Update: The awards are now up! Congratulations to all the nominees. Here is the Top Forty: “Femmostroppo Awards for 2007: A Retrospective“
Via Wicking at Club Troppo, here is the National Museum’s Behind the Times – The Year’s Best Cartoons online gallery. It’s a terrific collection of biting political commentary, and reminded me that it is that retrospective time of year.
Lauredhel and I decided last night that we would like to do a retrospective of 2007’s best feminist blogging, because there’s been some great stuff written this year (as there is every year) by all the passionate bloggers out there who identify as feminists and feminist allies. So here’s a chance to go over everything you bookmarked in your browser or starred in your feedreader over the year, and share your absolute favourites. (Or go back over the various carnivals and pick out the ones you still remember vividly, perhaps).((I expect to end up with a mix of favourites from blogs that people read every day and posts that people found (via those blogs) from bloggers who they don’t normally read as much but still vividly remember. It’s all good. ~tigtog))
We’d also like to encourage you to spruik your own wares – so don’t be shy, please: self-nominations are not about tooting your horn as one of THE best posts of the year, just about letting us know about YOUR best post for the year. Not necessarily the most popular post, because that can be all about the topicality of a particular day or week, but what you personally are proudest of as a piece of writing or creative commentary, whether it’s a piece about outrage or disgust or despair or inspiration or knowledge or hope or solidarity or humour. They’re all part of the tapestry of the feminist blogosphere, which can be so deeply involved in examining ugly behaviours that it appears bleak, but is also full of passion and compassion and warmth and strength. (For this section comments on other people’s posts qualify as well, as not all of our witty and insightful commentors have their own blogs, but the commentors are generally the best part of blogging! If you have written a comment of which you’re especially proud, nominate it.)
The Top 40 posts (I know, it’s the iceberg tip of all the great posts out there, but we’ve got to put in a limit somehow), as decided by a panel of Lauredhel and myself (and any Hoydenizens who volunteer) after reading all the nominations, will be compiled after the holiday celebrations and the list will be posted here in the first fortnight of the New Year, and crossposted at Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog.
Nominations will close next Saturday, the 22nd of December((Cutoff will now be the end of New Years Day, to allow any great end of year posts to be included~tigtog)) (midnight Australian Western Summer Time, which is 9 hours ahead of GMT).
How to Nominate Posts
Nominations will be along the lines of Club Troppo’s Best Oz Blog posts (which I procrastinated nominating anything for until the deadline had passed, as usual, so do as I say and not as I do, please):
Rules:
- The authors must be self-identified feminist or womanist or pro-feminist bloggers.
- The posts should generally be from independent blogs, not MSM offshoots.
- The posts may be on any topic, so long as it is being examined from a feminist perspective. General topic areas will be Work And Family, Sexuality And Health, and Social Justice, which of course overlap, so this is a broad guide only.
- Posts should generally not just be a link-and-comment post, or a mostly quotation post, but something longer or more creative.
- One individual may make up to six nominations, but not more than three for a single author.
- (optional) In a separate section of the comment, share the two posts or comments of your own that you feel were your best for the year.
Posts may be nominated in comments to this post, in a post on your own blog that you link to in comments here, or via email to us.
Feel free to re-nominate a post that someone else has already listed, but the winners will not be determined on votes, they will be determined by our panel’s criteria alone. I’m hoping that this nomination thread will serve as a guide to some holiday reading during the quiet times of the festive season, to check out bloggers you may have missed out on during the year.
Okay, get nominating!
Similar Posts:
- Sampler: from Ethics and Philosophy by tigtog
- Weblog Awards Finalist! by Lauredhel
- Femmostroppo Awards for 2007: A Retrospective by Lauredhel
- Nominate your favourite blog posts at Club Troppo by Lauredhel
- Tagged! A Roar for Powerful Words by Lauredhel
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Perhaps the thing thought it was spam due to the number of links in it.
Doesn’t matter.
Here they are:
Me:
Sexist bollocks and Nancy Spungen
You’se:
She did not feel as guilty because at the funeral she found out the girl had tried to commit suicide before
Helen:
Girl Germs at the Capitol
Audrey:
Hard to believe, but apparently even feminists can be sexy
Pavlov:
Germaine Greer in her home town
http://pavlovblog.blogspot.com/
(Sorry, no direct link)
That’ll do.
(Moderator note: edited to shorten links and add direct link to Pav’s post ~tigtog)
Thanks, Darlene. Dunno what happened to your email – I checked the spam bucket but it wasn’t there either!
