Responding to the mainstream feminist blogosphere on Feminism FOR REAL

By On May 3, 2011 · 49 Comments

By Special Correspondent Jessica Yee

So while I was out in the real world yesterday working up north in Nunavik (which is not Nunavut – for those of you who think you’re bad ass having heard about Nunavut before – Nunavik is a completely different Inuit region) this happened in the feminist blogosphere regarding the lack of mainstream feminist coverage of Feminism FOR REAL – Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Complex of Feminism.

Yes it’s true I edited Feminism FOR REAL and have since been sussing out various reactions and mentions of the book. I don’t consider myself a writer at all – I work 24/7 leading the Native Youth Sexual Health Network across North America (the first book I put together Sex Ed and Youth: Colonization, Sexuality, and Communities of Color was my initial attempt in entering book world) so I’m new to all this you need to do A, B, and C to get a book out there because I often struggle with what books and blogs mean when shit goes down in real life (which is also why my online writing has stopped as of late)

The publisher of the book was the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives but the book is by no means a “Canadian” book only. Several of the contributors live in both the US and Canada, I myself live in the US part-time, work in the US part-time, and being Indigenous don’t identify as either US or Canadian. But people telling me that I need to sell my soul to Amazon or a bigger name publication and not stick with an independent, small-house, union printed publisher so we can be “known” isn’t something I want to do (and is honestly counter-productive to what the book is about anyways).

However I strongly believe in the contributors and creators of Feminism FOR REAL and what we’re saying so I’m going to address some major points of clarification here about what we always wish the mainstream feminist blogosphere and world(s) in general would own up to/change/or just do but as time and actions prove yet again, rarely happens:

1)      The mainstream feminist blogosphere and organizational world in the US and Canada is dominated by white girls with a long history attached to how that came to be. Let’s come to terms with that and stop derailing with “but this one guest blogger of color did this” or “but we’re looking to change one day/hopefully/soon/eventually”.  How about we save some time and effort and just be honest about what’s going on in reality and that this is absolutely influencing in small or large degrees who is talking about the book and why. So when the white girls at these mainstream feminist blogs are saying they didn’t know about the book, or need to be educated about it, or can’t be expected to be bothered to know about its existence – I believe them.

2)      I’m saying point number 1 because it has to do with who knows what, when, and how. Meaning that this isn’t just about “I didn’t get the e-mail about the book” or “I admit I received it but didn’t take it seriously” or “the promotion of the book in my world sucks!” Let’s go back to the why – why didn’t you hear about it? Why isn’t your world talking about it? Beyond being busy (me and my ancestors have been busy for the last 500+ years trying not to be erased – but that’s neither here nor there) it also has to do with what you yourself are or aren’t making an effort to be in the know about or do and the fact that so many people think that what’s right in front of them is everyone else’s reality as well.  To clarify – I’m not beyond being accountable to the inaccessibility of information and the mediums it’s available in because we most definitely exist in ableist, classist, and hierarchal settings. If you didn’t get the e-mail about the book – no worries. I’m talking about why people aren’t more involved in supporting and promoting our work to begin with at places like Racialicious, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Muslimah Media Watch and more (all who posted more than once about the book’s existence) beyond when they want to check mark box that they had their mandatory being progressive dosage of people of color (which typically amounts to saying things like they are such huge fans of us but don’t actually read, buy, or promote without having to explicitly be told several times what we’re writing)?  I believe in all of our work so damn much – so yes I do think people ought to know about us more – especially if they are going to write stuff on blogs or organizational profiles about being so “inclusive”.

Several of the books contributors are Indigenous – so are people way too busy including and actively seeking out young Indigenous people to be part of what they’re doing that they somehow missed this? Have there been countless mentions of books written by Indigenous people on feminist blogs who are actively talking about how feminism is actually an Indigenous concept that this book would have been one too many? Didn’t think so. What isn’t being said is that so many people don’t know about our work – not because they didn’t get the message – but because they aren’t really invested in knowing about us to begin with, or at least to the extent of knowing we produced this book. Which sounds eerily familiar to when people tell me it’s not their fault they don’t know about colonization because no one told them about it – while the people in my community continue to live through the highest rates of violence, suicide, and poverty in North America. At what point does it become enough that you oughta know – or oughta use the power and privilege you may have to tell other people in your own community(ies) when you find out yourself?

