Feminism for real : deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism

Summary: When feminism itself becomes its own form of oppression, what do we have to say about it? Western notions of polite discourse are not the norm for all of us, and just because we've got some new and hot language lately in equity-seeking movements like feminism - such as "intersectionality" - to use in our talk, it doesn't necessarily make things change in our walk (i.e. actually being anti-racist). Confronting the sometimes uncomfortable questions feminism has made us ask about what's going on FOR REAL paved the many paths that brought the contributors of this book together to share their sometimes uncomfortable truths, not just about feminism, but about who they are and where they are coming from. Against a backdrop exposing a 500+ year legacy of colonization and oppression, Feminism FOR REAL explores what has led us to the existence of "feminism", who gets to decide what it is, and why. With stories that make the walls of academia come tumbling down, it deals head-on with the conflicts of what feminism means in theory as opposed to real life, the frustrations of trying to relate to definitions of feminism that never fit no matter how much you try to change yourself to fit them, and the anger of changing a system while being in the system yourself.

Record details

ISBN: 9781926888491 (pbk.)
ISBN: 1926888499 (pbk.)
Physical Description: print
176 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
Publisher: Ottawa, ON : Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2011.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references.

Formatted Contents Note:

Resistance to Indigenous feminism -- A slam on feminism in academia: a poem by Shaunga Tagore -- The feminist existential crisis (Dark child remix) -- Medicine bundle of contradictions: female man, Mi'kmaq/Acadian/Irish diasporas, invisible disAbilities, masculine-feminist -- Internal war, woven basket shaking, a purple and green line moving in opposite directions, crisp early morning: four poems by Nimikii Couchie -- AQSAzine: Muslims speaking for ourselves -- Pride from behind -- Male feminist and invisible activists: two poems by Robert Animikii Horton -- "Maybe I'm not class-mobile; maybe I'm class-queer": poor kids in college and survival under hierarchy -- Sex work and feminism: an interview with Anna Saini -- "No, I would follow the porn star's advice: a case study in educational privilege and kyriarchy" -- "So what if we didn't call it feminism?!: feminism and indigenous people" -- After the third wave and challenging your textbook-isms: two poems by D. Cole Ossandon -- Fuck the glass ceiling! -- Feminism and eating disorders: wishful thinking for a more caring attitude -- My secret: a poem by Peggy Cooke -- "Mistakes I didn't know I was making" or "A portrait of a feminist as a young academic" or even, "Battlestar Academica": a short essay about my time at grad school where I was trained to come up with long witty titles for my writing (among other things) -- My journey to indigenous feminism -- This shit is real: deconstructing dialogue in feminist education -- Finding our voice in the mainstream media madness -- On learning how not to be an asshole academic feminist.