This weekend
2 February 2003, 4:49 PM

Well, this weekend has been dominated by the Columbia Space Shuttle accident, but even as we pick up the pieces (literally and figuratively) it's one of those kinds of things where we life continues to move on. Case in point is all the other news headlines I saw this morning. (Bombings here and there, Iraq and Microsoft.)

Feminist Organizations
2 February 2003, 4:28 PM

I just unsubscribed from a feminist forum I help to get off the ground a few years ago. I'm kinda sad because there was a brief period in it's life when there was back and forth debate over topics from a variety of feminist positions, and some real person-to-person connections going on. People would actually comment on some of the current news that I and others forwarded to the list.

That's not really the case anymore. The variety of topics is no longer there, and for the most part the list stays quiet. No one ever picks out a general news head line and runs with it anymore, and there's none of the back and forth between the different kinds of perspectives anymore.

It's not the only feminist list like that where I've seen such a brief period of Renaissance-like discussion and movement. Lots of others have gone through this brief flash of incredible interaction only to eventually evaporate after a slow decline. I'm just sad because it's the latest one and I see it coming. I get nothing out of the interactions there anymore and it's beginning to look to me like that kind of interaction is exceedingly brief (lasting about a year at most) and not sustainable.

My last straw actually had nothing to do with this decline. Actually, the list was quite lively in the midst of discussion when I left. And maybe it'll pick itself back up again. But I myself am tired of organized feminist groups. No matter which way you slice it, whether it be my third wave perspective, ethnic or science background, I'm always on the periphery and a bit of the odd-woman-out. It's just not worth the effort that goes into participating. In this case I was mourning the loss of a personal heroine and got simply NO interest back in this particular woman. Instead there was immediate discussion about the evils of the industry she was in. It was completely dismissive of how I was feeling at the time, and definitely time for me to bow out.

It's sad. At a point in my life where I'm in the position to be a mentor, I'm not the least bit intertested in particpating in feminist forums anymore.