear women complain about it. I’m sure some do, but this is a huge white male grudge thing. So I believe that men think they are entitled to be as insulting as they want to be about everyone but themselves. Actually, men are incredibly cruel to each other, in ways that I rarely see in interactions between women.

It could be that slowly women are really rising. I found one intriguing part of the world where women were recorded by U.N. studies as having made the most dramatic progess of all the places in the world, at least in the last year or so.

Can you guess where this place is? Rwanda! After genocide or after something truly awful, somehow, women step up, and men give in. It has to be very very bad in order for this to happen. Lesbians got a lot of power when gay men were dropping dead. The balance of power had shifted in the lesbian and gay world. Some gay men even get feminism a lot more than the rest of the world; the old activist guard that managed to not die off.

The world is very uncomfortable with racism and will comment on it. What is weird is seeing the religious right try to co-opt black pastors by being against racism. Jerry Falwell’s early and very racist sermons have been erased from his record. After he died, those sermons were not to be found.

The blatant sexism in the religious right goes on and on, however.

Women will rise as much as they want to rise. Tomorrow women could completely control the world. For men, it would be all over. They could….

The bottom line with sexism and Clinton, is that men know they can get away with being sexist towards Clinton. They think most of the time they can get away with sexist comments period. Occasionally, Chris Mathews will get his snout snapped, but that’s rare.

Cleverly, Greta Van Susteren, who I actually like a lot, turned the tables on “Hannity and Colms.” Hannity didn’t know why calling a woman “sweetie” was a big deal. So Susteren and some other Fox news women just started calling Hannity “sweetie.” Colms started calling him “sweetie” too. It was the perfect counter-tactic, because he had to pretend that it didn’t bother him, but for once he was on the receiving end of a comment women have had to put up with for years. The rise of Hillary Clinton even made Obama apologize to the reporter he insulted. This has never happened in a presidential campaign before. So this is the rise of the power of women. It shifts men’s self-confidense, it undermines their habitual language.

It’s a clever counter-attack, and this is a response to the rise of women on T.V. news as well.

Some of my good friends assure me that women are actually really gaining, and that I’m too impatient for amazon axes to fly. I like to think that this might be true, but I don’t want to get my hopes up too high. I get very disappointed in the slow progress of things sometimes.

Fortunately, I have found pediatricians who are supportive either way.

Immunizations are big business so everyone should have 500 shots by age 5. BS. I still hold to the idea that there is less chance of my daughter catching some wild disease than she having an adverse reaction. The feds don’t even want to examine whether there is a link between the immunizations and the prevalence of autism, add, adhd, childhood diabetes, asthma, etc., etc. If they found it to be true it would really hurt those profits. Environmental pollution, poor diet, using heavy cleaning agents and chemicals are also no good for kids/people. We don’t need a ton of research to figure that out.

Frankly, I am not convinced that the thimerosol is even the only problem here. Could it be that the ever growing list of immunizations being added to the schedule and the incredibly young age of the children is a contributor. When do our children’s immune systems get to ramp up on their own?

It is exasperating.

I sense that some of you share my sentiment.

Having said all of that, I do not want to proceed any further down the het women v. lesbian women path. There’s a lot that isn’t being understood here on both sides, I think, and a lot that probably should be said that isn’t being said on both sides. This is an old, old discussion going back many years, in this incarnation, to the 60s. We have never been able to have the discussion without a lot of collateral damage done and I doubt we are going to have it here now. I feel everybody, women on both sides of the divide, and I’ve been personally hurt pretty bad in various new and improved editions of this argument by women on both sides. And in attempting to have the discussion, idiots across the (pretend)progressive blogosphere have made great hay while the sun shown over various facets of the issues raised. I’ve lost one good lesbian friend who I really valued because she said some really shitty things to me around this issue, and you know, I don’t deserve that, and I am not offering myself out for that kind of bullshit anymore. No matter how much I like someone. I’ve lost a number of good heterosexual woman friends over this issue because they got mad at me for tolerating too much of the kind of thing that caused me to end my connection with the lesbian friend I am talking about and for other reasons relating to this particular discussion.

So could we not do this, please. We are not going to solve it. The Second Wave didn’t solve it in the 60s and 70s, the Second Wave is not going to solve it now that we are in our 50s and 60s, and those new to the argument are not going to solve it either because it is too complicated, it is too painful, there are too many minefields and everybody ends up feeling *betrayed by women they hoped they could trust.* And that is so for not only lesbian feminists but heterosexual feminists. This discussion always results in enough betrayal to alienate a large number of women for a good long time.

