Our Shared Shelf discussion
Intersectional Feminism
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Initiation into Feminism
Hi Eternal, you have taken then first step. Now just read the OSS book list, listen to Emma's speeches, declare yourself a feminist and the most important part take action. It's not complex just except the gender inequality women suffer and making sure you are at the very least not contributing to it.
I'd like to add that you should also read as much in the comments section as you can because it's there where you really come across so many different opinions, and you also get to know so much important intersectional topics you wouldn't come across so easy elsewhere.Feel free to join the discussion! You can also do a research on the brave ladies who fought for us already, ah, you can become an expert in anything related to intersectional feminism.
And now:
WELCOME AT OURSHAREDSHELF! WELCOME IN MY TRIBE!
I'm not sure if I will answer your questions but I think there are many "roots" or sources of Feminism. Feminism has many faces and it depends on the people who reflect and/or act on behalf on the issues that are related to Feminism. Though some issues still are similar to the times of the early Feminist thinkers and activists, the focus has changed in some ways but it also depends on the place where you are and the conditions under which you live.In the early years, issues like the right of women to vote played an important role. Later, when this goal was reached in many countries, the Feminist movements turned their focus on other issues like self-determination of the body and autonomy by choosing how women want to live their lives (for example professional independence and not being forced to live as a housewife).
So Feminism has a long history of struggles for women's rights and emancipation. You will find Feminist ideas in the works of writers and theorists as well as you will find tracks of Feminism in social struggles that go back quite far in history. But I would say the birthday of modern Feminism was the French Revolution because from that time on women started to build strong networks and organize their political struggles for emancipation in a collective movement for social change.
Within the Feminist movement, there have also been some changes because in the beginning it was perceived widely as a struggle of European and Bourgeois women. Women from the working class and women from non-European societies still had to make their voices heard.
Today, Feminism is a diverse and colorful way of thinking and a social movement with many different faces and ways of life. And you can find it in every step someone takes in the direction of equal rights and women's emancipation. And I guess a good way to learn what Feminism actually means and a good way to inspire others is mutual education and expanding our horizon and collective knowledge by listening and learning from others.
Well, feminism, I believe, is distinct from feminist activism. While one is an individual belief which shapes how you treat people and think of them, the other is an attempt at spreading this among everyone.Use logical thought processes to figure out how, and why men and women are unequal, and where this inequality is nothing more than a desultory social construct. Figure out how discrimination among humans occurs in general. To assist you, you may read feminist literature and watch feminist cinema.
Thereafter, you can passively be a feminist: never do anything that is un-feminist, and/or, actively be a feminist by urging others to take up this movement as well. IMO, it's not really possible to be an entirely passive feminist.
Hi everyone! Thanks for the comments! @ Ross sounds good
@ MeerderWörter I have been reading through the comments and it has been giving me some great hints towards what I am looking for.
@Sascha where have you read or gained this conclusion? I would like to read some of the works or research that you have acquainted yourself with! And that is some great insight!
@ Subha Prasad I see, that makes sense. Do you think that many of it is simply by experience? How would someone like myself, a white male who has been privileged more than other first world races, gain certain first-hand experience of these things?
Thank you all for the great insight and input!!!
Cannot wait to hear more from all of you :)
Discussion with oppressed groups is always a great way to get new insight/new information, it might even change the way you see gender etc.I believe it's just like studying - you have to decide what you want to know better and immerse yourself within it! And there are always other people to learn from, and new topics to explore.
As Emma said: It's on us to make feminism reality, not like a regime where you get your commands and you have to oblige.
@ MeerderWoerter Sounds great. Now I am already 3 months into the current book list, but do you have any suggestions for me to read that might give me the full experience or partial experience of oppressed groups? or maybe the best of the best for gender? Have been searching for some time, but a lot of the works don't seem to want to nail anything down in particular. Also, the forum discussions here are very repetitive.
Oh I understand the idea of not having a regime to follow, though for newcomers like myself who want to study these things, there is not a beginners work or a quick 'checklist' or a 'jump start to understanding feminism' that will help new feminists.
Obviously, when giving strict ideology as the main thing to stir feminism, there will be many discussions rather than the active work itself. Maybe that is why people think feminism is passive? Because it takes the time to discuss the same issues multiple times when someone disagrees?
It does seem that there are some things that are a 'no-no' when being a feminist, which I am not sure what they are since everyone has their own opinion.
If feminism is a research group rather than an active group to share their ideology, then having a syllabus is great! Do you happen to know any great works that can help me to capture maybe more of feminism, including its history? I would love to see 20 - 30 books that could give me a good idea of feminism (as mentioned a cornerstone)
Thank you so much for answering my questions :) Many feminist groups simply ignore or don't answer at all.
It does seem to be a hard question for feminists, that is, what is the philosophy of feminism?
Much love and hope to hear all of you soon!!!!
Hi Eternal, the philosophy of Feminism is simple it is the commitment of those to correct the imbalance in rights afforded to men over women. To eliminate this injustice and achieve gender equality.
@ Ross Thank you for the reply! Do you have a source for your statement? I would love to see the origin of such thoughts! Or is this your personal philosophy of feminism?
