I'm fat and I'm asthmatic too, as well as a Butch Dyke...and radical self acceptance has helped me to make healthier choices...whether in food, working out more frequently on a regular basis, self and body love, because self-hatred and shame helps NOBODY and leads down to the path of addiction, distortion and nothing good can come out of it...like I said the ONLY ones who benefit are the doctors counting all the cash they get off members of our communities and BENEFITTING from their self hatred and lack of self acceptance. This has NOTHING to do with your friends, it has to do with oneself....
Even with asthma, I laid down the weed close to 20 years ago, and am now 19 years clean and sober off it or any other addictive substance(with the exception of chocolate).
There are always ways to improve our relationships to our bodies. Working out has helped my endurance, as well as not being around tobbaco smoke or scents and perfumes and toxic chemicals as much as possible. In the long run it's better not to be around that stuff anyway.
Radical self-acceptance also means fully owning not just our bodies but our minds and spirits. In so many ways it's like the distorted mirror opposite of women who have their breasts inflated with silicone implants, some of which have burst and had numerous health side effects. So many bio-females and even MTF types are sold a bill of goods that you can't be happy unless you have something done to your body, whether to keep away aging effects(look at all the Hollywood distorted faces after their face lifts), increase or decrease their breast sizes, augmentation or deflation of this body part or another, and the plastic surgeons continue to live in their exclusive neighborhoods with their yachts and boats and privileges while women and those who hate their bodies are left in their same ordinary circumstances living with those side effects or aftereffects, especially if the job is botched. And that includes all the shaming around body size as well.
Love yourself and your body within, as best as you can,ACCEPT it on the deepest level you can, and ally with those who do, and you'll have no need for that kind of 'fitting in', social control or shelling out bucks for a chemical or surgical solution.
Women for millenia under patriarchy, whether fat or thin, or inbetween, butch or femme or andro, too masculine, too this too that, or those bio males who are too effeminate to live/survive as males, are sold the same bill of goods that SOMETHING must be done for your 'abnormality', even if the body parts are perfectly healthy. Just leave us the fuck alone, and just let us Butches, Dykes and women be our OWN wild Selves.
-MasterAmazon
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
On the subject of the Matriarchy, or what matriarchy is...and it's values
This is in response to another site I'm on, one of my posts, in a Dianic forum. Unfortunately that whole forum is coming down due to the server becoming a pay only
server. I did not want to lose this tidbit....
Damn, in all my study of close to 30 years as a DykeAmazon Witch, I have NEVER seen ANYTHING about Satanism and matriarchy. Satan is a distinctly patriarchal Christian invention. True matriarchal societies existed before Christianity, women did rule, especially spiritually, as High Priestesses, representative of the Goddess. And one only has to look indeed to see what has been done in the name of the patriarchal monotheistic one God(or Trinity in relation to Father, Son, Holy(male) spirit), religions. They ripped off the Maiden, Mother, Crone original trinity, they murdered Priestesses, Goddess temples, and peace loving matriarchal cultures and people, they conquered and killed by the sword, standing armies and war, and they enslaved women in monogamous marriages, or where the woman had to be solely beholden to the man, and thus reproduce only his offspring(like you rightly mentioned, once they figured their part in paternity, is when we really lost our matriarchal powers and cultures.) The patriarchal cultures and religions have led to the ruin of the planet with ideas like Armageddon, murder, rape, violence, constant war and cruelty. This was way before the belief in Satan. The biggest part was all the rape stories told in relation tothe Goddess, various Goddesses, nymphs, maidens being abducted by male dieties(as in the Greek myths about Zeus and other Father/Brother type Gods) reflecting the actual abduction of womyn, murder of Priestesses to the Goddess, reusing the temples to mouth the voices of the Patriarchs, like the oracular Sybil who originally spoke for the Great Mother, being redefined as speaking for the Sun Brother God Apollo. It's the redefinition by the patriarchal conquerers that defines the lie...the original Goddesses had great size and were truly awesome figures to be respected, primal and powerful...but as time went on, Her power continued to diminish to the patriarchal forces, lies, and Father/Brother types. Who can only gain their power through death dealing, constant war, rape and murder.
Artemis had to ask special permission from her patriarch father Zeus, to be free of connection to men, to run in the woods wild and free with Her maidens, and protecting animals in childbirth and women as a whole.
Athena, very likely a much older Goddess connected to the most powerful of Amazons, the Gorgons and Medusa, was rebirthed from the head of the patriarch, rather than born from her Great Mother.
This is a retold patriarchal myth...much like Eve being birthed from Adam's rib, rather than from the Great Mother.
So many lies have been told, but what really got me to worship the Goddess, amongst other things, and fight for the Goddess religion, spirituality, ect was when I read about the matriarchal culture Catal Hyuk..which worshipped the Goddess and had Priestesses in power and a more egalitarian culture...they had 1000 years of peace, not the current ills of what patriarchal societies continue to do to women, children, animals, and Mother Earth. And now they want to discredit our matriarchal herstory because they see we have too much power. And to crush our women's wisdom and spiritual power once again! Do not trust their lies.
As far as Matriarchal societies, the most matriarchal culture I've EVER been in, is Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, a two month town created particularly for the one week festival, but women who want to live in a fully matriarchal environment(except what we bring with us in our hearts)can serve there for up to two months. Not only do womyn create the whole town of 5000 womyn, they erect every year a 30 foot Goddess statue and do extensive rituals there too..recreating on that Land the matriarchy in every way possible in modern day society. It truly IS an Amazon village, and yes, I do believe fully the Amazons existed and evidence has been uncovered sustaining some of this, I'm sure evidence has also been uncovered and destroyed by those who don't want womyn to KNOW we honored the Sacred Female and had that kind of power we even lack to this day.
A Matriarchal society is far more than a woman president. How is she any different if all her advisers are mostly males, all the values are Christian and male, and with the largest and most powerful death dealing military on earth? A matriarchal society would have different values, not believe in Armageddon and that the destruction of the world is holy and should be hastened any way possible. The land would be honored, since it's the body of the Mother, women would be honored because they have the possibility to create life, whether they choose it or not, and the crime of rape was hardly imaginable, since all womyn were potential mothers, it was a heinous crime against the Mother, punishable by death, and that the man who did so was cursed for life, followed by female dieties like the Furies who haunted him till the end of his days....Imagine how TRULY POWERFUL we would be with a world not ruled by war or the crime of rape????That those crimes against women, humanity, children, Mother Earth, Her animals, ect was not even concievable, or barely so?
THAT indeed would be a Matriarchy, a whole civilization of differing values. And matriarchal values are reflected in women I've known and observed that rescue homeless cats and feed them, that work for the peace movement, so devoid of males, that are truly ecologically and environmentally conscious, and that those men who also are, are taking on some of those female values of cooperation and connection rather than divide and conquer and competition. It's not enough there be a woman president or leaders or even Speaker of the House, and I truly respect Nancy Pelosi, and voted for Hillary Clinton...but it's the VALUES of what women bring to the table that makes it matriarchal. Diplomacy rather than militarism, peaceful solutions, than kicking ass(except in self-defense, strictly, yes women need to be Amazons to some degree..and learn to defend themselves), cooperation rather than constant competition. These are matriarchal values. Neither Indira Ghandi or Margaret Thatcher were matriarchs, they indeed fulfilled the patriarchal agenda. The female values NEED to be reflected, and Nancy Pelosi, our San Francisco Speaker of the House of Representatives, perhaps one of the most powerful women in the government reflects those female values, by fighting for health care for ALL of us, taking care of our own, as women do, rather than the patriarchal attitude of 'pull yourself up by the bootstraps, and if you fail, you're left out in the cold to fend for yourself!'
Matriarchy will ONLY be restored if we embody it in everything we do, honor every woman and empower every woman we can, or come across, we value her words over the man who tries to dominate and talk over her or talk down to her...we raise women's words up, and look her in the eye, and HONOR her. We give rides to friends and acquaintances late at night so none need be victimized standing alone in the dark waiting for public transportation. We cooperate with each other and work towards a solution, rather than stepping on one another to climb up the rungs of the ladder. We don't buy 'divide and conquer', but win/win for all. We are NOT doormats, and develope some Amazon capabilities so we are NOT easily victimized, thusly we are aware of our environments and don't feign helplessness so a man or other will caretake us. We are gentle with those with less abilities, especially other womyn, we give children safe refuge from violent caregivers or schoolyard bullies. We care for the Mother Earth, our Supreme and Ultimate Goddess who caretakes us all, by treading as gently as we can on Her, by recyling, reusing, planning our trips in our vehicles like a truck route, instead of going hither and thither polluting the air and consuming way more gas. We honor each other, and work towards the empowerment for EVERY WOMAN ALIVE to throw off her chains, veils, sexual and body shame. We work on honoring true images that reflect us, not giving into body obssession or 'thin' magazines, or constant shaming diet talk that takes us away from the REAL ISSUES that women as a whole face. That we don't Dyke bait us Dykes and Dyke Butches, that there are different forms of bio-womonhood, and we are all different and come in different shapes, sizes, and sexual orientations.