So, you have all said a lot of good things. And, things have been said that have sure not been helpful at all to what I’m trying to accomplish on my blog.

So, I’d rather return to archetypes, the rise of the feminine, the unbelievably sexist treatment of Clinton that just flies across the radar, what that is all about, and so on.

Thank you.

xxoo

Heart

I just don’t put much stock in sitting on the sidelines or moving out to the country. I have set higher standards for myself and stick to them, and I never let heteronormativity determine what is essential for my life.

We had a lot of 60s radicals but I saw something different in the long term. Even Mary Daly, whom I adore, mainly because she was a purist and always a radical lesbian had the peculiar fate of teaching at what was once a men’s college, and then later when the college went to co-gender, she remained there. It was run by the catholic church. I’ve never worked for an institution that outlawed women in its priesthood. So this was an odd thing about her.

When Daly was fired the first time around in 1968, men marched on the campus in outrage. She got rehired because all the young men thought academic freedom was worth defending back then. But in retrospect, this was more about the times. Everyone was marching back then, it was the thing college kids did back then.

There are a lot of women who don’t want to run for office, or vote for other women who are running for these positions, but then again, they still seem to think its ok for men to be their proxies out in the world.

It’s odd. I always wondered what women would do once they had a truly viable candidate for the presidency, and it is interesting to see African American men and women, and what their voting statistics are vs. women and Clinton. Something like 92% of African Americans are voting for Obama. I don’t see this kind of commitment in women, so obviously, women who have stayed out of the public sphere a lot of the time, have this odd attitude toward what public life is.

Public life is there for people who want to show up for it. If women wanted to have their own soverign nation, they’d have it by now. They have chosen not to want it all that much, or at least I haven’t seen and books, articles or blogs devoted to this. There may be some out there, but I haven’t seen them.

I do know that women running for office have a very different attitude toward government, just as self-made business women are very different from their male counterparts. It is insulting to say that just because you have a job that you do it in the same way men do it. Nothing could be further from the case in how I’ve always done my work.

Mary Daly didn’t sell out because she worked for Jesuits. Heck, catholic priests and nuns helped fund her education. When push came to shove, a catholic bishop gave Mary Daly money to continue her European education. She went out and did all of this on her own and got help along the way.

To me the lesbian path is about the self-made woman. It is not about living with men, cooking their meals or educating their boy children. It is a life devoted to the betterment of women out in the world, and about the betterment of lesbian self. Not the selfless portrait of women, but the women who don’t give give give and get nothing in return. Women have been doing this forever, it was gotten them nowhere.

Women are struggling at age 52 to get back on their feet after living for decades under male subsidy. They have depended on the marriage system for support.

If we have a presidency, we have people who will want this job. We can settle for all the ways men treat women to get this office — think YouTube capturing Obama calling a serious reporter “Sweetie.” In the past, they got away with this because there were no cameras to record it. That’s how he talks to women all the time. You can bet that Hillary Clinton would never treat another woman reporter like that ever. She might get into fights with the press or avoid reporters, but this is not her habit. It’s a small issue, and yet it reveals why I have always thought all feminisms had their place in the world.

I regard heterosexual women as aiding and abetting in a direct material in home sort of way the enemy. Having a man in my home is just insane. Other more moderate feminists would say that heterosexual marriage is ok as long as the men are feminists. I’m glad there are a few women who have commented in support of some of my ideas, because to me, the heart of radical feminism is what happens in the home.

It is the home that is the territory that is invisible and so difficult to gain freedom in.

I think it is a polite fiction to believe that women can’t achieve just about anywhere. I believe the wedding of men to women has been an international disaster area for women for a very long time. One gets the feeling that women are so brainwashed into serving men, that they do strange things at age 65– suddenly, they discover they are lesbians.

There are many ways women can be their best selves. I believe in not settling for second or third best. If you want to spend an hour on something make it count, but don’t ever undervalue the work done. I’ve seen too many women who assumed the world was going to take care of them in old age, and they found out too late that this wasn’t going to be the case.

As much as I admire radical feminism, I certainly would not trust a group of people to ever be a source of financial support or medical help. I didn’t want straight women dictating my life in my old age.