Eternal wrote: "@ MeerderWoerter Sounds great. Now I am already 3 months into the current book list, but do you have any suggestions for me to read that might give me the full experience or partial experience of o..."Now, I'm happy I was able to help you:=)
If you haven't read My Life on the Road yet, that's definitely worth reading. It taught me so much about US-American history(which is very sparsely taught here in Austria, like, not at all) and it also made me realise a lot of issues, the importance of taxi drivers for example, or that there were in fact societies that were not patriarchal. And it also taught me a lot about democracy, to be honest.
I also think that Persepolis is a great read, simply for the fact that one hardly ever hears anything about Iran and that area of the world from the people's perspective really.
Apart from OSS' book list:
I also read Middlesex (you might have heard of it), it was published in 2003, and explores the history of a Greek-American family, over the time of three generations, and Cal/liope is an intersex character. The intersex issue is not so big in the plot, but it's still really worth a read.
I must say I haven't read any books on gender specifically, but I plan to do so. So, if anybody comes across good books about gender/happens to know good books about gender, I'd really like to get to know these:)
I have began reading these two books tho, which I think are difficult to read, but really worth it:
Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience
Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex
Oh, and while I'm at it: Hermaphrodite is a word that is considered harmful by intersex individuals and shall not be used as a description unless told to do so.
Now, I wouldn't say feminism is a research group, but most of us (myself included) are so new to the idea, that we first have to figure out what feminism means, and what is feminism and what is feminist and what not. We have to learn so much.
I think feminism is a concept, but it's also activism. Activism is more important than concept, but you need a concept before you can act, therefore we're still very much debating here. Debating is needed, very much indeed, but I'd say it's both, activism and research.
Ross wrote: "Hi Eternal, the philosophy of Feminism is simple it is the commitment of those to correct the imbalance in rights afforded to men over women. To eliminate this injustice and achieve gender equality."You put that very eloquent, Ross:) Eliminate injustice indeed!
@ MeerderWoerterSince I have read the first 3 books of the list found on this website, I can say that I enjoyed "My Life on the Road" . It was a great insight into an alternative american lifestyle which was never the less an interesting read.
Thank you! I have added these to my list to read and I will continue to expand on these thoughts and ways of thinking.
Had to look up the word: Hermaphrodite. Interesting, and thank you for the heads up!
Ah I see so to you personally feminism means, 'activism' and 'research'. Are there any other words that you might use to describe feminism?
@ Everyone else
I would still love to see some direct source as to the history of feminism, the source of its philosophy and its birth of thought. Has it changed radically to how it was first conceived? Did have a different word in the past? (@Sascha thank you again! I am trying to find a source to what you have said, really great stuff!)
Or if some of you want to be less shy and just say hello that is encouraged! :) Would love to hear how you all were first introduced to feminism and why it is a word you proudly use to describe yourself!
Other words to describe feminism?Vital, crucial for humanity
self-determination
Why I use the word to describe myself as a feminist? Hm, good question, but I simply believe in gender equality and want to make people aware of so many issues. So why not use a "controversial", yet well-known verb to do so?
Hi Eternal,
I just want to share how I got introduced to feminism.
It was a combination of reading theoretical texts at uni and reading online articles.
At uni I took a course which was basically an introduction into gender studies. We discussed theories from Pierre Bourdieu (masculine domination), Judith Butler (performativity), Raewyn Connell (masculinities), Simone de Beauvoir (the second sex) and others. I think Simone de Beauvoirs „the second sex“ is very fundamental for the understanding of feminism. The only problem is, that it is so, so dificult to read. The book has 900 pages. I managed to read 300, which I’m proud of because it’s really dificult. Her explanations really start at the beginning and go through all of human history. But if you like deep theoretical text, I can recommand it. She uses the theory of „othering“ to explain the inequality between men and women. I personally think this is key to understand if we want to work against inequality.
Around the same time I started reading more and more articles on everyday feminism http://everydayfeminism.com/ because some friends shared them on social media. I learned so, so much from this website. The articles are written from a personal perspective of everyday experiences but they also draw connections to feminist theories and concepts. And they discuss a huge range of topics. At first it was a bit confusing. I often thought „What does this has to do with feminism?“ But reading these articles I learned a lot because all the terms I didn’t understand at first were linked. So I usually ended up clicking from one article to another. I think it’s much more enjoyable to read online articles because it’s easier to understand and many of them speak to me personally. So it’s not absolutely necessary to read highly theoretical texts.
I just want to share how I got introduced to feminism.
It was a combination of reading theoretical texts at uni and reading online articles.
At uni I took a course which was basically an introduction into gender studies. We discussed theories from Pierre Bourdieu (masculine domination), Judith Butler (performativity), Raewyn Connell (masculinities), Simone de Beauvoir (the second sex) and others. I think Simone de Beauvoirs „the second sex“ is very fundamental for the understanding of feminism. The only problem is, that it is so, so dificult to read. The book has 900 pages. I managed to read 300, which I’m proud of because it’s really dificult. Her explanations really start at the beginning and go through all of human history. But if you like deep theoretical text, I can recommand it. She uses the theory of „othering“ to explain the inequality between men and women. I personally think this is key to understand if we want to work against inequality.
