Category: Feminist Forum

JOIN US FOR FORUM SAT. SEPT. 14th ON CASS REVIEW: EXPOSING LIES BEHIND CHILD TRANSITION

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Feminists in Struggle presents a forum on the independent Cass Review that is blowing holes in the rationalization for the medical transitioning of gender non- conforming children and youth.

This event will take place  on Zoom on SATURDAY, SEPT. 14th at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time, 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

Tickets on sale now on Eventbrite:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cass-review-exposing-the-lies-behind-child-transition-tickets-1001755045307?aff=oddtdtcreator

Dr. Cass conducted an independent systematic review of existing evidence on behalf of the NHS in the U.K. She documented the poor quality of the published studies, and the weak evidence supporting use of puberty suppression and cross sex hormones along with their unknown long-term effects.

Join us for the discussion of Dr. Cass’s findings and recommendations and how to get the word out to stop this harmful sterilizing experiment on children who are different, including future generations of gays and lesbians.

SPEAKERS:

Aaron Kimberly is a Canadian woman born with a rare ovotesticular intersex condition who took testosterone as an adult and lived almost 20 years as a transman. She is a mental health nurse who first blew the whistle on pediatric gender medicine in 2019. In 2001 she cofounded the Gender Dysphoria Alliance to educate about different types of gender dysphoria. In 2023 she cofounded the LGBT Courage coalition with the Missouri whistleblower Jamie Reed, to support other whistleblowers and to protect gender nonconforming children, most of whom are gay/lesbian, from medical harm.

Ann Menasche is a lesbian, radical feminist and socialist, and a life-long activist who is a co-founder and co-coordinator of Feminists in Struggle (FIST). FIST is committed to spreading the word about the Cass Review and challenging the myths used to promote so-called “gender affirming care.” This issue is also personal for Ann. As a girl who aspired to the freedom and privileges of men, she would have likely succumbed to an ideology that said her body was “wrong” and in need of medicalization, were she growing up today.

This forum is a women-only event. It will be video-taped. Men who wish to view it can watch it later for free on FIST’s YouTube channel. Our Forums are interactive events with plenty of time for questions or comments from the audience. Women should check in 10 minutes before the event. Participants are free to close their camera or change their name after they have checked in.

The Zoom link will be sent by email to registrants prior to the event.

FIST to host Zoom Forum March 25th on Strategies for Winning Back Abortion Rights

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Feminists In Struggle continues its series with a forum on abortion rights: “After Dobbs and the continuing threat to women’s reproductive rights, how do we develop a strategy to regain and secure the right to abortion nationally?”  Tickets on sale now!

FEMINIST FORUM: STRATEGIES FOR WINNING BACK WOMEN’S ABORTION RIGHTS Tickets, Sat, Mar 25, 2023 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite

Here is our exciting panel of speakers:

Andrea Gabay is a grassroots activist who first volunteered in 2020 while living in New York City. She was an active volunteer doing food drives and composting at GrowNYC environmental program to empower New Yorkers to secure a healthy environment. She also supported many marches throughout NYC, including many BLM movements and was involved with Women’s March in Manhattan. Andrea brought her activist work back with her to San Diego, where she organized a march/rally in January 2023 as part of the national Women’s March.

Wendy Murphy , J.D. is an impact litigator specializing in women’s and children’s civil and constitutional rights. She won landmark Title IX cases against Harvard, Harvard Law, and Princeton between 1992 and 2010 that led to the revolutionary 2011 Dear Colleague letter; and sued the Trump and Biden Administrations in federal court to advance women’s rights. She also won landmark cases to improve privacy rights for women crime victims and testimonial rights for disabled crime victims. She is adjunct professor of sexual violence law and law reform at New England Law Boston where she directs the Women’s and Children’s Advocacy Project under the Center for Law and Social Responsibility. She is well known for her legal advocacy in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.  See our ERA-FIST brochure, “Why We Need the ERA” on which Wendy collaborated, and her book, From Suffrage to Inequality.

