In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

A different take on accountability

We screwed up in allowing the interview with Hugo Schwyzer to be published. This was a mistake not because guest bloggers on Feministe aren’t allowed to have differing opinions or even differing values than the rest of the crowd–hell, that’s part of the value of bringing in new voices. But we don’t see Feministe as an appropriate venue for the rehabilitation of a figure with Schwyzer’s history (and, for that matter, present). His professed reformation notwithstanding, his history of abuses, his treatment of women in general, his treatment of women of color in particular, and numerous other deeply serious offenses that he himself attests to have created an environment around him that many women–Feministe bloggers included–find threatening, triggering, and/or flat-out despicable.

Tech interlude: quote and reply bug

A few people are finding that when they use the Quote and Reply link in comments the quoted text ends up stripped of spaces so that it all runs on and on and on and on.

I’m going through and editing these as I find them, but if it’s happened to you could you briefly at least let me know your OS and browser so I can look for the cause?

And here comes a new intern !

Hi everyone ! I’m Mounia, and I am Feministe’s fall intern.
In essence, I’m here to take over from Anoushka – so I’ll be putting biweekly link round ups and maybe writing a little bit.

Aaand since my name will be popping up on your reader feed quite a bit, here goes :
I’m an 18 year old college freshling, studying Philosophy/Gender Studies at Columbia University. And by studying philosophy, I mean taking philosophy classes while waiting for an illumination as to what I actually want to do with my life. I have faith it’ll occur by the time I graduate college. Maybe. Hopefully.

Anyway ! I’m queer, cis, TAB, and originally from Morocco and Canada (Quebec), but went to high school in Northern New Mexico. That’s where I’ve done most of my activist work, which has mostly been around queer issues and empowering queer youth.
Other main interests of mine include : feminism (surprise, surprise !), immigration issues, French and Canadian politics, that weird region known as North Africa, macarons, parentheses, bowties, cheese and Arthur Rimbaud.
If I’m being honest, macarons and cheese probably take up more of my time than anything else…but I probably shouldn’t admit to that.

So yep. That’s me. I’ve been reading Feministe for a long time now, and I’m very excited and honored to be here ! If there are things you want to see in the link round-ups, please let me know at feministe@gmail.com – and I’m looking forward to the next few months !

Well, hello there.

I’m very pleased to be guest-blogging here at Feministe for the next two weeks.

I’m a filmmaker and I teach first year film and video production classes at a film school in Chicago (and do a lot of freelance and temp work to keep a roof over my head and pay for health insurance). I’ve also worked extensively in the foreign aid business and for non-profits as a project manager and proposal writer. I’m straight, white, cis, fat, and depressed on and off (currently ON). I like dystopian YA novels, cooking, taking photos, the genius caption writers at The Economist, pre-code “women’s” pictures, studying how fucked up the 1950s were vs. the weird alternate reality described in conservative nostalgia, and films that pass the Bechdel Test. I abuse parentheses and ellipses like an 8th grader, and I have a really evil laugh.

I blog at CaptainAwkward.com. The blog was born out of learning to be assertive completely from scratch as an adult, a fascination with advice columns and the glimpses they give you into people’s stories, and from wanting to consistently produce something creative that would not eat money and time the way filmmaking does. It’s been really rewarding, especially because the commenters are so engaged and smart and helpful.

I’ve been saving a few Captain Awkward letters to post here this week, and also hope to post about filmmaking, teaching, advice and advice columns, work, dating, friendship, and whatever else catches my fancy.

Back again

Hi, everyone! I’m really pleased to be back again for the great summer of guestblogging. For those of you who are not familiar with me, I’ve been in and around Feministe for the past 7 years (*mindboggles*), as a regular commenter and occasional guest-poster. Yes, I know all about Lauren blogging about hijab, Zuzu and the pilot hate, and all of those kinds of things.

You’ve probably also seen my name appearing in various threads with a nice little “Moderator” icon by my name. Lately, I’ve been lurking behind the scenes, clearing out the spam filter, marking nominees for the Next Top Troll competition, and keep tabs on comments. In that capacity, I’ve only been accused of being a Nazi once, however, I apparently abuse the First Amendment with abandon. Censorship ahoy! (Or so the trolls claim.)