3)      Which brings me to my biggest point of all which is that I myself am not looking for this book to be the most popular, reviewed, or mentioned in the universes of feminism and I’m ESPECIALLY not interested in taking a seat at the tiny place of the big table that’s been carved out for me.  In fact the whole book questions the many fucked up areas and products of “Feminism” and asks readers to be for real about exactly what so many movements are quick not to do – appear divided, critical, or accountable to fuck ups – in this case Feminism – policed in and outside of academia – for fear of not being truly “united”. Western notions of polite discourse are apparently the tactics we should follow. I know damn well that if I had a certain well known last name in Feminism that one random post somewhere about this book would’ve been picked up by dozens and then we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. And are we really prepared to say that even if we had spent thousands of dollars on PR for the book that it would be magically sold and picked up with soaringly high levels of support? Really?

Which is all sounding to me like I’m being the educator again of other people’s oppressions and in all honesty it’s way too tiring. I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how we are so busy telling other people not to be oppressive to our communities that we have little energy left to deal with what’s going on inside of our own communities. I’m finished with doing the educating on how feminism needs to change – it’s been done.  And it’s no longer going to come at the physical, mental, and spiritual costs of me being frustrated, exasperated, and then empty – for what? My community needs me and we’ve paid the price for other people’s comforting disillusion with reality for far too long.

Perhaps this showed us that we really shouldn’t expect the mainstream feminist blogosphere to talk about Feminism FOR REAL. I really should have believed them the first time I got shoved out.

Feminism FOR REAL contributor Shaunga Tagore on “Filling the Gap”:

Some of us live our lives in ‘the gap.’ This ‘gap’ is where we were born, how we were displaced from our homes or removed from our histories. The gap is where we were forced to forget our languages, our traditions and our cultures. In this gap we love and express ourselves in ways that don’t fit into neat categories, but instead shake the grip that rigid boundaries have upon our world and our lives. Look at this gap—acknowledge it, notice it, VALUE it— and you’ll see the complex and varied ways in which we fight, challenge, survive, celebrate and love fiercely, even while enveloped in a system that enforces our separation from our spirits and selves.

When feminists ‘call-out’ other feminists for their racism, transphobia, homophobia, sexism, ableism, ageism, or classism, when a solid anthology is put together making clear the ways in which Feminism (capital ‘F’) has Progressed (capital ‘P’) through maintaining the oppression it supposedly wants to dismantle (and through the unrecognized labour, effort and heart of the people it oppresses), when numerous people contribute to this anthology and read this anthology with the aim of steering feminism to a more helpful and empowering place, when someone posts a blog recognizing that the book itself has been ignored in many feminist spaces (for WHATEVER reasons it might be ignored for): these ‘call-outs’ are not just people ‘complaining without taking action.’ They are not ‘pointing to a gap and refusing to fill it.’ They are pointing to real lives, real histories and experiences, real beating hearts and REAL feminism that deserve to be acknowledged and refuse to be silenced. We ARE the gap and we’re not just an empty space waiting to be filled. We’re full to the brim, and spilling over.

The book Feminism FOR REAL actually spells out what I’m saying in much greater detail. It might be more useful for feminism to engage with it rather than thinking up all the reasons we don’t have time to read it.

 
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  • http://littlejilly.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/hello-world/ Failministe

    Miss J Flipperwitch (ahem) is a straight, white, cis, abled, wealthy new yorker who thinks the world is hers. that everyone should bow to her obvious superiority. sadly she has a following of people exactly like her, white, in their twenties, moneyed, able, bearers of every kind of fucking privilege its possible to possess, and boy do they get pissy when you call; them on it.

