About lauredhel: a FAQ

How did you end up on tigtog’s Hoyden About Town?
Tigtog and I met on a Usenet group and a constellation of mailing lists years ago. We have a few things in common, both in demographics and in style. To a first approximation, it seems we’re both lefty white het mothers with backgrounds in healthcare, forthright tendencies, and eclectic interests including feminism, scepticism, and coffee. We have our differences, too, but I’ll leave those to the imagination, and perhaps also to the comments sections. I’ve been blogging for a while at my LJ, and I was pleased to accept tigtog’s invitation to join her at Hoyden in early 2007.

What are you about?
This faux tag cloud isn’t all of who I am, but it might give you a bit of a picture:

anthropology books badscience breastfeeding breastmilk cooking corporatesuspicion dinosaurs disability drseuss ediblegardening espresso essentialoils ethics familymedicine feminism freecycle linguistics macintosh nativegardening onlinecommunity parenting peace personalispolitical reproductiverights reusable scepticism singing slowfood soapmaking urbanlegends volunteerism zerowaste

I blog on a few different topics, but lean toward posts on feminism, language, the intersection of mothering and feminism (particularly birth, breastfeeding, and how the patriarcho-medico-industrial complex affects us), disability (I am near-housebound with CFS/autoimmune disease), size acceptance, bad science, media representation, sexual violence, and reproductive justice and medicine in general.

What makes you a hoyden?
I am rambunctious and prickly. I don’t believe everything I’m told. I don’t accept fabricated feminine limits. I have my own boundaries, and I’m prepared to defend them.

Where is your icon from?
Violet Lear’s The Story Of The Four Little Children. When the four children landed on an island, and their peculiar compatriots bit the tail-feathers off some blue and red parrots, Violet “proceeded to insert all the feathers, two hundred and sixty in number, in her bonnet, thereby causing it to have a lovely and glittering appearance, highly prepossessing and efficacious.”