May

1

Blogging Against Disablism Day: On Depression

Filed Under blogswarm, disability, discrimination | 30 Comments

badd02Note: I was really hesitant to write this on Blogging Against Disablism Day, but it is a subject that has been on my mind a lot lately. It was after reading that writing on mental illness is very much welcome, that there is a language amnesty on this day, and specifically Amandaw’s comments encouraging people to hash out thoughts about what does and does not fit into disability that I decided to give this a go.  I hope that it won’t end up being inappropriate.

I have depression, and have to varying degrees for most of my life.  I guess that it was officially diagnosed only a few years back, though I’ve shown serious symptoms that there was something “wrong” with me since around age 10 and had my first major depressive episode when I was 13.  Though not given a specific diagnosis, I also get acute anxiety over things that many people seem to not even think about, and will often spend a lot of time feeling horribly anxious for literally no reason or for a very minor one.

When not simply exceedingly depressed, especially when my condition isn’t being controlled with medication, I’ll often have really severe, usually angry mood swings (please note that these do not include manic episodes).  And in addition to the emotional results of all of this, I can have extreme trouble with motivation, concentration and productivity.  I also have a lot of difficulty dealing with conflict, and to put it rather mildly, do not react at all well to stress.

I’ve never mentioned this here before, though you may have seen me mentioning it in passing on other blogs or on Twitter, despite the fact that it would have been exceedingly relevant to do so on more than one occasion.  The answer is simple: I’ve seen the reactions to it.  I’ve seen that daring to confess any sort of mental illness and/or instability can be used against you, especially in the blogging world where credibility is regularly attacked, and where women are often called irrational just for having an opinion.  And that people with anything short of “normal” mental health are often called irrational just by existing.

I know that many types of mental illness qualify under disability.  And after doing a decent amount of reading, I know that depression can, as well.  It is, however, not a term that I am comfortable using for myself, for numerous reasons (mainly a fear of appropriation).  And it’s not what I want to explore here.  I’m more interested in how bias has helped to shape my understanding of depression, a condition that is, after all, quite common, and yet still stigmatized.

Read more

Jul

26

Day of Blogs 2008 has begun!

Filed Under blog news, blogging, blogswarm, personal and self-promotion, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 4 Comments

This is where I will be writing for the Day of Blogs to benefit RAINN.

The first post is even up — only 47 more to go! Stop by, read, comment and show your support. I’m sure that I’ll need your help and encouragement to make it through!

Jul

25

Update on Day of Blogs

Filed Under blog news, blogging, blogswarm, personal and self-promotion, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 2 Comments

Look at that, we’re 92% of the way to my Day of Blogs goal! So close — and as I’ve said, wouldn’t it be great to surpass that goal? Now’s the time to give! Thanks again to everyone who has contributed so far.

I’ve decided to set up a little sub-blog for the day of blogs. I’ll post a very large link to it tomorrow at the start of the event. I’ve decided to go with this idea for several reasons, namely to not bury any and all posts I’ve written for the past several weeks and to not really piss off people who are subscribed to me through a blog reader. If you do read through a blog reader though, please add the event blog to your reader now!

I’m also putting out another call for help, this time more than just financial. I’m going to do my best tomorrow to put up as many posts about sexual assault as I can (though I’m sure that a few “here’s how I’m holding up” and “oh look, it’s a Beatles song!” posts will pop up). That’s where you come in: I’m compiling ideas for various things to write about tomorrow, and can use some help. Since I have to blog so very often, most posts will be short. So if you’ve got: news stories, links to relevant blogs or websites, relevant artwork/videos/music, and/or suggestions for topics that you would like to see me cover, please pass them along! It would be extremely useful if you could email me any links to cara.kulwick@gmail.com. More abstract ideas can be left in the comments.

Thanks so much. My one other request is that you all show up tomorrow, read and comment! I’m sure that I’ll need the encouragement and interaction to see it through. Wish me luck!

Jul

21

Day of Blogs

Filed Under activism, blog news, blogging, blogswarm, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 3 Comments

UPDATE 2: I take back the previous update — the people have spoken, and credit cards seem to win. So I’ve upgraded the account and now you can give however is most convenient for you. In fact, paying with a credit card may of right now be preferable, as it will make me feel better about the decision to upgrade ;)

80% of the way to goal! Wouldn’t it be great to surpass it? (*hint hint*) Thanks everyone!