Ann Menasche is a San Diego civil rights attorney, grassroots activist, lesbian, and long-time feminist who is a founding member and co-coordinator of the national radical feminist organization, Feminists in Struggle. She is also co-chair of the Green Alliance for Sex-Based RIghts. She has fought for access to safe legal abortion in the years before Roe and in the decades that followed. In the 1980’s she led a landmark case against an anti-abortion center or “fake clinic” for consumer fraud and won. She also helped organize Marches for Women’s Lives in San Francisco that drew tens of thousands of people. Ann was recently fired from her civil rights job for asserting that abortion bans harm women as a sex and has filed a wrongful termination law suit against her previous employer as a result.

JOIN US FOR THIS IMPORTANT DISCUSSION!

Forum on the New McCarthyism Targeting Feminists’ Jobs and Livelihoods, Saturday Dec. 10th

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THE NEW McCARTHYISM: THE ATTACK ON FEMINISTS' JOBS AND LIVELIHOODS

THE NEW McCARTHYISM: THE ATTACK ON FEMINISTS’ JOBS AND LIVELIHOODS is the title of our next Feminist Forum, which will be held on Saturday, December 10th at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time, 4:00 Eastern on Zoom.

In the 1950’s it was “the Red Scare.” In the second decade of the 21st century, the methods are the same but the target is different: feminists and others who do not agree with gender identity orthodoxy that conflates sex and gender and denies the existence of biological sex.

JOIN US FOR THIS IMPORTANT DISCUSSION ON HOW WE CAN PUT AN END TO THIS WITCH HUNT SO THAT WOMEN CAN STATE OUR OPINIONS AND FIGHT FOR OUR SEX-BASED RIGHTS WITHOUT FEAR!

SPEAKERS:

Christy Hammer is a sociologist with a 35-year university teaching career, and currently an associate professor of education at the University of Southern Maine. After telling her graduate students that there were only two biological sexes (with variations), students walked out of her classroom, demanded she recant, and sought to get her fired all in the name of “restorative justice”. One trans-identified student who felt personally attacked, filed a Title IX sexual harassment/discrimination complaint against her, which was summarily dismissed by the University counsel. Christy has a long history working in LGBTQ youth advocacy, and in promoting anti-racism in schools. What happened to Christy was described by others as an example of the “woke attacking the woke.”

Ann Menasche is a radical feminist, Leftist, lesbian, and founding member of Feminists in Struggle (FIST).  She was fired without warning last May from her job of 20 years as a Civil Rights attorney at Disability Rights California for asserting that abortion bans harm women as a sex, and for her FIST activity outside of work. The executive director had issued a statement opposing the threatened overturning of Roe and asked for staff feedback. DRC’s statement had mentioned every group that could be harmed by illegal abortion except women. After stating an obvious truth, Ann faced an onslaught of name-calling and slurs, and was condemned in absentia as having opinions “inconsistent with the values of the agency”.  For more on this story, see Defend Feminists

Everyone, women and men, are welcome to attend this forum!

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FIST FORUM: SAVING THE TOMBOYS FROM THE MEDICAL ATROCITIES OF CHILD “TRANSITION”

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The medical “transition” of gender non-conforming, mostly lesbian, girls has increased exponentially.  How do we fight it?

JOIN US on AUGUST 13TH at 11:00 a.m.Pacific time, 1:00 p.m. Central, and 2:00 p.m. Eastern for this timely discussion of the harmful practice of medicalization of a growing number of gender non-conforming girls, a majority of whom are lesbian, through use of puberty blockers, wrong sex hormones, double mastectomies, and genital mutilating surgeries. Reserve your tickets now.

Girls are being taught that their non-conformity and same sex attraction mean they have been born in the “wrong” body, with the result that they pursue dangerous treatments before they even reach adulthood, causing permanent harm to their healthy developing bodies and turning them into life-long medical patients. Many of these girls will in a few years join the growing ranks of detransitioners and regretters. Is this the face of the new homophobia? How can we fight back and save new generations of tomboys, lesbians, and future feminists?

TICKETS ONLY $5 – SAVING THE TOMBOYS FROM THE MEDICAL ATROCITIES OF CHILD “TRANSITION” Tickets, Sat, Aug 13, 2022 at 11:00 AM | Eventbrite

SPEAKERS:

CAROL is an advisor for de-transitioned people, having gone through transition and de-transition herself. She is a co-founder of Detrans Voices: Detransition Stories, Resources, and Community and a member of LGB Alliance USA | Leading the Fight for Same-Sex Rights She currently co-facilitates a gender dysphoria support group for lesbian and bisexual women through LGB Alliance USA and continues to work on outreach and awareness around de-transition.