    It’s time for missy flipperwitch to step down, because feministe has become her blog, her voice, her attitude. i’m devastated that chally left, but i can see why. she didn’t tolerate ablism, racism or heterosexism and often had to rebuke commenters when miss jillyjill was up in the same thread mocking minorities and often behaving worse than her squealing little fangirls. it’s clear that feministe is a place for cisstraight, twenty-something, white, moneyed, able bodied and minded hipster-femininsts to talk about WOC, PWD, the poor, QUILTBAG folks, to talk over them, to invite MEN to give their views on my rights and my fucking body. fUCK THAT SHIT.

  • Frowner

    This is so helpful – it clarifies why I found the recent stuff at Feministe troubling. These surface, one-time situations – a book doesn’t get read/reviewed, an event doesn’t get the attendance it should, a fund-raiser doesn’t get the money it merits–are always the result of long-term, underlying problems. In general, people don’t get upset if it really is just once – everyone can tell when something truly random goes wrong.

    The problem is that sure, everyone is busy, but it’s always the most marginalized in any group who lose out when time is short. It always works the same way; it’s not a coincidence.

  • http://dont-read.blogspot.com Angel H.

    I’m sorry I can’t offer any feedback more intelligent than:

    Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!!!

  • Allison

    It amazes me how many feminist bloggers advocate for indpendent publishing (look at all of the support Powells gets in the US), yet Jessica is getting backlash from the blogosphere for…. publishing FFR with an independent, small-house, union printed publisher. Yeah. Makes total sense. Except not at all.

    Jessica, I’m glad you stood by the fact that your publisher is not Amazon.com-affiliated and that your goals are not to be the educator again of other people’s oppressions. FFR, in just 171 pages, challenges a lot of the illusions that mainstream North American feminist communities operate under. I’m excited to talk more about the book in depth as part of a review (which, by the by, I did not obtain via review copy — I bought the book to support one of the anthology’s contributors). I respect that you no longer wish to engage in educating others on how feminism needs to change, but please know that FFR is such an incredible resource for those of us who are listening and paying attention.

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  • S mandisa

    Jessica: much love to you. Im a reproductive justice organizer centered in and rooted in New Orleans (6 generations to be exact). I actually met you at the 2009 CLPP conference-we both attended a translating gender workshop and we were 1 of few women of color engaging the white supremacist dialogue. It was comforting to look over and see you calling out similar, problematic shit that I was. Namely, the racist undertones of most leftist dialogues about sexuality and gender. Since then, Ive significantly disengaged from conferences and spaces like that because of the toll in takes on local work that I am committed to doing. and, its oppressive to have to call people out, but Im also supposed to work with and next to you? Nah, thats ok-Imma do the liberatory work that is not and never was centered around Feminism with a “F”. but after this piece, and other pieces of yours Ive read on racialicious, Im remember its not an either/or and that it is possible to engage with Feminism, but on my terms.

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  • http://theramblingfeminist.wordpress.com/ RamblingFeminist

    Some of us live our lives in ‘the gap.’
    That’s it. That’s exactly it.

  • Sara

    THANK YOU for the work you do Jessica, I read the post at Feministe yesterday and it has been reeling in my head since then as such a blatant example of unwillingness to LISTEN to women outside of the mainstream that white feminism participates in maintaining. THANK YOU for you brilliance and fierceness.

  • http://twitter.com/ohsweetie ohsweetie

    yes.

  • Justine

    Jessica – Thanks so much for the work that you do and for creating Feminism FOR REAL – a totally amazing resource.

    Reading that book helped me understand the many ways that I was disillusioned with the feminism I learned in Women’s Studies and from academic texts and simultaneously gave me hope that another feminism is possible (and in fact already thriving if we are open to acknowledging it). Coming from a white settler background – the discussions on indigenous relationships to feminism in your book were revolutionary to me.

