On May 7th, REVEAL's, fabulous, ferocious & fiery heat
will be warming NYC.
Join the she-force on May 7th. Enter the code DIVA
and get $20 off registration at revealconference.org!
Can't wait to see you there!
On May 7th, REVEAL's, fabulous, ferocious & fiery heat
will be warming NYC.
Join the she-force on May 7th. Enter the code DIVA
and get $20 off registration at revealconference.org!
Can't wait to see you there!
Posted at 06:35 PM in Current Affairs, Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Delighted to be back after a temporary blogging hiatus. I'm back in the game and I'm thrilled to be live-tweeting the informative and inspiring panels at Newsweek and The Daily Beast’s second annual Women in the World summit.
I'll be tweeting from @jamiaw using the hashtag #WIW11. Don't miss a minute of the action. Tune into the livestream to get in on the conversation with Madeline Albright, Ashley Judd, Nawal El-Saadawi (legend!) , Melinda Gates, Tina Brown, Arianna Huffington, (my super brilliant sista-girl crush du jour) Malika Saada Saar, Bill Clinton, Diane Von Furstenburg, Condoleeza Rice (who fascinates me, I admit it!), and more:
Posted at 03:37 PM in Current Affairs, Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 06:13 PM in Current Affairs, health, Life, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
For the first time in three seasons of MTV's popular series "16 & Pregnant," and one season of "Teen Mom." MTV is debuting their first coverage of teens who choose to have abortions, called “No Easy Decision.” The WMC team and I are embarking on a watch-in, in solidarity with Exhale, an abortion talk-line that is partnering with MTV’s “16 & Pregnant” series (ranked #1 in its time period with 12-34 yr olds versus all television) which, on December 28th, will be venturing into new territory with a special that features three young women telling their abortion stories.
It is time for MTV to give coverage to a perspective that has largely been left out of the 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom discourse. When a woman terminates an unintended pregnancy, that is one of several options she may elect to choose. A woman must be allowed to make that choice if that is the best option for her individual situation–without government intervention. She should be allowed to make her decision and afforded her right to privacy. This very personal decision is one that is made between a woman, her doctor, and her conscience or God. We must defend each woman’s right to have a child or to choose NOT to have a child. Women deserve access to comprehensive sexuality education so that they can prevent unintended pregnancy, but also to ensure that they know about all of the safe options they can consider when faced with this deeply personal decision.
Please show solidarity with Exhale and TUNE IN TO SEND A MESSAGE TO MTV THAT WE NEED CONTINUED, BALANCED COVERAGE ABOUT ALL OF THE OPTIONS AND SUPPORT TEENS HAVE WHEN FACING UNINTENDED PREGNANCY - And to show support for the brave teens who shared their stories for the show.
It is also important that we work dilligently to combat any racism that will surely emerge when the anti-choice hardliners start their chatter about the show. When Entertainment Weekly released their piece about the show, I read some troubling racially-driven comments about Markai, an African American woman featured in both the original series and the special.
Markai's decision to terminate her pregnancy has received a lot of racially-tinged comments and judgment from the public. Its imperative that we ensure that we are putting positive comments out there and protecting her from racist vitriol as well as the sexist, classist, and anti-choice attacks. I am also concerned about some problematic stats some trolls in the interwebs have been throwing out about black women and abortion—i.e so-called “black genocide” commentary as well as ideological nonfactual drivel about black women having more abortions than any other race.
I hope you'll join the conversation. Clearly our voices need to be heard. I will be live-blogging and tweeting the “16 and Loved” special along with a team of bloggers including Jessica Valenti and Lynn Harris. Join our conversation live on December 28th at 11:30PM EST.
Follow the conversation live on Twitter with the hashtags #16andloved, #WMCwatchin, and #provoice.
Posted at 02:38 PM in Current Affairs, health, Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
One of my fabulous feminist friends posted a Facebook update musing that she wished that Anna Quindlen would have won an award at the Feminist Press 40 Under 40 event last night. Sandra Levine's acceptance speech purportedly stated that women under 40 don't call themselves feminists.
Appearently this remark was made a few minutes before an actual group of 40 FEMINISTS UNDER 40 were honored by the Feminist Press. As you know, I’m sick of this tired trope— hold me to it as I get older.
It’s a divisive pattern of thinking that I keep hearing in black progressive circles too. We all need to take responsibility and remain accountable to each other. We won’t be free until we can share power. Hegemony, condescension, and Feminism (i.e. EQUALITY) just don’t mix.
