Greetings!

Feminist Action Project will meet this Wednesday at 7:30 in the Gender and Sexuality Center: Serving Women and LGBTQA Communities (SAC 2.112).  Join us as we discuss and plan for various events this year. Possible events to be discussed:

§  Feminism is for Every(body)(focus on feminism affecting everyone for different reasons and highlight the  men/males who are also part of the movement)

§  Gender equality/Gender Justice

§  Interracism

§  Ableism

§  Specific Events highlighting feminism  in different cultures

§  Media representation / Body Image- Miss Representation film

§  Chalkboard Project (On chalkboards with FAP logo, write why feminism is important and post pictures on Facebook

§  “What does a feminist look like?” Open frame where people can take pictures

§  History and current events concerning women’s issues and voting.

§   Debate Watch Party/Teach-In

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to stop by the GSC and see Liz, Noreen, or Joyce or contact us at feministactionproject@gmail.com

Happy first day of the conference!

We are so excited to meet and work with all of you this weekend!  A few pointers for today:

• Remember traffic will be thick this afternoon and evening due to Texas Relay, try to plan in extra time, even if you are taking the bus.
• We still have a few parking passes. If you need to/would like to park in the Brazos garage, please email us a feministactionproject@gmail.com.
• Check-in is a drop-by affair between 3 and 4:30 at the School of Social Work where you can get your materials and say hello.  If you choose to meet us at the SAC instead for Dr. Balakrishnan's keynote, just check in on Saturday--the info table will be up and running all day.
• For your evening plans: the icebreakers and power shuffle discussion will not run past 8:30 or 9pm. Let us know if you'd like some company going back toward the SSW or Brazos, since it will be at night.

Ready, set, ... !

Presentation Description: The Stigma of Size

Modern Day Control Garments and the Restraint of the Fat Female Body
Saturday, 1:45-3pm, SSW 2.122

This panel explores the role of control garments in societal views of the fat body, through a series of multi-media projects. Large close-up photographs depict portions of a fat naked woman; the impressions of a too-tight girdle remain imprinted on her flesh. A related video performance shows the artist, dressing herself in endless layers of constricting body-slimmers, bodices, and corsets, her labored breathing forming the soundtrack. Once fully encased and no longer able to breathe, the artist disrobes, loosening strings, unhooking, expanding, until she is naked. This work highlights the price paid each day for social approval, and how many women twist and debase their bodies to conform to the expectations of others.

Come check it out!  You'll learn about the body and its relationship to fatness and sexuality.

Presenter and performer Erin Zerbe is a multimedia artist working in video, photography, performance, and new media. She teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Kinetic Imaging and Art Foundations Departments.

Call for Volunteers!

We need volunteers for this weekend's conference!

If you are interested in volunteering, we will ask you to agree to the statement below when you check in at the conference:

Feminist Action Project (FAP) supports the idea that as a community of thinkers and actors, we can and should challenge institutional forms of sexism, racism, ableism and classism (among other forms of oppression) in order to forge a more socially conscious and consciously active Texas. As a multi-interest feminist conference, FAP seeks to establish safe spaces for students and community embers organizing around issues of gender justice. We hold that feminism is but one constructive tool in this process and contributes to the ongoing work of liberation for all bodies.

Volunteers will help with miscellaneous tasks like passing out programs, help working the registration table, set up, and clean up. As a volunteer, we want to make sure we know you're coming!  Please register for the conference at: http://feministactionproject.blogspot.com/p/registration.html

We hope to see you this weekend!

Presentation Description: Hey! Calling people out (nicely) on their sh*t

When it comes to calling out people for oppressive speech, how do you speak out so people will listen?  This workshop will discuss strategies to challenge oppressive speech and actions with the larger goal in mind of making others aware of how they play into systems of oppression--and hopefully willing to change it.  If this workshop sounds useful to you, come check it out during session II (11:15-12:30) this Saturday March 31 at the conference!

Presentation Description: Are You Able?: Disability as Diversity

What is ableism?  How does it intersect with other forms of social oppression?  And what are the relationships between the disability rights movement and other types of activist movements?  These are just some of the questions that will be discussed in the Are You Able? presentation and workshop.  If you're interested, don't miss the presentation during the first session (9:45-11) of the conference!

Panel schedule

Check out the amazing presentations, workshops, and trainings lined up for the conference!

All of the panels will be held in the School of Social Work Building (SSW) at the University of Texas at Austin. This building is located at 1925 San Jacinto Boulevard, Austin, TX.

We look forward to seeing you there! Keep checking back for panel profile posts as the week goes on.

	SSW 2.116	SSW 2.122	SSW 2.118	SSW 2.132
A 9:45-11	Are You Able? Disability as Diversity	Anti-Racist Feminist Workshop	Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as an Activist's Prioritizing Tool: An LGTBQ case study	(rest & rejuvination room)
B 11:15-12:30	Hey!  Calling people out (nicely) on their sh*t	Confronting Oppression through Political Action	WOC Feminist Punk Movement	Consent in Healthy Relationships: Understanding, broadening, and examining the definition and imporance of consent
C 1:45-3	Radical Self-Care: Confronting Race, Gender, and Disability Intersections in the Academy	The Stigma of Size: Modern Day Control Garments, and the Restraint of the Fat Female Body	Building an Integenerational Queer Movement	(rest & rejuvination room)
D 3:15-4:30	The Joy of Queer Sex	Empowering the Campus Community to Help Students who are Thinking About Suicide	Animals and Intersections: Speciesism, Oppression, and What You Can Do About It	(rest & rejuvination room)

Schedule announced

Check out the conference schedule! Later this week we will announce the details of each panel, presentation, or workshop and where they fit into the schedule of breakout sessions. You'll see that each session is 1 hour and 15 minutes long, with a 15 minute break in between. This will give everyone time to have a good discussion and then decompress and breathe between each activity:


