Asian Women Blog Carnival #3: Call for Submissions

The [completely optional] theme for the 3rd Asian Women Blog Carnival is:

Intersections between Culture and Sexism

For many of us, "white feminism" tends to be our introduction towards recognizing sexism, racism, and other kinds of -isms that are relevant to our lives. But because we come from varying cultures, what others may call sexism, we call a cultural trait (the hijab is a prime example). Occasionally, we may have encountered sexism in our own cultures, but we never thought about it that way until after coming into contact with other cultures.


Here are some questions you may want to tackle for this carnival:

- How does sexism manifest in your cultural context?

- Do you find resistance from peers towards naming an incident sexist due to cultural factors?

- What do you think of the notion some non-Asian feminists have that imply you might be too immersed in your own culture to recognize sexism?

- From your own cultural perspective, do you think sometimes, North American mainstream (white) feminists are so immersed in their own culture they don't recognize the sexist overtones in NA culture?

- How do you think your own culture has affected your experiences and views on sexism?

- Have you encountered sexism from people on account of your race and/or culture? (Which may or may not be influenced by racism)

Cultural comparisons and critiques, from East and West, are very welcome. Don't think that your submission should be limited only to the above questions. You may have considered a question I haven't. Or you could write about something else entirely.

I also would like to state that anyone who identifies as an Asian woman is welcome to submit. This space is trans-friendly. Allies of Asian women (including but not limited to Asian men) are also welcome to submit, so long as submissions are within the context of Asian women.

Contributions do not have to be limited to essays or anything academic - personal anecdata, re-myths, fiction, any form of non-fiction prose, and poetry are also welcome!

The deadline for submissions is Saturday, August 15 (with a grace period of 24 hours afterwards). Just post a URL here, or e-mail me at jhameia.goh@gmail.com. Have at it, ladies!

Also, hosts are still needed for future carnivals! Get in touch with ciderpress if you're interested! ^^

Comments

  1. xenobiologistaJune 11, 2009 at 7:13 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. xenobiologistaJune 11, 2009 at 7:15 PM

    One of my Facebook friends sent me the link to your blog post. My 2 sen on the subject: The number of hateful comments I got after giving "The Asian Mystique" a negative review on Amazon.com has made me leery of expressing my opinions on gender and ethnicity in a public forum...never mind that I'm ethnic Chinese, was raised in Malaysia, and have ovaries =P I was accused of having no idea of what I was talking about despite having EXACTLY the kind of experience that's relevant to these issues (Asian woman living in a white-dominated Western society).

    Discussions about gender that take place among a bunch of gender studies majors are basically useless but the kind of rhetoric that they use scares all the normal (i.e. working/studying in any other field) women off.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JhaJune 12, 2009 at 4:18 AM

    That is indeed the problem with critiquing and the brand of "white feminism" that I was talking about. Very often they're comprised of academics that only pay attention to the mainstream views, and not to the actual women involved. I've seen many blog wars happen as a result - many minority women speaking out have been silenced because their experiences did not agree with white feminists' idea of oppression, or they are simply ignored. (Google brownfemipower)

    This is not a post aimed towards gender studies majors, but towards women who actually experience these things, and who have different experiences. The voices and discussions are important, and the rhetoric gave us a stepping stone, but they are simply not enough to fill the increasing vacumn that comes from recognizing feminism as a global movement.

    While I cannot guarantee a safe space anywhere else but my own blog, participating in this carnival will actually contribute towards creating a community of women who share experiences vastly different from that of the academics. It is because we stay silent that hateful commenters continue to assume they know it all, when in fact, they don't. We need to speak out, show them they are wrong, that the lone voice is not alone.

    I don't know what I can say to encourage you to participate, but I assure you that your voice would be valued within this blog carnival, as it was created for those who identify as Asian women.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJune 13, 2009 at 3:10 PM

    Funnily enough, I had just written a post on Singaporean women, how they're viewed by many of their OWN, as too materialistic. it's here, Materialism in Singaporean Women

    ReplyDelete
  5. JhaJune 13, 2009 at 4:09 PM

    Thanks drelfina! Coincidences are awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sabina E.June 17, 2009 at 7:43 AM

    Regarding comment #2, that doesn't surprise me. There is always so much hostility toward women of color who have the courage to speak up against racism and sexism, because those boys don't want us to burst their little, silly fantasy bubble world.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Feminist ReviewJune 21, 2009 at 7:09 AM

    Here are a few reviews for you...
    The Stoning of Soraya M.

    Zeb and Haniya - Chup

    The Sari Soldiers

    And an interview with Staceyann Chin

    ReplyDelete
  8. JhaJune 21, 2009 at 7:51 AM

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. NaokoJuly 5, 2009 at 8:33 PM

    Saw this in the Star today, think this might be something interesting for the carnival?

    http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/5/focus/4252713&sec=focus

    ReplyDelete

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