Around the same time I started reading more and more articles on everyday feminism http://everydayfeminism.com/ because some friends shared them on social media. I learned so, so much from this website. The articles are written from a personal perspective of everyday experiences but they also draw connections to feminist theories and concepts. And they discuss a huge range of topics. At first it was a bit confusing. I often thought „What does this has to do with feminism?“ But reading these articles I learned a lot because all the terms I didn’t understand at first were linked. So I usually ended up clicking from one article to another. I think it’s much more enjoyable to read online articles because it’s easier to understand and many of them speak to me personally. So it’s not absolutely necessary to read highly theoretical texts.
@HaydeeAwesome thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for.
Added these Authors to my list and going to be reading these as soon as I can. That is extremely helpful.
Nice, now I have two things that will help me understand this further! Very much appreciated, I will be reading this website and throw myself into the earlier mentioned books.
@ EveryoneI am still interested, is there a way for someone like myself who has been given certain privileges to really experience what others currently are?
This would really benefit my research. Understandably reading stories and placing myself in their shoes is a massive part of it, but has anyone been able to have a situation that made them feel like their eyes had been opened?
I think it's a great deal of learning if you talk to somebody who is discriminated in many ways, if one might say so.Listening to the ones affected is always the best you can do.
I don't think there is another reason, for we are discriminited against ascribed characteristics, not achieved ones, normally.
Therefore it is difficult/impossible to really become the other one.
I'm afraid I can't give you a better answer, for I myself don't know a better one, but if anybody has a better solution, I, too, am eager to hear it.
Another good thing you can easily do is following diverse people on social media, individual activists as well as movements, like BLM or No DAPL.
Additional to learning about discrimination it is at least equally important to learn about the concept of priviledge (this is a good article to start http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/09/w...). We have all been discriminated against in one way or another (some more than others). But we are all priviledged in one way or another (some more than others). And we have all participated in discrimination against others, hopefully unintentionally. And that's a hard lesson. Learning about feminism I learned so much about myself! I've had a lot of unpleasant realisation about myself. I sometimes thought "Oh my God, I used to be a really bad person!". No, of course I wasn't. It just means that these oppressions are deeply ingrained in our society, are beeing normalised. It's always about systems not about individuals, so feeling ashamed or guilty is pointless. The good news is, if these systems are constructed by humans we can also decunstruct them!
Additional to learning about discrimination it is at least equally important to learn about the concept of priviledge (this is a good article to start http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/09/w...). We have all been discriminated against in one way or another (some more than others). But we are all priviledged in one way or another (some more than others). And we have all participated in discrimination against others, hopefully unintentionally. And that's a hard lesson. Learning about feminism I learned so much about myself! I've had a lot of unpleasant realisation about myself. I sometimes thought "Oh my God, I used to be a really bad person!". No, of course I wasn't. It just means that these oppressions are deeply ingrained in our society, are beeing normalised. It's always about systems not about individuals, so feeling ashamed or guilty is pointless. The good news is, if these systems are constructed by humans we can also decunstruct them!
Haydée wrote: "Another good thing you can easily do is following diverse people on social media, individual activists as well as movements, like BLM or No DAPL. Additional to learning about discrimination it is..."
Wow, Haydee, you definitely know how to do that! Following activsts on social media is really great, it's always the best to have the information from the ones affected.
Reading feminist literature is not always nice, it's hard work and you come to question yourself/or realise you've been committing to injustice too, although unintentionally.
But we must not blame ourselves (unless we already know that what we do is wrong), but the system.
Without us changing it, it will remain as it was when we are no longer, but we have the power to imagine better.
Hi Eternal,
I have another recommendation for you. This video might be what you're looking for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Zct... It's a quick guide "5 ways men can help end sexism" with more book recommendations by feminist frequency. They do awesome media commentary and critique on YouTube and their website https://feministfrequency.com/
I have another recommendation for you. This video might be what you're looking for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Zct... It's a quick guide "5 ways men can help end sexism" with more book recommendations by feminist frequency. They do awesome media commentary and critique on YouTube and their website https://feministfrequency.com/
Hello, everybody. I just have a quick favor for you all, backed up with some background information. I would love if someone were to give me a few pointers. Feminism is more than just the word itself. Over the past few months, I have been doing a lot of self-reflecting, and I want to get more in touch with my feminist side. I have basic knowledge of the idea and movement behind feminism, but I want to start to learn about different perspectives, movements, and organizations. I want to learn to have conversations with healthy debates, without being afraid to stand up for myself. I want to constantly learn more, and embrace it. Does anyone personally have article, story, book, documentary recommendations, personal experiences, viewpoints, anything that can help me as an individual? Thank you so much everybody:)
Briana wrote: "Hello, everybody. I just have a quick favor for you all, backed up with some background information. I would love if someone were to give me a few pointers. Feminism is more than just the word itse..."Hello Briana, if you want to get rid of some mental barriers and being not afraid to be yourself, I may advise you the book Be yourself by Mike Robbins. Otherwise you can try the book "How to talk to anyone" by Leil Lowndes and see what happens. If it's not what you're exactly looking for, you can read the second sex by Simone de Beauvoir. To get some information, web surfing is also a cool thing to do, one falls on great things sometimes...
Hope this helps!
