Thank you all, bloggers and commentators.

As we announced April 23, Feminist Philosophers is shutting down. This is one of a series of posts by FP bloggers looking back on the blog and bidding it farewell

I joined the blog about 4 months after Jenny began it. It has meant a lot of different things to me. One major meaningful feature has been the gendered conference campaign, which has also been extended to other venues, such as anthologies. Of course, applying the idea that there should be adequate representation of women has involved a lot of tedious counting. ‘One anthology in Ethics, fifty entries, three by women’ can’t usually be determined to apply in one look. Still, knowing we were addressing an often scandalous situation made it worth while.

When we started the campaign we were faced with a pretty grim picture: conference after conference with men-only invited speakers, volumes in which there were at most a few women. I had to remind myself that philosophy isn’t really a men-only field.

There’s lots more to notice, but I am going to mention only a few.

First, working on Feminist Philosophers has given me many opportunities to learn a lot. Sometimes I’ve become much more aware of areas in which I knew little. Disabilty studies has been one such.

Another thing I’ve come to think as we’ve discussed things is that appeals to intentions or lack thereof veryoften can’t adequately excuse ignorance. In a real sense, intentions may not matter. I think of this every time I hear Joe Biden discuss his touchy behavior. I fear he still fails to have done the work to understand why women have a space problem with grabby men.

Other issues I have had the chance to work out over several years. Through the blog I’ve really had a chance to think a lot about the role of institutions in what can make academic life difficult for women. For example, there’s mobbing.

In the workplace or in academia mobbing is group bullying. It is very harmful to the target
mobbed and also to the group doing the mobbing. It is very tempting in considering mobbing to ask who is at fault. However, people who have studied mobbing see the underlying fault to be more with adminstrations who encourage a wild west ‘might is right’ ethos than with the individuals citizens. It is hard to foster an atmosphere of respect if one doesn’t show such respect.

Another important lesson I think most of us on this blog took to heart is: Don’t suppose you can solve problems in interacting with faculty by appealing to the administration. You could end up with a wrecked career.

As I look through the blog, there seems tobe so much that won’t become quickly date. Have a look!

Finally, let me leave you with a sample of a feature the blog used to have. The Sunday Cat was started nearly 12 years ago, and I think the boom in cute cats on the internet was only just starting. Perhaps, indeed, we were among the innovators. The example below is of Maru, a very beloved cat on the ‘net.

Sheela-na-gigs

Or: carvings of naked women adorning British churches.

If you look them up on google you’ll see they’ve got a fair amount of recent attention. At the same time, no one seems to know what they mean. perhaps they are fertility goddesses, or maybe they are in effect instructions or reminder for brides.

Not all have gotten accepting reactions. Outrage has diminished their numbers.

It’s international women’s day

One could be excused for thinking there is too much grim news. Still, google has some cheery pictures linked to its google-doodle. And theere are strong thoughts from women. Some of these do catch one’s attention. Others leave one puzzled. Such as:

I am stronger than me.

I really believe in the future.

Have a look, and enjoy!

Women’s prize for fiction longlist 2019

The Guardian reports.

[Link: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/04/non-binary-trans-author-nominated-for-womens-prize-for-fiction %5D

Lots of wonderful reading.  And a notable ‘first’:
The Women’s prize for fiction has nominated a non-binary transgender author for the first time in its 27-year history, on a 16-book longlist featuring a previous winner, seven debuts and last year’s Booker prize winne

Thirty-one-year-old Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi is nominated for their first novel, Freshwater. Described as “remarkable” in the Guardian’s review, Freshwater is a coming-of-age story following a child, Ada, who is born filled with Igbo spirits as a challenge from a deity to Ada’s Catholic father.

Emezi, who does not identify as male or female and lives in Brooklyn, is one of seven first-time authors up for the £30,000 prize, on a longlist that spans the city streets of Lagos and remote Northumberland, the US-Mexico border and ancient Greece.

“It is a historic moment,” Professor Kate Williams, chair of judges, told the Guardian. “We’re very careful not to Google the authors while judging, so we did not know. But the book found great favour among us, it is wonderful. They are an incredibly talented author and we’re keen to celebrate them

“Show them what crazy can do.”

The title above comes from a video advertisement full of images worth sharing. Is this use of the word “crazy” really permissible? I think it is being used to criticize abelist discourse. I apologize if I am wrong.

On the other hand, as one of the many, many critical comments on the video has it, ‘Its sad that so many people are unware of the political hypocrisies behind ads like this made by multi billion dollar corporations like Nike, that have no soul and prey on instant emotions by virtue signaling, sucha shame they fall for this BS … Especially in this instance where they pretend to stand up for women, yet they run a modern day slave workforce.”

Rise of the ‘strongman’

From the Guardian

More than 30 female world leaders including current and former heads of state have called for a fightback against the erosion of women’s rights, with one former minister singling out countries led by “a macho-type strongman” as part of the problem.

Susana Malcorra, the former Argentinian foreign minister, said in some countries the push for women’s rights was seen as something that harmed men, rather than an opportunity to change gender expectations in a way that helped everyone.

“There is a sense of the established power being threatened by women gaining respect,” she said.

Following the link above will take one to the letter these women have produced.

A reason for going to philosophy graduate school

I used the example of baking a cake in an discussion recently. Later that day I remembered the following vignette:

I, around the age of 15, was absent mindedly putting together things supposedly from a cake mix recipe. At a stage where it became clear that I had been very foregetful and it was doubtful that what I had was cake batter, my father appeared. Having been told what I had been aiming at, he said, “no man is going to want to marry you if you can’t make a cake.”

He was not joking.

Chief Mankiller

“When history fails to preserve stories from our past and present, it’s up to us to correct the record. Wilma Mankiller, the first woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, is omitted from most history books. She was an activist and a champion to a nation – and it’s time the world remembers her name. MANKILLER is a documentary celebrating a leader who defied all odds to make a difference for her people.”

Moreinformation and movie trailer here.

Sexism and trying to get elected

From the NYT:

In the words of her detractors during the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton was abrasive and shrill. She was aloof. She was unlikable.

It’s not a coincidence that some of these adjectives are now bubbling up in discussions of Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris as they campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

Few Americans acknowledge they would hesitate to vote for a woman for president — but they don’t have to, according to researchers and experts on politics and women and extensive research on double standards in campaigns. Reluctance to support female candidates is apparent in the language that voters frequently use to describe men and women running for office; in the qualities that voters say they seek; and in the perceived flaws that voters say they are willing or unwilling to overlook in candidates.

Read on for the rest of the story!

Me and my vulva: 100 women reveal all

From thi morning’s Guardian:

First it was breasts, then penises – now photographer Laura Dodsworth has taken portraits of 100 vulvas. She tells Liv Little why. Below: eight women’s stories