That we employ each other as much as possible, support each other in sustaining and life enhancing ways, spiritually, physically, economically, ect. That we honor Goddess, and by doing so, we literally change the world and the dominant patriarchal male paradigm..into a sustaining life enhancing culture that supports womyn and Mother Earth, rather than poisoning and killing Her and us.....we dont' have much time left, as She may be radically changed in a manner that may no longer support human life. It certainly doesn't support animal life, and many species are dying off at an alarming rate....
GODDESS AWAKEN, GODDESS ARISE NOW!!!!!
-IN PASSIONATE SISTERHOOD,
-MasterAmazon
server. I did not want to lose this tidbit....
Damn, in all my study of close to 30 years as a DykeAmazon Witch, I have NEVER seen ANYTHING about Satanism and matriarchy. Satan is a distinctly patriarchal Christian invention. True matriarchal societies existed before Christianity, women did rule, especially spiritually, as High Priestesses, representative of the Goddess. And one only has to look indeed to see what has been done in the name of the patriarchal monotheistic one God(or Trinity in relation to Father, Son, Holy(male) spirit), religions. They ripped off the Maiden, Mother, Crone original trinity, they murdered Priestesses, Goddess temples, and peace loving matriarchal cultures and people, they conquered and killed by the sword, standing armies and war, and they enslaved women in monogamous marriages, or where the woman had to be solely beholden to the man, and thus reproduce only his offspring(like you rightly mentioned, once they figured their part in paternity, is when we really lost our matriarchal powers and cultures.) The patriarchal cultures and religions have led to the ruin of the planet with ideas like Armageddon, murder, rape, violence, constant war and cruelty. This was way before the belief in Satan. The biggest part was all the rape stories told in relation tothe Goddess, various Goddesses, nymphs, maidens being abducted by male dieties(as in the Greek myths about Zeus and other Father/Brother type Gods) reflecting the actual abduction of womyn, murder of Priestesses to the Goddess, reusing the temples to mouth the voices of the Patriarchs, like the oracular Sybil who originally spoke for the Great Mother, being redefined as speaking for the Sun Brother God Apollo. It's the redefinition by the patriarchal conquerers that defines the lie...the original Goddesses had great size and were truly awesome figures to be respected, primal and powerful...but as time went on, Her power continued to diminish to the patriarchal forces, lies, and Father/Brother types. Who can only gain their power through death dealing, constant war, rape and murder.
Artemis had to ask special permission from her patriarch father Zeus, to be free of connection to men, to run in the woods wild and free with Her maidens, and protecting animals in childbirth and women as a whole.
Athena, very likely a much older Goddess connected to the most powerful of Amazons, the Gorgons and Medusa, was rebirthed from the head of the patriarch, rather than born from her Great Mother.
This is a retold patriarchal myth...much like Eve being birthed from Adam's rib, rather than from the Great Mother.
So many lies have been told, but what really got me to worship the Goddess, amongst other things, and fight for the Goddess religion, spirituality, ect was when I read about the matriarchal culture Catal Hyuk..which worshipped the Goddess and had Priestesses in power and a more egalitarian culture...they had 1000 years of peace, not the current ills of what patriarchal societies continue to do to women, children, animals, and Mother Earth. And now they want to discredit our matriarchal herstory because they see we have too much power. And to crush our women's wisdom and spiritual power once again! Do not trust their lies.
As far as Matriarchal societies, the most matriarchal culture I've EVER been in, is Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, a two month town created particularly for the one week festival, but women who want to live in a fully matriarchal environment(except what we bring with us in our hearts)can serve there for up to two months. Not only do womyn create the whole town of 5000 womyn, they erect every year a 30 foot Goddess statue and do extensive rituals there too..recreating on that Land the matriarchy in every way possible in modern day society. It truly IS an Amazon village, and yes, I do believe fully the Amazons existed and evidence has been uncovered sustaining some of this, I'm sure evidence has also been uncovered and destroyed by those who don't want womyn to KNOW we honored the Sacred Female and had that kind of power we even lack to this day.
A Matriarchal society is far more than a woman president. How is she any different if all her advisers are mostly males, all the values are Christian and male, and with the largest and most powerful death dealing military on earth? A matriarchal society would have different values, not believe in Armageddon and that the destruction of the world is holy and should be hastened any way possible. The land would be honored, since it's the body of the Mother, women would be honored because they have the possibility to create life, whether they choose it or not, and the crime of rape was hardly imaginable, since all womyn were potential mothers, it was a heinous crime against the Mother, punishable by death, and that the man who did so was cursed for life, followed by female dieties like the Furies who haunted him till the end of his days....Imagine how TRULY POWERFUL we would be with a world not ruled by war or the crime of rape????That those crimes against women, humanity, children, Mother Earth, Her animals, ect was not even concievable, or barely so?
THAT indeed would be a Matriarchy, a whole civilization of differing values. And matriarchal values are reflected in women I've known and observed that rescue homeless cats and feed them, that work for the peace movement, so devoid of males, that are truly ecologically and environmentally conscious, and that those men who also are, are taking on some of those female values of cooperation and connection rather than divide and conquer and competition. It's not enough there be a woman president or leaders or even Speaker of the House, and I truly respect Nancy Pelosi, and voted for Hillary Clinton...but it's the VALUES of what women bring to the table that makes it matriarchal. Diplomacy rather than militarism, peaceful solutions, than kicking ass(except in self-defense, strictly, yes women need to be Amazons to some degree..and learn to defend themselves), cooperation rather than constant competition. These are matriarchal values. Neither Indira Ghandi or Margaret Thatcher were matriarchs, they indeed fulfilled the patriarchal agenda. The female values NEED to be reflected, and Nancy Pelosi, our San Francisco Speaker of the House of Representatives, perhaps one of the most powerful women in the government reflects those female values, by fighting for health care for ALL of us, taking care of our own, as women do, rather than the patriarchal attitude of 'pull yourself up by the bootstraps, and if you fail, you're left out in the cold to fend for yourself!'
Matriarchy will ONLY be restored if we embody it in everything we do, honor every woman and empower every woman we can, or come across, we value her words over the man who tries to dominate and talk over her or talk down to her...we raise women's words up, and look her in the eye, and HONOR her. We give rides to friends and acquaintances late at night so none need be victimized standing alone in the dark waiting for public transportation. We cooperate with each other and work towards a solution, rather than stepping on one another to climb up the rungs of the ladder. We don't buy 'divide and conquer', but win/win for all. We are NOT doormats, and develope some Amazon capabilities so we are NOT easily victimized, thusly we are aware of our environments and don't feign helplessness so a man or other will caretake us. We are gentle with those with less abilities, especially other womyn, we give children safe refuge from violent caregivers or schoolyard bullies. We care for the Mother Earth, our Supreme and Ultimate Goddess who caretakes us all, by treading as gently as we can on Her, by recyling, reusing, planning our trips in our vehicles like a truck route, instead of going hither and thither polluting the air and consuming way more gas. We honor each other, and work towards the empowerment for EVERY WOMAN ALIVE to throw off her chains, veils, sexual and body shame. We work on honoring true images that reflect us, not giving into body obssession or 'thin' magazines, or constant shaming diet talk that takes us away from the REAL ISSUES that women as a whole face. That we don't Dyke bait us Dykes and Dyke Butches, that there are different forms of bio-womonhood, and we are all different and come in different shapes, sizes, and sexual orientations.
That we employ each other as much as possible, support each other in sustaining and life enhancing ways, spiritually, physically, economically, ect. That we honor Goddess, and by doing so, we literally change the world and the dominant patriarchal male paradigm..into a sustaining life enhancing culture that supports womyn and Mother Earth, rather than poisoning and killing Her and us.....we dont' have much time left, as She may be radically changed in a manner that may no longer support human life. It certainly doesn't support animal life, and many species are dying off at an alarming rate....
