I was once an illegal alien in The Netherlands. I was once pregnant. I was once reported to immigration services by a Dutch woman who knew I was both illegal and pregnant. I was once detained. I was once denied medical care while in a deportation center. I was once deported. I had a miscarriage (the baby was dead, I had a botched clean up procedure in an understaffed and badly maintained hospital in a suburb of Buenos Aires). I am now sterile.
That was fifteen years ago and this is now.
”Tiger Beatdown › Here I am. Fatigue, depression and infertility
This is my latest piece. Which also kinda explains where I’ve been.
(via redlightpolitics)
TONIGHT in Little Village! Mingle with other LGBTQA Latin@ business owners and like-minded entrepreneurs. FREE drinks and hors d’oeurves!
I have kept my mouth shut all these months out of fear of retribution but I no longer have this fear so I am going to go ahead and ask this. Schwyzer states:
But this notion of “making room” in the blogosphere is based on a faulty premise of scarcity.
If that is indeed the case, then I have to ask: why then did Schwyzer attempt to have me removed from certain feminist spaces when I vehemently wrote against him? If indeed there is no scarcity, then why attempt have ME (a Latina feminist blogger) removed and publicly scolded, all done through backchannels hoping these maneuvers would not get back at me? why try to execute some character assassination to silence me against his obvious racism and sketchy politics?
I cannot be the first one (or last one) over whom he attempted these dirty tactics. But I no longer believe it is fair that I have to remain silent about it because otherwise I’d been seen as a trouble maker. I am a Latina, South American feminist. I AM A TROUBLE MAKER. I believe no other kind of feminism is possible. Schwyzer tried to have me silenced. I am setting the record straight.
” The comment I left on this piece on xoJane. Nine Questions for The Controversial Hugo Schwyzer | xoJane (via redlightpolitics)
TONIGHT in Little Village! Mingle with other LGBTQA Latin@ business owners and like-minded entrepreneurs. FREE drinks and hors d’oeurves!
Alma Lopez
queer Xicana artist
Undocumented Latina makes Time 100 list
April 19th, 2012By Alyse Shorland, CNN
(CNN) - This week Time Magazine released its 100 Most Influential People in the World list. Among the presidents, CEOs and entertainers was a 27-year-old activist and undocumented Latina, Dulce Matuz.
Matuz has become a public face of undocumented students. She organizes protests and has been arrested. CNN.com profiled Matuz last year as part of its coverage leading up to the documentary “Don’t Fail Me: Education In America.”
Matuz first spoke out as an undocumented student in 2010 in Arizona. In 2008, she founded the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition. As the founder and president, she brings together youth of all backgrounds to campaign on behalf of an estimated 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from high school in the United States each year, according to the Urban Institute.
Matuz found out about a month ago that she would be a part of the Time 100 list, which is chosen by the magazine’s editors. Actor and activist Eva Longoria penned a description of Matuz, writing that she “represents the finest of her generation.”
“It’s been overwhelming. I am happy and honored - but this recognition is not for me, but for all the undocumented students and youth that work with me,” Matuz said.
Right now, she’s working to rally the Latino vote in Arizona.
“There’s lot of responsibility,” Matuz said. “We have 300,000 unregistered Latino voters in Arizona, and we have to let them know that even though I cannot vote, I have a voice.”
Matuz said even though recognition has led to her undocumented status becoming well-known, she’s never been afraid of what might happen to her.
“My mom told me that fear is from the devil, so I am not afraid,” Matuz said. “I just can’t think about it.”
In Time, she said, “We are Americans, and Americans don’t give up.”
Feminism is For Latinas Too
I remember the exact moment I became a feminist. Imagine a chubby, 12 year-old Oh Hells Nah bored at church. I was daydreaming (probably about food, as I often did) when I suddenly heard this statement: “Women, you must obey your husbands.” I quickly sat upright, my ears perked. I looked around to see if anyone else was appalled — but no one but me seemed fazed by it.
After a long sermon about women’s subservience to their husbands, I said goodbye to the Catholic Church. Our relationship was already on the rocks, but that was the final push. It was also the day that I decided I was a feminist. I had already felt frustrated with the machismo I saw in my family and in my culture generally, but that moment made me particularly aware of gender inequality. It was a moment that ignited the rage that had been slowly simmering inside me.
Stereotypes of feminists abound. It’s a term that’s been dragged through the mire by the media and misinformed people. For many, the term conjures up images of man-hating mustachioed women burning their bras or whatever. But this is completely inaccurate. Feminism isn’t about superiority to men or man-hating. Nor is it about simply bridging the pay gap or climbing the corporate ladder. As Cheris Kramarae very succinctly said, “Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.”
To me, feminism is about basic human rights, the belief that all people should be entitled to a dignified life. It’s the awareness that women disproportionately experience certain injustices. It means believing that women should be protected against rape, violence, and abuse. It means acknowledging that our capitalist system is hostile towards women, particularly working mothers, and that globalization often causes horrible working conditions and serious human rights violations all over the world. It means understanding that sexism is inextricably linked with racism and classism. It means believing that women should have access to safe and legal abortions. Etcetera.
-Audre Lorde (via soydulcedeleche)
But not all white feminists utilize people who do clean their houses. Let’s remember that.
(via pour-moi)
hopefully thats sarcasm. :/ white feminists…please remember women do 3/4 of the worlds labor, MOSTLY WOC!!!! that means most if not all the shit you get at any supermarket or any kinda shop, really, has a really high chance of having been grown, picked, made by some cruelly underpaid WOC. whether you can afford a housekeeper or not. white women are still preferred for most jobs. no WOC ever gets paid as much as white women either. white women are everywhere you look as the standard. never forget that.
(via soydulcedeleche)
Not to mention how much of the work & experience of WOC that gets appropriated by white feminists winds up profiting everyone but WOC. All those “studies” of WOC & our issues? How many of those studies put real money in the pockets of WOC? Or all those books that get written? WOC barely get a mention for their scholarship, never mind payment for their thoughts about their experience.
(via karnythia)
word, and then theyre all, but what are WE supposed to do about it? :| not be racist, erasing, appropriative bitches perhaps? that would help.
(via soydulcedeleche)
(Source: bad-dominicana)