There is a special group of radical lesbians who pop up now and then thanks for the support for my ideas, I really love this. As tough as I am, I vowed that never again would I bow down to the heteosexual masses. I’d wasted too much of my youth in these supposed “coalitions,” and now, well I want lesbian nation to shine forth. There is a huge difference in lesbian mind, a lesbian mind that was never once engaged in “reproduction”… it was not engaged in most of the things women are preoccupied with. It was lesbian mind for its own sake in the world, and it was lesbian power for the other lesbians out there who understood this.

All systems controlled by the heterosexual status quo are horrifying to deal with… it’s a kind of propaganda that you can’t hid from, but it is an ideology, and largely one that goes on and on.

In the past, feminism was controlled by this force, but no longer. Now there are far more diverse voices out there. Unpleasant for a lot of straight women to listen to, but true to ourselves. We know that straight women have a great deal of trouble even speaking up powerfully in a large room. They remain compliant and quiet. They’ve done this for thousands of years. They’ve grown accustomed to these mysterious cages.

But even with that said, I am happy that this election came about, and that a lot of women got a chance to see women on the big stage of the presidential campaign. It’s a country that is there for all women, if they want it. Or they can stay out of the game completely, and complain on the sidelines of history.

I enjoy this public life, and have never really felt all that comfortable with the dreams that never become a concrete reality. There is the reality that lesbians are powerful in their own right. Some of us are bemused to watch straight women struggle with the same issues year after year after year. Even lesbian and gay culture changes dramatically with the times, but straight women still believe in the straight system, and that’s the only one they know. The fish swimming in water, that it thinks is the only reality out there.

It’s rare in herstory for straight women to even hear this point of view. They take their own control of the world for granted I guess, but many of us find this very …. well exhausting… I think that is an adequate world. We are simple people. We believe that all feminists need to get elected to things, otherwise only men will show up and suit up as they say.

Thanks vjp… I know a lot of women think about things I write about. They are the “silent majority” That’s a joke

Would feminists support women in America? After I read this blog and was surprised at how much fuss was made over a rather ordinary woman running for office, it is a sad commentary. Or maybe it is the younger baby boomers with a different view of the world. Very different.

Oh. my. gosh. If I could write like ekittyglendower, I would be one happy woman. That is such a beautiful statement of inclusiveness and the power of women that it gives me a shadow sense of the awe and near transport, the holiness, I have felt from time to time in being with and listening to women of rich personal lives and integrity. Even although we own (what is it?, only 5%?) so little of the world’s “wealth,” women are so rich and enriching. Your blog reflects this richness, ekittyglendower, as does Heart’s.

Hmmm, well, if we use that logic, then we are ALL COMPLICIT IN OUR DESTRUCTION,

as human beings.

Seriously, lol I was just thinking about this yesterday, and often do, because of the environmental degradation which is caused by, none other than us human beings and our consumption. Even if, lets say, we went back to a primitive state,

we could never reverse the damage. Our positive is always to another a negative, and vice versa, if you really think about it. That whole cause and effect cycle,

we are all guilty, complicit or otherwise. I mean, o.k. taking this example, everytime we go to the store, we are complicit in aiding in the destruction of somebody overseas,

doesn’t matter if you don’t shop at Walmart, hell almost everything somehow is linked to something that is based on horrid wage or non-wage slavery or on military build-up or just a whole arrange of things,

so What is to be Done, as Lenin would say?

Destroy us all, because something we do benefits the system that oppresses?

That experiment failed, and so would an experiment where all women were lesbian, or a world where

all boy children were killed [and I'd fight that to the hilt--its just AS evil, as misogyny]

I can assure you that world would for one, not rid of patriarchy or abuse, it would just be transferred,

and two, it would be not only destructive, but genocidal.

Misandry and hetero hate is NOT the solution, the solution I would think,

is dealing with power dynamics and helping humanity get to a place where power wasn’t the drive of human relationships. Simply speaking that is…

where power is not taken, meaning we are just like powerless amebas, no, not in that extreme but where we have a respect for power in others, for differences, and understanding how those differences not only create balance,

but survival for the species, human species.

MEN aren’t the enemy, Patriarchy is. The whole mindset of hetero women are complicit,

comes across more like the “Man Question Final Solution” type of mentality and I don’ t see with all honesty,

how thats any different than Women Question Final Solution or the women are inferior mentality, etc.