GODDESS AWAKEN, GODDESS ARISE NOW!!!!!
-IN PASSIONATE SISTERHOOD,
-MasterAmazon
Friday, May 21, 2010
response to trans agenda from Dirt's Women's College thread
Poppycock...I've heard it all before. The militant trans movement has done just about everything it can to destroy women only space, and gotten young dykes/butches, ect to identify as 'queer' and want 'queer' space, rather than identify with the dreaded 'woman'. I don't want to share my bathrooms with M E N, I've done enough of that on the job and I see just how nasty they leave their outhouses, and the misogynist woman hating and homophobic writings on the wall, NO THANKS. Have your gender neutral bathroom if you must, but don't deny I might want one that is women only, and not come behind nasty M E N with it's pissed filled smell. They can't even let the toilet seat down!
I don't believe in the whole 'body disphoria' thing, that too is learned. Believe me, I had it as a kid, it's called SEXISM. I in no way wanted to be a 'girl', because being a 'girl' meant wearing dresses, being powerless, not being the hero, having to play dolls and house and domestic chores, and the work world was limited, as well as the roles females could inhabit, otherwise they/we/I were thought of as 'unwomanly', 'unseemly', 'unfeminine' and 'don't you want to be a little lady?' NO. I crossed out the term girl and she and put he and boy in my textbooks. I hated that we were being trained to obsess on our bodies, on babies, on appearing feminine, when nothing was further than the truth for me. For me, Feminism, with it's promise of complete female EMPOWERMENT, fueled my mind, and gave me pride and hope that I could do anything a boy could do. Unfortunately, due to persistent systemic and overt sexism and homophobia(anytime we should leave the feminine box) this promise hasn't been kept. Women, Butches, Females are still only 2% of the skilled trades, and many, many women have tried, and been kept out by the male systems intact. There's still the worship of male religions and dieties that keep women throughout the world down, and even actively anti-feminist, unwilling to liberate themselves and their sisters AS WOMEN from the chains imposed by men and 2000 plus years of patriarchy.
You can talk once the patriarchy is destroyed, the boot is off my neck. Nobody is 'gender neutral', that is a phallacy, a true phallic lie. Yes indeed. Genderfluid maybe, but never genderneutral. The answer is not in cutting off and sticking on body parts, the answer is in expanding what a women or man can do, dress in, inhabit themselves in a world that denies even tiny differences from the male-macho, female-feminine norm, imposed by politicians, religion, society, cultural and educational institutions, as well as the family itself. Much of it based on the fear of truly feral POWERFUL Females untamed by men, or their female mouthpieces, and on the fear of homophobia/lesbophobia.
Then much of this so-called disphoria would disappear. Maybe a tiny few would decide to take it further, but I simply don't believe that the young boyish/masculine/butch women that are transitioning, strapping down their breasts, taking 'T' in droves would feel they have to if they could FULLY be themselves, and felt FULLY empowered as just the kind of women they are. We come in many different flavors. Feminine does not automatically mean female. The same would be true of the drag queens and effeminate men that get shit on physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, made fun of or beat up for defying the male is macho role, so therefore they must 'be a woman'.
And anonymous, if you are trans(especially MTF), then ask us bio Females whether we want you in our presence, and RESPECT that. Or, come in as a guest to our Tribe, and honor our lead, our struggles, our battles. You never need worry about issues like abortion, birth control, birthing a child, being impregnated by rape, bleeding the sacred moonblood(a sacred bio-female mystery), or female diseases like breast, uterine, cervical, ovarian cancers. These are unique to us. As well as many other things. There IS a huge difference. Come in with respect, without stridency or 'demands' as this is a very male way of doing things, never taking 'no' for an answer, disrespecting our boundaries, AS women, or maybe we want to be amongst our own in some spaces, RESPECT THAT, in the way I would respect women of color wanting their OWN spaces.
But see, this doesn't happen. Both MTF's and FTM's force their way into our Female domains, and then DENY our need for them, and to focus on OUR issues, so much to the point that the Lesbian community IN AND OF ITSELF is almost invisible in my area, for the sake of those who call themselves 'queer' and push the trans issues. And yet hetero and gay men still get to have THEIR spaces....
-M.A.
I don't believe in the whole 'body disphoria' thing, that too is learned. Believe me, I had it as a kid, it's called SEXISM. I in no way wanted to be a 'girl', because being a 'girl' meant wearing dresses, being powerless, not being the hero, having to play dolls and house and domestic chores, and the work world was limited, as well as the roles females could inhabit, otherwise they/we/I were thought of as 'unwomanly', 'unseemly', 'unfeminine' and 'don't you want to be a little lady?' NO. I crossed out the term girl and she and put he and boy in my textbooks. I hated that we were being trained to obsess on our bodies, on babies, on appearing feminine, when nothing was further than the truth for me. For me, Feminism, with it's promise of complete female EMPOWERMENT, fueled my mind, and gave me pride and hope that I could do anything a boy could do. Unfortunately, due to persistent systemic and overt sexism and homophobia(anytime we should leave the feminine box) this promise hasn't been kept. Women, Butches, Females are still only 2% of the skilled trades, and many, many women have tried, and been kept out by the male systems intact. There's still the worship of male religions and dieties that keep women throughout the world down, and even actively anti-feminist, unwilling to liberate themselves and their sisters AS WOMEN from the chains imposed by men and 2000 plus years of patriarchy.
You can talk once the patriarchy is destroyed, the boot is off my neck. Nobody is 'gender neutral', that is a phallacy, a true phallic lie. Yes indeed. Genderfluid maybe, but never genderneutral. The answer is not in cutting off and sticking on body parts, the answer is in expanding what a women or man can do, dress in, inhabit themselves in a world that denies even tiny differences from the male-macho, female-feminine norm, imposed by politicians, religion, society, cultural and educational institutions, as well as the family itself. Much of it based on the fear of truly feral POWERFUL Females untamed by men, or their female mouthpieces, and on the fear of homophobia/lesbophobia.
Then much of this so-called disphoria would disappear. Maybe a tiny few would decide to take it further, but I simply don't believe that the young boyish/masculine/butch women that are transitioning, strapping down their breasts, taking 'T' in droves would feel they have to if they could FULLY be themselves, and felt FULLY empowered as just the kind of women they are. We come in many different flavors. Feminine does not automatically mean female. The same would be true of the drag queens and effeminate men that get shit on physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, made fun of or beat up for defying the male is macho role, so therefore they must 'be a woman'.
And anonymous, if you are trans(especially MTF), then ask us bio Females whether we want you in our presence, and RESPECT that. Or, come in as a guest to our Tribe, and honor our lead, our struggles, our battles. You never need worry about issues like abortion, birth control, birthing a child, being impregnated by rape, bleeding the sacred moonblood(a sacred bio-female mystery), or female diseases like breast, uterine, cervical, ovarian cancers. These are unique to us. As well as many other things. There IS a huge difference. Come in with respect, without stridency or 'demands' as this is a very male way of doing things, never taking 'no' for an answer, disrespecting our boundaries, AS women, or maybe we want to be amongst our own in some spaces, RESPECT THAT, in the way I would respect women of color wanting their OWN spaces.
But see, this doesn't happen. Both MTF's and FTM's force their way into our Female domains, and then DENY our need for them, and to focus on OUR issues, so much to the point that the Lesbian community IN AND OF ITSELF is almost invisible in my area, for the sake of those who call themselves 'queer' and push the trans issues. And yet hetero and gay men still get to have THEIR spaces....
-M.A.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Lesbian/Dyke Pride goes way beyond just who I have sex with....an entire worldview!
From Michfest List: "How Do You Identify?" Thread
I am a Lesbian/Dyke, and it IS who I am, spiritually, emotionally, sexually, how I view the world, I view it in a Lesbian way..it's my culture, my spirituality, and my complete love for the Female(both Butches and Femmes) from the sexual to the spiritual and on every level inbetween...emotional, intellectual, psychological, psychic. I just don't 'get' why Lesbians don't own their Lesbianism to this depth anymore, whether you're Leather, nonLeather, inbetween, Butch on Butch, Butch/Femme, Femme/Femme or none of the above, just Dyke to Dyke...I can see the difference between us and straight women plain as day, and the chasm between us and males and their privileges..doesn't mean I dont' ever talk to them..but that there is always a gap there for me, things a dude will never understand, whether he's gay or straight. Straight dudes might understand the part of me that lusts and loves women, gay dudes will understand our commonality in our homosexuality, but there still is that gap there which they just won't get.