Friday, March 30

3:00pm	Registration/check-in open at SSW
4:30	Go over to SAC together
5:00	Keynote: Dr. Balakrishnan in SAC Ballroom
6:00	Reception with CWGS
7:30-?	Opening plenary and power shuffle

_________________________________

Saturday, March 31

8:30am	Check-in/breakfast at SSW
9:00	Opening plenary/guidelines
9:45-11:00	Session I
11:15-12:30pm	Session II
12:30-1:30	Lunch
1:45-3:00	Session III
3:15-4:30	Session IV
4:45-5:30	Closing plenary
5:30-6:30	Dinner
7:00	Performance evening begins
8:00	Sharon Bridgforth performance

Gloria Steinem documentary screening & panel

Join us and the Center for Women's and Gender Studies for a screening of the recent Gloria Steinem documentary:


Thursday, March 22
6:30-8:30pm
TS Painter Hall 4.42


What do you think of Gloria Steinem as a feminist icon?  Do you agree with how she has been made emblematic of feminism?  How do you feel about the politics of the 'second wave' compared to current feminisms and your own perspective?  


Come discuss these issues and the documentary with our panel of distinguished professors, moderated by Sue Heinzelman, English professor and the director of CWGS:

• Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
• Joy James, Visiting Professor, Department of African and African Diaspora Studies
• Zipporah Wiseman, Professor, School of Law

As activists for gender justice, what can we say about Gloria Steinem and her legacy?  Come to the screening and let your voice be heard!

Registration is open!

The time has come: registration has begun for the big event, and space is limited!

Please sign up to attend by using the permanent link to "Registration" in the left frame under Pages, or follow the link below to the form and PayPal button:

http://feministactionproject.blogspot.com/p/registration.html

The registration fee affords you the following pleasures:

• Participation in both days of the conference
• A light reception on Friday, March 30 and snacks and meals on Saturday the 31st
• The stylings of Dr. Radhika Balakrishnan of Rutgers University and many other distinguished speakers and panelists
• Admission to Saturday's performance evening featuring local artists and our keynote, the distinguished jazz aesthetic poet Sharon Bridgforth

This is a self-supporting feminist event, but we don't want financial hardship to prevent anyone from attending. The suggested registration fee is $15 and our sliding scale begins at $5-- if $5 is what you can manage, we completely understand are are glad you'll be able to join us. If you are able to pay the $15 (or more), it will help others attend who would otherwise not be able to, which will in turn make the event and our community stronger.

We can't wait to get everything started! As always, please contact us with any questions, and we'll keep this space updated with schedules and panel descriptions and the conference nears.

Gloria Steinem Documetary Event

[black and white photograph of Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes with their right fists held up]

The Feminist Action Project is proud to co-sponsor the screening of the Gloria Steinem documentary on UT campus.  Please join us for an evening dedicated to one of the driving forces behind the modern feminist movement.

Thursday March 22, 2012

T.S. Painter Hall 4.42

The University of Texas at Austin

6:30 PM

Free and open to the public

Click here for campus detail map.

Conference Performance Evening: Call for Performances

The Feminist Action Project, a two-day conference at the University of Texas at Austin on March 30-31, 2012, is seeking performances.

This year’s theme is Relationships: building alliances and bridging movements. We hope for this theme to encompass relationships between people, generations, and movements as described in the lists below.

Our goals for the conference include: including the experiences and perspectives of both students and community members, prioritizing 101-level introductions to theories and movements, emphasizing “art as resistance,” and helping broaden the feminist community by framing its issues in relation to other activisms. We are honored to announce Sharon Bridgforth as our keynote performer; she is a theatrical jazz aesthetic artist and playwright.

Performances should be consistent with the theme and goals. We are particularly interested in proposals dealing with one or more of the following themes:

Relationships between people:
 ● Healthy sexuality

    ○ Consent

    ○ Non-mainstream romantic/sexual identities

    ○ Practicing feminism in close relationships

 ● Exploring female relationships

    ○ Breaking down “girl hate”

 ● Confronting oppressive acts/speech

    ○ Calling others out

    ○ Being a constructive ally

 ● Activist self-care

 ● Violence, bullying, and harassment

Relationships between movements:

 ● Confronting –isms and oppression within feminist movements

    ○ Tensions between women of color movements and ‘mainstream’ feminism

 ● Collaboration between feminist generations/waves

 ● Trans* and gender identity activism and the LGBT mainstream

 ● Disability rights activism and intersectionality

 ● Race and economic rights activism (like Occupy Wall Street)

101-level intersections:

 ● Privilege and power

 ● Sexism
 ● Racism

 ● Classism

 ● Ableism

 ● Sexual & gender identities

 ● Body acceptance activism

● Indigenous rights movements

Please include in your performance proposal:

• Title of the performance (poem, song, monologue, skit, etc.)

• Length of Performance (should be between 5-8 minutes)

• Brief description, no more than 300 words

• Copy of the words to the performance or link to a video of performance

• Description of AV and space requirements

• Your name and contact information (phone and e-mail preferred)

The deadline for performance proposals is February 24, 2011. Please submit all documents via email to feministactionproject@gmail.com, with “Attn: Programming Committee” in the subject line. You can send the submission as a Microsoft Word file, .pdf, or text file. If postal mail works better for you, please send it to:

Feminist Action Project

c/o Gender and Sexuality Center

1 University Station, A4400

Austin, TX, 78712

We are very excited about this year’s conference and we look forward to hearing from you!

To bridge means loosening our borders, not closing off to others. Bridging is

the work of opening the gate to the stranger, within and without.

•

Gloria Anzaldúa