Fantastic Women

White upper class women are not the only ones present in the feminist movement. This blog is dedicated to recognizing all the badass women who should really be in more history books. Have a badass woman you want to see on this blog? Send an ask with the name, or submit a biography of your own to be posted!

[will-work-for-progress]

11 Trans Artists Of Color You Should Know In 2013

[intersectional-feminism]

Art has been an important site of resistance and identity making for trans people of color. We’ve used the medium to share our stories, document our lives and express our humanity. Fortunately for us, we are living in a media moment that thirsts to understand the trans experience.

[intersectional-feminism]

Huda Shaarawi (1879-1947)

Huda Shaarawi (1897-1947)

Huda Shaarawi

Huda Shaarawi was born in Egypt in 1879, and became one of the leading feminists and nationalist leaders of her time. She not only had a profound effect on Egyptian women, but on women throughout the Arab world.

Shaarawi was born into an upper class Egyptian family and was raised in the harem system. ‘Harem’ referred to the separate rooms that women kept away from men in, and women were required to wear veils in public. Not only Muslim women, but Christian and Jewish women also followed this rule. Shaarawi resented all of these restrictions placed on her freedom, and began to organize for a more expanded role for women in the public sphere.

Shaarawi founded the first philanthropic society run by women in Egypt, focused on providing service to poor women and children. She also opened a girl’s school that focused not on practical skills traditionally taught to women like midwifery, but on academics. During World War I, women left the harem in large numbers to protest British rule over Egypt, staging protests across the country. Shaarawi was extremely involved in the nationalist independence movement. When Egyptian independence was declared, women were expected to go back into the harem, but Shaarawi was not willing to leave the public sphere just yet.

After the death of her husband, Shaarawi decided that she would no longer wear the veil in public. As she stepped off the train in Cairo, she removed her veil, the first time a woman had removed her veil in public in Egypt. The crowd was momentarily stunned, but soon began to cheer and many other women removed their veils as well in support.

By blending western-style feminism with her culture’s own rich tradition, Huda Shaarawi formed an effective political movement that has greatly influenced Arab feminists today

[gustavvofring]

Single most powerful spoken word piece I’ve seen in years.

[intersectional-feminism]

Leymah Gbowee

Leymah Gbowee

Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist responsible for mobilizing women and bringing an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003.

Gbowee worked as the leader of the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, creating a coalition of different religious and ethnic groups that staged non-violent demonstrations in defiance of Charles Taylor. The most famous of Gbowee’s tactics in agitating for peace was a sex strike, Lysistrata style. While the strike was not extremely effective in itself, it was very good for capturing media attention and in April of 2003, Taylor finally agreed to grant the women an audience. More than 2,000 women came to support the peace effort as Gbowee demanded an end to the violence.

During the ensuing peace talks, she and her supporters were even more bold. The talks dragged on for months with no noticeable effects, so she and hundreds of other women traveled to Ghana to block the exits of the peace meeting room, holding the delegates ‘hostage’ until an agreement was reached. When the delegates tried to leave anyways, the women threatened to tear off their own clothes, as, “In Africa, it's a terrible curse to see a married or elderly woman deliberately bare herself.” The women changed the whole atmosphere of the peace talks, forcing the delegates to take them seriously and work for peace.

On August 18th, 2003, the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed, ending 14 years of warfare in Liberia.

She, along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman were awarded the 2011 Noble Peace Prize. 

[lezbhonest]

okay gays… let’s move to sweden. this is nyamko sabuni — she served as minister of GENDER EQUALITY in the swedish government from 2006 to 2013. in the above picture, she is seen….dressed as cat woman… during her time in office… at a pride parade.

are you serious?! sabuni and the election of sabuni is awesome for so many reasons.

click the picture to read an overview of LGBT rights in sweden.

[intersectional-feminism]

Christine Quintasket “Mourning Dove” (1884-1963)

Christine Quintasket “Mourning Dove”

Christine Quintasket was an Interior Salish woman who wrote about her experiences. She is the author of the first novel published by a Native American woman. Her novel was the story of a mixed-race woman and was published under the penname “Mourning Dove.” 

Her novel Cogewea: The Half-Blood appeared in 1981 and is the first published novel recognized as authored by a Native American woman. She did not get the chance to approve the final edit, so there were many changes to the novel made by the editor that she did not have a say in. Though she expressed approval for these changes, her work has been criticized as not truly hers but rather just her name attached to it for ‘Native authenticity’.

Quintasket was not only interested in writing fiction, but also spent a great deal of time collecting folklore from those she encountered. She and her husband travelled widely as migrant workers, and Quintasket was intensely interested in collecting the cultural stories of the people she met. These stories were collected in an anthology Coyote Stories, which publishers intended as a collection of children’s bedtime stories. In the edition process, all mentions of sex, violence, moral preaching, and creation stories that would be ridiculed by whites was eliminated from the stories. Unfortunately this made the folklores virtually unrecognizable.

Her posthumously published autobiography is where her voice truly shines. In Mourning Dove: A Salishan Autobiography there is no trace of the intrusive white editor that is seen through Cogewea or the sanitized for white audiences content of Coyote Stories. Her autobiography instead creates a detailed picture of Native American life at the time, and her clear voice and purpose served as an inspiration for Native American authors that followed.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Women around the world respond to FEMEN’s ‘International Topless Jihad Day.’

#MuslimahPride

Via Muslim Women Against FEMEN: “This group is primarily for Muslim women who want to expose FEMEN for the Islamophobes/Imperialists that they are. We have had enough of western feminists imposing their values on us. We are taking a stand to make our voices heard and reclaim our agency. Muslim women have had enough of this paternalistic and parasitic relationship with SOME western feminists. The group is open to all, Muslim and non-Muslim, men and women.”