UPDATE: Thank you folks who have donated so far! As of this update, we’re already 35% of the way to my tentative goal. I just want to let people know that if possible, it’s best to use your bank account with PayPal rather than your credit/debit card. This is because credit/debit card transactions are charged a small fee (5% + $.30) on the receiving end. Don’t worry if you’ve already sent your donation via credit card, because I didn’t realize the issue either, or if it really is your only payment option. While I’m happy to make up the difference in fees, the more I have to do that the less I can add on as an additional donation from myself! Especially since I can apparently only receive three more credit card transactions (eep!) and would have to upgrade my account and pay fees on everything in order to receive more. Thank you!

–

Alright folks, I need your help!

Because I apparently enjoy doing things on a whim, I just signed up for the Day of Blogs after seeing this post over at SAFER. Here’s how it works: on July 26th, a 24-hour blogathon begins. Participating blogs will be updated every 30 minutes. Each blogger has chosen a charity for whom they will collect sponsorships.

My chosen charity is RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network). They are the largest and most well-known anti-rape organization in the country.

Please help by donating below. I know that this is short notice, but that’s why I’m starting off with a modest goal and why I’m begging.  Any amount will help!

If you would prefer to pledge an amount per post, please email me at cara.kulwicki@gmail.com to let me know that you’re pledging, and I will contact you after the Day of Blogs with the total amount to donate. Posts are going up every 30 minutes, for up to 24 hours — in other words, 48 posts is the absolute maximum number of potential posts.

Thank you, everyone! I hope that I’ll be able to raise some money here and stay awake as long as possible on the 26th.  Please forward on this blog post or my ChipIn page to anyone else who you think may be interested.

May

2

Blogging Against Disablism

Filed Under blogswarm, disability, discrimination, feminism, reproductive justice, violence against women and girls | 1 Comment

I’m very sorry that I missed Blogging Against Disablism Day, yesterday. I’m even more sorry that I don’t have much of anything to say on the subject right now.

I would like to note that less than a year ago, I didn’t know a damn thing about the disability rights movement. I was only vaguely aware of its existence. Blogs — and this is perhaps the thing that I love most about the blogosphere and what it can do when at its best — opened my eyes. I’m exceedingly far from being an expert on disability rights now. But I have done some research. I read more than one disability rights blog regularly. I’ve struggled to overcome a lot of my own prejudices in that time. Which is precisely why it amazes me that I wrote this post last year — Disability Rights Are a Feminist Issue — and still agree with it now. I’m glad and a bit relieved to say that I can recommend your reading it.

A few things I didn’t note in that post that I would like to note now:

If feminists believe in reproductive justice, disabled or not, we must be particularly concerned for the rights of people with disabilities. Their reproductive rights are in some of the greatest danger, and we really need to work to overcome our own prejudices on that matter and recognize that reproductive justice is for everyone, not just some. The problems with the pro-choice movement are precisely why the term reproductive justice was coined, and if we’re going to use it in a way that is more than mere appropriation, we need to recognize that attitudes towards the reproductive rights of those with disabilities was and still is one of those problems.

We also must be particularly concerned for the rights of people with disabilities if we care about violence against women. Women with disabilities are much more likely than women without disabilities to be sexually assaulted. Women with disabilities also have a much higher rate of being victims of intimate partner violence.

And really, if we just care about women, if we care about feminism, we should care about the rights of those with disabilities. Women are a large part of the disabled community, and they face discrimination on a daily basis in terms of medical care, housing, employment, the right to make personal decisions and much more. Women with disabilities are women. We are feminists, and may have disabilities ourselves. It is our job to fight legal and social systems that prevent women from the opportunity to live happy, safe and free lives. The argument for why disability rights are a feminist issue really is that simple.

Diary of a Goldfish has the roundup from the blogswarm. It’s holds a huge amount of posts and is full of great bloggers, so I strongly encourage you to read through it. For more on the intersection of feminism and disability activism, I couldn’t more strongly recommend F.R.I.D.A. as a source to add to your blog readers.