I would recommend YouTube channels like marinashutup, Kat Blaque and ceedling
Thank you, both! I will definitely write all of these recommendations down. You have been so helpful. :)
I just joined the group and I am very thankful for you recommendations, too. :) I'm already adding new books to my list and I can't wait to learn more about the roots and the importance of feminism. And happy international women's day for all of you lovely souls! :)
Mary wrote: "I just joined the group and I am very thankful for you recommendations, too. :) I'm already adding new books to my list and I can't wait to learn more about the roots and the importance of feminism..."Welcome aboard! And happy International Women's Day to you too!
Zeineb wrote: "I personally think that there are no rules to be a feminist, it's a not something that someone can't be only if that person has certain critirias, in fact being a feminist is something that you gro..."Well, there are certain branches of feminism, but I'd chime in for the rest that you said.
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Nanny of the Maroons Folk Hero in Jamaica
Queen Mother Nanny, the great 18th century leader of the Windward or Eastern Jamaican Maroons. She is famous for her heroic struggle against the British colonial empire and its institution of slavery in Jamaica. There are numerous legends and superstitions attributed to this great rebel leader.
Queen Nanny, born in Ghana in western Africa, to the Ashanti tribe, was brought to Jamaica as a slave. By 1720 Nanny had taken full control of the Blue Mountain Rebel Town. It was renamed Nanny Town. There Nanny, and her people had cleared land for food cultivation. She was said to have had an excellent knowledge of herbs, as well as being a nurse and a spiritual leader - Obeah. (Similar to Haitian Voodoo)
From 1728 to 1734, Nanny Town was defended against British attack. The Maroons were better equipped and more knowledgeable of the mountainous terrain than the British.
Queen Nanny is credited with being the military leader of the Windward Maroons who employed clever strategies like guerilla warfare and trained Maroon troops in the art of camouflage. Oral history recounts that Nanny herself would cover her soldiers with branches and leaves, instructing them to stand as still as possible so that they would resemble trees. As the British soldiers approached completely unaware that they were surrounded they would swiftly be picked off by the Maroons.
In 1734 a party of Nanny’s Maroons were sent to join those in the west of the island. Three hundred men, women and children set out on one of the longest marches in Jamaican history. This march, known as the ‘great trek’ from Portland to St. James. The slave rebellions that followed were inspired by Nanny and other freedom fighters. These rebellions made the British Government abolish slavery.
Queen Nanny is known to the Maroons of today as ‘Granny Nanny’. Today the Maroons of Moore Town have kept their history through songs and word of mouth. Nanny is regarded as a Priestess and Queen Mother by the Maroons.
The government of Jamaica declared Queen Nanny a National Heroine in 1975 and a Memorial was erected. Her portrait is on the 500 Jamaican dollar bill.
http://jamaicans.com/queennanny/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanny_o...
http://www.itzcaribbean.com/caribbean...
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Zitkala-Sa Writer, Composer, and Activist
One of the first Native American women to publish traditional stories derived from oral tribal legend was Zitkala-Sa, whose christian name was Gertrude Simmons. She was born at the Yankton Sioux Agency in South Dakota, from a white father and a Dakota Indian mother.
Zitkala-Sa lived within the Sioux culture until 1884 when missionaries came to the reservation to take students for a Quaker boarding school for Indians in Wabash, Indiana. Next, she attended Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana and became a school teacher at the Pennsylvania Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
While teaching, she began writing autobiographical stories, which were published in 1900, in the Atlantic Monthly magazine. Her writing was full of imagery and emotion and frequently harangued on the white oppression of Native Americans. Zitkala-Sa's forthright criticism of the Indian boarding school experience caused bad feelings between Zitkala-Sa and her employer at Carlisle.
Zitkala-Sa with William F. Hanson, co-composed the first American Indian opera, The Sun Dance, which premiered in 1913. She founded the National Council of American Indians in 1926 to lobby for the rights of Native Americans to American citizenship, on which she served as president until her death in 1938.
http://nmai.si.edu/indelible/gertrude...
https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/bird...
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Dr. Anandibai Joshee India's first female doctor
There is nothing small in the tale of Dr. Joshee, a woman who planted herself squarely against the prejudices of two civilizations in pursuit of her country’s good. Mocked in the streets of India for her dedication to medical study, she came to America only to find her Hindu customs and culture the object of smug if well-meaning drawing room condescension. She battled cultural inertia, bureaucratic torpor, and religious prejudice all while simultaneously fighting against the consumption that would ultimately take her life, finding time somewhere in the middle of all that to study and practice medicine.
"You ask of me, why I should do what is not done by any of my sex? To this I can only say, that society has a right to our work as individuals.
It is very difficult to decide the duties of individuals. It is enough that the good of one must be the good of all. If anything seems best for all mankind, each one of us must try to bring it about. So I am surprised to hear that I should not do this, because it has not been done by others. Our ancestors whose names have become immortal had no such notions in their heads… To desist from duty because we fear failure or suffering is not just. We must try. Never mind whether we are victors or victims. Manu has divided people into three classes. The meanest are those who never attempt anything for fear of failure. Those who begin, and are disheartened by the first obstacles, come next; but those who begin, and persevere through failure and obstacle, are those who win."
