Heart Appeared on Sex TV!

Ha!

Well, this is actually true.  You can watch the clip here.  :)  Hopefully you will be able to watch the entire segment in the future.

Producer Michelle Melles and a cameraman spent two days at my home filming this segment which was entitled “Quiverfull:  Shunned from God’s Army”.   Michelle Melles is a fine feminist who was a pleasure to work with.  She also has a background in conservative Christianity and could relate to my own life and story.  The segment she produced was about my life as a member of a high demand Bible literalist community, many of whose members identify as being part of the “Quiverfull” movement.    A while ago, SexTV did a program with women who had been a members of a fundamentalist LDS polygamous group.  The current program, “No Man, No Problem,” is about women who decide to have babies without having male partners.  These programs are designed to explore issues around relationships and sexuality and to educate the general public internationally; they are documentaries.   I was not paid a penny for working with CTV or for appearing in this documentary, and I never will be.   In fact, I gave up two of my precious vacation days in order to make the documentary.  I am proud of having had the opportunity to educate people worldwide about the treatment of women in these movements.

There is no television program upon which a radical feminist could appear which would not have some connections with male supremacist, patriarchal institutions and organizations.  There is no publishing house, save Spinifex out of Australia,  possibly, no internet hosting service, no radio station, that doesn’t have ties to patriarchal institutions and organizations.  As radical feminists, we have to live in this world and find ways to tell our truths within it.   We will always have to balance the value of telling our truths publicly so as to reach as many people as we can, as against the problems of having to work within male supremacist organizations.   But this is always true.  Wherever we work, wherever we shop, if we hold public office, no matter what we do, there will be connections to institutions which are patriarchal.

As often as we can, though, we can refuse to make our living or to accept money directly or to solicit money from these organizations.  I have not accepted money from CTV or from advertisers for the work that I do on my blog or for my writings in other venues, and I never will.  These facts are easily verifiable.

Following are some of my writings on my years as a fundamentalist and on the Religious Right in general.

I Name the Patriarchs, Part 1:  The Truth About Full Quiver Families
I Name (and Blame) the Patriarchs, Part 2:   Fallacies About the Full Quiver Movement
The Quiverfull Movement, Hate Speech, and Discrimination Against Women as Women
Why is Michelle  Duggar Fair Game?

You might also want to read an article published in Winter 2006 in off our backs feminist newsjournal, Confronting the Religious Right.

I’ve also created a blog, Quiverfull, which I plan to dedicate to women like me who are rebuilding their lives after fundamentalism.

Heart

Laurelin on Fighting Lies

Heart has started a new blog aimed at fighting the lies spread around the blogosphere about radical feminists. She has begun with some of the more repeatedly repeated slanders which have been launched by various people opposed to radical feminism. Most of the things that have been said about me in the blogosphere have either been so stupid as to be easily refuted by a five-minute perusal of my blog (bigoted, fascist, moron, hate-filled etc.), others have been those standard labels for rowdy females by means of which the namer shows his own misogyny and general idiocy, and some have been baseless insults nonetheless cleverly targetted to cut me deeply in the heart. (Seriously. I have been grimly impressed by the abilities of some of my detractors to work out which insult would most pull my strings. I should be flattered that they loved my blog enough to pay such obsessive attention to it!) I’ve discussed the sorts of insults thrown at radical feminists here, here and here.

So true, this paragraph.  Refuting the most egregious lies takes no more than a quick perusal of our blogs.  Also so true how calculated these people are, in the way all abusers are calculated.

Lie No. 4: “Heart Has Viciously Attacked Fellow/Sister Bloggers”

This one is easy because it is a straight up lie. There is no truth in it at all. If the lie-tellers are asked for evidence to substantiate their claims, they never have any. There is no such evidence because I don’t do this. It’s not my style, never has been.

I attack (rhetorically) rapists, predators, warmongers, sexists, misogynists, pimps, pornographers, murderers, men who sell women down the river or throw us under the bus, of course. They hurt women and all people and are the reason the earth is in the state it is in.

But I don’t attack bloggers or random people because I disagree with them or because we have differences or are different. Those who have made this claim are simply liars.

Welcome to Fight the Lies!

This is a blog designed and created in order to challenge and confront the attacks on me and on other radical feminists and radical feminism on the internet.  Most of these attacks on all of us come in the form of lies, told repeatedly and with complete dedication, by people with no interest in what is factual or true. 

