Freerange #10, 'the womens issue'....

Sounds like an interesting issue... Sally I know another couple of female architect/teacher/lecturers who might be interested in talking to you? Also, in regards to gender more generally, i found this article to be a cracker: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/opinion/sunday/google-tell-me-is-my-son-a-genius.html?_r=1 (there might be some inspiration in there?)

Hi everyone, great discussion. I'd just remind you all that this discussion is to work out what this issue of Freerange should be about. The discussion seems to be going largely towards firstly, peoples personal accounts of feminism, and secondly, some professional aspects of gender and feminism. The difficult but crucial question is how can these things be constructed into a direction for the issue?

My only real editorial/publisher thought is that Freerange is always supposed to be about challenging and subverting the world, starting with ourselves.

Putting it another way. If you were to walk into a shop and see a magazine, what would really excite you if you picked it up and started reading it? What would give meaning and direction to that magazine?

What might excite me enough to read:
-Front cover :1)"I'm a Feminist" with photo of man who identifies as a feminist with article in magazine
2) 'I am a feminist' front cover with photos of many different people who identify as being a feminist . Some (cliches) may include 'stripper, prostitute, stay at home mum, 'career' woman, female scholar, feminist man who may also be any of the above etc,
-Women in science
-interesting personal accounts of everyday women doing every day things that are feminism
- the articles in the magazine might be quite opposing and confronting

Hi everyone. Thanks for the input thus far.

The things I am taking from this are that;

Feminism is broad term that individuals and organisations understand, view, assert and demostrate differently depending on circumstances, backgrounds and a myriad of other things. Everything is subjective.

Feminism is ever evolving.

Feminism is for everyone!

One main thread I am seeing is that we want to hear stories of what feminism means to other people and ourselves, via real life experiences / stories.

I'd also like to see some analysis and real hearty discourse about what is happening in the world today for women / lgbt (lesbian gay bisexual trans etc) / feminists and why. Relating to technological advances of the last few decades, and shifts in the ways that communities and individuals communicate.

Barnaby, on the what would excite me and subversion tip:

I would be really excited to read some true confession type articles that would be relatable to anyone. Articles that were brutally honest and revealing and dialog inducing from people who don't necessarily identify themselves as feminists, or who don't know what the hell that means.

Like this: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/18/my-wife-was-murdered-by-a-monster-but-most-perpetrators-of-violence-are-normal-guys

I would also be interested to hear from writers who are from countries where I might be surprised to hear interesting and complex versions and definitions of feminism

I would be excited to hear from artists/people whose work expressed/explored feminism in a non-verbal way

Like this: http://atlantamaryeke.wordpress.com/ (a performance artist who I happen to be working with next month, check out her Recent Works section)

I always love a good, smart interview. Like those in The Sun magazine. But what about something Ali G style with a blatant misogynist? You know, playing devil's advocate?

Haraway is extraordinary if technology is an area of interest: http://www.faculty.umb.edu/gary_zabel/Courses/Art%20and%20Philosophy%20in%20SL%20and%20Other%20Virtual%20Worlds/Texts/cyborg_manifesto.pdf

Interesting discussion so far. I was having a conversation with a friend about Sheryl Sandberg's book 'Lean In' and she felt the issue of women in leadership discussed in the book was skewed more towards the corporate model of lifestyle (as you would expect), so I wonder what that discussion about leadership would be like outside of that lifestyle approach.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/columns/bitchslap-a-column-about-women-and-fighting

This column always makes me think about the stereotypes that women exist within and resist without being preachy. Being invested in her own experiences the writers responses always draw the conclusion of her as an individual human being as opposed to a woman - through the lens of her participation in a 'typical male sport' she resists categorisation, acknowledges shared human failings, and provides insights into shared experiences and difference as all being part of the whole person.

One thing I would really like to see is a cross section of the community (age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic) representing their views/experiences/lives. Also- Women of Aotearoa- who are the women we hold up as feminists? (I keep thinking of Bek Coogan and in the hey days of Cortina...) And yip, it would be good to get a male feminist point of view. In regards to looking at violence towards women- The article that Hannah posted was great, and it would be great to see a critical examination of NZ and our "it's not ok" campaign/ John Key's support of Tony Vietch/ The Radio Live response to the 'roast busters' case etcetcetc....any of these and how they affirm gender inequality at it's most basic level. Another thing I would love to see is someone examine Paula Bennett's "I was on the DPB so I know everything about hard times- and I am going to pull the ladder up after me" mentality. My 5 cents!

This is a really interesting article about the nexus of power developing between the NSA and Google, if we are going to look at technology, the extraordinary effects these groups are having on the ways we understand privacy and secrecy are so important. I would think that issues of control, surveillance, privacy, are perfect to frame with the descriptive tools of feminism. http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/the-digital-debate/shoshanna-zuboff-dark-google-12916679.html?printPagedArticle=true