Alex Elliott – sorry that it took a while to publish your comment – it went into the spaminator rather than the automoderator for some reason, and I only just found it there.
Thanks for organizing this! Here are my nominations:
What color are the holes in your parachute? by La Lubu, guest-blogging at Feministe
Rejecting the Frames by Zuzu at Feministe
There is no spoon by Little Light
About the intersection of race and class, and being “bougie” by design and Not to be rude (but) by Sylvia at Problem Chylde
Sleeping with the enemy by Jaclyn guest-blogging at Feministe.
Jill’s last blog post..Shameless self-promotion Sunday
I’ve found some more of my favourite ev psych and junkscience posts:
Chris Clarke’s essential introduction to the field; Belief in Evolutionary Psychology may be Hardwired, study says
Lauredhel’s It’s a trap! Feminism, romance and sociological patriarchy”
Two from Laurie and Debbie that will make you cry tears of rage;
Sex, work and the human sense of smell
and
Neuroscience Predicts when Women will say Yes.
“Gender/Queerness and Street Harassment” by Angry Brown Butch, The video “Say It Ain’t So Feminism: True Comments from True Blogs from Supposedly True Feminists” by Sudy at Womyn’s Ecdysis. Also, can’t choose only one, I love every post by brownfemipower.
Moderator note: edited to add-
Angry Brown Butch’s post is here [link]
Sudy’s video is on Youtube, she discusses it some here, and here’s the original thread calling for submissions of actual comments to include in the video.
OK, so way back last week before my hols I nominated three posts by others and pointed to one of my own of which I am proud. Thanks to those who nominated another few of mine, especially the Feminism 101 blog, which I do genuinely feel has been helpful as a resource allowing feminists to prevent discussions being derailed by disruptive commentors (and thanks to tekanji for coming on board!).
Here’s another three, which is, as Lauredhel said, what I feel today and tomorrow I might choose another three. I held off because I was hoping others might nominate some of the posts on my short list, thus allowing me to whittle it down, which is exactly what happened.
Feminism & Prison Reform (or Feminism vs. Prison Reform?)
from Feministe by bean
Socialization: another feminist conspiracy theory
from Reclusive Leftist by Violet Socks
A Modest Proposal: The Thorny Issue of Sexual Consent
from Shakesville by A Portly Dyke
Another post of mine? One that I view kindly is Consensual sex contracts vs. consexual creed
My sixth nom is for Theriomorph, “My yes is not more important than her often-impossible no”.
Hi,
Did you get my nominations? I didn’t get the copy I ticked the box for so I thought I’d better check…
Holly
PS: I guess you’ll be seeing the new year in right now and might not see this anyway but I’ll post up here in a mo if I don’t hear back (just in case)…
Well, you said, don’t be shy so here are what I would consider my best 3 posts this year:
Another “Light Hearted” Celebration of Gender Stereotypes
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2007/07/article_casts_d
This is about the BBC’s rather retrograde reporting on some research that shows women *don’t* talk more than men after all.
Surprise! Men Give Thumbs Up to Lesbianism (Apparently)
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2007/09/men_give_thumbs
Here, I pick over the way Lycos presents one of the results of their Love@Lycos survey.
Failed Femmes: Pity and Scorn in the Daily Mail Part 1
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2007/11/doting_mother_b
This was about the Daily Mail’s representation of a hypersexual woman. I got an interesting response from the sister-in-law of the woman who was the subject of the story (see http://www.thefword.org.uk/comments/november_2007).
There are lots and lots of other great posts on the F-word blog from the other F-word bloggers so I’d also like to nominate Lynnes post about conventional views on safety:
A Small Thing Made me Cross Today
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2007/12/a_small_thing_m
Thanks for doing this! I will second the nomination for Kate Harding’s “The Fantasy of Being Thin.”
From our blog, I nominate A Year in (Retouched) Pictures
Claire’s last blog post..If You’re Looking for the Fountain of Youth, Just Splash on Some Common Sense
Two of the posts I wrote that I’m proud of, not just of writing them, but of having the guts to post them in a difficult year for me personally, and as a disability activist and woman with CP.
http://fallingoffmypedestal.blogspot.com/2007/12/for-katie-katie-ashley-those-who-came.html
http://fallingoffmypedestal.blogspot.com/2007/10/infantilising-women-and-girls-with.html
And all of my favourite posts from other bloggers seem to have been nominated already! Fantastic!
Book Girl’s last blog post..How is it possible…
I thought these were good:
http://kateharding.net/2007/10/02/this-is-why-i-dont-give-a-crap-if-theyre-using-it-to-sell-cellulite-cream/
(One woman’s view on why the Dove Campaign’s on the right track)
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2007/02/the_pantomime_c
(Sexism in reports about the Big Brother racism row)
http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/2007/10/31/its-another-blamer-brain-trust-alert/
(Brilliant post)
http://www.feministing.com/
(Un-funny shirts about Clinton- Dec 28 2007)
http://punkassblog.com/2007/12/02/you-did-an-ok-job-i-guess-but-it-would-have-been-better-if-you-had-a-penis/
(Perceptions of female leadership)
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2007/12/this-is-really-shaping-up-to-be-back-to.html
I nominate http://kateharding.net/2007/11/27/the-fantasy-of-being-thin/
I’d like to nominate a post I was proud of from my own blog: Some day my Self-esteem will Come, about the Disney Princess Phenom.
Great idea – will enjoy reading the other entries.
Holly (#58) – your comment got spaminated I’m afraid!
Rescued now, and thanks for the nominations, to you and all the others who left noms last night.
Two of my own posts:
This Promotes Rape
Disability is a Feminist Issue
And a post from Amanda Marcotte: on the personal is political
Cara’s last blog post..This Week in Hysterical Prudishness
I’m trying to think, wish the stupid holidays hadn’t made me catch this so late!
Nanette’s post Benefit of the doubt”. Seriously. It’s all here. Number one choice.
I second ilyka’s Occasional conversations with my man. So much ground, so much humor, so right on.
And Kate’s The fantasy of being thin was awesome, as was Sylvia’s Stretching the knapsack metaphor to its full bent and then some.
Are we doing comments, too? Magniloquence’s comment here covers an amazing amount of feminist ground with her usual fierce clarity. (Can we nominate her The Queen of Comments?) Or, her whole post A lightbulb moment.
Is that six already?
Thanks for the nomination of ‘my yes is not more important than her often impossible no,’ su! I think the next one I did (here)on that subject might be more coherent/relevant beyond the particular event that spurred the posts, but who knows.
If I had to pick one of my own, the one that meant the most to me to write this year was Stoned to Death.
The one that got the most intense feedback – in comments, in private emails, in – god, poems from women all over the place sent to me and making me cry, was On being small: a virus.
Thanks for doing this, Tigs! Look forward to seeing the collection, and this nomination list is awesome to have, too.
Theriomorph’s last blog post..looking back: 2007
Theriomorph, yes! We are nominating comments, because not everybody who writes wonderful stuff has their own blog, or their best stuff might be a comment rather than a post. Thank you for nominating Magniloquence!
A couple of my own: Be yourselves, girls: order what you think he’d approve of you eating in front of him and Get ‘em while they’re young, and they’re yours for life.
zuzu’s last blog post..This is an unexpected development
OK, Nominations are now officially closed. Thank you to all who nominated the most memorable posts by other bloggers, and also to all of you who shared your own best writing for the year.
Just a reminder that the posts which are now in submission for the anthology are those where people have nominated the work of others. While many of the nominated posts were posts that I had read, I was encouraged to see some unfamiliar bloggers nominated and find some great new voices thereby.
The self-nominations were all about encouraging people to let us know of their writing that is closest to their heart or makes them proudest, so as to encourage other readers to visit blogs they’ve never visited before and perhaps show a side of the blogger to their readers that they hadn’t realised, as our own favourites are not always those posts which get the most reaction from commentors. I’ve found several great new-to-me blogs already, and I haven’t had time to dip into more than a fraction of the self-nominees. Thank you all so much for stepping forward!
Clarification: on looking through how I presented the rules, I don’t think I made it sufficiently clear that my intention was that only posts nominated by others would be in official contention. I can see, reading over the thread, that many of the self-nominators may not have got the distinction which I meant to be clear-cut.
So, I’m taking the distinction back. Many of the self-nominated posts have blown me away, and they should be considered, although I can’t deny that posts nominated by others will probably have a points advantage.
The panel currently consists of Lauredhel and myself and several of our Guest Hoyden posters through the year. We now have to sit down and work out our scoring criteria etc and finish reading all the nominees – a wonderful task, but it will take us a while!
Hi, Tigtog.
I was cut off from internet over Christmas, which is why I comment so late.
I love the idea of the awards… but I just hope you would have chosen a different name. I find the “bolsho” part unpalatable. It’s a reference to bolshevism, right? I don’t think we can use the reference and ignore the history behind it. Ultimately, the revolution led to totalitarianism and the suffering of people in multiple countries that found themselves under the Communist boot. This is as far from the ideals of feminism as you can get, so “femmobolsho” becomes almost an oxymoron, to my mind. The feminsits in communist countries, while indeed benefitting from certain social arrangements, were still prisoners within the state machine, couldn’t leave their countries, had no access to free press, couldn’t build networks without thorough supervision.
So while I wholeheartedly support the idea of such awards, as a feminist from a formerly communist state, I cannot accept the name. If you want feminists from former people’s republics to feel included in the dialogue, please change the name. I am sure you can come up with plenty of good alternatives.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the contestants and the initiative. All the best!
Januaries’s last blog post..Is it easier to kill a woman?
Januaries, I did consider such objections before I went with the name, and decided to go ahead anyway. Here’s why:
All words have a history, and some of that history can be disturbing, but language does evolve. I believe that one of the most important aspects of feminist theory is its call to look beyond our conditioned responses to words and ideas, responses inculcated by our socialisation, and to examine them critically. Using “bolsho” deliberately here is my choice to encourage people to look beyond any initial negatively conditioned response to the word, to examine its roots.
Are idealistic revolutionary movements to blame for how their movement gets highjacked by power-hungry ideologues with bloodthirsty bent? The origin of the Bolsheviks, as part of the workers’ movement in opposition to the absolute, inequitable and corrupt rule of the Tsars, was laudable. It is even arguable that all the true Bolsheviks ended up dead, executed via the ruthless power plays of the dictatorial Lenin and Stalin, and formalised by Stalin’s repudiation of the label in 1952.
I also admit to a fondness for the more obscure original etymology of Bolshevik itself as a tangential appropriateness to refer to feminism – it derives from the Russian “bolshinstvo”, which means “majority”. In any case, most people these days who use the bolshy/bolsho would be hard pressed to tell you of its historical derivation from “Bolshevik”, it’s just a word they’ve heard their family use.
Even for those who do use the term knowing its origin, it has little more force than “Red” or “pinko” as a legacy of Cold War name-calling of unionists etc, and has been reclaimed ironically by many leftists. That is part of our social history, and I’m happy to honour it. Throughout my entire life, “bolshy” and “bolsho” in Australian English have meant radical, obstinate, obstreperous, “stroppy” and generally unaccepting of the status quo. It’s generally used as a compliment, too.
None of this means that I wish to ignore the suffering of citizens of former Iron Curtain countries. However, I am a strong leftist who believes that many ideals of Socialism and even some from Communism still have merit*, no matter how much those ideals were abandoned and distorted by the Leninist/Stalinist apparatus of the Soviet Union. To accept their appropriation of the name Bolshevik for their own authoritarian purposes is to accept Orwellian manipulation, in my view, and I will not do it.
*I don’t believe in the dismantling of private property, but I do believe that both social justice and the pragmatic interests of society in the reliability of major services and utilities requires that certain industries/infrastructures should remain under State control – education, health, power, water, telecommunications, mass transport etc. You notice that our governments never talk about privatising our military forces**? Are our basic infrastructure sectors any less crucial to national autonomy? By all means allow private companies to bid on the supply and distribution of the products for profit, but the infrastructure should be in State control, otherwise politically unaccountable CEOs hold the keys to our social capital.
**Blackwater and other “contractor” operations in Iraq may be the thin end of the wedge against this principle for the USA.
That is part of our social history, and I’m happy to honour it. Throughout my entire life, “bolshy” and “bolsho” in Australian English have meant radical, obstinate, obstreperous, “stroppy” and generally unaccepting of the status quo. It’s generally used as a compliment, too.
Seconded. “Bolshy” is a piece of Australian and UK slang, used in such contexts as “watch out for that steer, he’s bolshy”. I suppose the situation in Germany would be very different though…
Helen’s last blog post..Image for 2007: Activist Angels
Tigtog, thank you so much for the detailed response.
I’m left-wing, too. A tough choice, given where I come from and what times I grew up in. I believe that leftist ideology is the only rational choice for women who want to make a difference — I wouldn’t force this on anyone, but this is what my observation of political practice leads me to think.
I wasn’t aware of the connotations of ‘bolsho’ in Australian English. Enlightening for an anglicist, thank you:-)
Nevertheless, the word will keep ringing for me with its history. Even before Stalin or even Lenin’s ‘heyday,’ the war waged by young communist Russia on the young Polish state is not something I can block out and instead think solely of marxist principles. If you try to invade a neighboring country, you’re not an idealist concerned with societal change, you desire power. That’s something I do not accept.
As an idea, communism is very beautiful. But for me, the beauty ends before proper bolshevism, which resorted to violence–and that is what sets it apart from a movement such as feminism. That’s what jars.
Therefore, though I respect your choice and its motivation, for me these concepts will not be reconciled.
Again, thank you. I’m reading through the nominated posts. They’re all great. It’s gonna be a tough choice for you:-)
Januaries’s last blog post..Is it easier to kill a woman?
Januaries, thank you very much for your nuanced response and careful reading. I very much appreciate the consideration you have given my explanation.
I’m not sure that I accept that the young communist state attacked Poland before Lenin’s heyday, however. He was the acknowledged leader of the October revolution of 1917, the Chairman of the Council of Commissars from November 1917, and the Party didn’t even officially call themselves communists until 1919. Also, the original Bolshevik movement had long been subsumed by Leninism before the October Revolution, even if Lenin made the party continue to wear a Bolshevik costume. It was Lenin who decided on the war against Poland in 1919, as part of his idea of extending the workers’ revolution throughout the rest of Europe (I totally agree this was hypocrisy from Lenin in view of his various denunciations of imperialism).
Regarding the concept of Bolshevism: lots of people in Russia thought of themselves as Bolsheviks in spirit, as supporters of an ideal of social justice and equitable ownership of the means of production, until Lenin’s persecutions of more democratic groups using the Cheka, and especially the bloodbaths of the Red Terror campaign of late 1918 (Stalin’s idea), convinced them that only members of the Party could claim that title and everyone else had to watch their step. Lenin and Stalin were the advocates of mass terror, other Bolsheviks argued against it and were later executed for their pains in the purges of the 30s.
If Lenin had created his authoritarian power base within another faction of the Russion workers revolutionary movement, which was quite possible given the bewildering fragmentation of the movement before the Great War, it would be that faction which would now have the negative associations of Bolshevism associated with it. It really is more accurate to refer to these atrocities as Leninist/Stalinist.
You’re absolutely right, Tigtog.
I should apologize for placing his heyday according to my individual vision of how he became a legend bloated out of all proportion rather than a living leader. Sorry; it might have seemed incorrect and misleading. On the historical side, what you say is absolutely accurate. I did mean the aggression early after WWI.
As I said–and as the recurrent “for me” highlights–I wouldn’t want it to appear that I’m negating your project. I actually find it fascinating that the word “bolsho” acquired such connotation in Australian English. Again, I was totally unaware of that.
It’s not something I can resolve or easily explain, but (and this is a common issue for people from former communist countries) I cannot embrace the label as a neutral one. It’s interesting, don’t you think, how different concepts and historic figures resonate with different peoples. In this case it appears to be a bit of a boundary… and is a likely post candidate, when I do more research and thinking.
Please don’t feel obliged to defend your choice of award name. Taking the Australian perspective, it indeed makes perfect sense. From a Central-European perspective it reverberates too loudly with a history maybe even not so much of events but of the word’s usage (here’s where Bakhtin comes in). The word was used in a particular way by later communists and, whether I like it or not, those voices, uses and abuses are present within, er, the national consciousness (pardon the clumsy term) where I am from. It’s an issue for consideration not something I would want to use in order to guilt-trip someone.
Januaries’s last blog post..Persona
Thank you again for your generosity here, Januaries. I can totally appreciate that from your national background the various labels look very different.
I’d very much like to read that post when you write it. I’m not sure about this, but I believe that some of the Anglo-Australian use of bolshie/bolshy/bolsho in more affectionate terms may also derive from two other factors:
1. various Bolshevik dissidents who escaped the purges of both Lenin and Stalin and came to England to influence the union movement, and who were proud of their original cause and strident critics of Leninist/Stalinist distortions of the Bolshevik ideals;
2. the benevolent “Uncle Joe” image of Stalin as part of the Allied propaganda of WW2, and the way that the Red Army was presented as standing up to the Nazi juggernaut so staunchly. Again, a view which would have looked very different to the people that fell behind the Iron Curtain after WW2.
So who gets to vote on these?
Myself, Lauredhel and those of our Guest Hoydens who have volunteered.
I’m dragging the chain on this one, I’m afraid. I originally lost my scorings, and now I have a bad case of procrastinitis.
It will still happen.
Our post about triple threats and double troubles for Muslim women:
http://muslimahmediawatch.blogspot.com/2007/11/between-rock-and-hard-place-triple.html
Sorry, Muslimah Media Watch, but nominations closed ages ago (as it says in the update at the top of the post). The main thread from yesterday announced the final selection.
I hope people see your comment and go and read the post anyway. Thank you for your interest.
Excellent post. Between a rock and a hard place indeed.
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