    It causes me tremendous sadness to see the hesitance of mainstream feminism to engage with this important text – I can only hope after this discussion they run out of excuses and actually read the darn book.

    Thank you again.

  • http://nympholepsy.tumblr.com nympholepsy

    I can’t believe that Feministe post. Is Jill really suggesting that calling people out on their *isms is somehow detrimental to feminism? That in order to be a part of the movement, we’re not allowed to criticize other feminists because it’s divisive? Is it really “cannibalistic” to point out to other people that their racism blinders are on AGAIN?

    YOU’RE TEARING FEMINISM APART, LISA JESSICA!

  • silentbeep

    “I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how we are so busy telling other people not to be oppressive to our communities that we have little energy left to deal with what’s going on inside of our own communities. I’m finished with doing the educating on how feminism needs to change – it’s been done. ”

    Oh wow, I so feel you there. I am so done with trying to get white girls to feel/act/be the way I want them to feel/act/be, even though I know something is amiss! Maybe I’m cynical and way too jaded but I see more space dedicated to screaming at white girls who don’t get it, then about our own issues as women of color. I understand the anger, i understand the frustration. I just don’t expect any better from the mainstream feminist white girls, and i am tired of focusing on “getting” this particular group of white girls to change. I am so done. Thank you for voicing something that I didn’t have the words to vocalize before.

    “And it’s no longer going to come at the physical, mental, and spiritual costs of me being frustrated, exasperated, and then empty – for what? My community needs me and we’ve paid the price for other people’s comforting disillusion with reality for far too long.”

    Oh my, so much word.

  • Saintlioba

    Hi.

    I’m an academic librarian in Minnesota. I just bought your book for our university library. Thank you for your work! I wish that every library would purchase it.

  • MK

    does anyone know where Feminism For Real can be purchased in Toronto?

  • http://twitter.com/ohsweetie ohsweetie

    Sara, what I don’t get is that I am a white woman and I have these issues with mainstream feminism and so I wrote about it on Shameless. It’s time “we whities” start educating ourselves and stop expecting POC to engage in polite discourse: I’m tired of engaging in polite discourse and tired of the whitesplaining: I have no excuse. XO

  • Michikoko

    I love this post so much.

    Also, I’m a bit interested that Latoya’s posts on the Feministe were all ignored by by Jill. She was able to respond to a lot of people, but never directly LP.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Melissa-Turner/100001159639105 Melissa Turner

    I really liked this response. I doubt there will be a response from Feministe. I think having read the articles and comments about this I need some time to reflect on everything thats been said.

    I hadn’t heard about and my immediate response was “but I read the internet, how did I not know?” That’s not good enough. In the last few days I have shifted to “what blogs am I not reading that I missed this?”.

    As someone with white privilege it’s my responsibility to seek out books that educate me about other women’s experience. The only way I can educate others who share my privilege is to educate myself so that I can speak with some knowledge (even if only theoretical).

  • Anonymous

    Word. Until yesterday, I thought we were friends. Ah well. *kanye shrug*

  • Anonymous

    So tired of having to educate every time I open my mouth. Getting to the point where I just glare. But is that productive? I am lucky in that I have a 14yr old daughter who is taking up my slack. And after living my whole life in the gap == my stealth fighter Haudenosaunee daughter will climb on out of the gap and tell people who she is.

  • Anonymous

    Jessica, you can publish with whoever you like.

    This anti-amazon issue frustrates me because clearly you want this book to be *accessible* to as many people as possible, right?

    There are big booksellers and there’s small booksellers. Selling the book on Amazon doesn’t mean you’ve “sold out.”

    Anyway, will the book be available as an ebook? (ebooks are about 25% of book sales now….)

  • Gunchkin

    I got my copy at the Toronto Women’s Bookstore on Harbord and Spadina.

  • maryalice

    I have to say that as a white girl feminist who is young and still learning, I am so grateful to read this. I know that because I am white, I am very privileged, and the kind of feminism that I want to belong to is not the kind that gives bullshit excuses for not reading/promoting/discussing your book. I think you’re right on, and I, for one, am very glad you edited Feminism For Real and wrote this blog post, otherwise I probably would have never realized how problematic capital “f” feminism is, and how exclusive it is.