[intersectional-feminism]

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was an early advocate for the rights of the women of Nigeria, and is known as “The Mother of Africa” and the “Lioness of Lisabi.” She was the first Nigerian woman to drive a car, and a member of the team that negotiated freedom from the British.

When King Oba Ademola II imposed new taxation on profits that women made at market, Ransome-Kuti called the women to action. The market had traditionally been a women’s space, and the profits they made there were their own, unable to be taken by their husband or the government. When the colonial government attempted to infringe on this freedom, Ransome-Kuti mobilized the women to protest. They boycotted the market, refusing to sell until the colonial government recognized their rights as traders. Here she formed the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Union. When this still did not have an effect, she decided to dethrone the king. She and the women who supported her stormed the king’s compound, making it impossible for him to leave or do anything. The king fled, leaving Ransome-Kuti victorious.  

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was the mother of Fela Kuti, a musician and activist who was targeted by the Nigerian government. In a raid on his compound, at the age of 78 she was thrown from a second story window by soldiers and died soon after on April 13, 1978.

Her legacy lives on in Nigeria. Seun Kuti, her grandson, has accused the government of Nigeria of murdering her and demanded an apology and that she be put on the 5000 note. The government has not responded, but a growing social media campaign in support of her is increasing pressure on the government.

[supertrampnyc-deactivated201309]

There’s no place like homo There’s no place like homo There’s no place like homo

somewhere over the rainbow way up high there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby

Wake up honi it’s called san francisco where white bourgie bitches getting gay married but my ass ain’t got an invite sha hoo~

Somewhere over the rainbow Blue birds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow. Why then, oh why can’t I?

BECAUSE YOU’RE BROWN HONEY GURL

I’m bout to sassy gay friend this ish ~ Not gay as in happy but queer as in fuck you Rainbows are just refracted beams of white light, Gay marriage activism is a temper tantrum: Mommy I’m going to buy an “I’m a second class citizen” American Apparel v-neck to go with my corporate internship and some ass

I didn’t always think this way Cuz philadelphia taught me everything i still know about shame that my queer body was something to “correct” that looking like “a faggot with a cunt” only meant I was looking for trouble

So in high school I laced my shoes with rainbows and preached the gospel of equal rights and pride That tell us marriage will finally untangle our love from shame, will legislate us wholly human

But the day same sex marriage was legalized in New York, DC, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa it didn’t get better because “Somewhere over the rainbow” there’s a pot of Goldman Sachs **DUN DUN DUN DUN**We are gathered here today**

for richer, for poorer tell that to El’Jai who lost his job last year His state is one of only 12 where you cannot legally be fired for having a body that doesn’t sit right with your heart but his job “could only be done by a man” and his genitals did not conform to his employers expectations.

[I do not know if he won the court case, only that he has a son, and that being brown and trans means being 4 times less likely to find work] but who needs money for bread when you can eat wedding cake!

in good times and in bad tell that to Temmie Breslauer a transwoman who was arrested for using her father’s discount subway card. the NYPD chained her to a wall for 28 hours and called her a he-she to have and to be held this is what marriage means for queer people as we send the government wedding invitations to incarcerate our love

till death do us part, tell that to asher brown who at thirteen took a gun to his head as if it was an act of patriotism because in texas being gay is a death sentence it is nights spent whispering secrets to open skies it is the sound of your mother crying because she wonders how that thing came out of her

and i do, i do, i do not believe that a marriage certificate could have stopped the bullet

Remember, Remember, Remember, There is something beautiful about being lied to: Rainbows are just a trick of light, They make us forget the storm is still happening, When walking towards the end of the rainbow, it will always move away.

[negress007]

“The failure of feminism to interrogate race means that the resistance strategies of feminism will often replicate and reinforce the subordination of people of color, and the failure of anti-racism to interrogate patriarchy means that anti-racism will frequently reproduce the subordination of women. These mutual elisions present a particularly difficult political dilemma for women of color. Adopting either analysis constitutes a denial of a fundamental dimension of our subordination and works to precludes the development of a political discourse that more fully empowers women of color.”

-Kimberle Crenshaw (via negress007)

[intersectional-feminism]

Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Anzaldúa.was a pioneer of intersectionality. Her writings brought together gender, Chicano/a studies, queer theory, and spirituality. Her work and focus on raising awareness for the struggles of women of color and queer women helped change the way feminism dealt with the difficulties of intersectionality, and gave more focus to groups that had previously been ignored.

Anzaldúa was an important figure in the Chicano and Chicana movement. Her academic works helped articulate the struggle in establishing a Chicana identity through a mix of poetry and prose. Her work deals with the development of her identity as a woman, a Chicana woman, and a lesbian, and the issues with those intersections. She was heavily involved in political activism and consciousness-raising, frequently establishing herself as a resource for young women of color and queer youth struggling to find a place for their identities.

Anzaldúa was deeply committed to opening up feminism and constructing a broader, more multicultural and inclusive movement. She was extremely dissatisfied with the lack of work by or about women of color on feminist issues. To fill this gap, she and Cherríe Moraga edited a collection of works in what is now recognized as a critically important piece of feminist canon, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. The works in this anthology focused on the experiences of women of color and posed a challenge to the traditionally accepted white feminist establishment. Anzaldúa called for greater presence of women of color, queer women, and other underrepresented voices to be given a greater place in feminism. Anzaldúa and this anthology ultimately set the stage for the emergence of third wave feminism.

Anzaldúa writes in a complex blend of styles and forms, frequently mixing Spanish, English, and dialect variations as well. Her intent is to mirror the process that feminists must go through to establish their ideas despite the patriarchy’s influence. 

Gloria Anzaldúa died May 15th, 2004 but her work continues influence the feminist movement today.