She lived a mere 21 years but achieved more than most of us do in our entire lifetimes. A crater on Venus is now named in her honour. The 34.3 km-diameter crater on Venus named ‘Joshee’ lies at latitude 5.5° N and longitude 288.8° E.
(source: The Life of Dr. Anandibai Joshee, A Kinswoman of the Pundita Ramabai by Caroline Healey Dall)
http://womenyoushouldknow.net/dr-anan....
http://mentalfloss.com/article/63176/...
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Jin Xing Ballerina, Talk Show Host, and First Transgendered Woman of China.
A Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, and owner of the contemporary dance company Shanghai Jin Xing Dance Theatre. Jin was one of the first few transgender women in China to receive the government's approval to undergo a sex change, and she is also one of the first few transgender women to be officially recognized as a woman by the Chinese government.
Any blurbs about her, don't do her story justice. At the age of 9 she served in the People's Republic of China military as a dancer, taking the rank of colonel before opening her own dance company and undergoing her operations.
Today, not only is she out as a trans-gendered woman, but she has her own TV show that brings in more than 100 million viewers each show..
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fea...
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Jessica May CEO
Australian entrepreneur Jessica May is the founder of Enabled Employment, a site that helps to find jobs for people with varying mental and physical disabilities. After the birth of her first child, May was diagnosed with a panic disorder, and her employer was less than accommodating to her condition.
Seeing how difficult it was to find or maintain a job while dealing with a disability, coupled with the responsibilities of motherhood, May took the opportunity to change the insensitive culture of the workplace. Founded in 2014, the newly established company has turned over $500,000 for the 2015 financial year. May received the Australian Start-up Award at the 2015 Telstra Business Women's Awards, demonstrating that the company’s mantra of “Kill them with kindness” really does pay off.
Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Asia, Australia and New Zealand at the Stevie Awards in New York in 2016
https://www.enabledemployment.com/abo...
http://www.asianentrepreneur.org/jess...
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Zainah Anwar Malaysian Feminist Founder
Founder of Sisters in Islam and later Executive Director worked tirelessly to combine feminsm with Muslim spirituality. Tackling large, ingrained cultural norms like polygamy, domestic abuse, and more. What’s revolutionary about SIS is that it turns to the Quran and Islam to advocate women’s rights.
"SIS began with a question: If God is just, if Islam is just, why do laws and policies made in the name of Islam create injustice? This was the burning question the founding members of SIS confronted when we began our search for solutions to the problems of discrimination against Muslim women justified in the name of Islam."
After twenty years of working with Malaysian women, Anwar has gone international as the Director of Musawah (which means equality in Arabic). Musawah is the global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family. Initiated by Sisters in Islam, it was launched in Kuala Lumpur in February 2009, bringing together some 250 activists and scholars from 47 countries working on issues of equality and justice for women living in Muslim contexts.
What Musawah hopes to bring to the larger women’s and human rights movement is an assertion that Islam can be a source of empowerment, not a source of oppression and discrimination; an effort to open new horizons for rethinking the relationship between human rights, equality and justice, and Islam;
There is so much good work being done, please read about her efforts below in Muslima.
http://muslima.globalfundforwomen.org...
http://m.themalaymailonline.com/malay...
http://www.sistersinislam.org.my/
http://www.musawah.org/
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Valentina Tereshkova Russian Cosmonaut; First Women in Space, Only Woman to Complete Solo Mission
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova was born to a peasant family in Maslennikovo, Russia, in 1937. She began work at a textile factory when she was 18, and at age 22 she made her first parachute jump under the auspices of a local aviation club. Her enthusiasm for skydiving brought her to the attention of the Soviet space program, which sought to put a woman in space in the early 1960s as a means of achieving another “space first” before the United States. ( It took the US twenty years after before they sent their first female astronaut, Sally Ride, into space )
As an accomplished parachutist, Tereshkova was well equipped to handle one of the most challenging procedures of a Vostok space flight: the mandatory ejection from the capsule at about 20,000 feet during reentry. Valentina Tereshkova was selected as a prime candidate for a flight based on a combination of factors, among which were her background “from lower classes” and communication skills, because after the flight the first woman-cosmonaut would have to perform a number of social functions.
She is the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than 400 applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. But in order to join the Cosmonaut Corps, Tereshkova was honorarily inducted into the Soviet Air Force and thus she became the first civilian to fly in space.
In 1963, she spent almost three days in space and orbited Earth 48 times in her space capsule, Vostok 6. During the launch Valentina recited Mayakovsky: “The sky! Take off your hat! I’m coming!” She didn't inform her parents what she was doing, having told them she was off on a parachuting challenge. They found out when they saw her emerging from the capsule after the fact. Unfortunately, that was her only trip into space.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tereshkova lost her political office but none of her prestige. To this day, she is revered as a hero, and to some her importance in Russian space history is only surpassed by Yuri Gagarin and Alexey Leonov. She was elected to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian legislature, in 2011 as a member of United Russia where she continues to serve (at the age of 81).
https://www.space.com/21571-valentina...
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...
https://todiscoverrussia.com/33-facts...
Happy International Women's Day
Happy international Women's day to you too Pam ! : )
Thank you for what you're doing in this topic, it's teaching me a lot.
Thank you for what you're doing in this topic, it's teaching me a lot.
