Walking the talk forums

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Will S
Walking the talk forums

 

Will S

Hi, I'm not a newbie, but I have a question I probably should have asked a long time ago. I'm interested in feminist issues and I occassionally post on the feminist forum. Every once in a while someone brings up the terms of use if a poster has made a comment that is considered objectionable. I'm pretty sure this happens in the anti-racist forum too, and possibly the pro-worker/labour forum which have subheadings that read (replace words to fit each) "feminists talking about feminist issues from a feminist perspective." Is there any page on this site that clarifies what this means and defines terms? Rabble's policy statement is fairly general. I ask because there seems to be some differences of opinion and I don't know the history about why these particular forums were created (I assume this question has been asked before but I'm not sure what search terms I would use to find that thread, so I'm asking again hoping someone could answer again or provide a link). Particularly in the feminist forum I'd like to know if it was intended as a women's-only space and if 'a feminist perspective' refers to a particular type of feminist thought/theory or if allows some flexibility or 'feminist perspectives.' There was a thread recently in the anti-racist forum that one of the moderators started which suggested it had become unwelcoming to anti-racist people of colour which dealt with similar issues. I'm just hoping to find out a bit more about the policy surrounding these groups so I can modify (or cease) my posting accordingly. Thanks.

Michelle

The feminism forum isn't women only. None of the forums are member-of-oppressed-group-only. They are, however, supposed to be a place where the point of view of women, or people of colour, or aboriginal people, or workers, are reflected primarily.

So, if you see a thread in the feminism forum has 9 out of 10 posts by men, that's probably not a great sign. Or, if you notice that minority viewpoints are being squeezed out, that's probably a good indication that it's time to step back.

Think of it this way: if you're a man in the feminism forum, you're a guest. If you were a guest at someone's place, you wouldn't take over their home and act like you owned the place, right? Well, women "own the place" in the feminism forum. Feminist women, that is. [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img] I'd like to say the same is true of the aboriginal issues and anti-racism forum as well, but I don't think we actually achieve it. But that's supposed to be the idea.

Will S

Thanks Michelle, I'll keep that in mind. [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]