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Women have been fighting for full human status in society for a very long time. You’d think a rational society could do more in a hundred years plus, but we’re still not there yet.
” And yet I find in American newspapers there is a great deal of misunderstanding of the fact that one of the chief minds engaged in conducting the women’s revolution is, for purposes of convenience, located in Paris. It is quite easy for you to understand – it would not be necessary for me to enter into explanations at all – the desirability of revolution if I were a man, in any of these countries, even in a part of the British Empire known to you as Ireland. If an Irish revolutionary had addressed this meeting, and many have addressed meetings all over the United States during the last twenty or thirty years, it would not be necessary for that revolutionary to explain the need of revolution beyond saying that the people of his country were denied – and by people, meaning men – were denied the right of self-government. That would explain the whole situation. If I were a man and I said to you, “I come from a country which professes to have representative institutions and yet denies me, a taxpayer, an inhabitant of the country, representative rights,” you would at once understand that that human being, being a man, was justified in the adoption of revolutionary methods to get representative institutions. But since I am a woman it is necessary in the twentieth century to explain why women have adopted revolutionary methods in order to win the rights of citizenship.
You see, in spite of a good deal that we hear about revolutionary methods not being necessary for American women, because American women are so well off, most of the men of the United States quite calmly acquiesce in the fact that half of the community are deprived absolutely of citizen rights, and we women, in trying to make our case clear, always have to make as part of our argument, and urge upon men in our audience the fact – a very simple fact – that women are human beings. It is quite evident you do not all realize we are human beings or it would not be necessary to argue with you that women may, suffering from intolerable injustice, be driven to adopt revolutionary methods. We have, first of all to convince you we are human beings, and I hope to be able to do that in the course of the evening before I sit down, but before doing that, I want to put a few political arguments before you – not arguments for the suffrage, because I said when I opened, I didn’t mean to do that – but arguments for the adoption of militant methods in order to win political rights.”
-Emmeline Pankhurst in Hartford Connecticut, on November 13, 1913
Well I knew it was. However, I was also under the mistaken assumption that window pane glass actually ‘flowed’ with gravity under time. I was mistaken, given reasonable scales of time.
The more you know and all that… :)
Thanks to those who showed up and rallied. Bring that spirit with you and continue to raise consciousness wherever you go. :)
Pretty much every conversation I’ve had with people who, when it comes to basic biological facts, decide it necessary to jump through tortured hoops to evade this simple question. Is there a more clear example of men trying to impose their version of reality on the world? We cannot change sex (facts, don’t care about your feelings even hurt male ones). Yet we have a whole swath of the population that are willing to throw down to avoid the facts of the matter. I’m heartened that I’m starting to see women taking the piss out those who support male delusions of gender.
[Source: The Vancouver woMen’s March Twitter]
Guess who is singing this mass. :) Just the Kyrie for today, the soporano soloist is quite good. Enjoy. :)
The Bloodroot is a small vegan restaurant. Their crime? Having the absolute gall and audacity to state – in a feminist space no less – that they believe in supporting women born women. It is enough of a transgression to bring the trans-hoarde along with the usual threats, cyberbullying, and harassment (typical aggressive male behaviour) that uppity women (in this case two elderly lesbians) get for not bowing down to prescribed male reality.
“Bloodroot Vegetarian Restaurant has been a beloved staple of Bridgeport, Conn. for more than 40 years, serving up feminist-influenced plant-based fare to the likes of Audre Lordre and Adrienne Rich, as well as dedicated locals. But a recent review alleging that owners Selma Miriam and Noel Furie reject transgender customers has set off a firestorm online.
For many, the fallout has echoes of the Michfest debate, which divided LGBTQ women for more than two decades. And while the review has since been removed, it appears in screenshots on Facebook, and Bloodroot’s own statement in response has kept the conversation going.
In the review from late December, a customer writes that upon a visit to Bloodroot, she was having lunch with a friend when she began speaking with Miriam and Furie about up Lorde having been a friend of the restaurant. The conversation turned to the customer’s own dream of having a “queer and trans intentional community and sanctuary.”
“Immediately Selma and Noel looked at one another and Selma said, ‘[W]e strongly believe in supporting only women born women here,” the customer alleges. “‘[W]e are disgusted by men who think they can put on dresses and nail polish and pump themselves up with nail polish and pump themselves with chemicals and say they are women. [T]hey just aren’t. and we will never support them.'”
The customer then she she felt uncomfortable and afraid, and is now advocating that others “refuse to support them and encourage others to do the same.”
Both Miriam and Furie declined to be interviewed for this piece, but in a Dec. 31 statement posted to their Facebook page, Bloodroot says the controversy stemmed from a conversation with a new customer who asked if they knew of an establishment that catered to trans people.
“We didn’t,” the statement reads, “but since we are not trans, it wasn’t all that interesting to us personally and stated that for us, we prefer women only spaces. This comes from our history. When Bloodroot first started in the 70’s [sic] we were trying to create a space specifically safe for women, since there were so few places like that at the time. Of course even back then we were open and welcoming to everyone, not just women.”
The post goes on to say that customer misunderstood that reply and wrote a post online slamming Bloodroot.
“We understand this is a subject matter that many people are passionate about, but we feel this anger is misguided and misplaced,” Bloodroot says in the statement. “Regardless of how you feel about Bloodroot’s stand on this, we will continue to be a welcoming space for all types of people, including those that are transgender, and treat everyone with respect.”
After the Restaurant’s FB post, Charlie Rae answers the call and deftly puts the situation into perspective (especially the last paragraph).
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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