Women Of Color Bloggers

How did I miss this one? This Nordette Adams BlogHer article was posted February 27, 2010 and talks about a decade of Women of Color bloggers.

Guess who gets mentioned as a blogger that people consider influential or they simply like. My blogging homegirl Renee and Womanist Musings is mentioned, along with Latoya Peterson's Racialicious (where I've had some guest posts pop up from time to time), Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend, Tami of What Tami Said, Twanna Hines of Funky Brown Chick, and Gina McCauley of What About Our Daughters

Wow.

It's a blessing and an honor that I was mentioned with some pretty lofty blogging company. It lets me know that the long hours and hard work I put into making this blog informative and entertaining for you to read has gotten your attention even if I question that at times.

But what is more gratifying and important to me is that it has the respect of my readers and my blogging peers.

Women Come In All Shapes, Body Sizes, Hairstyles and Genitalia Configurations

One of the silver linings in this jacked up Caster Semenya situation is that it's fostering a serious discussion around the planet about the parameters of femininity.

Trans and intersex people can already tell you that gender is not an either/or immutable proposition. Just as there is a continuum of sexuality, there is one for gender as well.

Anyone who remembers their reality based science classes knows that you get half your genetic material from mommy and half your genetic material from daddy.

That leads to some very interesting variations and combinations of traits alleged to belong to the 'opposite' gender that can be mixed and matched in a masculine or feminine bodied person.

There are masculine bodied persons who are short with small hands and feet. Conversely, there are feminine bodied people who are tall, have large hands and wear double digit shoe sizes.

Then you have those peeps that Mother Nature got creative with and did the mixing and matching of various traits and chromosome patterns.

One of the things we have to realize in this evolving femininity discussion is that for centuries, the standard of beauty is a narrow Eurocentric one that by default 'others' women of color.

Black women have particularly suffered because of this beauty standard. Thanks to slavery, for centuries myths and falsehoods peddled as 'scientific facts' were used along with religious dogma to justify denying the humanity of African descended people.

Contrary to what some people believe, the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's didn't magically make that negative history disappear. Those centuries old ideas and myths are still stubbornly part of our culture today.

As philosopher Simone de Beauvoir observed, 'One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.'

On the way to womanhood, some of us were fortunate to be born in feminine bodies at birth. Others of us had to work at morphing into our feminine bodies as fast as we could later in life.

But it's past time to recognize that women come in all shapes, body sizes, hairstyles, hair colors, and genitalia configurations.

The Tell It WOC Speak Blog Carnivals

I decided I wanted to talk about for a moment the Tell It WOC Speak Blog Carnivals.

I participated because it's a great way to get new people exposed to my writing that may not have ever heard of TransGriot, nor may ever pass by this blog otherwise. I've gotten some dedicated readers from it as a result of my involvement in this carnival.

It was also an honor to me personally that I was invited to do so, and one of my posts was the featured one for the February edition.

It did bother me though that there wasn't enough participation from WOC bloggers for whatever reason, but I looked at it as their loss because they didn't seize the opportunity to promote their work to a wider audience.

But at the same time, by not participating, those peeps who declined to do so were silencing their own voices in addition to denying themselves access to the rest of the Netizens.

So if you wish to check out the previous carnivals, here's the link to the website that hosts it.

Tami's Podcast Now Archived

Thanks to Tami of What Tami Said for the kind invitation to participate in yesterday's podcast along with Renee of Womanist Musings and AJ Plaid of The Cruel Secretary.

This was one of those free ranging discussions that could have gone on all afternoon and all night. We only had an hour an a half to try to tackle the complex subject of Black femininity, and tackle it we did.

The podcast is now up along with links to various posts from all of our blogs that talk about the subject.

So if you didn't get to hear the live show yesterday, check it out at your leisure.

What Tami Said Podcast Appearance Today

Renee and I along with AJ Plaid from the The Cruel Secretary will be discussing the subject of Black femininity on The Best of What Tami Said podcast at 4 PM EDT today.

So if you wish to hear an informative and entertaining chat or participate in the chat room, you can either call in your questions at (646)716-4672 or surf over to the show page.

On the next installment of our Womanist Musings show that takes place on April 25 at 8 PM EDT, Renee and I will be talking to IFGE's Ethan St. Pierre and Crystal Ann Gray from the GLBT Center of Colorado about the ongoing trial of Allen Andrade, the accused killer of Angie Zapata. You can call us at (347) 326-9452 or join our chat room this weekend to ask questions of our guests or comment.

As with all blogtalkradio shows, if you can't listen live, you can always listen to it at your leisure by clicking on the link to the show website.

Tell It WOC Speak April Carnival Up

The third installment of the 'Tell It WOC Speak' blog carnival is up, and thanks again to Renee for all of her hard work putting this together on the dedicated site for it to showcase the work of WOC bloggers.

The apropos theme this month is Voices Have Power.

It's past time as women of color bloggers to realize that we need to use our individual and collective voices to speak truth to power and stand up to injustice and intolerance.