Check out this post from the fierce feminists at Feministing about Quindlen's statement of solidarity.
“I don’t want to hear anyone talk about how young women today aren’t this or that. Millennial women are the coolest, most capable, most together women ever.” --Anna Quindlen
Posted at 09:48 AM in Current Affairs, Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 04:52 PM in Current Affairs, Film, Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Crosspost from Women's Media Center
Inspired by the women she met at the Omega Women and Power Conference, WMC’s Jamia Wilson explains why their visions of spirituality belong at the heart of feminism.
The Omega Sanctuary.
For me, feminism is God’s work. Yes, I am a pro-choice feminist who celebrates science, and is committed to protecting first amendment rights for all. Concurrently, I humbly revere the sublime presence of the creator in all things, people, and ideas, including our movement for equality.
When I reflect upon my experience at the Omega Institute’s Women and Power conference from September 24 through 26, I envision the convergence of hundreds of powerful women and allies, sharing space and time to contemplate a common vision—compassion for ourselves and each other. As the Omega Institute website states, The Women and Power Conference empowers women “to bring hope, healing, and change to their own lives and the world around them.”
Many of the women I met at Omega dismantled the trite conservative notion that spirituality has no place within the feminist conversation. I encountered a cadre of such women as Gabrielle Bernstein, spiritual guru and former NARAL Young Professionals Council president, and Meggan Watterson, feminist theologian and executive director of REVEAL: Young Women Defining the Divine. Their faith fuels a passion for gender equality and feminist stewardship.
In a political climate where religious fundamentalism often corrupts, desecrates, and betrays, it makes sense that even some progressives are wary of the intersection of faith and politics. These women, however, exemplify the synergistic relationship between feminism, activism, and spirituality, representing many of us whose stories are often absent or minimized in the public discourse.
For three days, we allowed ourselves to return to nature and focus on “being the change we want to see in the world” in the spirit of Gandhi. Academics, activists, dharma teachers, yogis, performers, philanthropists, scientists, humanitarians, artists, mothers, poets, and educators, pondered the meaning of women’s leadership, with many concluding that guidance that is heart-driven and powered by compassion, love, innovation, and active listening will render a more powerful movement.
Among these courageous women were Leyma Gbowee, leader of Women of Liberia Mass Action, philanthropist Jennifer Buffett, and Malika Saada Saar, founder of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights (the name honors both the biblical Rebecca and beloved teacher and artist Rebecca Rice). These leaders call for a paradigm shift that privileges compassion, over destructive hegemonic manifestations of power that diminish humanity.
In listening to women’s stories over the three days, I gained a wealth of knowledge—including these seven potent ideas that inform how we can actualize our spiritual feminist power:
My most important takeaway from the conference was the idea that our success as a movement depends on our ability to respect spirituality’s role in the feminist conversation. Women are practicing feminism around the world by fighting for their values and beliefs, raising their voices, and demanding to be recognized in their spiritual communities. Current discourses related to women’s ordination, Islamic and Mormon feminism, Wiccan religious freedom, and many more conversations related to women’s spiritual lives provide us with new opportunities to discuss power and feminism with a perspective that will broaden our movement. I have faith that loving peace, mindfulness, karmic flow, sisterhood, and compassionate leadership will drive our movement to create more inclusive spaces where interfaith belief systems and discussions related to spirituality are welcomed rather than feared, and celebrated instead of undermined.
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author alone and do not represent WMC. WMC is a 501(c)(3) organization and does not endorse candidates.
Posted at 04:52 PM in Current Affairs, Life, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Last night, I experienced Gabrielle Bernstein's "The Universe Has Your Back" lecture and feel uplifted. I'm excited to start 30 days of meditation in order to take back my life, go within, and get up-close-and-personal with my divine feminine and my inner guide.
Gabrielle is a student of Marianne Williamson whose presentation at the UN Digital Media Lounge inspires me to continue to do the work I do, and bear witness by raising my voice, and remaining mindful and authentic.
Posted at 02:47 PM in Current Affairs, Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
At the Omega Institute’s 2010 Women and Power Conference last weekend, WMC Vice President Jamia Wilson spoke to Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco about feminism, spirituality and leadership.
Ani DiFranco marched and performed at the April 25, 2004, March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C.
Feminist icon, political activist, and raconteuse Ani DiFranco won a 2004 Grammy, and two years later the National Organization for Women (NOW) honored her with its Woman of Courage Award. In our short conversation, DiFranco, founder of Righteous Babe Records, displayed the wit, wisdom, self-definition and thoughtfulness that inform her music and political messages.