ERIN FRIDAY is a licensed attorney in California and the mom of a desister. She is co-leader of Our Duty, U.S. branch, a parent support group for parents of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoric kids.

T is the founder and national organizer of Lesbians United, a grassroots lesbian-only organization in the U.S. Lesbians United is creating public information campaigns both online and on the street to fight back against the anti-lesbian transgenderist movement.

ANN MENASCHE is a radical feminist, lesbian, socialist, political activist, and co-founder of Feminists in Struggle and Green Alliance for Sex-Based Rights. Growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s, she seriously thought about “transitioning” when she read about Christine Jorgensen, because she yearned for the career opportunities and authority only available to men. The advent of feminism helped her to accept herself for the first time as she dedicated herself to women’s liberation and radical social change.

FIST’s Feminist Forums series are interactive and organizing events. At our forums, women have an opportunity not only to hear interesting speakers on a variety of feminist topics but to meet each other, make comments, ask questions of the presenters and discuss feminist politics together. We also usually tape the events so they may be viewed later. Women in attendance are free to shut off their cameras and mute themselves, should they prefer to do so. If you prefer to remain anonymous within the group, or plan to sign in under a different name from the name you have used for registration and purchase of your ticket, please contact the organizer prior to the event. Thanks.

While some of our events are open to both men and women, THIS IS A FEMALE ONLY EVENT. We ask that our male allies respect our right to meet together as women.

The Role of Patriarchal Religion in the Global Oppression of Women and Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine

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Feminist Forum March 26th 11-1 PST on Zoom

Go to our YouTube channel in order to watch the video.

Role of Patriarchal Religion in the Global Oppression of Women Resource List

Have you ever wondered why women have become so devalued and debased that we are degraded routinely as pornographic images, driven into prostitution, sold as property, coerced into child marriages, our bodies violated and mutilated, our right to bodily sovereignty and self-determination threatened or non-existent?  Has it always been this way?  Is prostitution “the oldest profession”?  Have we always been told we must be pure and virginal while men are allowed sexual license and even excused for rape?  Or have we been systematically groomed to be subservient and obedient, taught that our only choice is between Madonna or whore, that we are to blame for the “fall from grace”, intimidated and silenced by belief systems that teach us we are inferior, and punished severely when we defy these messages?

Most people believe that there has always been patriarchy, that women have always been treated like sex objects and chattel, blamed for men’s violent behavior, disrespected, dispossessed, disregarded, and treated like lesser humans unworthy of equality since the dawn of time.  This is not the case.  Once there was a Goddess, and things were different.

Join us for an examination of the role patriarchal religion has played, and continues to play, in the subjugation and oppression of the female sex.  As the U.S. veers toward becoming more and more a patriarchal theocracy, it is time that we gather our courage and finally look this beast in the eye.  And it is high time for women to reclaim our birthright:  the Mother Goddess. 

Featured speakers:

Max Dashu: 

Max Dashu founded the Suppressed Histories Archives in 1970 to research women’s heritages in the global cultural record and make them visible. She uses images to teach about matricultures, ceremony, medicine women, witches, female rebels and untamable women, as well as patriarchy, conquest, and systems of domination. She is the author of Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, a forthcoming book on women in Hellenic mythography and patriarchy, and two videos: Women’s Power in Global Perspective, and Woman Shaman: the Ancients. Her current course is Matricultural Eyes via Teachable. See more at Suppressed Histories Photo Essays

Ava Park:

Ava cares about only one thing: nourishing the primal power of Woman to guide the world to goodness. Ava is the founder of The Museum of Woman, revealing the hidden history of Woman from the Paleolithic to the present through the stories and statues of Goddesses, Queens and Wisewomen; the founder of The Goddess Temple of Orange County, the women’s spiritual circle of The Museum of Woman; and the author of The Queen Teachings for Women with Ava, © helping women access their Four Powers of Woman, © Maiden, Mother, Queen and Wisewoman, with emphasis on the Powers of the Queen Archetype, the most denied, dismissed and demonized of the female archetypes. When the Queen shows up in Woman, patriarchy melts.  Enjoy her inspiring YouTube videos on her channels: Museum of Woman, Goddess Temple of Orange County and Queen Coach.

