Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

from the ‘who gives a shit?’ files: my feminist walkabout

in a nutshell, this is a narrative of what feminism has meant to me through the years and where I go to seek and express feminism in my life now.  to a good extent, my progressive / liberal politics have formed and expressed along similar lines.

feminism in my life, came from my mother along with a love of Count Basie and Dave Brubeck.  she was a lifelong registered Democrat and feminist.  growing up in the 60’s, with civil rights, feminism and my first exposure to concepts of treating people with fairness and equality, these things all became synonymous to me.  we lived in South Chicago, in a neighborhood that housed the steel mill there.  it was white as hell, mostly from Slavic, Irish & Polish ancestry.  other kids’ moms would be complaining about “the Mexicans” and “the blacks”, but my mother was an island of equality, dignity and rights.  she was friendly with those families but distinct in her regard of race and gender.

my father was a fairly sexist dude and in a very cheesy 60’s and 70’s manner.  he’d call a waitress ‘love’ and have this whole cheeseball aura.  it was pretty embarrassing.  he used to tell me that because I was his oldest child and a son, that when he left the house – I was in charge.  this was bullshit of course, because mom was in charge.  I never felt comfortable stepping into the “cheeseball dude” role, so I just let him say that shit without much of a response from me.  it made him happy, I suppose, plus I had zero chance in getting him to stop.  

Posted at SexGenderBody’s tumblr

“God Loves Uganda”

** note: as usual, my film reviews are just my collected thoughts.  don’t expect Roger Ebert here (read: I swear a lot)…just sayin’ **

So, I went to an advanced screening of this film, “God Loves Uganda” tonight.  It was sponsored by Political Research Associates and shown at the SAIC.  I can’t remember how I found out about it…twitter, I suppose…but I’m glad that I did go.  There was a panel discussion afterward as well.  

There were some snacks and chatting beforehand, but I had a bout of social awkwardness and ate cookies off to the side and tooled around on tumblr, etc.  

The film is a documentary about how US evangelicals are shaping anti-gay hate in Uganda.  The film covers several aspects of the bill before the Ugandan parliament.

Posted at SexGenderBody’s tumblr

On Tim Tebow and the captive audience sales pitch

When I was a kid, our family would gather at my grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  All manner of cousins, aunts, uncles and sundry relatives would descend on a little house in Batavia, IL.  She had a bar in the basement with a pool table, a long dining room table made longer by adding some folding card tables and folding chairs.  In the living room, she had a big color TV – one of those tube jobs with the old remote that clicked loudly when you pressed a button.

(Posted at SexGenderBody)

that time when I was 12 and forced to deal with abortion

My parents sent me to Catholic grade school, catechism and the whole nine yards.  My mother was Catholic but she was also a Democrat, pro women’s rights.  She dragged us to church but she was not on board with a lot of the Church’s ways.  My dad was Presbyterian and never went to church.  He didn’t buy into much of the rah rah business.  But, Catholic school was where we went.

(Posted at SexGenderBody)

Privilege within communities working to lessen privilege

Audre Lorde once spoke at a feminist conference, noting that she was the only black lesbian there and one of only two women of color.  She was pointing at privilege and exclusion within a group formed to remedy and address privilege and exclusion.  In this address, she pointed to the language and organizational structure adopted by feminists to address patriarchy was formed by patriarchy to reinforce patriarchy.  That language and organization are the “master’s tools” she speaks of and her assessment is that by using them, privilege will not be eliminated, but instead renewed and sustained.  

(Posted at SexGenderBody)

Open Letter to Cardinal George regarding his comparison of LGBTQI to the KKK

I just could not let this one go without saying something…

Cardinal George set the low bar for reason, respect and atrocity this week in comparing LGBTQI persons and organizations to the KKK.

He is upset that a bunch of queers want to have their pride parade on a street where one of his churches are.  He claims that queer people walking past his church violate his religious freedom.  Here is my open letter to him.

(Posted at SexGenderBody)

the (snow)faces change but the (appropriated) song remains the same, and the crowd goes wild.

I was tripping over the many tumblr conversations about Hugo Schwyzer lately.  A good number of people articulated some solid points about him, as well as the many who stated their outrage and distrust of him.  Some folks take his writing as separate from his life and others will not grant this as valid.  From what I see, he’s done some pretty shitty things.  Each one of those points is worth discussing, yet something else was gnawing at me in all of this and that’s what I want to discuss now.

How did a cis-het white man get to be a voice for feminism?

(Posted at sexgenderbody.)

on gaga: how being in the news is not news

[Warning: I will actually be criticising white people, lady gaga and several sacred cows of white culture]

Lady Gaga is all the rage.  She loves her some gay people and she even sings a song that takes up the banner of gay rights – “Born This Way”. 

Before anyone derails this into a conversation about music (it’s not), my taste (I have none), why I don’t like gaga (I think she’s talented enough), any theory of me being anti-LGBTQI (wrong again, camel-breath) or my dislike for white people (I am white and harbor no such thoughts) – be clear: this is about the institutionalized cultural appropriation has been served up to and consumed by cis-gendered, heteronormative white audiences.

These are the lies we are told in order to maintain division and inequality by those who profit from our ignorance and cruelty toward each other.

(Posted at SexGenderBody)

An SGB Interview with Vyckie Garrison of No Longer Quivering

Vyckie Garrison

Vyckie Garrison runs a website called No Longer Quivering, which assists women in transitioning from abusive, oppressive and servile roles as breeding servants of husbands and an interpretation of the Bible called The Quiverful movement.  The site features the stories of women and families, told in their own words – about the harsh price paid by women and children in oppressive, strict religion.  Most of the stories are painful to read, but I encourage you to read them.  The knowledge of what these women go through in order to provide healthy lives for themselves and their children – is breathtaking.  Vyckie also operates a site called The Take Heart Project, to support women in all religions who seek to free themselves of oppression, brutality & dehumanization in the name of a god. 

(Posted at SexGenderBody