Not saying that women don’t contribute to the patriarchy and institutions, because they do,

but the reverse extreme would just be patriarchy with a female bent.

Maybe where we fall short is that we do not contemplate the mystery and wonder of women’s lives but think more in terms of our problems, living out our lives as we do in a patriarchal system that thwarts our search for our destiny.

and Level Best’s comment made me think about it.

I honestly can not claim a group. I just can’t. All I know is the group I am searching for, wanting to claim has women as the center. We, women, do need to live our lives. I try to live my life in celebrating my experiences. I think I am going to hold myself to that and try it more often. To talk about my life as a woman, my experiences with other people, regardless of who those people are, because whoever they are, they have entered and done something to/for my life as a woman.

If I were willing to throw around words like stupid, dumb, in a fog, I think I would have to assign it to people who limit their scope. Women do fall short for not celebrating the mystery of women’s life. Instead the stupid, dumb, and in a fog gravitate toward that same old pecking order that men have used for centuries. Well, don’t bother to find where I belong in the order, because I’m not playing. Take your [general] pecking order and move it up or down, shuffle it around, place value on it here and there, meantime, I will celebrate all the riches women (all women, ALL women) (and at times men) have given my female life. And my daughters will know the pleasure these experiences have brought and can bring.

‘rendering one incapable of decision’

AH! We just got this movie last weekend and my little daughter said it was so good, and I meant to watch it and then didn’t, pah. Well, I will rent it again.

thats what dogma does eventually, it prevents true choice, meaning, decisions are made out of obedience to a dogma rather than based on inner convictions or values based on experiences.

This is exactly, completely, totally true. It’s true not only, as you say, Tasha, on the Right, the Religious Right, in totalist religion of every kind, it’s also true in psychology, in Eastern religious groups, in all fundamentalisms, on the Left, among Marxists, it’s true in Queer and GLBT, it’s true amongst progressives, it’s true amongst anti-racists, feminism, radical feminism.

It’s interesting, Robert J. Lifton, a doctor/scientist/researcher has done a lot of pioneering work on “thought reform,” once called “brainwashing.” His book, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism is used extensively amongst those who work with ex-members of totalitarian groups. He began his work by studying brainwashing and torture and their effects on prisoners of war in China.

Mary Daly incorporated central elements of Lifton’s work in Gyn/Ecology in her analysis of the “sado-ritual syndrome,” where she creates a framework for understanding the specific kinds of thought reform women experience under male supremacy via ritualized sadism and cruelty against women and girls throughout the world. This sadism/cruelty is so pervasive and ubiquitous and consistent throughout history that it is accepted as normal and is all but invisible to most people, which creates a situation in which women end up blamed for any abusive situation they end up in, whether it’s relationships, groups of various kinds, whatever, when it is institutionalized misogyny and sadism which are to blame and which have to be brought down.

The journeys of creative and intelligent women through life often do include times of being part of diverse groups and communities. I think in part this is because as women, we really do not have a country or nation or community or space that belongs to us or speaks to us as women. So, we try to find one, or maybe create one. We go where people seem to share our values or dreams or longings, where we feel we will receive support and will be able to do our part to heal the world. As you say, Tasha, it’s my experience, as well, we can find much that resonates in many different, apparently diverse, groups, but misogyny/sexism remains constant throughout all of them, much less in radical/cultural feminism, but even there, there will be plenty of internalized misogyny to deal with, our own and others’ as well, not to mention being attacked by the surrounding culture in an ongoing way.

I think it’s very possible that “K” up there is a troll– my spam queue is full of them right now– but I approved K’s comment anyway because I thought it would be interesting to respond. Although I cannot be sorry for my own journey or where it has taken me, and although when I was a leader amongst the quiverfull/Titus 2 crowd I acted with integrity — in other words, I believed everything I was teaching and lived it myself, to the best of my ability — I do recognize that I influenced women in directions I have disavowed as harmful and destructive to women, and I am sorry for that, even though at the time, I believed what I was doing was right.