    All I’m trying to say is that you taught me about this, and I am so thankful to that you did that, and believe me I will be seeking more information (first on the list: Feminism For Real!). I know it is frustrating, but I just want you to know you changed the way I think about feminism and I will definitely be spreading the word.

  • B Huesca

    It’s not the publishing-it’s the lack of publicity (which includes email,and gmail is free…)- and besides, if someone reviewed her or any book blindly, there’d be screams of “ze didn’t even read it!”

  • Anonymous

    Read more carefully. In the comments, Jill acknowledged she got one email, dated Feb 14, from the book publisher. So email, at the very least, was sent. Twitter was utilized, as were book store based tours. And we intentionally launched on International Women’s Day, using that hashtag, for even more publicity. As Jessica notes in her response, it’s about way more than not getting an email.

  • http://twitter.com/lizhenry Liz Henry

    This book looks great from the preface, good and complicated to dig into! I’ll buy it and read it. I can think of a couple of places other than my own personal blog that might be interested in posting reviews.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you. When I read that Feministe post and all those responses, there was so much steam coming out of my ears that I couldn’t see my keyboard.

    The lame old “Wait, why are you calling ME out on this? I can’t embrace every single thing! I’m so busy that I’m spending time, energy and thousand words on explaining why I didn’t write a single paragraph about you guys!” dance reminds me why I generally avoid the feminist blogosphere.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you.

  • Anonymous

    Jessica, you are channeling your inner Audre Lorde. :) We should not be wasting our creative, physical and spiritual energies on people who want to just keep resetting the wheel or don’t really want to rock the boat. We also want to help our own communities!

  • http://twitter.com/maverynthia Maverynthia

    Err are we using the term “girls” here to be sarcastic or something to that effect? I’m not comfortable, a grown woman, being called a girl. It’s been used against me to dismiss things I’ve said as well as a slur. “Well your just a GIRL!” I’m also not comfortable having it reclaimed, as I don’t like words ‘only certain people can say’. Because it opens up a can of worms from oppressive groups to say ‘well why can’t we use it too’. ._.

  • Safiya Outlines

    I loved your’s and bfp’s comments on that thread. They cut through the drama and got to the point.

    P.S Is it a shrug with your back to the camera? Those are the best kind.

  • http://twitter.com/danny_waters Daniel Waters

    Heck, my comments were blatantly deleted/didn’t pass moderation.
    P.s: You need a gif of that kanye shrug.

  • http://twitter.com/danny_waters Daniel Waters

    I really love the mental image of your daughter flying out of the gap on top of a Mohawk mantle or something with a fierce look.

    May us all leave the gap.

  • Anonymous

    What some people just don’t seem to get, is that if we don’t consciously make diversity and listening to one another a high priority, we will unconsciously keep it as a low priority. That complacency can be so fatal. And it isn’t just about this book, not by a long shot. Just look at how Chally ended her time blogging at Feministe: http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2011/04/26/the-time-has-come-the-walrus-said-to-talk-of-many-things/

    And that was only last week.

    I understand Jill’s point about how blogging is her hobby, and she can’t do it all. But still, at some point, if you have a commenting community which is growing so toxic to your guest blogger of color, and then issues like Jessica’s book getting ignored, coming up all at the same time… at some point, might it not be time to place a serious focus on issues that affect WOC?

  • Anonymous

    B, you’re missing the point. The objections to the post weren’t about the realities of marketing a book (which Jessica addresses way up top). It is about how this conversation keeps jumping and changing to shift blame onto different people for what is, in essence, a systemic failure.

