Sunday, February 28, 2010

A Sexual Liberal Reconsiders Devaluing Andrea Dworkin, after reading Dworkin's writing

 
[image is from here]

I have often noted that when people actually READ Andrea Dworkin's work--you know, like a whole essay, or a whole collection of essays, or--gasp--a whole book or even three or four of her books, and don't assume what her writing already means they might actually value it. But usually the reader arrives at her work having taken in what significantly biased, anything-but-objective, anything-but-logical, anything-but-rational, anything-but-intellectual, anything-but-reasonable white male supremacist, antifeminist, dick-whipped men tell us Andrea Dworkin means so we don't have to figure it out for ourselves, or be open to it, or take what is valuable from it and leave the rest. You know--they way we are trained to do with white men's writings. We assume there's some value in there and if we can't find it we assume we're not reading it right. Not so with women's writings. We assume it has no value unless it has demonstrated an allegiance and alliance with white male supremacist values and practices. So the woman writer who extols the virtues of pornography--we like her. But the anti-pornography feminist? Naaah.

But what if it's the case that those dick-whipped doods are wrong? OMG, did I just type that OUT LOUD???

Consider, for a moment, how much more visibilised male supremacist harm to women is now that "obscenity" was radically redefined in Canada due to Andrea Dworkin's work. She doesn't use the term in her work (obscenity), except to critique it as you'll see below, but Canadian officials wanted to hold onto it. Unfortunately.

What follows is from the blog, The Bradlington Post. Bradley's interests are listed below.

All of the rest of this post is from *here*.

The Bradlington Post


- Interests to me including the political situation of the times and the CULTURE WAR raging in the U.S. - Religion and especially how and why Christianity is being forced over the people of the U.S. - CULTURE WAR issues such as pornography, extreme and 'deviant' sex practices - And how all these things are relative.

- An area of especial interest to me regarding extreme and 'deviant' sex practices and the phenomena by where the prevalence both in practice and acceptance, occurs highest in the most advanced and highest egalitarian standard of living, lowest crime rate and societies and cultures in the world, not to mention least religious.

Canada's Ruling on Obscenity Constitution

The below quoted information comes from:
http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/other/ordinance/HillSilverOrd1.html

“In February 1992 Canada's Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that obscenity is to be defined by the harm it does to women and not by what offends our values.”

"In the United States, the obscenity laws are all about not liking to see naked bodies, or homosexual activity, in public," commented University of Michigan law professor Catharine MacKinnon, who helped write the law brief and along with author Andrea Dworkin has pioneered the "harm to women" approach to antipornography legislation. "Our laws in the United States don't consider the harm to women. But in Canada it will now be materials that subordinate, degrade or dehumanize women that are obscene."

************************************************

This is an excellent article which I happened to stumble upon. I was always a bit frightened of Andrea Dworkin as a kid. This is the best thing I've ever read regarding her, and it has changed my opinion a fair amount. I wonder if she was still living she'd eventually gotten similar legislation passed in the U.S.

This all really resonates with me personally, nearly everything in the article and theories behind the ruling.
I personally have never had any inkling for bondage or humiliation, not in any art I output or that I enjoy, nor ever will that I can imagine. It’s not only of disinterest, it has unpleasant connotations to me as well as a variety of other unpleasantries.

I am fascinated that gays/lesbians have such a tolerance and at times seeming obsession with and for bondage/humiliation imagery and sex. It’s basically obligatory any more that ‘edgy’ gay sex include some kind of bondage. [This person is speaking for all of lesbian and gay people's interests, and believe me, no gay or lesbian person I know, and no gay man I have dated, was ever into--let alone obsessed with--bondage and humiliation. Sorry to disappoint the homophobic writer. -- Julian]

I think in actuality, heterosexuals have probably almost as large an interest in it (especially males) however heterosexuals are much more closeted in their sexual variances when off the considered norm.

The obsession with this realm of sexuality is I'm assuming based very deep in our fairly early developmental days and thus ingrained in our genetic inheritance even still actively, like so much else. I need to investigate some on any origin theories which may exist regarding the matter.

Why Can't David Read, or Shut Up and Listen: WHM Supremacist Privileges and Entitlements in Action

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Intersectionality Conference at UCLA Law, March 11-13: Devon Carbado, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Angela Harris, Catharine MacKinnon, Mari Matsuda, Dorothy Roberts, and Patricia Williams and other presenters!!!

 
[image is from here]

Cross posted from here @ Concurring Opinions.

Quick Reminder: Intersectionality Conference at UCLA Law, March 11-13

posted by Kaimipono D. Wenger
I blogged about it a few months ago, when the call for papers was still open. Now that the conference is just around the corner, here’s another short reminder.

The UCLA Critical Race Studies program – along with a great group of co-sponsors including the Women and Law Project at Thomas Jefferson Law School, the Women of Color Collective at UCLA, the Williams Institute, LatCrit Inc., and a dozen more – is hosting a not-to-be-missed conference on intersectionality. Speakers include, just to name a few, Devon Carbado, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Angela Harris, Catharine MacKinnon, Mari Matsuda, Dorothy Roberts, and Patricia Williams, along with dozens of other leading scholars of feminist legal theory, critical race theory, intersectionality, and a variety of related topics touching on different marginalized groups.