Mod
Day 9: Women's History Month
Tomoe Gozen Samurai Warrior, folk hero
Like most other societies, warfare in feudal Japan was a mostly male affair. Yet, even in this society, there were women warriors, one of the most famous being Tomoe Gozen. It may be worth pointing out first that it was not uncommon for women in feudal Japan to receive martial training. Between the 12 th and 19 th centuries, women of the samurai class were trained to use the sword, the naginata (a polearm with a curved blade on one end), and the bow and arrow. Nevertheless, the role of these female warriors (known as onna bugeisha ) was primarily defensive in nature, as they were expected to protect themselves and their homes in the event of an enemy attack. What set Tomoe apart from her fellow warrior women was that she was deployed on the offensive, rather than the defensive.
Though scholarship for the most part concurs that Tomoe is most likely a purely fictional character, she is nevertheless described in some sources as the daughter of Nakahara no Kanetô (the husband of Minamoto no Yoshinaka's wetnurse), and sister to Imai Kanehira, alongside whom she fights at the battle of Awazu.
Interestingly, Tomoe is only mentioned in an epic account of the late 12 th century Genpei War known as The Tale of the Heike . Apart from this literary work, there are no other written records of Tomoe’s life is known, leading some to believe that the heroine is merely a fictional character created by the author of the epic.
Fictional or not, Japanese festivals, anime, film, and other artistic endeavors continue to portray and honor the idea of this warrior woman. Similiar to the story of Atalanta or Artimis, or Khutulun, Tomoe continues the cross cultural tale of warrior women.
https://www.tofugu.com/japan/tomoe-go...
Emma wrote: "Pam wrote: "Glad you're enjoying these Lewis!Day 9: Women's History Month
Tomoe Gozen Samurai Warrior, folk hero
Like most other societies, warfare in feudal Japan was a mostly male affair. Ye..."
I second that!
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Huda Shaarawi Egyptian feminist and activist
She was an Egyptian feminist who influenced not only women in Egypt but throughout the Arab world. She was a pioneer in feminism, and brought to light the restrictive world of upper-class women in her book The Harem Years, published in 1987.
Huda Shaarawi (also spelled Hoda Shaarawi or Sha’arawi) was raised in the harem system, which kept women secluded and veiled. Very wealthy families would have separate buildings and eunuchs to guard the women and act as their messengers to the outer world.
Huda had a hand in many “firsts” for women in Egyptian society. In 1908, she founded the first philanthropic society run by Egyptian women, where they offered services for poor women and children. She believed that having women run such projects would challenge the view that women are created for men’s pleasure and in need of protection. In 1910, she opened a school for girls focused on academics, rather than teaching practical skills like midwifery which was common at the time.
In 1923, Huda Shaarawi founded the Egyptian Feminist Union, which is still active as a non-profit today. They focused on various issues, including women’s suffrage and education. Huda was also passionately against restrictions on women’s dress and freedom of movement, which was a central part of harem life. After Huda’s husband died in 1923, she made a decision for which she is now famous. She returned to Egypt after attending a women’s conference in Europe. Stepping off the train back in Cairo, she removed her veil in front of the crowd in public. Everyone was shocked at first. After a few moments, the crowd broke into cheers and applause. Some women joined her in removing their own veils. Within a decade of Huda’s act of defiance, few women still chose to wear the veil.
http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/...
https://afrolegends.com/2016/01/14/hu...
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Nana Asma’u Princess, Poet, Nigerian scholar
Born the 23rd child of a powerful ruler caliph in what is now northern Nigeria, Nana Asma’u (1793-1864) was taught from a young age that god wanted her to learn. And not just her — all women, too. Her father, a Qadiri Sufi who believed that sharing knowledge was every Muslim’s duty, ensured that she studied the classics in Arabic, Latin and Greek. By the time her education was completed, she could recite the entire Koran and was fluent in four languages. She corresponded with and was respected by scholars and leaders all over the region. She penned poetry about battles, politics and divine truth. And, when her brother inherited the throne, she became his trusted advisor.
She could have settled for being respected for her learning; but instead, she was determined to pass it on. Nana Asma’u trained a network of women teachers, the jaji, who traveled all over the kingdom to educate women who, in turn, would teach others. (The jajis also got to wear what sounds like a kind of amazing balloon-shaped hat, which marked them out as leaders.) Their students were known as the yan-taru, or “those who congregate together, the sisterhood.” Even today, almost two centuries later, the modern-day jajis continue to educate women, men and children in Nana Asma’u’s name.
http://icanbeshe.org/forgotten-herita...
http://almadinainstitute.org/blog/mus...
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Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu Ethiopian CEO, Millionaire
An Ethiopian entrepreneur and the founder of SoleRebels, a thriving eco-sensitive footwear brand that pundits hail as Africa’s answer to brands such as Nike, Reebok and Adidas.
Growing up in a small neighbourhood in Addis Ababa, entrepreneur Bethlemen Tilahun Alemu discovered that most people in her community were living in poverty and that some of them possessed artisan skills. Spurred by this realization, she sought to find a way to translate the skills of her people into a business, and thus SoleRebels was born, in 2004.