    The whole reason I commented over there in the first place was because I started seeing people infer “well, if Jill didn’t get an email, it means the book wasn’t marketed.” Which doesn’t make sense because we’ve had internal convos about the reception of the book, where Jess said the PR people from the press (what PR firm? What indie book publisher can hire one of those? Most authors don’t have enough from the advance left over to do a launch party, much less hire a firm) sent emails. Jill says she received one, but people are still running with – oh, nothing was done to promote the book. (Your first comment implied that no emails were sent, saying gmail is free – but emails where sent. Maybe not enough, but that initial contact was made.) And outlets did pick up on it, and Jessica has been having readings and tours interspersed throughout the last two months.

    Now, contrast that with how many people on the thread say they just “LOVE” Jessica Yee and they read here frequently, and yet still missed the info – and then go back to the original thread and check how even Carmen, who left race blogging and checks in about once a week or so still saw it. My favorite authors don’t have to send me emails about what they are doing – I just check their spaces to see what’s happening. (Also, since when is Amazon the be-all end all of book selling? Particularly post LGBT ranking stripping boycott that happened, what two summers ago?)

    The problem goes a bit deeper than that. And again, it wasn’t just Jill – it’s just that things that people say don’t match up with what they do on a broader scale. Jess talked about picking a small, union, press that respected her goals and visions and is getting hammered for not going with a US based larger pub who may not have matched her personal goals. And the conversation swung really hard toward “well, Jessica should have tried harder to get her book out there” when a great many of the spaces that deal with these issues did cover the book somehow. So it was the feminist blogopshere, specifically that didn’t respond, and that is strange – if people love Jess, and love Racialicious, and care about Indigenous women, and everyone is in agreement that these issues are important (TM) then what happened? It’s as Jess says in the piece:

    If you didn’t get the e-mail about the book – no worries. I’m talking about why people aren’t more involved in supporting and promoting our work to begin with at places like Racialicious, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Muslimah Media Watch and more (all who posted more than once about the book’s existence) beyond when they want to check mark box that they had their mandatory being progressive dosage of people of color (which typically amounts to saying things like they are such huge fans of us but don’t actually read, buy, or promote without having to explicitly be told several times what we’re writing)?

    It just doesn’t add up.

  • Jill Filipovic

    Sorry, I wasn’t trying to ignore Latoya’s posts — I responded mostly to people who I didn’t totally agree with, and since I agreed with what Latoya was saying pretty fully, I didn’t have much to add other than “Yeah, that’s a really good point and I’m thinking about it.” But I can see how that was pretty shitty — I should have responded to at least recognize that I heard what she was saying and agreed (especially since I also consider Latoya a friend).

  • B Huesca

    I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree. I don’t think anyone is owed promotion of their book and I don’t think that any perspective or story has the right to be covered by anyone. The right to be told – of course! The right to have others listen to/demand others listen to/question why others haven’t listened to the perspective of another individual or group – heck no! At least in the U.S., it’s a right to free speech, not a right to an audience (and certainly not a right to an audience who, in the absence of advance copies, would have to spend money to hear the speaker’s/speakers’ viewpoint(s).)

    IMHO Ms. Yee/the publishing firm/the PR firm didn’t do their due diligence by multiple emails/calls (and being available within phone reception to MAKE the calls)/advance copies sent out to multitudes of interested reviewing parties and parties which one may wish to cover one’s book/parties who are then called out on why they hadn’t covered one’s book – at least not sufficient due diligence to then question why her work wasn’t covered.

    tl/dr: no one’s entitled to a book review.

  • Anonymous

    That discussion at feministe is why I cant be bothered with the feminist blogosphere.

  • http://feministallies.blogspot.com jeffliveshere

    Another vote for an ebook version–I want to buy this book, and support the publisher, but I don’t want to pay 10 bucks extra to support UPS or whomever to ship it to me. :)

  • http://twitter.com/jpdimond Jill Dimond

    Jessica, Thank you for this book! As a white feminist who is also an anti-racist ally, I have been seriously examining my privilege. I did see the press for it in March, bought it, and read it… even if it was not at Amazon. The anthology was very moving and influential to me. Thank you for all the work that you do.