My little bio goes something like this: I am a white, cis, TAB woman living in the Pacific Time Zone with my husband, T, our two-year-old daughter, and our terrier. I’m an attorney and I’m an active duty JAG for the US Army, something I’ve been doing for the past few years. At the moment, I work as a prosecutor and advise a command which is comprised of approximately 3,000 people. This is incredibly demanding right now, so while I am hoping to be diligent in my posting, my trial schedule may get in the way. I’ve also got my first series of cases with major press attention, so that’s been interesting.

I really enjoy cooking, reading, swimming, and flouncing, especially the sort that is accompanied by an extra huffy “I shan’t be back!” I can’t remember when I last had any spare time, but it probably involved something that would panic Jill, like singing Aerosmith very loudly and hating on cats. I’m really looking forward to spending the next two weeks here, and you’re always welcome to point me to things you think I should be reading or posting about.

(For a variety of reasons, I cannot comment on things like the Kill Team murders, Bradley Manning, or any other big military issues. Any opinions I express here are strictly my own and should not in any way be attributed to the Army or DOD. Also, I have zero patience whatsoever for comments which attempt to suggest that I, personally, am a war criminal or actively participating in death and destruction. I understand some people are not too fond of the military and I’m accepting of such criticisms, but I have neither the time nor inclination to deal with ad hominem attacks and will delete them quickly.)

Hey-oh! From Feministe’s New Intern

Hello readers! I’m Anoushka, Feministe’s brand-spanking-new and first-time-ever intern! You’ll be seeing me on the blog quite a bit for the next few months, so here’s me in a nutshell. (I did some mime just then.)

I’m a perpetual student, a theatre and performance activist-artist; an anti-racist feminist and a bi-racial queer woman of colour. My interests include: art, resistance, feminism, dogs, vegan cooking and high waisted skirts. I have been known to say “that’s problematic” often. I may even have it printed on a t-shirt. I was born and raised in the Coast Salish Territories of Western Canada, where I’ve done most of my organizing, around issues of sexual health, ending sexual violence and rape culture, anti-racism, queer issues and trans allyship, equitable access to education, anti-capitalism and indigenous solidarity. Clearly, I’m into holistic activism. Intersectionality baby!

Anywhoodle, if I sound even the least bit interesting, you can read some things I’ve written on the interwebs. I’ve had articles published on the alternative Canadian news blog rabble.ca and continue to write for the online component of Shameless Magazine, a Canadian feminist publication for girls and trans youth.

I am currently living in the occupied Indigenous territories of New York, mulling over the experience of having the privilege of being able to attend the mega-capitalist academic colonizer known as NYU, studying Arts Politics. What does that mean? Good question! Do you have an answer? I am in debt up to my eyeballs, so I’d really like to know.

I’ve been a long time reader of Feministe, so I am excited to join the team! I’ll be doing your bi-weekly link roundups among other things, so please do send me anything and everything in news that is related to gender/race/ability/class/sexuality, etc., by way of feministe@gmail.com! Tell me if you are doing cool things! Let’s be friends!

Cheers!

Anoushka

Blog tweaks: sidebar widgets

I’ve just added a Most Commented Recent Posts widget to the sidebar under the Recent Comments widget. The idea is that it will help people find those lively conversations from the last few weeks and keep those discussions going after the posts themselves roll off the front page.

The number of links displayed in both widgets can be tweaked. At the moment I have twice as many links in the Most Commented Posts widget as in the Recent Comments widget, in order to encourage people to not only look at the most recently commented posts. Thoughts?

ObGeek: the relevant plugin at wordpress.org

Comment Moderation, Redux

[UPDATE: Edited to reflect change in the function of the feature.]

Some concerns about comment moderation have been brought to us by the community, so we have decided to try something new.

Below every comment you will have “thumbs down” link with the ability to report a comment for moderation. This icon should also be accessible for screen readers. With enough “thumbs down” votes, the comment will “hide” with the option of being seen only by those with exceedingly curious minds until the official moderator can get to it. We hope this will flag offensive comments more clearly for us while we attempt to moderate amidst our daily work/life duties.

This function should not be used to shut down discussion you disagree with. This function SHOULD be used to notify others that the comment is abusive or egregiously off-topic.

We are trying to figure out a friendlier way of moderating that doesn’t rely on a sole entity to bear responsibility or make questionable moral calls on comment content. If you have additional ideas or concerns, please weigh in below.