If feminism is to remain relevant, it needs to become more intractable, not less, and it needs to see itself working beyond the landscape of the personal.
Category: Race, Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
In the case of Kate Middleton, what we see is a reinventing of her as not exactly virginal but at least as modest and easily shocked, a reinvention that allows her to take her rightful place in the hymenal economy of Brand Britain.
“The people who are going to benefit the most from gay marriage will be the ones who already have the resources.”
I was part of a roundtable discussion on what it means to get “Beyond Gay Marriage” in In These Times. Many thanks to Rebecca Burns for initiating this.
An excerpt:
It is probably true that hate crimes legislation and anti-bullying laws in Washington are connected to gay marriage—but that is exactly the problem. Marriage solidifies the idea that the “inclusion” of LGBT people is the solution, and it has been accompanied by a push for inclusion in the military and in hate crimes and anti-bullying legislation. But this ignores the fundamental inequality perpetuated by these institutions—marriage, the military, the criminal justice system. Hate crimes and anti-bullying legislation are punitive measures that will drive the prison-industrial complex and the school-to-prison pipeline.
You can read the rest here. Contact me if you need a pdf.
We are not connected by the truth or universality of our experiences because our experiences are not universal. Instead, we are connected by the systemic links between the oppressions that grind us down.
You want health care but not marriage or commitment? Tough titties. Get married or die.
The gay civil-rights activist Bayard Rustin was born a hundred years ago, on March 17, 1912. Considered the key organizer of the historical 1963 March on Washington, Rustin was involved in movements for racial and economic justice till his death in 1987. Yet, he is relatively unknown today and often deliberately stayed in the background, in large part because public knowledge about his identity as a gay man added to his vulnerability as an outspoken civil-rights activist.
Out filmmaker Bennett Singer is the co-director and co-producer, with Nancy D. Kates, of the critically acclaimed 2003 film, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, about the gay, African-American civil-rights activist whom many consider the main organizer behind the historic 1963 March on Washington.
What, pray tell, if Fluke is indeed a slut?
The Chicago History Museum hosted a presentation on Bayard Rustin, the late African-American and gay activist who organized the famed 1963 March on Washington D.C. The event, “Bayard Rustin at 100,” was part of the museum’s “Out at CHM” series.
Can we grapple with the complexity of the truth instead of being seduced by the more palatable tale of good and evil?