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Wanted: Queer, Alternative and Subversive Femininities

Wanted: Queer, Subversive and Alternative Femininities!

I am a PhD student in Gender Studies at Leeds University, working on a project about queer femininities.

I am looking for people who identify as being feminine in an alternative, subversive or queer way to take part in this research project about feminine identities.

What is involved?

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Multikulturelle Frauengruppe Köln

Wir sind Frauen unterschiedlichen Alters und Herkunft, die sich regelmäßig in Köln-Kalk treffen. Wir machen zusammen Gymnastik, Entspannungsübungen und in der anschließenden Gesprächsrunde erfahren wir mehr voneinander, unseren unterschiedlichen Kulturen und auch gegenseitige Hilfe und Unterstützung, z.B. Tips zur Gesundheit, Ernährung, etc.

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1a Convocatória Riot Grrrl Salvador

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I'm so proud of helping to spread the word of the first riot grrrl call up of Salvador, this is all about Na Lâmina da Faca's Collective. After Brazils' Ladyfest Íris said that she was really inspired, and now we all can see the good benefits of it.
They are asking for everybody that got good ideas to make together a D.I.Y festival made by woman. If you want to send your zine, band demo, art, patche, mixtapecd, you are welcome.

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New essay on Eva & Co, feminist mag from Austria

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Eva and Co magazine, launched in 1982, was a successful femininist magazine from Austria which combined theory, strategy, and creativity to promote the work of contemporary women artists and activists.

When the magazine disbanded in 1992, the magazine team wrote a manifesto of continued promise: “We will infiltrate everything! We will go underground and to the sky. And be warned: in the future we will camouflage ourselves.”

Read Eva Ursprung's first person history of the magazine and its exploits.

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Rdece Zore Fest: Zine Expo

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hey! so here's some pictures from the zine expo i helped set up at Rdece Zore this year.

Based in Ljubljana, this queer fem fest celebrates cutting edge performers, artists, theorists, writers, and provocateurs. Raised for the eleventh time, Rdece Zore excels in offering creative political engagement in an atmosphere of diy / professionalism / avant garde / intergenerationalism. Every audience member has the chance to participate in some way and the friendliness of the space and organising team is legendary.

catch Mirjam Baumert's interviews with myself and Gabefrom cunterview.net over at the festival blog.

personal highlights? These have to include the Queen of Eggs exhibiton replete with swinging ball bags for visitors made from water ballons and tights, the I Ass Jazz dance performance and the opportunity to hug a girl on stage whilst she recited Beyonce lyrics as poetry, a session on remembering Uckermark concentration camp for "unsociable" girls, and hanging out with some very cool ladies indeed.

props to all the organisers for another amazing fest, and for Metelkova for being such a sprawling, action hub of connection.

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International Girl Gang Underground

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Take a good look in the Flyer: it's a Call for Submissions to a zine that wants to compile and organize DIY, Punk, Queer, Transgender movement and they need material. I guess I'll send something cause it's great to help to do a zine like that.

To see the bigger image and read in portuguese:
http://ansia2.blogspot.com/2010/03/international-girl-gang-underground.html

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Kathleen Hanna interviewed on GRITtv

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Following from our blog post about Kathleen donating her papers to an archive in New York, the nice folk at GRITtv just got in touch about an interview they recorded with the riot grrrl stalwart.

Check out the awesome clip out here

http://www.blip.tv/file/3228125

and also just found out about the Bikini Kill archive blog. Go contribute your memories!
http://bikinikillarchive.wordpress.com/

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feministinnen.de, ein Diskussionsforum für Riot Grrrls, Queers, Feministinnen und Interessierte

Check out our german online-forum http://www.feministinnen.de, a community for Riot Grrrls, feminists, activists, queers, homos, transgender and just interested people!!!

visit: www.feministinnen.de (or also: www.riot-grrrl.de)

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Riot Grrrl History: Kathleen Hanna donates personal papers to an archive

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Much beloved figure within punk rock feminism, Kathleen Hanna is an icon for our generation. Standing on stage sreaming about girl's rights ("rights. rights. you do have them"), writing about sexual abuse in a way that opens your guts on to the page, and constantly encouraging other feminists to find their voices and own ways of resisting, Hanna has been an incredidly influential figure in the rise of riot grrrl and third wave feminisms. She's been the soundtrack and mentor for many young feminists learning how to make zines, make noise, change their scenes, and start a "grrrl style revolution, right now!".

So it's pretty exciting to hear that Kathleen has donated a whole stack of personal papers from the years 1989 to 1996 to the NYU's Fales Library in the States, which has a brand new Riot Grrrl Collection. The histories of queer/grrrl/Lady actions are still to be told, especially in our own words. When more materials are available for the historical record it helps us move beyond all the fourth-hand news that often gets reported, and distorted, in popular press and academic accounts. Knowing our histories not only gives us the courage to stand up and speak out, it also passes on valuable information about tactics and strategies. We need a mountain of these histories to keep us strong and to keep us moving.

Hanna and her co-conspirators over the years have contributed massively to an underground challenge to male dominance in women's everyday lives. Riot Grrrl was not just a North American thing but has been picked up across Europe, Down Under, in Latin America, South Africa, Malaysia and the Phillipines. Whilst its power as a subculture fuelled by sounds and fanzines have diminished over the years- as is only right for a healthy, self-generating feminist counter culture- its legacies are still incrediby powerful and shape many punk rock feminist dreams still.

Kathleen Hanna, we salute you!

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Do you ever read / watch / listen to feminist-made media? Ever been to a Ladyfest? Come fill out our online questionnaires...

As part of our research projects "Feminist Media in Europe" and "Young Women as Creators of New Cultural Spaces" we have created two online questionnaires.

The first one is to find out how and why people consumer and/or produce feminist media. This survey is specifically targeted to people living in Europe. Fill out the survey here

The second one is to find out about people's experiences at Ladyfest festivals. Fill out the survey here

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