Letters

Dear Sekhmet,
Hello and thankyou to the organisers of the 3rd Annual Anarcha-Fem
Conference.  I had a relatively foul time at the Conference by it wasn't
your fault.  In fact if everything had been as nice as the organisation I
would have had 48 hours of blissdom and rejoicement. 

A friend and I agreed that aspects of the conference in fact resembled
less of a meeting of progressive radicals and more of our first few days
at high school. 

As women who don't meet mainstream expectations of femaleness, (ie we are
active rather than passive) we all cop a lot of shit.  We reap few of the
benefits allotted to those who conform and comply.  Given this, and given
anarchy and feminism's commitment to creating alternatives communities,
why the hell some people had to put up with put-downs and more ridicule
and alienation, in what should have been a safe environment for all
women, I don't understand. 

Some bigot-boy comedians I once had the misfortune of having a
conversation with, told me, when I complained about their
homophobic/racist/sexist jokes, that all humour offended somebody.  I
couldn't be bothered pursuing that issue, they'd heard my point of view
and they didn't matter that much to me.  But when I see humour used by
women as a tool to make themselves feel important and loved ( I do think
we can and should find other ways to feel this), and has the dastardly
but very real side effect of making other people feel stink, at a
conference with should be challenging cretinous behaivour not giving it
space, it matters. 

To all women and  to all the moments when women weren't too cool, (and/or
were feeling strong enough) to meet new people, have new conversations,
to laugh at themselves and to make an effort to ensure other people were
feeling happy and safe, thankyou. 

Maria
Palmerston North
p.s (q) What do you do if you're 
     driving along and see a space-man?
      (a)  You park in it man!Letters

Thank you for your comments, the collective felt it was important to
reply to some of your serious concerns.  We would like to emphasise
though that there were many good things that came out of the conference
and difficult issues like the ones you describe.  We hope in future that
with better organisation, more time, more emphasis on bonding and
building trust that these issues can be overcome next time.  So that we
can maintain the high level of emotional satisfaction and support we
women expect from each other. 



Dear Sekhmet,
It was great to be at the 95 Anarcha-feminist conference at Makahika
Lodge in February. Its bloody cool to have an annual get together which
is women only space. I found on the whole women respectful of others
talking space and listening well and spouting interesting ideas too. The
workshops were diverse and practical and to look at areas where anarchism
has fallen short was good too. Like talking about how to support te tino
rangatiratanga in this land in practical instead of just token ways.
Another new thing was lesbian workshops which I thought was really
important considering the good lesbian turnout. I also want to say thanks
to Lou for her skills in food mastery or mistressy I should say.  

What changes would I like to see next year? Well more time when women are
less tired for getting to know each other. More of a chance to talk about
what we would like out of the weekend, and the kind of respect we would
like from others. But I must say it was  a fab time for exploring ideas,
common interests and differences and yeah lets do it again. If youve got
any ideas for next year send them to us 

Bye bye
Caitlin
Wellington



Dear Sekhmet,
Today I witnessed a truly horrendous sight. I was up at Victoria
University using the Sutherland Room which is for students with
disabilities. Interestingly enough I had been reading on the subject of
Images of Women for a womens studies course. I look up to see this *!:*!
man wearing a T-shirt with the words Shut up stupid bitch splattered
across his chest. I felt so fucken pissed off my first reaction was to
pull out a gun and put a gaping hole right through the middle of his
macho puke torso. Why not? Hothead Piscean would have had his guts for
garters. However that is fantasy and that option was out. My next idea
was to throw paint t him - still impractical given the circumstances.
What should I do? Tell him what I think of his taste in shirts, well
isnt that what he wanted, feminist backlash? 

I left the room having done nothing but fume (damn - no smoke came out my
ears) and decided to ask my anarch-fem mates for ideas. So let me know
what you think of this one and other sexist slap in your face situations.
What youve done, would like to do.  

Write to SEKHMET but dont call our 0800 number coz we aint got one. 
See ya
Caitlin
Wellington


