To whom it may concern,
I recently attended the Domestic Violence Death Review Panel organized by the Southgate Institute and found it to be thoroughly stimulating - an excellent exploration of the failure thus far of Australian state based legislation to seriously adopt any measures towards preventing domestic homicides.
Having said that, I am surprised and saddened to see that the Gender, Power and Revitalising Feminism Forum is guilty of one of the cardinal sins of the modern feminist movement – that is to say, in discussions regarding revitalizing feminism, you seem to have ignored the inclusion of any young women working within the field of feminist academia or activism.
So often, young women are accused of being disinterested in feminism or activism simply because their activism is conducted differently (ie online or through networking) - or worse, they are ignored entirely by the groups for whom it would seem to be in the best interest to engage with them. Dr Zora Simic seems to be your youngest speaker on the panel. Where are the Emily Maguires and the Rachel Hills? It’s extremely frustrating to be told by the academic feminist community over and over again that feminism needs to be revitalized and repackaged when they seem to consistently ignore the amazing work being carried out by young feminists.
As a young feminist activist, I am inclined to ignore your forum because it seems to me the antithesis of revitalising feminism - instead, it continues to peddle out the same speakers from the same demographic who will all presumably be saying the same things about young feminists - that they either don't exist, or they need to be 'reengaged'. Perhaps if you ceased the round table hand wringing over the state of modern feminism and actually looked around you, you might realise that it is not us who need to be courted into the movement, but you who needs to find your place within ours.
If you continue to ignore the strength of young women's ideas and contributions, you will be guilty of nothing less than exhibiting the same paternalistic dismissal of our abilities than the patriarchy you all fought so valiantly to crush so many years ago.
Sincerely,
Clementine Ford
Or Nina Funnell, or Clem Bastow, or Marieke Hardy, or Penelope Robinson (who wrote her PhD thesis on this very subject), or Sass Hunt, or Frances Shaw, or yourself. I could go on. Lots of ladies out there talking about the feminisms.
ReplyDeleteAnnoying as these oversights are, though, I can't help think it's largely a function of who the organisers are aware of (and Simic seems like an obvious choice to have speak, given the subject matter of her book). It seems to take an exceptional panel/conference organiser to dig out talent beyond the obvious/beyond their own sphere. That said, especially in the age of Twitter, there's no excuse for not throwing it out there and mining other people's networks to find new voices to bring into the conversation.
Yes, I agree but Zora Simic IS a young feminist academic (and activist). Networking and activism do occur differently now (through the Internet world especially), yes, but they're only a couple of the parts of the story. In the Australian context, Penelope Robinson's work is relevant, and the work being done by Anthea Taylor at the CCCS is well worth looking at also (and arguably, perhaps one of the more rigorous examples of feminist work). I agree that the organisers could have looked further afield ( even beyond academics and the internet activists/bloggers too). Thanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteI wonder - how is it that you know what these women will be saying? Why do you presuppose them? You wouldn't be closing down a conversation before it has begun, would you?
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