Sure, there are other roles/personas/titles, parts of myself I enact or that come out but ONLY or preferably with other Lesbians/Dykes, and rarely with nonlesbian women.(and yes, ALWAYS AND ONLY with women). So, I've never ever understood how other Lesbians see it only as who they fuck/love, but not as an essential part of themselves and their worldview! Hetero guys see their hetero maleness AS the entire world view, 'that's the way it is', and gay dudes obssess on their passion for men, and still see the world and play in it's power AS MEN...even though parts of them get discriminated against for their homosexuality.
And straight women, well, they kowtow to said men, and allow the system to go on....they'd rather sit around and talk about dieting, than about revolution! Even some lesbians! So fucking powerless! Nothing important...the typical female body obssession..keep 'em busy about dieting and constantly 'losing a few', and they'll never tackle the more difficult issues or come together in SOLIDARITY as Dykes, or as women....was at dinner tonight with so much diet talk I was ready to just pick up and leave, and much of it was being fueled by just those types of Lesbians who see their lesbianism as 'no big deal'.
-M.A.
I am a Lesbian/Dyke, and it IS who I am, spiritually, emotionally, sexually, how I view the world, I view it in a Lesbian way..it's my culture, my spirituality, and my complete love for the Female(both Butches and Femmes) from the sexual to the spiritual and on every level inbetween...emotional, intellectual, psychological, psychic. I just don't 'get' why Lesbians don't own their Lesbianism to this depth anymore, whether you're Leather, nonLeather, inbetween, Butch on Butch, Butch/Femme, Femme/Femme or none of the above, just Dyke to Dyke...I can see the difference between us and straight women plain as day, and the chasm between us and males and their privileges..doesn't mean I dont' ever talk to them..but that there is always a gap there for me, things a dude will never understand, whether he's gay or straight. Straight dudes might understand the part of me that lusts and loves women, gay dudes will understand our commonality in our homosexuality, but there still is that gap there which they just won't get.
Sure, there are other roles/personas/titles, parts of myself I enact or that come out but ONLY or preferably with other Lesbians/Dykes, and rarely with nonlesbian women.(and yes, ALWAYS AND ONLY with women). So, I've never ever understood how other Lesbians see it only as who they fuck/love, but not as an essential part of themselves and their worldview! Hetero guys see their hetero maleness AS the entire world view, 'that's the way it is', and gay dudes obssess on their passion for men, and still see the world and play in it's power AS MEN...even though parts of them get discriminated against for their homosexuality.
And straight women, well, they kowtow to said men, and allow the system to go on....they'd rather sit around and talk about dieting, than about revolution! Even some lesbians! So fucking powerless! Nothing important...the typical female body obssession..keep 'em busy about dieting and constantly 'losing a few', and they'll never tackle the more difficult issues or come together in SOLIDARITY as Dykes, or as women....was at dinner tonight with so much diet talk I was ready to just pick up and leave, and much of it was being fueled by just those types of Lesbians who see their lesbianism as 'no big deal'.
-M.A.
Immediate response need to save life of Iranian Lesbian who may be deported back to Iran from England
Dear Sisters,
We have to protect our own worldwide..here's a chance to do something, sign the petition, write the British home office, or cut and paste this and get it around to all your Lesbian and Feminist websites and blogs....please, please help her, don't let her be a statistic of the violently homophobic and woman hating Iranian government!
Here is the initial site I was taken to on her behalf:
http://coilhouse.net/2010/05/save-the-life-of-Kiana-Firouz/#more-14946
Here is the petition for her, sign immediately so she won't be deported:
www.petitiononline.com/Kianaf/petition.html
Here is the documentary she's in about Iranian Lesbians called "Cul De Sac": http://culdesacmovie.com/index.html
Here is about her personal story and how to help also:
http://www.everyonegroup.com/everyone/mainpage/entries/2010/5/6_campaign_to_save_the_life_of_Kiana_Firouz_at_risk_of_deportation_from_the_U.K..html
Hope that link works..let me know if they don't. PLEASE ACT NOW!!! We don't want a sister to be tortured and have to go to the gallows because she's spoken out about her oppression, is a visible figure because of the movie, and because most of all, she's a Lesbian in a totally woman hating Lesbian hating culture!
Kiana Firouz, 27 years old, is an outspoken Iranian LGBT rights activist, filmmaker, and actress. When clips of her video documentary work featuring the struggle and persecution of gays and lesbians in her country were acquired by Iranian intelligence, agents began to follow Firouz around Tehran, harassing and intimidating her. She fled for England where she could safely continue her work and studies.
She plays a starring role in Cul de Sac, a documentary film produced in the UK about the condition of lesbians in Iran, and based heavily on Firouz’s own life story. Directed by Ramin Goudarzi-Nejad and Mahshad Torkan, the movie will premiere in London in a few days. Since the trailer was posted on YouTube in December 2009, Cul de Sac has attracted global media attention, with thousands of views. Apparently, some of those views included members of Ahmadinejad’s puppet media in Iran. They know who Firouz is and what she stands for. They may want her to come back to the country she was born in to answer for it.
Still from Cul de Sac.
Firouz, understandably, has requested asylum from the British government. Much to everyone’s shock and dismay, the British Home Office has rejected her application for refugee status. Yes, they know she’s gay. Yes, they know she could be deported back to Iran at any time, and that if this happens, Firouz will most likely be sentenced to torture and death after being found guilty of the “unspeakable sin of homosexuality” because she has participated in explicit lesbian sex scenes in the movie, and been a fierce proponent for human rights in her country.
In Iran, the punishment for lesbianism involving mature consenting women consists of 100 lashes. This punishment can be applied up to three times. After a fourth violation of Iranian law, a woman convicted of “unrepentant homosexuality” is finally executed by hanging, often publicly, in front of a howling mob.
From EveryOne Group:
Kiana filed for a court appeal following the Home Office’s decision to reject her application for asylum, but the judge overruled her appeal. According to Kiana’s lawyer, the last remaining chance is to appeal the judge’s decision, but the risk of deportation is imminent.
The EveryOne Group, an international human rights organization, which was involved in the asylum cases of the lesbian Pegah Emambakhsh, who risked being deported from London to Tehran in 2007, and of the Iranian gay, Mehdi Kazemi, appeals to the British government and the democratic forces of the European Union, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, that Kiana Firouz be immediately guaranteed adequate humanitarian protection and that the order for her deportation be repealed, given that on return to Iran she will face a death sentence not only because a lesbian but because of her civil rights activism.
The EveryOne activists invite concerned readers to send protest e-mail messages to the British Home Office (public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) requesting that Kiana receive refugee status as soon as possible, for she is a symbol of the international fight against homophobia and repression of gays and lesbians in Islamic countries.
I’ve spent a fair amount of my day researching, fact-checking and [edit for clarification: attempting to] verify this story, and I can’t figure it out: why is this news not EVERYWHERE right now? Why is this petition for Firouz so anemic? There should be hundreds of thousands of names on that list.
And yet, I am only just catching wind of Firouz’s story from a chance visit to Kim Boekbinder’s blog, where Kim posted a heartbreaking letter written by an Italian friend of hers, Sylvia K. An excerpt:
No major newspaper even remotely talks about Kiana’s story, nor do gay activists. People don’t seem to care much at all. I do. Last night I wrote to Kiana. Nothing much, only to say that I was so saddened and angry, that her story had moved and inspired me and that I was SO thankful to her for standing up for what she truly believed in… This morning before going out I found her reply. It goes like this :
“Dear Sylvia
I am proud of you. we should proud of each other for being strong. I am so thankful for your supportive and kindly letter. It does not matter what is going to happen to me. Its all about freedom.
Take care and do not forget you are not alone, we are many…
Kiana”
I wrote it on a piece of paper and hurried out of the house.
I spent the greater part of this rainy day sitting in one of the University’s courtyards, crying alone [...] I look at myself, always complaining about homophobia in Italy, about the fact we have no equal rights, and I feel like a fucking piece of shit. Because for me, it is SO easy to go to London, to Paris, to Berlin and be the butchest fiercest lesbian around, without having to be afraid of being lashed 100, 200, 300 times and then hung, a thick rope around my neck, people rejoicing all around.
It does matter what happens to Kiana Firouz. This should not be a reality for her, or anyone else.
Here is the official Cul de Sac website.
Here is the petition endorsed by Kiana Firouz herself.