Nina Paley:    Nina Paley is the creator of the award-winning animated musical feature films Sita Sings the Blues and Seder-Masochism.  Seder-Masochism is a film loosely following a traditional Passover Seder and events from the Book of Exodus, retold by Moses, Aharon, the Angel of Death, Jesus, and the director’s own father. But there’s another side to this story: that of the Goddess, humankind’s original deity. Seder-Masochism resurrects the Great Mother in a tragic struggle against the forces of Patriarchy.  She also has written a book, The Seder Masochism: A Haggadah and Anti-Haggadah.  Her newest project is Apocalypse Animated, illustrating the Book of Revelation.

Ms. Paley has been deplatformed, banned, and blacklisted for saying penises are male.

Carol A. Bouldin, LMFT

Carol has worked in the mental health field with individuals, groups, and families in a variety of settings including inpatient, outpatient, corrections, substance abuse, and private practice, specializing in women abused as children. She is a longtime feminist and utilizes a feminist therapy approach in her work with women, and she has authored the Declaration of, by, and for Women. Carol has done research on Christian orthodoxy, attitudes towards women, shame, and rightwing authoritarianism, and is interested in the psychological impact of patriarchal religion on women and girls.

Role of Patriarchal Religion in the Global Oppression of Women Resource List

Kathleen Stock to be Featured at FIST Forum on January 29th on Gender Ideology and Academic Freedom

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Feminists In Struggle presents an important discussion about the attacks on women in academia who dare to question gender ideology in our Feminist Forum: Attacks Against Academic Freedom Targeting Women in Academia.


The forum will take place through Zoom on Saturday, January 29th at 1:00-3:00 p.m. Pacific time (4:00 p.m. Eastern Time).

$5 tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite

SPEAKERS:

Dr. Kathleen Stock – Until October 2021, Kathleen Stock was a Professor of Philosophy at University of Sussex. She is the author of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (Fleet/Little Brown 2021). She regularly discusses gender identity ideology and its effects on women and girls in public writing and speaking, and was awarded an OBE for services to higher education in 2020.

For an excellent review of her book, see Robert Jensen’s Making Sense of Sex and Gender 

Dr. Devin Jane Buckley left academia after finding it to be ideologically hostile to her intellectual and political interests. She received her Ph.D. at Duke University where she studied philosophy and literature. She also holds two undergraduate degrees, one in neuroscience and another in philosophy from Boston University with publications, awards and honors across disciplines. Dr. Buckley uses her training as a writer and philosopher to advocate for women’s sex-based rights as a freelance writer for 4W and as a board member at Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF). She is currently studying for law school in hopes that litigation and future legislation may bring victories for women’s rights, even if academia has helped erase them.

Texas Abortion FightBack

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At the FIST forum on abortion rights last week we heard from Merle Hoffman, founder and CEO of Choices Women’s Medical Center in NY, that clinics can register with various abortion funds to serve women who cannot afford the procedure or need to travel long distances to obtain the care they need.  The severe restrictions in Texas have increased the need for donations to abortion funds. Choices has already served more than a dozen women from Texas.  With sheer grit, abortion funds persist in the state despite the vigilante law that encourages citizens to turn in anyone helping a woman get an abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy.

The National Women’s Law Center has identified the following groups already on the ground helping to keep access to abortion in Texas.  We encourage donations.

 

Beyond the Supreme Court: the New Abortion Rights Fight

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Please join us on Saturday November 6th at 11:30 AM Pacific time for a timely women-only forum and discussion with feminist activists: “Beyond the Supreme Court: the New Abortion Rights Fight.”



Tickets are $5 with some free tickets available at eventbrite.

Women have always had and will continue to have abortions. The Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973, though limited from a feminist perspective, was a great defeat for anti-abortion forces. Those forces have been hard at work chipping away at our right as women to control our reproductive capacity ever since. It seems likely the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade this term. If that happens, how do we fight to keep abortion services safe and make them accessible?

