Saturday, March 04, 2006

Who DO you think you are, or, "Gee, bitch, I didn't know you had a blog!"

Nobody asked me to do this meme but I’ve seen it around and it in combination with this post at Woman of Color make me feel like I need discuss some things. (Though neither is any of my business, just me snooping around) Another exigence—posting around on prof-authored blogs, I offered some advice and got a request to share material. Teaching is often about finding the right thing to steal and modify so I diligently removed my real name and The University’s from my materials and dutifully emailed them off. Once I got the reply, I realized that in all my diligence, I sent the email with my University signature: full name, rank, department, division, address AND University email address. I felt some horror for about 15-20 minutes. and realized that I needed to address this not in the coy way I have (coyness usually indicates a hidden-almost-from-self discomfort) but honestly and in context. Grading-addled as I am (nothing like when first started teaching but the mechanical grading ability wears out after a semester), I will cobble together what struck me and set me to thinking in both, with proper linkage of course.

On a different note, I would also like to bring up an issue that has been bothering me a bit lately.

The radical women of color blog ring states that to join the ring, a blogger must identify as a woman of color on her blog. This seems to be quite a simple requirement, but as I am learning more of the various reasons that many of us are blogging, I am beginning to think that this simple requirement is actually very loaded with serious issues for women of color.

First, many of us are blogging specifically because blogging allows a gender/race neutral space. …

Textaisle at Arbusto uses the "nuetral-ness" of the blogosphere as an act of resistance:


Through conscientious omissions of any of several other identities, I feel I, as a blogger, can better highlight the contradictions, strains, and overlappings entre las identidades that I play with as known quantities.


Thus, it is clear that many radical women of color who are blogging are choosing to not "come out" about their identity. …

posted by brownfemipower at 2/25/2006 09:38:00 PM

It had never occurred to me to not identify myself by race or gender b/c both are critical aspects of how I interpret the world and why I felt I had something to add to the blogosphere. When younger, in high school and perhaps my first few months in college, I would’ve believed in the gender-/race-neutral possibilities and potentials of the virtual spaces of the Internet in general, and clung fiercely to them. But I was not raised, didn’t grow up, didn’t get through decades of life race- or gender-neutral but highly identified and rewarded and restricted by and for both.

Is my refusal to be neutral radical? Is my insistence upon being in this space, shouting, ranting, being “unladylike” radical? Is it my dueling impulses of non-neutrality and non-nationalism? (Bad writing seeps in from the grading.) To be blatantly, defiantly race- and gender-identified but also say that neither race nor gender are essentialist, that I am fueled by yet not constrained by either/both?

Or...?

will continue………….





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7 Comments:

Blogger brownfemipower said...

hey woman!
I just clicked over to your site and found this post!!! WOuld you mind if it were a very late addition to this month's carnival???? It just got posted, and there is a section about identity, and if you don't mind, I would like this to be included too!!! that whole conversation never really got settled, as the carnival came up, and everybody got busy with that--anyway, you sound a lot like nubian at black ademic she's just about sick and tired of me always bringing this mess up!!!! ;-)

Sat Mar 04, 12:18:00 PM  
Blogger brownfemipower said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Sat Mar 04, 02:11:00 PM  
Blogger brownfemipower said...

ps. ok, i've had enough time to go back and fix the MULTIPLE spelling errors in that damn post--so I wanted to come back and clarify myself!!! ;-)

I first off want to make it absolutly clear that I don't think that anybody who is out and proud *ISN'T* powerful and strong and challenging and deserving.

I am coming from the point that 1. there are only 19 women on the blog ring and 2. whenever i bring this subject up--the one of having your voice highlighted, whether it be through a carnival, through a blog ring, through a discussion on my board, it's like POOF everybody disappears!!! So I have been wondering what the hell is going on--and then I saw the two posts by tex and by tiffany, and that seemed to answer in a small tiny way why there is this constant silence around "coming out" so to speak...so I posted what i did with the idea of maybe opening a space for women who for whatever reason, didn't want to be out on their blogs.

my own personal opinion? I couldn't NOT blog from the perspective i do. Like you, this is what I live, this is what I am, i can't deny or ignore or hide. and I also think that women of color need our own space as well--

But at the same time, I know from my own culture, that there is a culture of silence in many ways, simply because so many of us are "illegal" immigrants. This of course, brings a certian amount of fear to being out and proud about your identity politics, KWIM? and it would be awful easy for me to say, "fuck it mujer, come out and sing it proud" but i'm not the one that's gonna wind up in jail either.

I realize that there are many many other reasons as to why women aren't out or are choosing to remain in the closet, and I was just wondering in that post if there was any way we could complicate issues a bit and include those voices.

anyway, i'm very interested in seeing your "to be continued"!
:-)

Sat Mar 04, 02:13:00 PM  
Blogger G Bitch said...

Thanks, i will post more on that. Thanks for reading. I hope there's more here you like!

Sat Mar 04, 06:37:00 PM  
Blogger G Bitch said...

You may include my post, i meant to say. :)

Sat Mar 04, 06:39:00 PM  
Blogger brownfemipower said...

Thanks so much, I added you on!!! Maybe we can get a good conversation going some how that might start to deal with things.

I wanted to say that I love your site!! i started reading at your hi yellow bitch post, and i've been reading since!! I've been reading all the new orleans stuff from women of color--have you seen my private casbah? (I think that's how you spell it) she has a few posts on new orleans as well, and you both clearly are coming from the perspective of residents as opposed to all us outsiders. I mentioned you on her site as well, so maybe ya'll can hook up or something!!! ;-)
anyway, thanks so much for letting us link you!
peace,
bfp

Sat Mar 04, 07:54:00 PM  
Blogger G Bitch said...

I checked out the Casbah site. I like it so far. Thanks for the tip!

Sat Mar 04, 09:35:00 PM  

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