More information, including schedule and registration information, is available at the conference website. I hope to see many of you there!

ShareThis February 26, 2010 at 7:51 pm   Posted in: Civil Rights, Conferences, Feminism and Gender

Here is more information about this conference from *here*:

03.11.10 @ UCLA, California, USA

4th Annual CRS Symposium             

Event DescriptionEvent Description

 Since the publication of Kimberlé Crenshaw's formative articles - Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race & Sex (1989), and Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics & Violence Against Women of Color (1994) - the concept of intersectionality has traversed more than a dozen academic disciplines and transnational and popular political discourse, generated multiple conferences, monographs, and anthologies, and animated hundreds of articles and essays. In the twenty years since Crenshaw introduced intersectionality, critiques of identity politics and multiculturalism and, more recently, claims of a "post-racial" era have blossomed. In 2010, we will re-visit the origins of intersectionality as a theoretical frame and site of legal interventions and consider its still unfolding potential for unmasking subordination and provoking social change. 
l for Proposals
Key areas of inquiry include:
a) Intersectionality Across Disciplines, with particular emphasis on research methodologies, new applications and comparative analyses;
b) Intersectional Praxis, engaging the integration of theory with advocacy and activism, and concerned with the practical dilemmas entailed in navigating intersections of race, gender, class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, citizenship, ethnicity and/or related dynamics;
c) Intersectionality and Post-racialism, particularly highlighting the contradicting ways that intersectionality has been positioned as both a precursor to post-racialism and as a critique of its symbolic content;
d) Intersectionality and Transnationalism, specifically recognizing the intersecting dynamics of subordination that sustain, transgress or delineate borders and highlighting discourses that disrupt the premises of globalization, imperialism and international law;
e) Intersectionality Embodied, interrogating how intersectionality plays out in the production of legitimate and illegitimate sexualities, the construction of normative, (de)valued, or able bodies, and the challenges in deploying discourses of rights and recognition as interventionist tools. 

Please submit questions about the event and proposals to crssymposium@law.ucla.edu

crs_registation_details.jpgRegistration Details

Early Registration is encouraged and available until January 25, 2010:                 $150 per person
General Registration from January 26, 2010 - February 14, 2010:                       $175 per person
Late Registration from February 15, 2010 - on site registration during event:       $200 per person


Registration is free to UCLA students and to law students and faculty at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and UCLA Law, who sign-up for the event ahead of time.  To sign-up, please register using the form below and provide name, department, and send your UCLA/TJSL Identification number to crssymposium@law.ucla.edu

UCLA faculty may register for a reduced rate at $70.00 for the entire event or $30.00 for partial/daily attendance.

Registration PaymentRegistration Payment


We have recently updated the symposium registration page and online payment form.  If you have already registered and submitted your payment, you do not have to use the link before to do so again.  If you registered without making a payment or are doing so for the first time, please use the link below to submit an online payment:
https://www.law.ucla.edu/pay/crs/
                        
If you prefer to pay for registration by check, please mail to:

                                                               Christine Tran
                                             UCLA School of Law - Accounting Office,
                                                   405 Hilgard Avenue - Box 951476
                                                        Los Angeles, CA 90095
                         

Symposium Lodging

If you register for the CRS symposium and need housing during your stay, you are eligible for a reduced rate at the Hotel Angeleno.  Please click here for more information.

The Women of Color Collective at UCLA School of Law has identified UCLA students who can offer free housing to other students who are travelling to Los Angeles for the symposium.  Please contact Ayanna London at london2010@lawnet.ucla.edu for more information.

crs_program schedule.pngProgram Schedule

Please review the symposium agenda.  All the times listed on the schedule are final.  All acrtivities will take place on the UCLA campus.  Panel descriptions, presenters, building locations, and room numbers for each session will be added shortly.  There will be at least 50 concurrent sessions, some of which we anticipate will be eligible for additional CLE credit.  Please check this page regularly for updates.
crs_FAQ.jpg


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1.21.10 Updated - Symposium Postcard.pdf
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Andrea Dworkin Speaks Out on Prostitution and Male Supremacy: If you've never heard her, witness political brilliance

Over at YouTube, just within the last few years, the place has gone from being an antifeminist video playland to also including a few profeminist and feminist videos and speeches. It's about time.

What follows was posted by micksmum26

Andrea Dworkin, feminist, gives a speech in Brighton, UK, in 1996 [on 10 November]. She discusses pornography: the various types, its overall harm, its damage to women, and why men enjoy it.

Andrea speaks not only from the perspective of a feminist and activist - but as a woman who has experienced prostitution, violence, degredation and harm herself in the past.

To learn more about Andrea Dworkin, read her autobiography, or excerpts of any of her books on feminism and women's-issues (FREE) visit the website: http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/

I hope everyone will take the time to read Dworkin's works and think for themselves, especially women! I also encourage other YT users to post Dworkin's works and information. 

Part 1 of 3:


Part 2 of 3:
 

Part 3 of 3: