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
{ 12 trackbacks }
{ 83 comments }
OK, I’m going to get the ball rolling. Just because these are my recommendations doesn’t mean they’ve got a head start in the final decision – who knows what gems will be nominated by others?
Selfish ber-loody women at it again
from Cast Iron Balcony by Helen. This post really sums up what I love about Helen’s blogging – sharp and snarky, and cuts through the crap about an overblown moral panic.
How Odd!
from Shakesville by Melissa McEwan: part 6 in an ongoing series about how serious issues for women are trivialised by being reported in the “Odd News” section of the MSM. This is really a nomination for the entire series, which reveals so much about how women’s lives and women’s pain are viewed as lesser.
Stretching the Knapsack Metaphor To Its Full Bent (And Then Some):
from Problem Chylde by Sylvia, who takes on Privilege and doesn’t pull any punches. The post is particularly about white progressive privilege but makes so many good points about privileged attitudes generally.
I’m going to leave it there for the moment and nominate another three later on.
For one of the posts of my own that I consider some of my best feminist writing this year, I’ll add this one:
Feminism Friday: it starts so young
Aaargh, I REALLY must get a del.ici.ous account. I just don’t bookmark stuff enough. Thanks Tigtog. I’ll have to do a bit of hunting through my favourite blogs…
I’m going to take what feels to me like a crazy leap here and nominate two of my posts: the first one is Invisible Illness Bingo, and the second consists of some observations on disability and the size-acceptance movement.
I can’t do HTML, obviously: here is the second.
Thanks, annaham. Both of them are great posts!
I’ve been holding off because – only six nominations? Argh!
But I have to start somewhere, so here they are. There is so much more – another day I might pick another batch. There’s a mix of Aussie and overseas here.
ginmar’s “One Simple Thing”
bluemilk, of course “Smug Married Guy, you don’t know anything about single mothers”
from the cast iron balcony: “Selfish ber-loody women at it again”
ilyka “Occasionally Conversations with my man are instructive”
Kate Harding “On being a no-name blogger using her real name”
and, if I can nominate a series, la doctorita’s “sins and virtues in medical education”: 1, 2, 3, 4. If I can’t nominate a series, then her “a mother’s battle to be believed”
and I’ll nominate these two from me:
“Stop and think: invisible access for invisible disabilities” My personal coming-out as a person with a chronic illness that others can’t see.
“Passive Aggression: Foregrounding the Object”
I know six nominations is hard! I’m hoping to keep each individual’s set of nominations down to an easily digestible chunk that way.
And yes, you can nominate a series.
I’m going to go look for my very favorites from others (how to chooooose???), but in the mean time, I’m offering a couple of my own. Why? I would be crazy honored to be included with any of the killer feminist bloggers I read. I’m a newbie, be gentle with me :-)
[link] [link] [link]
(just edited to mark up the links, as long URLs can break the page in some browsers ~tigtog)
Thanks mom! (love the gravatar)
I’m whittling down my short list for nominations based on two things:
* for bloggers that I go straight to in my feedreader if I see a new post, I’ve chosen a post that typifies why I keep on going back regularly.
* there are other posts from bloggers whom I don’t normally read, but whose post was plugged elsewhere and I followed the link, and those posts are the ones that gave me a big “AHA” moment, or who summed up a complex matter in a neat capsule of a post.
I’m looking through the snarking posts as well, for a couple of the pithiest putdowns. I don’t know if they’ll make my final list, but it would be nice to see a few of those, because they make me smile.
Others’ mileage, may, as usual, vary.
P.S. Mom, I’ve just added your blog to my feedreader and blogroll already!
I’ve mostly chosen posts that I’ve bookmarked and gone back to, and/or posts that I’ve pointed other people to, because they illustrate a point so elegantly, pithily, or in a way that others haven’t really managed.
I would like to nominate three of my own posts please.
Rightwing Checklist For Letters You May Want To Send To The Age
Hard to believe, but apparently even feminists can be sexy
Not With a Bang but a Whimper
I also very much like anything that Blue Milk writes.
Onya Auds!
My html skills are pretty hopeless (can’t believe I’m actually a blogger!) but I’ll give it a go:
Third Cat’s post about her time of solitude at a writer’s retreat Home again
Pretty much anythign by blue milk – here’s one
and
this review of management books for women by Helen of the Cast iron balcony.
I’m not sure if I can pick my own, but I’ll give it a go tomorrow!
Oh yes lauredhel, that post by Kate Harding was sooooo fantastic!! Thanks for reminding me of it and good on you for nominating it.
OK some of my own because they’re easier to sort through and then the looooooong process of sorting through everyone else’s that I’ve loved this year.
http://bluemilk.wordpress.com/2007/07/22/bad-mothers-and-their-good-marriages/
http://bluemilk.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/yummy-mummy-are-you-happy/
http://bluemilk.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/sorry-is-our-struggle-stifling-your-productivity/
I’ll be back soon with nominations for posts other than mine. Promise.
I’m new to the blog world and have really enjoyed the last few months of writting, commenting, reading. I’ve had a great time getting involved in conversations again about things that are really important to me and there are so many blogs that i really look forward to each day. I especially love Courtney’s entries, one of my favorites is: http://www.crucialminutiae.com/?p=661 from Crucial Minutiae
Here are two of mine that i enjoyed writting:
http://feministgal.blogspot.com/2007/12/introspective-blog-o-drama.html
and
http://feministgal.blogspot.com/2007/11/marriage-proposal-that-isnt-every.html
Too many to choose from! I would like to nominate some of the Ev Psyc ones just because I find them so entertaining. Latest one from Echidne of the Snakes. I’ll have to hunt down the others.
This is nice: already we’re getting a mix of regular commentors and folks who are either delurking or who have only just found us.
Excellent. Keep ‘em coming!
Here are some:
Audrey Apple on abortion: She’s a Brick (in OLO)
Excuse me, I think I have to go and sniff boychild, as he’s adamant he’s already had a shower and I reckon he’s trying to put one over me.
Sorry, I f%%,ed the HTML: Here is the quote
Chris, of course, does not sniff boychildren, that’s a mum thing. I hope that does not bring you a welter of distateful spam.
Wanted to include one from Crimitism: I think the first link is probably the one, but I will also include the review of the Wicker Man remake, which I was going to review myself but Richie saved me the trouble and did it so much better.
Pronoun discussion goes slightly berserk: Gamers in internalised sexism shock
God, not the Bees: the Wicker Man then and now
Here are three of my own that I quite liked:
flexible hours
diversity
letting clients discriminate
Sorry, I meant to say thanks for doing this. I’m really enjoying dipping into all the nominations – many blogs I’ve never seen before.
Do spread the word, everyone – we’ll reach a much wider nominating audience if you all post pointers in your blogs.
I second the nomination for Shakes’ How Odd series. I’d also like to nominate her “Rape is Hilarious” series, but the originals (about Opie & Anthony) are on Shakesville.com, which is kaputt.
And of course I have to toot my co-blogger’s horn, so I nominate these posts by Kate Harding:
Gratitude
The Fantasy of Being Thin
I was going to cite Bluemilk’s Smug Married Man, but Lauredhel has already done it :-)
Also, Kimberella’s two Bone to Pick posts, which I’ve already nominated over at club troppo, but they are of especial interest to Teh Hivemind. I think she was brave to post on this topic knowing that it would trigger the flying monkeys in their hordes.
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2007/03/10/a-bone-to-pick-2/
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2007/05/30/more-bones-to-pick/
Yay, Crimitism’s Bees and Kimberella’s Bones have been nommed by others, so that frees up two of my remaining slots!
I’ve just realised the Dec 22nd cutoff is Teh Stoopid. Cutoff for nominations will now be midnight on 1st January 2008 AWST, so that the whole year gets included. Off to adjust the post now.
All these posts are great, I’m enjoying the new reading.
Of course, I can’t seem to find anything that hasn’t already been linked that I want to nominate, so I need to wait until I have more time to look back.
In the meantime, here are my submissions of stuff I’ve written at various blogs in 2007:
Understanding Sexual Harassment: A Primer for Dudes
Impromptu Manifesto
Fuck Cancer
I would need to nominate Kate Harding’s The Fantasy of Being Thin & Her no-name blogger post already linked.
Her Bad Mother- V is for Vulva
This makes me wish I had starred more posts in my reader.
I am bad at identifying my own posts for this sort of thing. There are probably some in there, but I tend to write more about parenting my disabled son.
Dreadful – I went over to IBTP to choose a Twisty post, and for the last few days it’s shown a blank page with this one line message:
“Greetings, blamers. Naturally I have fucked up the upgrade. The database is in limbo, or possibly has moved straight on down to Hell. Please stand by.”
The Femmobolsho awards will be the poorer without a 2007 rant from the verbose one.
Helen’s last blog post..Calling the Hivemind
If you have direct links, you can still read some posts over at Twisty’s. I nominate The Post on Marriage.
m. leblanc’s last blog post..Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking
THanks for that M. Leblanc, that’s a good choice.