Apr

14

Blog About The Congo Rape Epidemic

Filed Under Africa, International, activism, blogswarm, feminism, human rights, media, misogyny, patriarchy, race and racism, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 5 Comments

Yesterday was the day to blog about the Congo rape epidemic. As Sunday is my day off from blogging, I missed it — but as I always say when I come in late to these things (a specialty of mine), it’s better late than never, and it’s not too late for you to participate either.

I was unfortunately not able to watch the documentary The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, since I don’t have HBO, and I hope that it will be soon available through another outlets for those of us who don’t have access. But I’m happy that it has been made and that it has inspired bloggers to engage on this difficult topic.

It’s human nature to want to ask “who is responsible?” And the obvious answer is “the rapists.” This is absolutely true; of course they are responsible. But this type of epidemic does not materialize from nothingness. When rape is allowed to exist this rampantly and for so long, when weapons and funding do not appear out of thin air, when the world’s richest and most powerful nations turn away or ask simply and disinterestedly “what can we do?”, we must hold others accountable. And as Anxious Black Woman notes, among them are the Corporate Rapists, those who benefit financially from the conflict through their pillaging of the land’s natural resources. She prints a partial list of those corporations that absolutely must be disseminated as far and wide as we can manage:

Read more

Apr

3

Why We Can’t Afford to Dismiss Nick Eriksen

Filed Under assholes, bigotry, blogswarm, feminism, misogyny, patriarchy, politics, rape and sexual assault, sex and sexuality, slut-shaming, violence against women and girls | 21 Comments

You may have heard that two days ago, a British politician was revealed to be behind a far-right blog that spews prejudice at every turn. Among Nick Eriksen’s most offensive comments were those regarding rape (trigger warning).

The Standard can reveal that Nick Eriksen, the BNP’s London organiser and the second-highest candidate on its list for the Assembly, is the author of “Sir John Bull,” a notorious far-Right blog which has regularly advocated hatred and abuse against women. The disclosure will be a serious blow to the BNP’s hopes of London electoral success.

On 24 August 2005, Mr Eriksen wrote: “I’ve never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime … Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal.

“To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that forcefeeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched.

“The demonisation of rape is all part of the feminazi desire to obtain power and mastery over men. Men who go along with the rape myth are either morons or traitors.”

As far as conservative nutjobs go, Eriksen is extreme. Based on his other blog posts, I honestly don’t think it’s possible for him to look at a woman with anything but vile contempt. And the British National Party? They’re terrifying, and run almost entirely on a platform of making racism acceptable. There’s also the fun irony of the fact that they are “tough on crime” and support “the rights of victims” — no, really, they support corporal punishment for vandals and petty thieves. Which can only mean Eriksen thinks that spray painting graffiti on a wall is worse than raping your girlfriend.

We’re not dealing with your average misogynist, but once the shock wears off, I find Eriksen’s comments to be absolutely fascinating. And significant.

Read more

Apr

1

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Filed Under activism, blogging, blogswarm, feminism, human rights, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 5 Comments

I just wanted to drop a quick note to acknowledge that today kicked off Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Click the link for more ways to get involved. Here’s one suggestion: if you haven’t noticed the badge in the sidebar, April 3rd is Blog Against Sexual Violence day, scheduled to coincide with A Day to End Sexual Violence. The theme this year for both the awareness month and the blogswarm is sexual violence in the workplace.

I, of course, will be participating. I urge you to get involved, too, particularly if you write for a blog that doesn’t generally deal with sexual violence issues. I can keep hammering away about rape until I get carpal tunnel, but at the end of the day I still write for a feminist blog. And the people it is most important to reach are the kind who wouldn’t be caught dead with the URL of a feminist blog in their browser history.

You don’t have to blog about the theme topic — any subject matter regarding sexual violence will do. I don’t think that my post will be on sexual violence in the workplace, though I haven’t yet picked a topic (suggestions are welcome!). Though I blog about sexual assault rather regularly, I will make a special effort this month to cover those issues even more, as much as the rest of the crazy misogynist news will allow. I’d particularly like to highlight activist groups that are working to combat sexual violence, and I’m especially interested in community-based work and innovative approaches. If you know something that fits that bill, please do let me know!