I will not be allowing comments on this blog; it is intended to serve as a resource.   I will post each lie individually giving it its own post, so that a compendium is compiled, both of the lies and, indirectly, of the liars who tell the lies.   I envision this as a sort of “Snopes” to which people can be referred whenever someone repeats or spreads disinformation.

The lies, attacks, slander and defamation will come to an end.  This blog will be one effort towards that end, but it will, by far, not be the only effort.  I hope other radical feminists will create their own “Fight the Lies” blogs and campaigns.  If you do, we can link to one another’s blogs, create “Fight the Lies” blogrolls, and work together with a goal of confronting those who have caused us harm by attacking us via lies and misinformation.

Heart

 

Lie No. 3: “Heart Asks Her Readers for Money to Go On Vacations When Really She’s a Millionaire”

Truth:  Last August I asked for my readers’ support in attending the Michigan Women’s Music Festival where, among other things, I was planning to facilitate political workshops, as I have for the past three years.  In 2005, I facilitated “Intensive Workshops” at the Festival on “Confronting the Religious Right” and on “Creating Intentional Women’s Communities.”  In 2005, 2006 and 2007 I facilitated workshops entitled, “Feminisms,”  “Feminist Unschooling,” “Confronting the Religious Right,” “Creating Intentional Womyn’s Community,” “Radical Feminist Meetup”, and other workshops.   I have paid my own airfare for all the years I have attended Festival and for my ticket all but the year I offered intensive workshops.  I live 3,000 miles from the Festival and the trip is expensive.  Attending the Festival is not a “vacation,” although it is spectacularly enjoyable.  It is a political experience and experiment in building women’s community.  I have facilitated political workshops at the Festival each year I have attended and have attended and participated in the many other political workshops and events which take place at the Festival each August as well.  The Festival is about radical women brainstorming, and especially networking, for change.  As such it is a central event for many of us who are radical feminist activists. 

I have never been a “millionaire.”  Tellers of this lie  point to the fact that I won a $1.1 million jury verdict when I  sued the eight organizations on the Religious Right who nationally excommunicated me and destroyed my publication.  What the lie-tellers omit is that the defendants appealed, and then we settled for an amount I cannot disclose because of a confidentiality agreement we all signed. My attorneys received 45 percent of this settlement, which was also heavily taxed.  I used the remaining proceeds, in part, to return to publishing, to refund subscribers and advertisers who asked for refunds, and to, in all the ways I could, make things right with my subscribers who were harmed by the acts of the Religious Right.

Additional relevant information: 

• I asked for support in attending last year’s Festival during a time when my website and another radical feminist’s website had been closed down or were under attack by “Anon”/4 chan attacks.  During this time I and another then-blogger, biting beaver, were the recipients of ongoing threats of rape, threats on our lives, and harassment of every kind, online and in some instances, in real life.  Some of the persons responsible for these and other lies about me and other radical feminists participated in these attacks or endorsed them.
• For reasons of integrity and good journalism, I do not allow advertising on any of my websites or blogs.  Instead of compromising my own journalistic ethics, I ask those who read and value what I write for support when I need support. 

Lie No. 2: “Heart Has Said Women of Color Oppress Her/Are Morphing Into Her Oppressor”

Truth:  I do not believe,  have never believed, have never stated that women of color “oppress” me or any other white  woman or white women.  I do not believe in any such thing as “reverse racism” and never have; the notion is absurd and destructive.  I have been committed to anti-racism and Civil Rights work since 1968.  I have nine bi-racial children, the oldest 36, and have dedicated my life to creating a world that is more hospitable to them, by the time I leave it, than it was when my children entered it.  My writings about racism, wherever they are published, speak for themselves.

Refutation of specific allegations:  When this lie is told, the link used to “prove” it is usually a link to a blog post I wrote entitled Morphing Into the Oppressor.  But this post simply refers readers on to a post with that title that existed on another woman’s blog.  The blog I referred people to is now private; hence, the  post I linked to cannot be read.  However, the subject at issue was interracial relationships and families.  I did not and do not believe the original writer of this blog post saw women of color as morphing into her oppressors.  I read the title as a reference to the way women situated as she and I are, in biracial relationships, are made to be (”morphed into”) oppressors, by male supremacists and racists.  In any event, the post that is used as evidence for this lie makes no reference to women of color “morphing into [any white person's] oppressor,” let alone mine.  If the comments thread is read, my comments speak for themselves.

 

Lie No. 1: “Heart is ‘Anti-Trans’ or ‘Transphobic’”

Truth:  I believe that transgender persons should enjoy full civil and human rights with all other persons.  I believe that transgender persons are oppressed and targeted because they are transgender and that this is completely wrong.