Helen’s last blog post..Calling the Hivemind
Here are my two favorite posts I did this year:
Does Abortion Belong in a Love Story?
and
Dora the Explorer of Eating Disorders
Veroncia’s last blog post..Nicaraguan Pro-Choice Advocates Need Your Help
Oh and I so didn’t pick my Dora post because I linked to this blog. I picked it because it was one of my favorite post to write this year and I got some great response to it.
Some other noms:
critical complicity, or, “reclaim it, my ass.”
you know, “racists.”
Veroncia’s last blog post..Nicaraguan Pro-Choice Advocates Need Your Help
i loved this one from amanda at pandagon:
and i’ll nominate one of my own, too, just because the response that it got really floored me (in a good way, and in a bad way!):
kate.d.’s last blog post..your wednesday one-liner.
oh that xhtml above for links didn’t work at all! i knew that regular html links are a bit different, but thought i’d follow the directions. oy. so i’m just gonna paste the two links in, luddite-style:
amanda’s post: http://pandagon.blogsome.com/2007/06/21/on-pigs-basketball-frames-and-music/
my post: http://acatandtwenty.blogspot.com/2007/06/above-and-beyond-all-this.html
kate.d.’s last blog post..your wednesday one-liner.
Please consider 3 of my feminist blogs:
1)Argument for Hillary Clinton as President: http://traceesioux.blogspot.com/2007/01/shut-up-john-mayer-stop-waiting-for.html
2)Argument for developing a self-esteem and avoiding plastic surgery for our daughter’s sake: http://traceesioux.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-faceher-face.html
3)A look a Post Partum Depression and employment policy as a contributing factor: http://traceesioux.blogspot.com/2007/10/ppd-work-v-stay-home-rages-in-self.html
I would also like to nominate a post by Blue Milk: http://bluemilk.wordpress.com/2007/07/31/playboy-kids-more-bratz-hatred-and-how-to-stop-this-thing/
A post by Queen of Violets: http://www.queenofviolets.com/2007/11/fertility-and-relationships-ii.html
Tracee Sioux’s last blog post..Our Father Tract
It is very difficult to narrow these down and there are a few that I spread around via email (to all my friends saying read this person’s post, it is amaaaaaazing) and now can’t find. I’m glad that some of my favourites have already been nominated by other people, so here are some stand out others.
http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=907 – cutting breastfeeding bullying down to size.
http://biancabean.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/my-retirement-plan-to-be-updated-here-and-there/ – how to love growing old as a woman.
http://traceesioux.blogspot.com/2007/08/happy-feet-beats-bratz.html – how to beat the Bratz at their own game.
http://lesbiandad.net/2007/06/13/the-turkey-baster-has-no-clothes/ – the tale of conception by two lesbians.
The right wing letters one is my favourite of the year from Audrey but as it has already been nominated, and my favourite one from Kate Harding was the writing in your own name one which has also been nominated, so…. on to some other terrific ones which haven’t been nominated yet.
http://castironbalcony.media2.org/?p=361 – an incredibly insightful analysis of an experience of sexual harrassment.
http://outside-the-toybox.com/good-morning-angels-good-morning-charlie/2007/12/10/ – the adventures of a feminist mother in princess land.
blue milk’s last blog post..?Feminism reinforces the idea that motherhood should be genuinely revered in word and practice?
I nominate two posts by BFP: deserving more and feeling like a macho man.
Cara’s last blog post..(A Few) Candidates on Choice
I’ve really enjoyed reading some of the nominations so far. This is very cool. I’d like to toot my own horn if I may.
Needing a Mother
You Get So Emotional Baby
Choice and Control
m’s last blog post..moving on
I have a soft spot for those ‘Feminism is/feminism is for’ type posts that serve as a reminder that feminism is for everyone.
This post over at Alas! Has a truckload of links about why feminism is for EVERYBODY, so is well worth checking out.
[Moderator note: *Note: The domain on which Alas is hosted was sold to pornographers in mid 2006. There is no porn at the link above, but your hits or may not indirectly support misogynistic, racist, lesbian-exploitation, and teen porn. I have added a “nofollow" attribute I’ve added. If you prefer to read at a Google cached page, here.]
The furore over at Feministe when Jill was harassed by her fellow law students for having the temerity to blog whilst in possession of breasts is also something that I remember well. It really brought home to me how far people will go to silence minorities whils pretending it’s a joke.
Jill’s prost here But it also showed how the online blogosphere could work to try and change something, especialyl with the googlebombing on the topic.
This one was really thought-provoking to me, so I thought it deserves a share. It’s on why The writer, a Muslim woman of colour chooses not to identify as a feminist. I think it approaches the history of feminism, with its colonialism from an interesting persepctive, and think it needs some more attention.