What outsiders to this world wouldn’t and couldn’t know is that so much of what I did teach and live in this world was practical. My magazine took off in large part because of an article I wrote explaining exactly and precisely, down to the shopping lists and recipes, how I managed to feed 10 people on $200 per month. (I did. I did that for years.) That article was wildly popular. I wrote about so much other practical stuff, gardening, farming, sewing, cooking, birthing, midwifery, herbs, natural medicine, home birth, breastfeeding, etc. I am really proud of the good work I did in providing this information to thousands of women. But the submission teachings were hurtful– to me, to all women. I have disavowed them and modeled my disavowal by divorcing my ex and leaving that world, but other women are still in it, and some feel betrayed. They wanted to believe what we were all telling each other was so, and that God would change our husbands, our abusive churches or situations, whatever. When I could no longer suspend my disbelief and bailed, women were hurt. Some of that was that unhealthy dynamic that happens between leaders and followers– this is something that is not in the direct control of leaders, it takes on a life of its own.

So true what you say, Tasha, that those of us who have been part of dogmatic, controlling groups recognize the destructiveness of dogmatism and don’t go there. Also so true that there are good things in all sorts of groups– none has the monopoly on what is good or true, and none has the monopoly on error either, for sure. Including leftists, progressives, feminists, anti-racists, etc.

Anyway, various clueless and bent wieners on the internet at times invoke the “Heart never apologized for being a leader on the RR” bullshit hoping to get some sort of mileage out of it, mostly because what I believe now, and what I do now, threatens their obsessions, fetishes, ambitions, tidy world views, misogynies, sexism in various ways, so they go looking for a club. It’s stupid, and it doesn’t work. K’s comment gave me an opportunity to say so while also having this interesting conversation with you, Tasha.

What about the Japanese studies on immunizations compared to the U.S.?

**We had to fight the hospital and CPS over vaccinations, two times, when my oldest had to go to the hospital for upper resp and they had a fit that she wasn’t vaccinated,

our refusal was not so much in not vaccinating but in not using the traditional vaccination [US] in the whooping cough, and we had to fight to have the other version [that they use in Japan] and sign all these special papers, etc.,

this was like years ago and I can’t recall what vaccine it was, and on the Polio we used the one derived by sheep, not by pigs. Had to fight for that one too,

that and we insisted on waiting till after two, in fact in many parts of Europe they don’t vaccinate infants, its around two but US is different on that. Now its become a bit more liberal, but there are still the hassles, to me it wasn’t so much the patriarchy as the attitude of ‘how dare you question the nanny state in the welfare of ‘our–the state’s’ children mentality that I found infuriating,

Then, not only that, after a week pent up in the hospital, my daughter obviously was restless and wanted to play–

the moron doctor [who looked like he was fresh out of med school] said, “oh, she’s way too hyper and needs ritalin”,

basically told him to shove it [and of course called called on by CPS for that too],

and including at that time was single parent/and didn’t qualify for Medicaid because I had too much income but still below poverty line, so sure that had a lot to contribute as well–

its amazing though, at how many low income women on Medicaid, all have cervical cancer [so they say] and need cervical removals, etc., or how many low income children [esp African American] are used in ‘drug studies’ [horrid report of this not too long ago, I'll see if I still have it],

and the numbers of children being FORCED by legal threats/with the backing of CPS to be on all sorts of pyschotic [sic] drugs,

is not doubt, social experimentation and social ENGINEERING…

I do hope you all, who have been wronged by the vaccination market do sue and do get justice, there is no doubt in my mind,

that the government not only KNOWS the risks but due to that ever so lasting relationship between the government and the drug companies–nothing surprises me.

The numbers of children [in the three thousands last I checked] who have had serious reactions to vaccinations in This country, compared to the low reactions in Japan,

is so wide that there is no way there isn’t something going on. No way…

Years ago this fact was even broadcast on Nightline I believe,

and I strongly, strongly believe, the use of all these anti-depressants and hyperactivity drugs being forced on children [via the public school industry]

we will one day, be hearing cases on that as well…we are now, but I don’t think we’ve seen the full ramifications of those social engineering projects yet.

**first time, I had to battle it out I was married, my ex was from England, and it was he who was against the vaccination of infants–that was when I started reading about vaccination industry, etc., and learned about the studies in Japan,

years later, way later, when my second daughter was sick, I was already divorced, different city, etc., and that was when I had to battle again,

I seriously believe if I had of been at that time, in a better economic position I wouldn’t have gotten the attitude in the hospital that I did, and I’ve spoken to numerous women who have confirmed this, etc.,

After I showed [and the first time too] documentation of why we believed in what we did and why were were choosing to vaccinate later, and use alternative vaccines, only Then, did CPS back off…

but its just ridiculous that parents, who ARE doing their job, get so much SHIT from the state when they Question medical authority. Or when they Assert their Parental Rights for the welfare of their children When its in conflict with big money/power interests.