Jamia Wilson: Music has been your main medium for conveying powerful messages about social change. What are other sources that drive your power?
Ani DiFranco: More and more I realize feminism will save the world. Feminism is for everybody. You can’t start with a fundamental, crazy imbalance like patriarchy. Until we have gender equality we will have crazy social ills. Feminism is a tool for men as well to escape violence and inequality.
I was blessed with a feminist mom and her empowered friends who started a food co-op and were part of “Women for Downtown Buffalo.” We would always go door to door for progressive women candidates. I learned very early what it means to connect with other women, and I realized that these are the women whose respect means so much to me. I wanted the respect of the people I respect.
Wilson: As you may have already determined, this is a friendly feminist interview. How did you handle criticism from the opposition early on in your career?
DiFranco: I am getting more of the friendly interviews over time, but in the face of criticism I was secure that there was another world, an even better place to live on. That’s where my focus was. I never took criticism from the conservative media and patriarchal apparatus.
Wilson: You received NOW’s Woman of Courage Award at the Young Feminist Summit. What fuels your courage? What words of advice do you have for young feminists?
DiFranco: I turned 40 two days ago. I think that 15 years ago, I was not as clear. After struggling to get back to myself, I saw that the more you care for other people and put them next to you and provide an atmosphere where everyone is fulfilled, the more that atmosphere is created for yourself. Being benevolent and kind for someone else is doing it for yourself.
Wilson: Happy Birthday Ani! I’m honored that you’re spending it with us. I am turning 30 in a few weeks. We’re both Libras! [With her hands, DiFranco simulates the balancing scales that represent the zodiac sign.]
I have heard great things about the way you work with your band and staff. Do you have suggestions for how we can invoke more compassionate leadership within the movement? What does it look like?
DiFranco: It looks like mothers look. We need to look no further than the literal experience of your body that is my body, your blood that is my blood that puts us as women. Autonomy is a masculine family. We are one organism, different hearts, arms of one. Women have a heightened appreciation for this. You don’t have to give birth to know the spirit of this. It’s not about what’s right for me. It’s about what’s right for us. We don’t think for one, we think for at least two—hopefully we think for all. It’s the motivation for our deciding.
Conversely, there’s an important growing period for young women to know what we want and be able to act on our own behalf. Self-sacrificing is very female. Martyr can translate to anger. I inherited that anger and had to get a lot of that out of me to get the ultimate beauty and power of thinking like a woman. You’re not a martyr. You are one step ahead in something patriarchal society would do well to learn. You can’t think for one to have a successful world.
Wilson: I am emerging from that period in my life where I came to a similar realization about that level of personal awareness you spoke of. Spirituality centers me and allows me to listen more to my inner voice and needs. What does spirituality mean for you?
DiFranco: For me, God is a metaphor. All of the contexts in which God can be found are all based on a metaphor. Those that can think in terms of metaphor understand the consciousness that empowers us all. The more we recognize it, the stronger and happier we are. Spirituality is prioritizing, and focusing on serving that oneness.
Wilson: What role, if any, does spirituality have in the feminist movement? Is there synergy between activism and spirituality?
DiFranco: Spirituality has a different definition for each of us. Like love, it is inextricable—all of the great activists I know are spiritual, joyful, and loving people. They have discerned that working for your community and society is a way of being a more happy and fulfilled person, in a sense of being in touch with God.
Marches are all about driving fun, coming together in a positive space, and you meet people who make you feel less alone. That is where spirituality, activism and art become one.
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author alone and do not represent WMC. WMC is a 501(c)(3) organization and does not endorse candidates.
This article is a cross-post of a piece from Women's Media Center.
Posted at 12:51 PM in Current Affairs, Life, Music, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I am taking time to enjoy the quiet of the holiday weekend. Every once in a while, its important to stand up against the walls within ourselves and have frank conversations about where we are, where we're going, and where we need to be. Recently, I have experienced a whirlwind of change in many facets of my life. We are often swept away from our most authentic selves and our purest thoughts because of the hustle and bustle--especially in this fabulous and tumultuous city. Today, I treated myself to Mozart and tea, brunch with inspiring people, a beautiful pre-autumn stroll and meditation. We get one chance at this life, and its up to us to protect the sanctity and value of our own experience.
Posted at 04:14 PM in Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)






