Navigation

Archive | Feminist Matters

Death to the Cockocracy

December 12, 2016 in Country Matters, Etiquette Matters, Feminist Matters

Twice this weekend I was in a restaurant–one time in Soho; the other in Williamsburg–when a pack of youngish white guys–bearded, casually expensively dressed–grew so loud and rowdy that nobody else could hear themselves, let alone their companions. One group was clearly comprised of bankers; the other, hipsters who may even have considered themselves progressive. To me, they were equally offensive. I take this kind of rudeness very, very seriously, since white male entitlement is on a continuum that goes all the way to the oligarchy subsuming our country and our planet. You can argue that people are entitled to have a good time, that “boys will be boys,” but I am beyond tired of the privileging of this swath of humanity over the ears, needs, lives of everyone else. Bottom line: I’ve come to find bro culture violent in all its forms. If you are a white straight dude hanging out in public with your pals, check yourself.

Elegua at My Service

December 10, 2016 in Feminist Matters, Ruby Intuition, Spirit Matters

A few weeks ago, the Santería spirit Elegua revealed himself to me by sending an image of himself while whispering “el el el” in my ear. At the time, I was heading downstate on the windy Taconic, and almost drove off the road; as you can see here, he’s quite the hot tomato. Since then, I’ve invited the gatekeeper spirit cautiously into my home, and he’s protected me like an unruly big brother, heading off every toxic male at the pass and setting my altar on fire with a trickster flourish. I like him, I hope he likes me, and I am certainly open to any presence changing energy frequencies, especially when it comes to my intensely charged relationship to men and the cockocracy overall. About time, I say.

Social Change and Sci-Fi: 5 Authors to Heed

December 7, 2016 in Book Matters, Country Matters, Feminist Matters, Listing

Science fiction has always best served those not served by their current reality. Utopias proscribe alternatives to a reality increasingly hostile to many; dystopias highlight destructive elements while we still can change them; and all speculative tales offer metaphors that double as handy tools in the fight for social change. Alas, not all sci-fi advocates for social justice; some only focuses on wish fulfillment, whether it’s consequence-free sex with mega-hotties or a mastery of the fourth dimension (time). But by marshaling imagination and innovation, the best sci-fi authors grant us a better understanding of ourselves, our world, and all the selves and worlds we can be. Is it any wonder that the genre holds the greatest appeal to those of us who in one way or another are labeled “other” or “in-valid” (with a nod to the 1997 film “Gattaca)? With a bona-fide dystopia now serving as reality, it’s time to explore visions of how else we can live. Here’s a primer of five authors that make a great start. Continue Reading →

"All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love."
― Leo Tolstoy