Its the same way in education too but thats another topic, though it IS related,

my point is though, its more than just patriarchal reinforcements, way, way more. And there is most Surely, an agenda to many of the laws that force parents to do things where their children are concerned.

Just to throw in here too, the rise in C sections — and the pressure to have those C sections, is going on again…I had home births my first two, last two in hospital [though with midwives, and I was proactive in all four, very much so],

but that whole industry there too, is so patriarchal and controlling…I remember the days where many of my friends who were midwives were arrested, charged with endangerment, etc., wasn’t that long ago,

they fought hard for women to have the Right to control over their bodies and their birthing experience and now, its like the system takes this male credit for midwives working in hospital settings…

but I knew personally some of the women who were demonized, who were the ones who fought that battle [and in many states its still being fought] and why hospitals began little by little giving parents/women some choices–

but it seems, this is on the reverse now, from what I’ve been hearing from younger women. Not only that, but the forced blood clotting/or is it Vit K shots, I always heard, that they contribute to the liver dysfunction and why so many infants have to have therapy in hospital under lights, etc.,

Sure enough, both times in hospital–both had to have the light therapy,

neither of the two born at home, needed it, nor did they have any liver problems/or kidney either…they do so much shit to our kids,

that is proven is NOT necessary, or that there are alternatives, healthier and holistic that are better,

but they dip into the pockets of profit of the AMA and the whole web of drug corporations, etc.

In closing, I work in the Avian Resource/Education and we run into the same problem with holistic medicine and animals verses traditional medicine. So much, that is used on animals, exotics especially, causes more injury and illness, and its big money and monopolies

and its been PROVEN that holistic medicine/homeopathic, naturalist enrichment and whole foods, is far better in treating animals, especially in preventative care.

who said to me, this past Mother’s Day,

“Mom, why is it on Mother’s Day all you see on t.v. is Father’s Day commercials? It seems every year Mother’s Day is overshadowed by the Father’s Day”

this was in response to a commercial that afternoon but WOW, when an eleven year old can see that and know something isn’t quite ‘right’ with the entire picture,

Wow. Not only that, but the thing that just gripes me about Mother’s Day, is why is it men get ‘fun’ to ‘do’ things advertised, with women have you ever noticed its always the pampering but in ‘beauty’,

which is still something geared towards men.

My daughter noticed this too, and its like, this Mother’s Day message goes something like this, [in reference to the capitalist marketing],

women, here’s your day for all your sacrifices, your day to be your self, your ’sexual’ self, why the jewels, perfume, spas, etc., etc.,

where with men, [though I've heard the complaints about tools] but its the golf, bbq, those things that ‘men’ do to get away from the family–that single man living per se–

but we never see advertisements for women on things like books or music or things she can do ‘away from the family’…

generally speaking that is.

Its like our whole being centers around care taking, shopping and looking good…

just once, it would be nice, if there was this huge sale advertised for women, on Mother’s Day, at a bookstore or music store,

LOL. This might seem really simplistic but the subconscious messages are blatant, in advertising/marketing on Mother’s Day of those strict patriarchal gender roles of what women’s roles are, and Mother Day strongly reinforces those,

in my opinion.

I too have been anti-feminist, right wing, [worked with Concerned Women of America for a couple of years in my younger days] etc etc etc at one time in my life–

as well as extreme left [I'm talking way extreme] and I went through a period of guilt over that,

feeling I should make up for all those years but then,

Why? Life, is evolution [I would hope] and those experiences and what we fought for, at that time we fought from that place we were sitting,

is what makes who we are today and not only that,

but its One thing to argue against something based on what one reads or being like, rebellious because its chic to do, etc.,

its Another to fight from the heart with an understanding of the complexities and reasons people, women support the institutions they do, so forth, and how they are influenced, both bad AND good.

it is those experiences that gives us wisdom or better, insight.

Not only that, but I think it is better for one to have grown through various conflicting experiences in that it gives one compassion and empathy, the most dangerous thing even among feminists,

is dogma.