And this is her story.
Let’s make some noise, comrades.
______________________________________
UPDATE #1, WED, 12:25pm:
Not sure if messages addressed to that email for the BHO (public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) are going through.
I’m hoping to hear back from Kiana herself via email so Coilhouse can do a bit more follow-up and fact-checking.
Meantime, commenter Ethan suggests “writing a letter to either of these two as well. Taking the time to write a personal letter is much more effective than just signing a petition, please do both.”
Minister of State (Borders and Immigration) -
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Fax: +44 870 336 9034
Secretary of State for the Home Department -
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Fax: +44 20 7035 0900
_______________________________________________
UPDATE #2, WED, 2:56 pm
Still waiting for a personal response from Kiana.
Called the line listed on the Cul de Sac website for press inquiries, and a man who did not give his name answered. I told him that I’m further fact-checking a story about Kiana and the film, and requested more information about her situation. The man declined to answer any question directly related to Firouz’s potential deportation, and asked me to use the email address listed on the site instead to officially state my reasons for contacting Kiana. He told me that this message would be passed on to her.
I hope to hear more from her soon. Knowing more concrete facts about this case, and hearing directly from Kiana, will either a) help to give this fight more tooth and claw or b) expose it as a fabrication. If the former, all the better. If the latter, I’ll be swift to apologize on behalf of Coilhouse for propagating something unsubstantiated. Thank you, everyone.
Posted by Meredith Yayanos on May 11th, 2010
Filed under Activism, Culture, Events, Film, Gender, Grrrl, Politics, Queer, Religion, Revolutionary, Serious Business, Sexuality, We disapprove, Why
21 Responses to “Save the Life of Kiana Firouz”
Natasha Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:23 am
Making noise NOW.
Nadya Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 2:29 am
Guys, I highly encourage everyone not only to sign the petition, but especially to email public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk. Signing the petition is good, but writing a letter is even better. Also, please spread the word about this!
I wonder if this is her Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiana-firouz/
This should be everywhere: Bust, Curve, AfterEllen, Feministing, Bitch, Jezebel. And then it should spill over into mainstream media. Maybe they just haven’t heard of this story yet. Let’s get it out there!
Ethan Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 2:37 am
Hello everyone,
Please consider writing a letter to either of these two as well, Taking the time to write a personal letter is much more effective than just signing a petition, please do both.
Minister of State (Borders and Immigration) -
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Fax: +44 870 336 9034
Secretary of State for the Home Department -
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Fax: +44 20 7035 0900
Syd Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 3:04 am
I had no idea. I’m going to try hard to raise awareness of this issue.
Elana Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 5:17 am
I’m confused – was any explanation given for the rejection of her application for asylum?
Jamie Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 6:47 am
Sent an email. Thanks for bringing this to light.
Save Kiana Firouz! - Nerdcore Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 6:50 am
[...] Save Kiana Firouz! Maggy schreibt mir: Hey, ich weiß dass an dem Thema nichts nerdiges ist, aber da du mit deinem Blog eine sehr große Reichweite hast, dachte ich, du kannst vielleicht eine Ausnahme für eine echt wichtige Sache machen. Es geht um Kiana Firouz, 27, lesbisch, eine iranische LGBT Rights Aktivistin, Schauspielerin, Filmemacherin, die kurz davor steht, aus England zurück in den Iran abgeschoben zu werden, wo sie mit ziemlicher Sicherheit gefoltert oder hingerichtet werden wird. Und das alles weil sie einen Film gemacht hat, der genau die Situation von Homosexuellen im Iran schildert.. Die Regierung hat davon Wind bekommen, weshalb sie nach England geflohen ist, wo man ihr jetzt aber kein Asyl gewähren will. Das mal als kurze Zusammenfassung… Hier steht das alles nochmal besser: http://coilhouse.net/2010/05/save-the-life-of-kiana-firouz/#more-14946 [...]
Archer Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 7:18 am
I attempted to send an email to public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk but it didn’t go through.
Andy Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Just signed that petition as well. Sadly, the only way this could get resolved in an acceptable way would be if mainstream media got ahold of it and decided it was a worthy cause. A simple petition doesn’t stand a great chance of influencing anything.
I’ve seen that happen so many times here in Sweden where the Immigration ministry has been forced to reconsider it’s stances on a number of humanitarian cases where “common sense” should have settled it all. It’s when national media starts getting indignated that things start happening since no-one wants bad press.
Laura Gardner Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 9:14 am
I emailed the home office and will now go and find the petition. Her story should not have a sad ending.
.typhoid Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 9:41 am
While I have not found mention of Kiana by name in the newspaper, the Guardian did run this story recently:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/09/supreme-court-gay-lesbian-asylum-seekers
Kate Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 10:15 am
I also tried to email the Home Office at the address listed above, and it didn’t go through. Does anyone have a different email address? I looked through the British Home Office’s website but didn’t find any useful information or a general contact email address.
Syd Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 11:49 am
I quickly put together this page incase anyone is interested in making some noise over on crowdrise
http://www.crowdrise.com/campaigntosavethelif/fundraiser/sydlow#top
please show support there and encourage others to do so!
Rettet Kiana Firouz!!! « mädchenblog Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
[...] Rettet Kiana Firouz!!! schokolade am 12. Mai 2010 in allgemein Kiana Firouz, 27 years old, is an outspoken Iranian LGBT rights activist, filmmaker, and actress. Wh… [...]
Mer Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Update:
Doing some more research on this story. I’m hoping to hear back from Kiana herself via her Flickr site. Also, have emailed Kim to email Sylvia to find out what contact info she used to write Kiana.
I just called the line listed on the Cul de Sac website for press inquiries, and a man who did not give his name answered. I told him that I am further fact-checking a story about Kiana Firouz and the film, and requested more information about Kiana’s situation. The man declined to answer any question directly related to Firouz’s potential deportation, and asked me to use the email address listed on the site instead to officially state my reasons for contacting Kiana. He told me that this message would be passed on to her. I can definitely understand his wariness. I hope I hear from her. Knowing more concrete facts about her case, and hearing directly from her, will help to give this fight more tooth and claw.
Some more articles and mentions of Kiana on the web:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/middle-east/100407/iran-lesbian-gay-rights-ahmadinejad
http://madikazemi.blogspot.com/2010/04/protest-at-british-embassy-in.html
http://eurout.org/2010/04/25/uk-gay-asylum-seekers-will-be-send-back-despite-facing-death-penalty-their-home-country?page=0,1
http://www.irqr.net/English/240.htm
http://eurout.org/2010/04/25/uk-gay-asylum-seekers-will-be-send-back-despite-facing-death-penalty-their-home-country?page=0,1
Jeff Floss Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
I feel we should all try to email the mainstream media papers, magazines, and TV stations to try to get them aware of Kiana’s story
Alan Tyson Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
I just sent off an e-mail to both the Home Office and a local GLBT activist group in Iowa who I’m sort of involved with. Hopefully they’ll spread the word. I suggest, if anyone is affiliated with/on the mail list of any such groups, they get the word out about this.
Maria Ferrreira Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
At 26 April the email Public.Enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk works
I received a answer at 5-05-2010 from Treat Official Correspondence [CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk]
Dear Ms Ferreira
Thank you for your e-mail on behalf of Kiana Firouz concerning their immigration matters.
Your support has been noted.
Yours Sincerely,
Public Correspondence Team
UKBA
I Lacey Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
As well as emailing the Home Office, I have also emailed the editor of The Independent newspaper, which ran an extensive, eventually successful, campaign to stop the deportation of gay Iranian teenager Mehdi Kamezi, to bring her case to their attention.
Richard B Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
You might want to create a petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ rather than petitionsonline – petitionsonline is less than worthless,
Matt Bell Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Posted it on Digg and several social media sites. Hope it helps to get the ball to roll that little-bit faster..
http://digg.com/world_news/Save_The_Life_Of_Kiana_Firouz
We have to protect our own worldwide..here's a chance to do something, sign the petition, write the British home office, or cut and paste this and get it around to all your Lesbian and Feminist websites and blogs....please, please help her, don't let her be a statistic of the violently homophobic and woman hating Iranian government!
