onthelonelyshore:

There’s the recurring image of the seductress: Sophia, to Arthur; Nimueh, to both Merlin and Arthur; and also Morgana and Morgause, in a way.  Gwen and Freya, the girls romantically linked with our leads in canon, are nice.  They’re pretty.  They’re loveable and I appreciate that.  But they’re not sexy, and they’re not powerful, and there is this recurring image that a women worthy of love is something innocent and to be protected, rather than a person capable of doing things for themselves.  Good women are allowed to be strong only in a traditional, emotional sense, not to possess their own separate ambitions.  The only women who are powerful, independent of men, are all villains, and I find this unacceptable in this day and age.

Having observed Gwen harness her emotional strength (to benefit the women of Ealdor and then Gaius and most recently the people of Camelot) I’d say that she’s powerful in her own right.  BUT if you’re defining “strength” according to a male model of power, which tends to devalue and demonize all things emotional/spiritual, then of course my girl is gonna fall short.  

It’s true that she isn’t ambitious, but I think ambition emerges out of privilege—you aspire to great things because great things are available to you, they are within the realm of possibility—which Gwen lacks. But I also think that Gwen, like most working-class women, is independent by necessity. She earns a living wage, feeds herself, and cares for herself because she HAS to — no one will do it for her. 

I do agree with you about Merlin’s manichean treatment of it’s female characters: If you’re a “good like Gwen, you get the love a prince and if you’re bad like Morgana, Merlin will poison you (I’m just saying…)

CLICK HERE TO READ IN ITS ENTIRETY

http://www.racialicious.com/2011/10/06/slutwalk-slurs-and-why-feminism-still-has-race-issues/

(via afrolez)

(via anotsosadsong)

teh-lulzies:

“I’M NOT A FEMINIST, BUT…”

by Cézanne Colvin

“As you know in fashion, one day, you’re in, and the next day, you’re out,” Heidi Klum has ominously told the cast of Project Runway with every new episode.

The reality of being loved one day and hated the next extends far from fashion to nearly everything — we are, after all, a society collectively obsessed with trends and fascinated by the delicate art of staying relevant. And now it would appear as though feminism has joined the unfortunate graveyard of Uggs, landlines and Myspace — decidedly “out”. It simply isn’t “in” to be a feminist anymore, so why bother?

Read more

(via )

(via longjackets)

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray  (via greeekgoddess)

just realized I do that all the time …

(via praisethelorde)

(via anotsosadsong)

agradschoolbreakup:

madamethursday:

aprilseye:

 

Online Articles:

Indigenous Feminism Without Apology, by Andrea Smith

Jennifer Nez Denetdale on Indigenous Feminisms

An Indigenous Perspective on Feminism, Militarism, and the Environment, by Winona LaDuke

Zapatismo and the Emergence of Indigenous Feminism, by Aida Hernandez Castillo

Academic Journal Publications:

Wicazo Sa Review “Native Feminisms: Legacies, Interventions, and Indigenous Sovereignties,” guest edited by Mishuana R. Goeman and Jennifer Nez Denetdale

Whiteness Matters: Implications of Talking Up to the White Woman, by Eileen Morton-Robinson

Race, Tribal Nation, and Gender: A Native Feminist Approach to Belonging, by Renya Ramirez

Introduction: Special Issue on Native American Women, Feminism, and Indigenism, by Anne Waters

Patriarchal Colonialism and Indigenism: Implications for Native Feminist Spirituality and Native Womanism, by M. A. Jaimes Guerrero

Dismantling the Master’s Tools with the Master’s House: Native Feminist Liberation Theologies, by Andrea Smith

This may be missing:

Who Is Your Mother? Red Roots of White Feminism by Paula Gunn Allen

http://spot.colorado.edu/~wehr/491R9.TXT

Reblogging for my own reference and for anyone else who might want to read this. Definitely bookmarking it. A lot of good stuff here.

THIS ^^

(via anotsosadsong)

feminismitmakessense:

thescarletwoman:

I think the major problem here is that women were clamoring for “strong female characters,” and male writers misunderstood.  They thought the feminists meant [Strong Female] Characters.  The feminists meant [Strong Characters], Female.

PREACH. This is so true, and a really interesting read. Funnily enough, this came up on my dash just as I was composing a list of my favourite strong female characters.

That article was brilliant! :)

More weak female characters!

Kelly - Misfits

I’m tagging this feminism because it underlines how consent is important in a simple honest statement, it also made me laugh and it’s midnight so I’m tired.

Also Kelly is one of those weak female characters that was explored here. She’s strong but she has really interesting flaws as does Alisha. I think they are both pretty 3D and believable characters.

(via feminismitmakessense)

(via melchiorgabor-deactivated201107)