I have found those that have ‘changed their positions or minds’ on many points tend not to get bogged down in that mental dogma therefore are less likely to become totalitarian, [this is in any ideology or philosophy or religion]

not only that but what we say today, and when people judge us and put us in a box [or others] and thats all they ever remember–

its really confining, not just to the people we mentally imprison in this label but to ourselves because we put these impossible expectations on ourselves,

or fear,

fear to see the other side or fear to change, not speaking of changing values per se but seeing through other lens

that what I like to use [which is from a movie, "The Golden Compass" though the books are far better, and I thought that one line was absolutely genius],

‘rendering one incapable of decision’,

thats what dogma does eventually, it prevents true choice, meaning, decisions are made out of obedience to a dogma rather than based on inner convictions or values based on experiences.

When I look back, man, hindsight is everything isn’t it, I have found that yes, my core values may not change, but I wouldn’t change anything including those wrong decisions [and I'd question if they were truly wrong in that time],

in other words, Heart’s experience with the Quiver movement is not something she should be apologizing for–never,

or for her anti-feminist views at one time, because most of us have all evolved to this point, it IS those experiences that have shed light,

and its what makes Heart very powerful in how she reaches women, especially women who have lived in that environment with its influences,

not only that, but I have to say, that while I don’t support the right wing like I did at one time, I do, see many valid points on many issues and I feel it has aided me in having some balance on certain issues–or ability of perception that many due to not having those experiences wouldn’t have.

More importantly however is that having those conflicting experiences or views and how they effect our personal growth sheds some light on many areas that aid in understanding, empathy and the ability to reach-help the people/women who need it the most.

I think what Is dangerous though, is when we forget, what it is that is Good about some of those opposing views, movements, philosophies, etc., and not taking the good in them and using them,

to arrive at viable solutions to many problems.

Dogma always throws the baby out with the bathwater,

Wisdom, simply holds the baby and drains some of the cold water and puts in warm….

LOL, the comments at the bottom are just one of the few signatures that I sometimes will add on and it was not directed toward any of the women here or to you. It was simply a political statement which yes, does have to do with how language is used to subjugate people,

or especially, how the patriarchal/elitist institutions have used language throughout time to hold that place of authority and that reinforcing the colonized mindset, woman, class or race, etc. [interestingly religions have and still do the same thing--take for instance, the persecution of those men who printed up the Bible for the common masses--one example]

what is important, is that we think beyond the box so to speak,

like you said..and you nailed it,

“Even if it is a little scary to dive into.”

MANISH ZIJOO-A YOUTH AVENGING KLASHMIR

I have written about my feminist journey many times over the years. Of course, just about all of my writings, in a certain way, are about this journey. One article you might want to check out is Confronting the Religious Right which was published in off our backs in 2006. It can be read here.

I have publicly apologized many times over the years, including in print to my subscribers and those directly in my circle of influence. I also used the proceeds of the judgment I received when I won my lawsuit against those responsible for driving my magazine out of business to send refunds to all of my subscribers and advertisers who wanted or asked for refunds. I also returned to publishing with these proceeds for about two years and fulfilled the subscriptions of those who requested that their subscriptions be fulfilled.

My true apology is my radical feminism itself, though. I am a dedicated, highly committed, extremely busy radical feminist activist. I write, I speak publicly, I organize, I blog, I participate in and lead and organize actions and activism of various kinds, I get interviewed, I go on the radio, I go on television, I work very hard to raise public consciousness as to the situation of women and girls in the world and to make real change. I think working on behalf of all women and girls, including the women and girls who are still in the Quiverfull movement and who are suffering there, is the best apology of all, and I will be doing that for the rest of my life.

I will try to get some information on these class action suits. Normally the way it works is, people are contacted directly, usually by mass mailings, by the attorneys representing the plaintiffs (people bringing a lawsuit) if they are believed to be members of the “class,” i.e., (in this case) doctors’ or businesses’ records show that they or their children received immunizations and are autistic. But sometimes they publish announcements in newspapers, etc., as well if they can’t gather records that way. Usually people are contacted after the parties in a lawsuit have reached a settlement or after a judgment has come down. I’ll try to get more information. My very best to you,

Heart

I’m not a Clintonite but, yes. And: it seems to me that although things have morphed since I was younger than I am now, they have not essentially changed … I sometimes wonder whether the weapons have just gotten sharper.