Here is the initial site I was taken to on her behalf:
http://coilhouse.net/2010/05/save-the-life-of-Kiana-Firouz/#more-14946
Here is the petition for her, sign immediately so she won't be deported:
www.petitiononline.com/Kianaf/petition.html
Here is the documentary she's in about Iranian Lesbians called "Cul De Sac": http://culdesacmovie.com/index.html
Here is about her personal story and how to help also:
http://www.everyonegroup.com/everyone/mainpage/entries/2010/5/6_campaign_to_save_the_life_of_Kiana_Firouz_at_risk_of_deportation_from_the_U.K..html
Hope that link works..let me know if they don't. PLEASE ACT NOW!!! We don't want a sister to be tortured and have to go to the gallows because she's spoken out about her oppression, is a visible figure because of the movie, and because most of all, she's a Lesbian in a totally woman hating Lesbian hating culture!
Kiana Firouz, 27 years old, is an outspoken Iranian LGBT rights activist, filmmaker, and actress. When clips of her video documentary work featuring the struggle and persecution of gays and lesbians in her country were acquired by Iranian intelligence, agents began to follow Firouz around Tehran, harassing and intimidating her. She fled for England where she could safely continue her work and studies.
She plays a starring role in Cul de Sac, a documentary film produced in the UK about the condition of lesbians in Iran, and based heavily on Firouz’s own life story. Directed by Ramin Goudarzi-Nejad and Mahshad Torkan, the movie will premiere in London in a few days. Since the trailer was posted on YouTube in December 2009, Cul de Sac has attracted global media attention, with thousands of views. Apparently, some of those views included members of Ahmadinejad’s puppet media in Iran. They know who Firouz is and what she stands for. They may want her to come back to the country she was born in to answer for it.
Still from Cul de Sac.
Firouz, understandably, has requested asylum from the British government. Much to everyone’s shock and dismay, the British Home Office has rejected her application for refugee status. Yes, they know she’s gay. Yes, they know she could be deported back to Iran at any time, and that if this happens, Firouz will most likely be sentenced to torture and death after being found guilty of the “unspeakable sin of homosexuality” because she has participated in explicit lesbian sex scenes in the movie, and been a fierce proponent for human rights in her country.
In Iran, the punishment for lesbianism involving mature consenting women consists of 100 lashes. This punishment can be applied up to three times. After a fourth violation of Iranian law, a woman convicted of “unrepentant homosexuality” is finally executed by hanging, often publicly, in front of a howling mob.
From EveryOne Group:
Kiana filed for a court appeal following the Home Office’s decision to reject her application for asylum, but the judge overruled her appeal. According to Kiana’s lawyer, the last remaining chance is to appeal the judge’s decision, but the risk of deportation is imminent.
The EveryOne Group, an international human rights organization, which was involved in the asylum cases of the lesbian Pegah Emambakhsh, who risked being deported from London to Tehran in 2007, and of the Iranian gay, Mehdi Kazemi, appeals to the British government and the democratic forces of the European Union, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, that Kiana Firouz be immediately guaranteed adequate humanitarian protection and that the order for her deportation be repealed, given that on return to Iran she will face a death sentence not only because a lesbian but because of her civil rights activism.
The EveryOne activists invite concerned readers to send protest e-mail messages to the British Home Office (public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) requesting that Kiana receive refugee status as soon as possible, for she is a symbol of the international fight against homophobia and repression of gays and lesbians in Islamic countries.
I’ve spent a fair amount of my day researching, fact-checking and [edit for clarification: attempting to] verify this story, and I can’t figure it out: why is this news not EVERYWHERE right now? Why is this petition for Firouz so anemic? There should be hundreds of thousands of names on that list.
And yet, I am only just catching wind of Firouz’s story from a chance visit to Kim Boekbinder’s blog, where Kim posted a heartbreaking letter written by an Italian friend of hers, Sylvia K. An excerpt:
No major newspaper even remotely talks about Kiana’s story, nor do gay activists. People don’t seem to care much at all. I do. Last night I wrote to Kiana. Nothing much, only to say that I was so saddened and angry, that her story had moved and inspired me and that I was SO thankful to her for standing up for what she truly believed in… This morning before going out I found her reply. It goes like this :
“Dear Sylvia
I am proud of you. we should proud of each other for being strong. I am so thankful for your supportive and kindly letter. It does not matter what is going to happen to me. Its all about freedom.
Take care and do not forget you are not alone, we are many…
Kiana”
I wrote it on a piece of paper and hurried out of the house.
I spent the greater part of this rainy day sitting in one of the University’s courtyards, crying alone [...] I look at myself, always complaining about homophobia in Italy, about the fact we have no equal rights, and I feel like a fucking piece of shit. Because for me, it is SO easy to go to London, to Paris, to Berlin and be the butchest fiercest lesbian around, without having to be afraid of being lashed 100, 200, 300 times and then hung, a thick rope around my neck, people rejoicing all around.
It does matter what happens to Kiana Firouz. This should not be a reality for her, or anyone else.
Here is the official Cul de Sac website.
Here is the petition endorsed by Kiana Firouz herself.
And this is her story.
Let’s make some noise, comrades.
______________________________________
UPDATE #1, WED, 12:25pm:
Not sure if messages addressed to that email for the BHO (public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) are going through.
I’m hoping to hear back from Kiana herself via email so Coilhouse can do a bit more follow-up and fact-checking.
Meantime, commenter Ethan suggests “writing a letter to either of these two as well. Taking the time to write a personal letter is much more effective than just signing a petition, please do both.”
Minister of State (Borders and Immigration) -
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Fax: +44 870 336 9034
Secretary of State for the Home Department -
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Fax: +44 20 7035 0900
_______________________________________________
UPDATE #2, WED, 2:56 pm
Still waiting for a personal response from Kiana.
Called the line listed on the Cul de Sac website for press inquiries, and a man who did not give his name answered. I told him that I’m further fact-checking a story about Kiana and the film, and requested more information about her situation. The man declined to answer any question directly related to Firouz’s potential deportation, and asked me to use the email address listed on the site instead to officially state my reasons for contacting Kiana. He told me that this message would be passed on to her.
I hope to hear more from her soon. Knowing more concrete facts about this case, and hearing directly from Kiana, will either a) help to give this fight more tooth and claw or b) expose it as a fabrication. If the former, all the better. If the latter, I’ll be swift to apologize on behalf of Coilhouse for propagating something unsubstantiated. Thank you, everyone.
Posted by Meredith Yayanos on May 11th, 2010
Filed under Activism, Culture, Events, Film, Gender, Grrrl, Politics, Queer, Religion, Revolutionary, Serious Business, Sexuality, We disapprove, Why
21 Responses to “Save the Life of Kiana Firouz”
Natasha Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:23 am
Making noise NOW.
Nadya Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 2:29 am
Guys, I highly encourage everyone not only to sign the petition, but especially to email public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk. Signing the petition is good, but writing a letter is even better. Also, please spread the word about this!
I wonder if this is her Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiana-firouz/
This should be everywhere: Bust, Curve, AfterEllen, Feministing, Bitch, Jezebel. And then it should spill over into mainstream media. Maybe they just haven’t heard of this story yet. Let’s get it out there!
Ethan Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 2:37 am
Hello everyone,
Please consider writing a letter to either of these two as well, Taking the time to write a personal letter is much more effective than just signing a petition, please do both.
Minister of State (Borders and Immigration) -
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Fax: +44 870 336 9034
Secretary of State for the Home Department -
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Fax: +44 20 7035 0900
Syd Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 3:04 am
I had no idea. I’m going to try hard to raise awareness of this issue.
Elana Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 5:17 am
I’m confused – was any explanation given for the rejection of her application for asylum?
Jamie Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 6:47 am
Sent an email. Thanks for bringing this to light.
Save Kiana Firouz! - Nerdcore Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 6:50 am
[...] Save Kiana Firouz! Maggy schreibt mir: Hey, ich weiß dass an dem Thema nichts nerdiges ist, aber da du mit deinem Blog eine sehr große Reichweite hast, dachte ich, du kannst vielleicht eine Ausnahme für eine echt wichtige Sache machen. Es geht um Kiana Firouz, 27, lesbisch, eine iranische LGBT Rights Aktivistin, Schauspielerin, Filmemacherin, die kurz davor steht, aus England zurück in den Iran abgeschoben zu werden, wo sie mit ziemlicher Sicherheit gefoltert oder hingerichtet werden wird. Und das alles weil sie einen Film gemacht hat, der genau die Situation von Homosexuellen im Iran schildert.. Die Regierung hat davon Wind bekommen, weshalb sie nach England geflohen ist, wo man ihr jetzt aber kein Asyl gewähren will. Das mal als kurze Zusammenfassung… Hier steht das alles nochmal besser: http://coilhouse.net/2010/05/save-the-life-of-kiana-firouz/#more-14946 [...]