Not a post, so I can’t nominate it, but the feminism 101 blog deserves an honourable mention for being a kickass resource to refer newbies to.
I can’t decide on any more for the moment…
I nominate Anal Is the New Third Base at I Blame the Patriarchy.
Thank you so much for the nomination, Tigtog, and for the second, Sweet Machine.
FWIW, the latest in the “Rape is Hilarious” series is here, and it does include a link to the Opie and Anthony post that started it, which is hosted on another site, and includes what has come to be known as Teh Nastiest Comment Thread of all Time.
Melissa McEwan’s last blog post..The Defaultinator Looks Better and Better
I thought of another one: . Jill’s post on why she’s pro-choice ad Feministe. It’s got lots of links, and is quite thorough. I really DO like list-y posts.
I know most of my nominations are from bigger blogs, and there are many posts that I found very thought-provoking that I haven’t nominated. Partly because someone else might already have, and I’d like to give publicity to posts that haven’t had as muchattention brought to them, and partly because I can’t remember all the great posts I’ve read this year.
Some from the Indian blogosphere, if I may:
Annie’s story on the National Rural Employment Generation Act
m, on princesses, happy endings and patriarchal lies
m, again, on prostitution
And some of my own, from my old blog:
Should we have a woman president?
Do you?
Of clothes, culture and comfort
I wanted to nominate Lauredhel’s post on invisible disability – it was one of the most powerful I read this year – but it’s already been nominated, I see, and that allows me to keep it down to six!
Here’s a couple more:
From Tigtog:
She did not feel as guilty because at the funeral she found out the girl had tried to commit suicide before.
2-D girls in a 3-D world ((Actually, this is one of Lauredhel’s ~ tigtog))
From Lauredhel:
Passive Aggression:Foregrounding the Object
Motherless birthing, and the one-way street of obstetric “choice”
Helen’s last blog post..Holidays
mmm i’m excited by this project, so i’m gonna be ballsy and just self nominate two wee posts i wrote this year and i’d welcome feedback or comments.
http://tinyurl.com/28qcsh
http://tinyurl.com/2flh6x
both are written from a broadly christian perspective (the first much moreso than the second) and i hope that won’t count against me, but may actually be an asset as i see organised religion (christianity in particular) as being incredibly sexist structures. i also believe strongly that there is a different hemeneutic possible – even necessary – and that if christianity is to be transformed into anything resembling good news, this systemic sexism must be addressed.
hope you guys enjoy – looks like you’ve got a LOT of reading to plough through. all good stuff i’m sure, but it’s going to be a real labour of love rating it all.
good luck!! :o)
I’d like to self-nominate these two. Thanks!
Not Tickled Pink About Girlish Pink Guns
Vive La (Brain) Différence!
I am here via So Sioux Me which I got to via BlogHer Ads.
I just wrote a post on my blog nominating the following posts:
1. Suzanne’s post Suzanne Reisman, Swimsuit Model, Takes a Stand on CUSS taking a personal stand agains unrealistic beauty standards. (In accordance with the Hoyden linking policy, I will note that CUSS is not safe for workplace viewing (NSFW).
Do Assumptions Change When you Know the Accused also by Suzanne but on BlogHer rather than CUSS, struggling with the balance between supporting women and preserving the presumption of innocence for those accused of crimes against women, particularly when you know the accused.
Soccer Mom in Denial’s post Be an Ally and a Friend linking a personal story, a well-known tragedy, and our own responsibility to Transgendered Day of Remembrance.
Kristen’s post Irrelevant on Motherhood Uncensored about getting lost in blogging, public relations, and the value of motherhood.
Pundit Mom’s post A Political Equation calling on women to use blogging to drive political change.
Expecting Executive’s post What Breastfeeding Ban? Defending Facebook defending Facebook’s ontroversial actions as neither being unreasonable nor being anti-breastfeeding.
And for my two self-nominated posts…
The Latest Formula Ban is the post I wrote criticizing the New York City public hospital ban on free formula samples for new moms that got me invited to speak on the Mike and Juliet Show on Fox TV last August.
Breastfeeding after Someone Else’s Breast Reduction Surgery is a post that I wrote about a pediatric nurse practitioner’s personal devastation at the inability of some women who have undergone breast reduction surgery to breastfeed their babies.
Alex Elliot’s last blog post..The Golden Compass and the Best Feminist Blogging of ‘07
I hope you got my nominations via email.
Ta.
Sorry Darlene – no sign of them here I’m afraid.
Comments on this entry are closed. If you wish to re-open this discussion, please leave a comment on the latest Open Thread.