Alemu seeks to challenge the traditional narrative about Africa and in particular, Ethiopia, "countering the shibboleth that Africa and Africans don't know how to create their way to prosperity." Alemu believes Ethiopians must wrest control of their own narrative from the "people and elites with a vested interest in positioning Ethiopia as 'needing help' and specifically needing the 'help' they happen to be offering," as Alemu explained in an interview with The Next Woman. The global success of companies like soleRebels helps to dispel these old narratives and allows for Ethiopians to shape their own international image.
Not only has Bethlehem’s company grown to be one of the largest footwear companies in Africa, but it has also become a successful world class venture, with flagship stores in Taiwan, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, U.S, Singapore, Japan and many other countries.
Since opening, SoleRebels has created 1,200 jobs and plans to have more than 3,000 full-time Ethiopian employees by the end of 2018 when a new production facility is complete. The jobs pay well too -- three times the average wage, according to Alemu. Now the shoe and leather magnate tries her hand in the coffee business.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobon...
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/31/small...
@Pam - these bios are really excellent. I am a bit behind. I've been ill, and taking care of sick kids, too. But I really enjoy these and wanted to say "Thank you!"
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Zaha Hadid Iraqi British Architect, The Queen of the Curve
Dame Zaha Hadid an Iraqi-born British architect whose soaring structures left a mark on skylines and imaginations around the world and in the process reshaped architecture for the modern age.
Zaha Hadid was born in Baghdad on Oct. 31, 1950. Her father was an industrialist, educated in London, who headed a progressive party advocating for secularism and democracy in Iraq. Her father’s political career ended when the Baathist Party took over Iraq, in 1963. The splintering aspect of Hadid’s early work, in which landscapes and buildings seem to be exploding from within, may have something to do with the fact that she became an exile from the cities she knew best as a child and a young woman.
She was not just a rock star and a designer of spectacles. She also liberated architectural geometry, giving it a whole new expressive identity. Geometry became, in her hands, a vehicle for unprecedented and eye-popping new spaces but also for emotional ambiguity. Her buildings elevated uncertainty to an art, conveyed in the odd ways one entered and moved through those buildings and in the questions her structures raised about how they were supported.
Her work, with its formal fluidity — also implying mobility, speed, freedom — spoke to a worldview widely shared by a younger generation. “I am non-European, I don’t do conventional work and I am a woman,” she once told an interviewer. “On the one hand all of these things together make it easier — but on the other hand it is very difficult.”
Strikingly, Ms. Hadid never allowed herself or her work to be pigeonholed by her background or her gender. Architecture was architecture: it had its own reasoning and trajectory. And she was one of a kind, a path breaker. In 2004, she became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s Nobel; the first, on her own, to be awarded the RIBA Gold Medal, Britain’s top architectural award, in 2015.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/ar...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
Hello there! I hope my reply doesn't come too late :)That was the same question that I asked myself a while ago. I can't reply on behalf of anything such as "a group of women" or "a category of people", so I'll just say that as concerns my personal pathway I think I started believing that perhaps I know just a tiny little bit about feminism when I started my PhD. This is NOT to sat that people should do a PhD in order to start calling themselves feminists: the thing is when I approached the topic I was really quite lost, because it's a huuuge area and I am not entirely sure it's been properly approached in Italy, which is where I am from. I have friends who wrote and published books, who call themselves feminists and who write speeches for feminist conferences, but they have no idea what they are talking about. I realised this when I started studying feminist issues at univerisity. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me, because it brought me to finally understand that feminism is NOT asking for "equal rights" or "equal salaries". It's all very fine, don't get me wrong, but I realised that the people who claimed such things were unable to provide statistics and relevant data in order to explain, prove and eventually subvert tendencies. Studying feminist issues for my PhD brought me to read Joanna McGregor, who speaks about how the Law should and shouldn't protect women from date rape. It brought me to read Kittleson's handbook, Groth's rapists' categories, Beneke's interviews and many other textbooks which gave me a full idea of what fighting for equal rights is like. I should mention that my PhD is about date rape, so I am focusing on issues related to this. The entailment is that I still don't know anything about salaries, I know very little about fashion and pornography and I am still trying to learn. I think, for me, studying has meant the world. I would recommend Dworkin, Brownmiller, Higgins and perhaps a few articles that have been published relatively recently. That's what my "feminist pathway", if such it can be called, has been and is like.
Just to make sure everyone understands this: I still have PLENTY to learn. Plenty. So what I hust wrote in my comment is surely going to change and, hopefully, evolve towards a better book-list.
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Olympe de Gouges French Playwright, Activist, and Feminist
She began her career as a playwright in the early 1780s. As political tension rose in France, Olympe de Gouges became increasingly politically engaged. She became an outspoken advocate against the slave trade and their treatment and living conditions in the French colonies in 1788. At the same time, she began writing political pamphlets.
Today she is perhaps best known as an early feminist who demanded that French women be given the same rights as French men. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791), she challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male-female inequality. In her pamphlet she asserted not only that women have the same rights as men but also that children born outside of marriage should be treated as fairly as “legitimate” children in matters of inheritance.
She was executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror for attacking the regime of the Revolutionary government and for her association with the Girondists.
https://www.olympedegouges.paris/biog...
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Day 15: Women's History Month
Franceska Mann Polish Ballerina, Nazi killer.