For a real post highlighting the importance of this month, check out Marcella. And then, while you’re there, sign up to blog against sexual violence on the 3rd and grab yourself a blog badge.

Mar

4

International Sex Workers Rights Day

Filed Under blogswarm, class and economics, courts, discrimination, feminism, human rights, misogyny, objectification, pornography, rape and sexual assault, sex and sexuality, sex work, sexual exploitation and harassment, slut-shaming, violence against women and girls | 28 Comments

As I briefly mentioned earlier, yesterday was International Sex Workers Rights Day. I missed it; I didn’t know that it was going on until I’d already posted for the day, and I just didn’t have the time for a second post. So I planned to write about it today instead. I felt slightly guilty about that, but now that I’m well aware that the issue didn’t get nearly as much coverage as it should have, I feel really guilty. I tell you this not only by way of explanation, but also to say that if you blog, I know it’s easy to miss things and to not blog about something when you should. And it’s not too late to make it right.

That being said, to those who purposely avoided blogging on the topic, I understand why. Talking about sex work causes fighting, and not the feminist vs. troll kind, but the feminist vs. feminist kind. Positioning yourself in that argument isn’t a fun thing to do, particularly if you think that each side has at least a couple of good points, and it’s easy to avoid the question all together (this is of course, what we call “privilege”). But that doesn’t make avoiding it right. I’m fine with everyone voicing their opinions, but I do want to let everyone know up front that I will not allow things to get ugly, personal or insulting. And while I’m not going to insist that everyone post from a pro-decriminalization standpoint, I do insist that comments come from a perspective that promotes rights for sex workers — however you believe that those rights are best obtained. I’ve never had to ban a feminist before, or even ask one to stop posting; please don’t make me start today.

So. Why sex workers’ rights? Well, it’s pretty simple. Even those sex workers who enjoy their jobs get a hell of a raw deal. All around the world, sex workers are: investigated and arrested for making a living, deported even when there is evidence of non-consent, left without any form of job security, gang-raped and abused by their bosses but left without recourse for fear that they themselves will be arrested, and arrested for mere suspicion of prostitution, including carrying condoms (which only discourages safer sex).

Read more

Jan

22

Blog For Choice

Filed Under 2008 election, abortion, activism, anti-choice extremism, blogswarm, feminism, paternalism, patriarchy, politics, religious fanaticism, reproductive justice, women’s health | 8 Comments

Today is the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. And that means it’s also Blog For Choice Day.

This year’s theme is about politics: why is it important to vote pro-choice? I looked at this question for a while and felt stumped. I vote for candidates who support reproductive health for the same reason that I vote for any issue: because I believe in it. That’s clear enough. But more specifically, we need to vote pro-choice because simply being pro-choice is not enough.

Those of us who have been paying attention know perfectly well that Roe is under attack. And 2007 was a particularly interesting year. The Roberts-led Supreme Court upheld the “partial-birth abortion” ban that has no exception for a woman’s health, despite its direct conflict with Roe. States have been tripping over themselves to pass “trigger laws” that would outlaw abortion immediately if Roe was overturned. State legislators have also been proposing an endless amount of misogynist bills that would restrict the right to an abortion: all out bans, “informed consent” laws that lie to women, laws requiring forced, medically unnecessary renovations to abortion clinics, laws requiring that women get permission from their fetus’ fathers before having an abortion, and laws granting legal rights to fetuses, or even to fertilized eggs.

Not all of the legislation, thank god, has been passed. Too much of it has. And some we’re still waiting on.

We’ve also faced attempts to shut down clinics, direct harassment doctors who perform abortions and outrageous abuse of the legal system. All of these attacks were politically motivated. And our elected officials were either a part of the problem or part of the solution.

We’ve also got the long-standing battles. There’s the Hyde Amendment, which basically rendered the Roe decision irrelevant for millions of low-income women. Internationally, we’ve got the Global Gag Rule to contend with. And though Congress has recently tried to repeal all or parts of this unjust law that has killed innumerable women overseas, it was a fruitless endeavor. Because we have an anti-choice president.

Read more

Next Page →