Featured speakers:

Merle Hoffman founded one of the first abortion clinics in the U.S. in New York in 1971. She wrote a book about her experiences, Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom, she edited a feminist quarterly, On the Issues Magazine, a Magazine of Feminist, Progressive Thinking on reproductive rights for more than a decade, and formed the Choices Global Institute to help underserved women in the U.S. and abroad find women’s health services.

Kathy Scarbrough has been active in feminist and left organizations since the late 1970s. Currently, she is a member of FIST, supporter of Redstockings and co-editor of Meeting Ground Online.

FIST’s Feminist Forums series are interactive and organizing events. At our forums, women have an opportunity not only to hear interesting speakers on a variety of feminist topics but to meet each other, make comments, ask questions of the presenters and discuss feminist politics together. We also usually tape the events so they may be viewed later. Women in attendance are free to shut off their cameras and mute themselves, should they prefer to do so. If you prefer to remain anonymous within the group, or plan to sign in under a different name from the name you have used for registration and purchase of your ticket, please contact the organizer prior to the event. Thanks.

While some of our events are open to both men and women, THIS IS A FEMALE ONLY EVENT. We ask that our male allies respect our right to meet together as women.

FEMINIST FORUM: The Other Side of Transgender: the Story of De-Transitioners

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FIST is excited to be sponsoring a forum featuring the stories of three de-transitioning women on Sat. July 10th at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time.

Tickets available at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-other-side-of-transgender-the-story-of-de-transitioners-tickets-160330686399

Speaking on the panel:

Sydney – a 20 year old woman who transitioned medically as a child.

Rachel F., a 30 year old lesbian, de-transitioned 3 years ago after living as a transman for 5 years.

Carol F – a de-transitioned lesbian, detrans advocate and cofounder of detransvoices.org

FIST’s Feminist Forums series are interactive and organizing events. At our forums, women have an opportunity not only to hear interesting speakers on a variety of feminist topics but to meet each other, make comments, ask questions of the presenters and discuss feminist politics together. We also tape the public events. Women in attendance are free to shut off their cameras and mute themselves, should they prefer to do so. If you prefer to remain anonymous within the group, or plan to sign in under a different name from the name you have used for registration and purchase of your ticket, please contact the organizer prior to the event. Thanks.

While some of our events are open to both men and women, THIS IS A FEMALE ONLY EVENT. We ask that our male allies respect our right to meet together as women.

Spinning & Weaving: Radical Feminism for the 21st Century

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Feminists in Struggle (FIST) is hosting a book launch event on April 24th for Elizabeth Miller’s forthcoming radical feminist anthology, Spinning & Weaving: Radical Feminism for the 21st Century. The event will feature presentations by several of the book’s amazing radical feminist authors in this groundbreaking anthology.

Spinning & Weaving , Radical Feminism for the 21st Century features 45 chapters of radical feminist analysis and fiction on topics like sisterhood, intersectionality, lesbian feminism, ecofeminism, sexual exploitation, gender ideology, and technology. The book features over 35 radical feminist authors from across the globe. The book is published by Ruth Barrett at Tidal Time Publishing and edited by Elizabeth Miller.

Listen to a few of these authors discuss their ideas expressed in the book and join the discussion as we build our international radical feminist movement.

Cherry Smiley – feminist from Nlaka’pamux & Dine Nations , author of “Women Aren’t Men: A Radical Feminist Analysis of Indigenous Gender Politics”.

Yagmur Uygarkizi – 24 year old feminist born in Turkey, author of “Feminism Allowed You to Speak: Reinforcing Intergenerational Feminist Solidarity Against Sophisticated Attacks”.

Angela C Wild – Lesbian Feminist activist and founder of “Get the L Out UK”, author of “Understanding Heterosexuality: Eroticizing Subordination and Colonization, A Lesbian Feminist Prospective”.

Melissa Farley & Inge Kleine , co-authors “Harm and its Denial: Sex Buyers, Pimps and the Politics of Prostitution”.

Gail Dines – founding president and CEO of the non-profit, Culture Reframed and author of “Racy Sex, Sexy Racism: Porn from the Dark Side”.

Special performance by singer song-writer Thistle Pettersen, who has written a song celebrating the book and our feminist work together!

Get your  TICKET today!

Order the book