nadia-love

"Ain’t your mama never told you
how black women collect the world,
build other bodies onto their own?
No earthly man knows the solution to our hips,
asses urgent as sirens,
titties familiar as everybody’s mama
crisscrossed with pulled roads of blood.
Ask us why we pray with our dancin’ shoes on, why we
grow fat away from everyone and toward each other."

Patricia Smith, “For Aretha”

— 1 week ago with 2 notes

#black women #Patricia Smith #poem #aretha franklin #music #poetry #writing #creative writing #women #Herstory

Dear Steubenville survivor, I believe you. Sincerely, Melissa

(beautiful letter from Melissa Harris-Perry. Had me crying)

— 1 month ago with 4 notes

#Steubenville #rape #survivor #vaw #feminism #women #patriarchy #sexual violence #nerdland #msnbc

"We have witnessed the destruction caused by being silent about mental illnesses in our community, but, there is a not-so-silent attack occurring against women and girls for simply walking down the street. Similar to the humiliation of the 'stop and frisk' policy that many Black and Latino men experience, street harassment against women is also an epidemic that we must stand up against. Harassment in our communities is that often inevitable incident, that sometimes harmless but sometimes not verbal exchange on the way to work, the public disrobing of our clothes by a stranger's eyes, the belittling of our very existence in front of a crowd if we do not heed a calling. It is a mental dismantling that can easily cause one to snap. There have been many occasions where after a long day, I have experienced such harassment, only to come home to collapse on my bed in tears, steaming with fury and even resentment for my brothers. I do not want to feel this way. My sisters do not want to feel this way. We are already up against too much in this country to be against each other as well." →

— 8 months ago with 1 note

#street harassment #women #men #community #patriarchy

"the wounded child inside many males is a boy who, when he first spoke his truths, was silenced by paternal sadism, by a patriarchal world that did not want him to claim his true feelings. The wounded child inside many females is a girl who was taught from early childhood that she must become something other than herself, deny her true feelings, in order to attract and please others. When men and women punish each other for truth telling, we reinforce the notion that lies are better. To be loving we willingly hear the other’s truth, and most important, we affirm the value of truth telling. Lies may make people feel better, but they do not help them to know love."

bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions

— 11 months ago with 869 notes

#bell hooks #feelings #gender roles #heart #love #men #patriarchy #truth #women #quote #feminism

sonofbaldwin: Cops kill black women and girls, too.

(via manifestfreedom)

— 1 year ago with 550 notes

#police #police brutality #women #black women #poc

Why is there no childcare at the Left Forum? Why does it matter?

For the past four years, community members have been asking the Left Forum to provide childcare. Seth Adler, the sole staff member of Left Forum, has continually resisted prioritizing childcare. This year it took weeks of phone calls and emails to get any response from him at all.

Childcare IS possible at conferences. Many conferences have childcare, such as the Allied media Conference, the US Social Forum, Critical Resistance, RISE, the Anarchist Book Fair, the National Ware Resistors League Conference and many socialist conferences. The Left Forum can figure it out, too. It is appalling that the largest Left conference in the country does not prioritize accessibility for poor and working people, women and other care-givers.

Childcare is important for our movements because without childcare in political spaces, we lose the participation of many of those who have the most to struggle for. We need the knowledge and leadership of those who can least afford to pay for private childcare.

Our children deserve a place in our movements too. We want them to grow up with a sense of being included in political activity.

An entire generation of feminists fought hard for childcare in political spaces. They won. Don’t let the Left Forum roll back those victories.

Contact Seth Adler at 212-817-2003 or seth@leftforum.org and demand that the Left Forum provide childcare next year and every year.

(Flier I received at the Left Forum conference this past weekend. http://www.leftforum.org/)

— 1 year ago with 2 notes

#childcare #women #Left Forum #safe spaces #inclusive #feminism #womanism

bell hooks: Understanding Patriarchy →

(from 1st chapter of “The Will to Change: Men Masculinity and Love”)

neetainari:

A more reader- and printer-friendly version of the bell hooks text, in twelve A4 pages. I hope this isn’t infringing anyone’s copyright or shit; if it is, let me know and I’ll take it down. Text copied from this file distributed by NO BORDERS.

(via daniellemertina)

— 1 year ago with 46 notes

#patriarchy #men #women #love #sexism #humanity #self #oppression

"As a woman, I feel the answers for our inner balance come to us from our relationship to the Moon, the Earth, our relationship with the feminine and masculine energy within us, and our ancient memory as “green women,” healers of the Earth… . In this day of scientific research and of dependency and orientation of allopathic medicine, many of us have lost faith in the power of ceremony and prayer for healing and maintaining good health… .By reclaiming our heritage as healers, by loving the Earth and listening to hear teachings, and by caring for ourselves with loving compassion, and with the use of gentle, natural remedies, we create the balance that brings well-being and vitality in all its fullness."

Rosemary Gladstar

— 1 year ago with 11 notes

#healing #natural #herbal #earth #moon #women #energy #alternative

“The Woman’s Handbook of Healing Herbs: A Guide to Natural Remedies” by Deb Soule

Picked up this book from the library today. In search of natural alternatives to drugs and the typical…Looks interesting. Even if I don’t make these myself, knowing what types of teas, herbal mixes to purchase would be extremely helpful I think.

— 1 year ago with 11 notes

#herbal #healing #herbs #women #natural #earth #self #energy #moon #reproductive #health

The Sex-Positive Black Woman →

Can the sexual liberation of black women free us all?

Arielle Loren’s first piece on Ebony.com as one of it’s newest contributors.

— 1 year ago with 12 notes

#sex-positive #sexuality #women #black women #liberation #empowerment #oppression #freedom