Franziska Mann, stage name Lola Horovitz (Amann/Aust 2013). She was born in 1917, was a dancer and began her career in Warsaw before the war. She was among the best dancers of her generation in Poland.
She was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto, and later, like other prominent Jews, internet in Hotel Polski and in Bergen-Belsen. Rumours that she was a Nazi informer have never been confirmed.
SS Sergeant Josef Schillinger eager as always, was assisting that night on the ramp during the reception of a new transport of Jews, in the company of his crony Hauptscharführer Emmerich. Both of them, slightly drunk, accompanied the transport to the crematorium. They even entered the changing room, guided either by thoughts of a little stealing or in anticipation of the sadistic enjoyment of watching the timid, defenseless, undressed women who moments later were to die a painful death in the gas chamber.
His attention was drawn to a young and reputedly beautiful woman who refused to undress in the presence of the SS men. Incensed, Schillinger went up to the woman and tried to pull down her brassiere. In the struggle she managed to snatch his pistol, with which she shot Schillinger dead and injured Emmerich, who had come to Schillinger’s aid, in the leg. Simultaneously, the other Jews tried to lock the doors from the inside. Upon hearing shots, the SS men who had been standing outside rushed into the changing room and, realizing what had happened, began to massacre everybody. Of this group of Jews, none died in the gas chamber; the enraged SS men shot them all.
I originally read anout Mann from an online post discussing the image of jews beimg collected by Nazi death camps. Too often the Hollywood image of submission pervades. Mann's story shows us that even under severe conditions, we can still fight.
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Laskarina Bouboulina Greek Resistance Fighter, Admiral
Was a rich, twice-widowed mother of nine who lived from 1771 to 1825. After both her husbands were killed by Algerian pirates, she inherited their fortunes and expanded upon them. Bouboulina used her money to build four ships, including the Agamemnon, one of the largest vessels on the seas. She joined the Filiki Etaireia, an underground movement preparing for revolution. She was the only woman. On March 13 1821, 12 days before the official start of the War of Independence, she was the first to raise a revolutionary flag.
She also joined the Greek War of Independence. She commanded a fleet of eight ships, including five of her own. She participated in naval blockades in three different cities. During the Chios massacre, she restrained Turkish soldiers who were destroying the island and saved the lives of the women and children in the harem of the city's ruler.
Bouboulina witnessed the fall of Tripolis and the creation of a new Greek state in 1821. She was arrested twice during the civil war of 1824 and expelled back to Spetses, where she lived for the rest of her life, bereft of her fortune
After her death, Russia awarded her with the title of admiral. She was the only woman to be awarded that title. Greece put her on a coin from 1978-1997 and named some streets after her.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...
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Septima Zenobia Queen of Syria, pluralist
Zenobia was a third-century queen of the Syria-based Palmyrene Empire. She spoke at least four languages, wrote a book chronicling a thousand years of Asian history, and spear-hunted bears and lions from horseback. She and her husband, in full battle armor, led armies across Persia, defeated an invasion of Goths and she was praised by the Pope for her bravery. Her husband became king in 260, elevating Palmyra to supreme power in the Near East by defeating the Sassanians and stabilizing the Roman East. When her husband was murdered, she arrested the murderers and offered them up as human sacrifices at the Temple of Baal just to prove a point. Zenobia became the regent of her son Vaballathus and held de facto power throughout his reign.
Zenobia was a cultured monarch and fostered an intellectual environment in her court, which was open to scholars and philosophers. She was tolerant toward her subjects, and protected religious minorities. The queen maintained a stable administration which governed a multicultural multiethnic.
In 270, Zenobia launched an invasion which brought most of the Roman East under her sway and culminated with the annexation of Egypt. By mid-271 her realm extended from Ancyra, central Anatolia, to southern Egypt, although she remained nominally subordinate to Rome.
However, in reaction to Roman emperor Aurelian's campaign in 272, Zenobia declared her son emperor and assumed the title of empress (declaring Palmyra's secession from Rome). The Romans were victorious after heavy fighting; the queen was besieged in her capital and captured by Aurelian, who exiled her to Rome where she spent the remainder of her life.
Her rise and fall have inspired historians, artists and novelists, and she is a national hero in Syria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenobia
http://www.ancient-origins.net/histor...
Our Shared Shelf
Books mentioned in this topic
Memoirs of an Early Arab Feminist: The Life and Activism of Anbara Salam Khalidi (other topics)The Green Eyed Lama (other topics)
And if it is purely individualized, how do I individually grasp the essence of Feminism? Are there plans, activities or similar that 'inspire' the flame of feminism in others?
I have searched the forum for such topics, but I haven't been able to find anything that might explain this. I have spent some time reading the suggested books (the first three months) and a hunger has been stirred.
As an avid reader of various concepts which might someday alter our current history in the making, I am curious and inspired to embrace the feminist essence. A lot of the books are about personal interpretations and inspirational activism (which is a splendid thing!), though, for someone like myself who likes to see the root of all things, where does feminism come from and how to I tap into that source?
I know it is older than the 20th Century and I know that it is the new face of the old "enlightened" schools... but what is the modern 21st Century Feminism Cornerstone?
ANY suggestions are welcomed, even just saying hello would be awesome! :)