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  • Asma

    Dear B: THIS IS NOT ABOUT JESSICA YEE. IS THERE ANY POSSIBLE WAY FOR YOU TO GET THAT? THIS IS NOT ABOUT JESSICA YEE. THIS IS ABOUT THE SYSTEMS OF PRIVILEGE THAT GET CERTAIN THINGS PROMOTED “AUTOMATICALLY” WHILE OTHERS HAVE TO HUSTLE OR GET BLAMED FOR NOT HUSTLING ENOUGH. THIS IS ABOUT WHITE PRIVILEGE. I’M SURE YOU’LL DISAGREE – BUT LET ME SAY IT AGAIN: THIS.IS.NOT.ABOUT.JESSICA.YEE.

  • http://profiles.google.com/matarij Jane Osmond

    This is interesting – I think the point is that we all have our own areas of interest and link/read/post in those areas. Therefore a lot of people wouldn’t come across the book because they don’t link to this area of feminism. I take the point that everyone has too much on and the internet is so vast that there is not enough time in the day to include everything. However, I also take the point that feminists need to try and be inclusive and not sit within their own race/class/disability/age/sexuality pens – or, in other words, all feminists need to get out of their comfort zones. What I find heartening is that this discussion is even taking place – and the tone of it, although a bit tired and fed up – is still not nasty and blaming on the most part. As feminists we need to find a way to talk about and accommodate our differences – even disagree and stay in our separate pens if necessary – but the most important thing is that we need to make our discourse different from the male model. Talk, negotiate, agree, disagree, change our minds, encompass all kinds of feminism as opposed to fight, wage war on and dismiss.

  • http://profiles.google.com/sartorialnerd Sartorial Nerd

    I’ve wanted to get my hands on Feminism for Real since I read about it here. I would absolutely love to read this book and discuss it on my blog but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere but here: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/ourschools-ourselves/feminism-real. Others have asked and I’m really sorry if it’s been answered but are there plans for an ebook version? I can’t really afford to drop $25 on a single book though I’m going to see if I can ask the NYPL to order a copy.

  • http://blog.themerchgirl.net Tiara the Merch Girl

    Yeah Amazon is more of a distributor (though they are breaking into publishing) so you can still publish with whoever & have Amazon distribution. Many of us outside the US rely on places like Amazon due to its range and how it’s far cheaper than getting it local, if you’re lucky (I live in Australia but you need to travel to niche bookshops in Sydney & Melbourne to get books like yours).The Kindle has been a major boon for accessing work that I couldn’t get otherwise. What are the requirements for getting your work on ebooks or Kindle?

  • http://restructure.wordpress.com/ Email Restructure

    I’m not sure about why Feministe didn’t mention Feminism FOR REAL, but I learned that mainstream feminist bloggers aren’t really reading Racialicious. They are just adding Racialicious to their blogroll to look progressive (which is still something, because I found Racialicious by clicking a blogroll link).

  • M F D

    “I have to say that as a white girl feminist who is young and still
    learning, I am so grateful to read this. I know that because I am white,
    I am very privileged, and the kind of feminism that I want to belong to
    is not the kind that gives bullshit excuses for not
    reading/promoting/discussing your book. ”

    This. Exactly this. I think when issues of race come up people have got to start seeing their privilege for what it is instead of avoiding the topic.

    Having said that, I actually still agree with the original feministe post about self-righteous call-out culture and how destructive it can be. I just think that it was a fairly inappropriate response to the situation, because it treated an obviously racially tainted situation (ie. the lack of attention given to feminist works by POC) as if it were some trivial situation where people were quick to judge for no good reason. NO. People jumping all over one word in a blog post with the fairly obvious intention of showing off their feminist chops is toxic “call-out” shit. People pointing out that race is a factor in who gets the most attention in the (predominantly white) bigger feminist blogs is calling you on your shit. The former is smug (usually white in my experience) one-upmanship, the latter is necessary to the survival of *real* feminism.

    imo.

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