Archer Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 7:18 am
I attempted to send an email to public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk but it didn’t go through.
Andy Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Just signed that petition as well. Sadly, the only way this could get resolved in an acceptable way would be if mainstream media got ahold of it and decided it was a worthy cause. A simple petition doesn’t stand a great chance of influencing anything.
I’ve seen that happen so many times here in Sweden where the Immigration ministry has been forced to reconsider it’s stances on a number of humanitarian cases where “common sense” should have settled it all. It’s when national media starts getting indignated that things start happening since no-one wants bad press.
Laura Gardner Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 9:14 am
I emailed the home office and will now go and find the petition. Her story should not have a sad ending.
.typhoid Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 9:41 am
While I have not found mention of Kiana by name in the newspaper, the Guardian did run this story recently:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/09/supreme-court-gay-lesbian-asylum-seekers
Kate Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 10:15 am
I also tried to email the Home Office at the address listed above, and it didn’t go through. Does anyone have a different email address? I looked through the British Home Office’s website but didn’t find any useful information or a general contact email address.
Syd Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 11:49 am
I quickly put together this page incase anyone is interested in making some noise over on crowdrise
http://www.crowdrise.com/campaigntosavethelif/fundraiser/sydlow#top
please show support there and encourage others to do so!
Rettet Kiana Firouz!!! « mädchenblog Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
[...] Rettet Kiana Firouz!!! schokolade am 12. Mai 2010 in allgemein Kiana Firouz, 27 years old, is an outspoken Iranian LGBT rights activist, filmmaker, and actress. Wh… [...]
Mer Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Update:
Doing some more research on this story. I’m hoping to hear back from Kiana herself via her Flickr site. Also, have emailed Kim to email Sylvia to find out what contact info she used to write Kiana.
I just called the line listed on the Cul de Sac website for press inquiries, and a man who did not give his name answered. I told him that I am further fact-checking a story about Kiana Firouz and the film, and requested more information about Kiana’s situation. The man declined to answer any question directly related to Firouz’s potential deportation, and asked me to use the email address listed on the site instead to officially state my reasons for contacting Kiana. He told me that this message would be passed on to her. I can definitely understand his wariness. I hope I hear from her. Knowing more concrete facts about her case, and hearing directly from her, will help to give this fight more tooth and claw.
Some more articles and mentions of Kiana on the web:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/middle-east/100407/iran-lesbian-gay-rights-ahmadinejad
http://madikazemi.blogspot.com/2010/04/protest-at-british-embassy-in.html
http://eurout.org/2010/04/25/uk-gay-asylum-seekers-will-be-send-back-despite-facing-death-penalty-their-home-country?page=0,1
http://www.irqr.net/English/240.htm
http://eurout.org/2010/04/25/uk-gay-asylum-seekers-will-be-send-back-despite-facing-death-penalty-their-home-country?page=0,1
Jeff Floss Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
I feel we should all try to email the mainstream media papers, magazines, and TV stations to try to get them aware of Kiana’s story
Alan Tyson Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
I just sent off an e-mail to both the Home Office and a local GLBT activist group in Iowa who I’m sort of involved with. Hopefully they’ll spread the word. I suggest, if anyone is affiliated with/on the mail list of any such groups, they get the word out about this.
Maria Ferrreira Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
At 26 April the email Public.Enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk works
I received a answer at 5-05-2010 from Treat Official Correspondence [CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk]
Dear Ms Ferreira
Thank you for your e-mail on behalf of Kiana Firouz concerning their immigration matters.
Your support has been noted.
Yours Sincerely,
Public Correspondence Team
UKBA
I Lacey Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
As well as emailing the Home Office, I have also emailed the editor of The Independent newspaper, which ran an extensive, eventually successful, campaign to stop the deportation of gay Iranian teenager Mehdi Kamezi, to bring her case to their attention.
Richard B Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
You might want to create a petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ rather than petitionsonline – petitionsonline is less than worthless,
Matt Bell Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Posted it on Digg and several social media sites. Hope it helps to get the ball to roll that little-bit faster..
http://digg.com/world_news/Save_The_Life_Of_Kiana_Firouz
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
In Response to: Why I Love Butch Women and Other Endangered Species
Basically the above post was a love poem to Butch Dykes.....
http://www.velvetparkmedia.com/why-i-love-butch-women-and-other-endangered-species
Here's my response:
Butch Dykes who are PROUD to be Female are indeed endangered
Thanks for your beautiful commentary supporting us Female and Dyke centered Butches! We ARE NOT men, and so many don't get this. So many of us have resisted being boxed into stereotypical feminine roles, or attempts to feminize us, while asserting OUR OWN powerful Selves in a world that doesn't want us to exist, and either attempts to erase our defiance and our powerful stance, or attempts to erase us and attempt to make us pass or 'become' some form of male. It is women like you who praise us exactly for WHO WE ARE, as powerful STRONG women in and of ourselves, our Wild raw Selves who carry the strength of determination, sexual aggressiveness, confidence(on our better days) solidity and Amazon natures and take up our space fully as men do...while honoring and giving our sexual, emotional and spiritual energy so deeply to other womyn.
It is one reason I quit watching the "L Word" because I didnt' see myself, or my relationship reflected there. There was no space for a STRONG Butch character who could be a powerful sexual being, without reference to men or their desires or who could inhabit fully a Female body without attempts to transition or 'pass' as male. The androgynous skinny Shane just didn't do it for me, nor did the other characters who sometimes shamed Butch women in the series. Sorry, Femme on Femme just doesn't do it for me. Butch/Femme and Butch on Butch are my proclivities. I LOVE the handsomeness and strength of other Butch women, but I also like the sensuality and yes, strength and power of strong sexy femmes too...both are sexy to me, in different ways, as long as they are PROUD of their femaleness, and of their Lesbianism, love for women.
Thanks for honoring us, and NO WE ARE NOT DUDES! Butches CARE about our woman's orgasm, and want to please and satisfy her. Sure, I want my own orgasm too, and to be satisfied, but not at her expense. I LOVE to see a woman in the throes of pleasure. Many men on the other hand are far more selfish, once they orgasm, it's over for them, and if the woman gets off, well, that's alright, but his orgasm is primary, enforced by millenia of patriarchy. A Butch on the other hand wants to please and satisfy her woman, that is part of the definition of a true blue Butch, and because we're both women, we can orgasm ALL NIGHT LONG! We're multi-orgasmic Beings, and both FULLY FEMALE.....not the same for a dude.
But I'm here to share about Dyke Sexuality, having been a Capital B Butch that is true Blue Butch for almost 30 years, ever since I came out in 1981, and a hardcore tomboy since age 7.....grow up to be a Butch Dyke!
-In Dyke Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
Submitted by MasterAmazon on Mon, 2010-03-29 05:33.
http://www.velvetparkmedia.com/why-i-love-butch-women-and-other-endangered-species
Here's my response:
Butch Dykes who are PROUD to be Female are indeed endangered
Thanks for your beautiful commentary supporting us Female and Dyke centered Butches! We ARE NOT men, and so many don't get this. So many of us have resisted being boxed into stereotypical feminine roles, or attempts to feminize us, while asserting OUR OWN powerful Selves in a world that doesn't want us to exist, and either attempts to erase our defiance and our powerful stance, or attempts to erase us and attempt to make us pass or 'become' some form of male. It is women like you who praise us exactly for WHO WE ARE, as powerful STRONG women in and of ourselves, our Wild raw Selves who carry the strength of determination, sexual aggressiveness, confidence(on our better days) solidity and Amazon natures and take up our space fully as men do...while honoring and giving our sexual, emotional and spiritual energy so deeply to other womyn.
It is one reason I quit watching the "L Word" because I didnt' see myself, or my relationship reflected there. There was no space for a STRONG Butch character who could be a powerful sexual being, without reference to men or their desires or who could inhabit fully a Female body without attempts to transition or 'pass' as male. The androgynous skinny Shane just didn't do it for me, nor did the other characters who sometimes shamed Butch women in the series. Sorry, Femme on Femme just doesn't do it for me. Butch/Femme and Butch on Butch are my proclivities. I LOVE the handsomeness and strength of other Butch women, but I also like the sensuality and yes, strength and power of strong sexy femmes too...both are sexy to me, in different ways, as long as they are PROUD of their femaleness, and of their Lesbianism, love for women.