Several years ago, another radical feminist, two transwomen and I, hoping to create a coalition inclusive of all women, including transwomen, created a Declaration and Affirmation on the Importance of Woman-Only Spaces*.  The declaration includes the following paragraphs:

We agree and affirm together:

That transwomen belong to our global community of women, and that as members of that global community, women (born women) and transwomen experience many of the same challenges, difficulties, oppressions and lived experiences.

That although the life experiences of transwomen may differ in some respects from that of women (born women), there is a range of experience amongst all women, such that in any group of women in the global women’s community who come together for social, leisure, educational, work or other reasons, there will be some experiences common to all and others unique to each member.

That transwomen, whatever their history, to the degree that they live as women, are vulnerable to harassment and intimidation from men and society at large and face discrimination and  many of the same problems and issues as women (born women) face, and that they greatly benefit from the support of other women.

That those born female who have lived as girls and women all of their lives, share a lived experience of oppression and subordination which varies woman to woman, but which is in some ways distinct from that of transwomen.

That women (born women) and transwomen benefit from woman (born woman)- and transwoman-only spaces created for mutual support, consciousness-raising, strategizing women’s liberation, and for comfort and healing.

That the global community of women, including both transwomen and women (born women), benefit from uniting as a global women’s community for all of the reasons listed above and many more.  We support one another in seeking, creating, and enjoying women’s spaces, whether in our affinity groups or all together, as a global community.

***

We believe:

That our best hopes for strength and solidarity as a global community of women which includes women (born women) and transwomen lie not in confrontation, coercion or force, but in building bridges of caring, warmth, and mutual support, and in seeking creative, win/win resolution of differences and conflicts;

That as a global community of women, we can only benefit by educating ourselves and one another about our unique lives and challenges;

That sisterhood is powerful.

Therefore, we resolve:

To support one another in creating our own spaces, to be allies to one another politically, to cultivate and value our friendships with one another, and  to work together for the liberation of all women, and ultimately, for the building of a new and better world for all people.*

I wrote these paragraphs with the assistance of my co-signatories, I believed them when I wrote them in 2006, I have believed them always as a feminist, and I still believe them today.

Why the Lie Has Been Told: Because I have supported, defended and advocated for woman-born-woman only spaces.  For the lie-tellers and -repeaters above, defenses of spaces set aside for female-born persons equal “transphobia” and being “anti-trans”.

Related lies:

• Heart has sometimes used the wrong pronouns to describe transpersons.

Untrue.  I have never done this, and  I do not do this, as a matter of principle.  I use the pronouns people ask others to use with respect to them.  If I have ever failed to do this, it was completely unintentional, and if and when it was brought to my attention, I corrected my error and apologized sincerely.

• Heart has described transpersons as “Frankenstein monsters.”

Untrue.  Any discussions around the word “Frankenstein” in which I have participated, wherever they have occurred,  have been in reference to Mary Shelley’s and others’ depictions of patriarchal medicine and doctors (i.e.,  the Dr. Frankenstein of Shelley’s book) and the harm they have done historically to women and other marginalized persons, including transgender persons. 

• Heart has “bullied” transpersons. 

Untrue.  This is a lie and an attack.  It has never happened anywhere.  Anyone asked for evidence of   this “bullying,”  will be unable to provide it because it is a lie.

• Heart thinks transwomen shouldn’t be allowed in domestic violence shelters.

Untrue.  I believe privately funded shelters have the right to determine what populations they serve.  I think public, taxpayer-funded shelters should operate consistent with the laws of the land.

Refutation of specific allegations:  There are no specific allegations to refute.  There is no evidence to support these lies.  When the lie-tellers are pushed to provide documentation for their allegations, they are unable to do so.   Sometimes they point to comments other feminists have made on my blog, suggesting that since I approved someone’s comments, I must endorse all that this person might have ever written anywhere and anytime.  This is, of course, absurd.  My blog at times generates many comments.  I am not responsible for what those commenters write, whether to my blog or in other venues.

Goals of the Lies:   To define woman-only gatherings as exclusionary rather than as necessary to women’s liberation; to discredit radical feminists for political reasons (because we are anti-pornography, anti-prostitution anti-sadomasochism, especially); to erase the specific oppression and marginalization of women as women**

*Feel free to add your name to this petition if you have not.
**Always a partial list.  Feel free to e-mail me other reasons that come to your mind.