Take some time to surf over to the site and check out some wonderful writers. Yeah, you know I made sure I submitted some posts, too. I think it's important enough for me to do so, and it introduces my writing to people that may not have discovered my blog.

If you want to be a part of the May 15 WOC Speak Carnival get cracking now and submit those posts for the next installment.

WOC Speak March Blog Carnival Is Up!

The March edition of the Tell It WOC Speak blog carnival is up and posted. I do have some posts as part of this carnival but I'm not the only person who has some wonderful writing up that deserves to be perused.

So take the time to check it out.

March WOC Blog Carnival

If you loved the Tell It WOC Speak blog carnival and the post I submitted for it that ended up being the featured one, well the March edition should be just as good or even better.

I say that because this time, it'll include one of your posts as a women of color writer. I've already submitted mine to Renee, so if y'all want to be a part of the next one that's on and popping March 15, get those submissions in to her ASAP.

As she stated in the opening paragraph as to why she's having this monthly event,

"In every sphere of life women of colour are marginalized and exploited. Often, when we attempt to engage to change our circumstances we are silenced. This carnival is our attempt to give voice to our shared issues. We have a strong history of activism and organizing and it is in this vein that we have chosen this space to highlight the various ways we have attempted to carve out a niche in the online world. We shall not be silenced, and our dreams shall be realized. We are women of quality and worth.

So get moving, get motivated, get your write on and send those submission before the 12th. Express your thoughts and let the blogosphere hear our voices.

In Solidarity

TransGriot Note: One of the things I want to do this year is foster open discussion and communication between transwomen and our biosisters about various issues. From time to time I'll be opening up TransGriot to various women of color bloggers in order to facilitate these conversations, and I've been invited to do the same on several of their blogs as well.

My Canadian sister Renee of Womanist Musings kicks off this series of posts.

Hello everyone, my name is Renee and I write a blog called Womanist Musings. I would like to first say thank you to Monica for sharing her space with me. It is a real honour to be given an opportunity to blog here.

On my blog one of the things I focus on is having the conversations that no one else is having. I believe that unless we speak for the marginalized and exploited bodies of this world they will continue to be ignored in our quest to amass greater and greater privilege. This is detrimental not only to us as a society, but to our little blue planet.

I have spent a lot of time in conversation with Monica recently. Yes, she is as marvelous as you think she is. In our conversations we seem to come back to one reoccurring theme, the need for cisgendered women of color and trans women of color to unite. As a womanist I have had many dealings with the feminist community and one thing has become overwhelmingly clear, though many pay lip service to intersectionality, it really is about progressing the needs of white women. While discussing my frustration with feminism with Monica, she related a similar story about the trans movement.

Oddly enough I met Monica when she came to cuss me out. I laugh about it now because we have developed a wonderful friendship, though girlfriend still owes me a cornbread recipe. At any rate, as we got to know each other and share our different experiences the more I began to realize that if two individuals, hundreds of miles apart from each other could forge a bond based in our mutual frustration with racial discrimination and a belief in our self worth, then it is quite possible to create a larger coalition.

Black women are not strangers to work. From the moment we stepped on this continent in chains ours have been lives of intense labour. We have worked under the cruel threat of the lash and we have more often than not laboured to benefit others. When you examine any social justice movement you will find white people in leadership roles with black women serving as support staff. The one commonality of all organizations or corporations is the distribution of labour; it is the support staff that does the real work without any real acclaim, or reward. I am tired of whiteness being the face of my labour, and I am sick of whiteness being the beneficiary of my blood sweat and tears.

TWOC and CWOC have divorced from each other and given our energies to our separate social justice movements. The end result of this is that neither one of us has been able to achieve much social progress, nor are we in leadership positions in our respective groups. Essentially we have allowed whiteness to divide and thereby conquer us.

When I talk to Monica, I know that I am talking to a comrade in arms. We have dealt with many issues that are common in our efforts to try and achieve equality for WOC. Our blackness and our femininity are our common bond. There will be times when we face different issues based in the fact that I am cisgendered and that she is a trans woman; however our desire to forge a relationship has caused us to focus on our commonalities, and talk our way through difference. This has reinforced my belief that we must begin to coalition build between cisgendered WOC and trans WOC. Whatever petty divides we have had in the past must be released if we are going to move forward as women.

No one is out there fighting for us; and therefore we must join forces and fight for each other. The issues of my Trans sister of color are my issues. When she is harassed on the streets, beaten or murdered it very well could me, and knowing this cisgendered women cannot turn their backs. TWOC are attacked as much for gender issues as they are for their race. Their vulnerability is my vulnerability.

In this coming year it is going to be my goal to try and forge more bonds with my trans sisters in the hopes that we can stand together and fight the forces that oppress us both. I know that my freedom can never truly occur until my trans sisters are also free. We are women and we are one. If the world cannot recognize this we must join together and make them see what their privilege denies. Together in solidarity I cannot imagine a force of nature stronger than black women aligned in the cause of justice.