Thanks for honoring us, and NO WE ARE NOT DUDES! Butches CARE about our woman's orgasm, and want to please and satisfy her. Sure, I want my own orgasm too, and to be satisfied, but not at her expense. I LOVE to see a woman in the throes of pleasure. Many men on the other hand are far more selfish, once they orgasm, it's over for them, and if the woman gets off, well, that's alright, but his orgasm is primary, enforced by millenia of patriarchy. A Butch on the other hand wants to please and satisfy her woman, that is part of the definition of a true blue Butch, and because we're both women, we can orgasm ALL NIGHT LONG! We're multi-orgasmic Beings, and both FULLY FEMALE.....not the same for a dude.
But I'm here to share about Dyke Sexuality, having been a Capital B Butch that is true Blue Butch for almost 30 years, ever since I came out in 1981, and a hardcore tomboy since age 7.....grow up to be a Butch Dyke!
-In Dyke Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
Submitted by MasterAmazon on Mon, 2010-03-29 05:33.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
From Lesbian Feminist: Butches aren't transanything!
This is my response, and I feel very strongly that Butches should not be seen as interchangeable parts with FTM's as in all those sex ads and descriptions and workshops and groups where Butches/FTM's are slapped together as a single/similar/overlapping or continuum identity when we are distinctly different:
What Is A Butch? Part 3: Not Trans-Anything
November 9, 2009 at 6:21 am (Uncategorized) (butches)
My reply:
March 6, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Butch is a FEMALE LESBIAN identity, none other. Not a trans identity, not an FTM identity, we ARE NOT interchangeable parts, or even an MTF who can’t completely fit into girly girl identity(yes even MTF’s have tried to rip off ‘Butch’). Butch Dykes want to be with other Dykes, whether it’s other Butches, Femmes or in betweeners…as long as they’re female. Butches don’t fuck men, because again Butch is distinctly a LESBIAN identity. We resist feminization, always have, some of us identify more with the male role, clothing, accoutrements because we don’t feel empowered identifying with feminine items, but inside and outside we still maintain OUR RECOGNIZABLE FEMALENESS. It is NOT o.k. to be a feral Female who doesn’t fit into feminized patriarchal roles or appearance. Some of these words may pertain to some or all of us: Amazon/Fierce/Masculine(NOT MALE)/Aggressive/Protective/nonconforming/nonfeminine/Wild/Untamed, but still ALL WOMON!
Many Butches in the past, and sometimes presently have had to ‘pass’ as men for sheer survival, or just the opposite, had to ‘femme it up a bit’ to get a job, and dress more Butch on our own time….some of us have compromised neither way, and took the shit it takes to be out about who we are: Womon loving Butch Dyke FEMALES who don’t ‘fit in’ to feminized female roles, attitudes or appearances.
We ARE NOT FTM’s and we don’t want to be men, like we’re constantly accused of wanting to be. That is precisely the difference between Butches and FTM’s. To some, they may see it as a matter of degree, but a Butch is still proud to be a strong Dyke Female, unfeminine, inhabiting our space just the way we are, despite the discrimination and sometimes even hate in the world against us which tries to invisibilize us. This doesn’t just include the hetero world, which tries to erase us at every turn since we’re very visibly Lesbian by our appearance, but also the trans movement where it’s still more acceptable to ‘fit in’ and pass and become ‘male’, and completely male appearing, i.e in some manner hetero appearing. rather than the defiant feisty women we are: Butch Dykes/Women Loving Women!
-MasterAmazon
What Is A Butch? Part 3: Not Trans-Anything
November 9, 2009 at 6:21 am (Uncategorized) (butches)
My reply:
March 6, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Butch is a FEMALE LESBIAN identity, none other. Not a trans identity, not an FTM identity, we ARE NOT interchangeable parts, or even an MTF who can’t completely fit into girly girl identity(yes even MTF’s have tried to rip off ‘Butch’). Butch Dykes want to be with other Dykes, whether it’s other Butches, Femmes or in betweeners…as long as they’re female. Butches don’t fuck men, because again Butch is distinctly a LESBIAN identity. We resist feminization, always have, some of us identify more with the male role, clothing, accoutrements because we don’t feel empowered identifying with feminine items, but inside and outside we still maintain OUR RECOGNIZABLE FEMALENESS. It is NOT o.k. to be a feral Female who doesn’t fit into feminized patriarchal roles or appearance. Some of these words may pertain to some or all of us: Amazon/Fierce/Masculine(NOT MALE)/Aggressive/Protective/nonconforming/nonfeminine/Wild/Untamed, but still ALL WOMON!
Many Butches in the past, and sometimes presently have had to ‘pass’ as men for sheer survival, or just the opposite, had to ‘femme it up a bit’ to get a job, and dress more Butch on our own time….some of us have compromised neither way, and took the shit it takes to be out about who we are: Womon loving Butch Dyke FEMALES who don’t ‘fit in’ to feminized female roles, attitudes or appearances.
We ARE NOT FTM’s and we don’t want to be men, like we’re constantly accused of wanting to be. That is precisely the difference between Butches and FTM’s. To some, they may see it as a matter of degree, but a Butch is still proud to be a strong Dyke Female, unfeminine, inhabiting our space just the way we are, despite the discrimination and sometimes even hate in the world against us which tries to invisibilize us. This doesn’t just include the hetero world, which tries to erase us at every turn since we’re very visibly Lesbian by our appearance, but also the trans movement where it’s still more acceptable to ‘fit in’ and pass and become ‘male’, and completely male appearing, i.e in some manner hetero appearing. rather than the defiant feisty women we are: Butch Dykes/Women Loving Women!
-MasterAmazon
Pressures/Expectations as a Butch Dyke
This is from my answer to the above question on The Butch Project, what Pressures/Expectations do we experience as Butches in our lives?
M.A.'s answer: There's always the pressures to 'femme up' or otherwise conform, or not be TOO obviously Butch and proud, even amongst Lesbians sometimes, and then the subtle Butch and Lesbian baiting in the outside world. The worst is in the world of work, which is why I chose a profession where I can naturally wear Butch clothing. It doesn't really match my temperament inside, but I wanted a profession where I could dress and be Butch without having to 'femme up' in any way, and still get paid well while working. I didn't count on having to work mostly with just men, and rarely women, and all the sexism, homophobia, and racism that goes with my trade or being in the trades. And that being a woman, and on top of that a big, bad, out and obvious Butch Dyke female of size like myself would end up discriminated against in trying to get on a job, or stay on a job for any length of time because of size, sex, sexual orientation discrimination both obvious and subtle with the hetero white men who rule the trade and the hiring.
Still, this is who I am, who I've been for 30 years, and beyond..and I wouldn't be any other way than in being a proud Butch DykeAmazon!
As far as within the community, there's alot of pressure to date mostly or exclusively Femmes, and frankly I prefer to partner with other Butches and have married my Butch partner. I'm turned onto another Butch who has the similar qualities in herself and completely understands intimately the struggle that I have....Butch on Butch has always been my native sexuality, with a few Femme exceptions...and what I hate the most is other Butches treating those of us who are Butch on Butch like we're 'less than' or not REAL Butches because we prefer other Butches primarily.
M.A.'s answer: There's always the pressures to 'femme up' or otherwise conform, or not be TOO obviously Butch and proud, even amongst Lesbians sometimes, and then the subtle Butch and Lesbian baiting in the outside world. The worst is in the world of work, which is why I chose a profession where I can naturally wear Butch clothing. It doesn't really match my temperament inside, but I wanted a profession where I could dress and be Butch without having to 'femme up' in any way, and still get paid well while working. I didn't count on having to work mostly with just men, and rarely women, and all the sexism, homophobia, and racism that goes with my trade or being in the trades. And that being a woman, and on top of that a big, bad, out and obvious Butch Dyke female of size like myself would end up discriminated against in trying to get on a job, or stay on a job for any length of time because of size, sex, sexual orientation discrimination both obvious and subtle with the hetero white men who rule the trade and the hiring.
Still, this is who I am, who I've been for 30 years, and beyond..and I wouldn't be any other way than in being a proud Butch DykeAmazon!
As far as within the community, there's alot of pressure to date mostly or exclusively Femmes, and frankly I prefer to partner with other Butches and have married my Butch partner. I'm turned onto another Butch who has the similar qualities in herself and completely understands intimately the struggle that I have....Butch on Butch has always been my native sexuality, with a few Femme exceptions...and what I hate the most is other Butches treating those of us who are Butch on Butch like we're 'less than' or not REAL Butches because we prefer other Butches primarily.
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