Showing posts with label Amazon Sisterhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazon Sisterhood. Show all posts
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Response to Dea Shore's Amazon Gathering Post
Feisty Amazon
WOW! That just BLOWS ME AWAY, AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I sure wish you had been to my Amazon Ritual last summer at EWF, it was primal in a way most women's and Dianic rituals are not....it affirmed so many of the same things, and I agree: 'LET'S HAVE AN AMAZON GATHERING!' and for me, that includes Female Identified Butch Dykes as modern day Amazons. I am really suffering a dearth and lack of Butch Dykes at most Dianic/Women's rituals I attend. The are way too hetero frilly and femmy for my tastes.....the Amazon energy gets down, is grounded, is heady, ecstatic, explicitly or implicitly womon to loving womon sexual, has NOTHING to do with men or male dieties, but our own strong energy, or conventional womanhood. It is primal, feisty, and shakes off all the veils and illusions...and is the way the energy of the Goddess will be rebirthed: because us Amazons are THE ONLY WOMYN ON THE PLANET, THAT GIVE OURSELVES FULLY AND TOTALLY TO THE SACRED FEMALE ON EVERY SINGLE LEVEL, WITHOUT COMPROMISE. Too many other women are way too timid to take that stance, or to give their men and male children and associates less power in their lives, for fear of censure, violence or privileges taken away. And first and foremost, Amazons are not just women warriors, they ARE Warrior Womyn, BUT MOST OF ALL THEY/WE ARE A TRIBAL SISTERHOOD!!!! And THAT is of utmost importance and what differs an Amazon from other women warriors that think they can go it alone in the world...one may have to until one comes upon one's Sisterhood....but is always wanting and desiring and looking for one's Amazon Sisters...and with that, weaving the Sisterhood of Womyn together to overcome the destructiveness of Patriarchy. As we were the last to defend the ancient Matriarchies, we are the first to INSIST on modern day Matriarchies and to protect our womyn, our womyn's space, our rites, and Mother Earth.
WOW! That just BLOWS ME AWAY, AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I sure wish you had been to my Amazon Ritual last summer at EWF, it was primal in a way most women's and Dianic rituals are not....it affirmed so many of the same things, and I agree: 'LET'S HAVE AN AMAZON GATHERING!' and for me, that includes Female Identified Butch Dykes as modern day Amazons. I am really suffering a dearth and lack of Butch Dykes at most Dianic/Women's rituals I attend. The are way too hetero frilly and femmy for my tastes.....the Amazon energy gets down, is grounded, is heady, ecstatic, explicitly or implicitly womon to loving womon sexual, has NOTHING to do with men or male dieties, but our own strong energy, or conventional womanhood. It is primal, feisty, and shakes off all the veils and illusions...and is the way the energy of the Goddess will be rebirthed: because us Amazons are THE ONLY WOMYN ON THE PLANET, THAT GIVE OURSELVES FULLY AND TOTALLY TO THE SACRED FEMALE ON EVERY SINGLE LEVEL, WITHOUT COMPROMISE. Too many other women are way too timid to take that stance, or to give their men and male children and associates less power in their lives, for fear of censure, violence or privileges taken away. And first and foremost, Amazons are not just women warriors, they ARE Warrior Womyn, BUT MOST OF ALL THEY/WE ARE A TRIBAL SISTERHOOD!!!! And THAT is of utmost importance and what differs an Amazon from other women warriors that think they can go it alone in the world...one may have to until one comes upon one's Sisterhood....but is always wanting and desiring and looking for one's Amazon Sisters...and with that, weaving the Sisterhood of Womyn together to overcome the destructiveness of Patriarchy. As we were the last to defend the ancient Matriarchies, we are the first to INSIST on modern day Matriarchies and to protect our womyn, our womyn's space, our rites, and Mother Earth.
Amazons....Amazons....Where are my Sisters? By Dea Shore Crone Amazon Extraordinaire
GUEST POST BY WONDERFUL CRONE DYKEAMAZON Dea Shore
Amazons ... Amazons ... Where are my sisters?.
by Dea Shore on Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 12:06pm
.
There was a time when I opened my space to Amazon Gatherings. Many sisters came to these gatherings who were not declared Amazons, but who were curious friends of Amazons ... some just came to gather ... to eat, drink and be merry. Good women ... free women ... Goddess-Loving women ... You know who you are! Mama, Auntie Joan, Auntie Wanda, Carolyn, Kini, Marione, Charlotte and too many others are no longer physically with us ...! Only a few sisters remain ...but, many daughters and daughters of daughters are out there needing the invitation and validation of an Amazon Gathering. And, I genuinely suspect they know who they are ... at least on some level.
Have you ever lived completely alone? Have you ever been complletely responsible for your own food, clothing and shelter ... for your own safety? Have you ever identified your fears ... fears revealed only to you ... viewable only to your own eyes in the dark mirror? Have you ever walked the dark? Have you ever experienced physical combat ... fought in self-defense? Are you faithful to yourself? Are you an Amazon? Have you ever been aided by an Amazon?
What is an Amazon? Who is an Amazon? Lets take a quick look at Nature and identify some creatures we can agree are examples of the Amazon path. See if you agree. I suggest that Bees, Sea Gulls, SeaHorse, Anemonies, Elephants, Hyenas, Spiders ... most trees and plants ... a vast amount of nature in general. Most of Nature is faithful to HERself.
I'd like to go on record to say ... here and now ... I do not deny the Gods, nor any other navel-less deity. I very simply do not relate well to them except through the Goddess. I have a Navel and I honor that connectedness first, last and always. It is engraved upon my spirit that I was once wholly dependent upon a Mother ... the navel is my enduring physical proof. ( And, so is Gravity!) So, as long as I am of this Earth, the Goddess is my Queen and I am Her worker-Bee, Her stinging warrior or whatever She needs me to be. Very few jobs require a penis or pollen!
Everytime I see the face ... or hear the name ... of one of our so-called leaders ... regardless of where I am ... I send a stinging dart of truth to them ... hoping ... they'll become transparent enough for me to find a seed of trust in them for me to nurture with love and respect. If I only knew how, I'd encase them in an eggshell until they matured into truthful, loving, friendly-to-this planet .. human beings. I'd render them to so friendly to women and all life on this planet that no woman would ever have to lock a window or door again, nor any critter need to flee to the safety of shadows in fear. If I were really ... really ... powerful, I'd disappear Patriarchy from this planet! There is probably a good reason I am not that powerful ... yet. I do not have all the answers ... nor do I understand all the answers that are offered ... and, neither do you!
As Amazon Crone ... I believe we need to brainstorm ... to go beyond personal rituals ... and find agreements among us. What do we want? for our sisters? our species? our planet including all the life forms upon Her??? How can we in simple everyday practice, habit or ritual begin to accomplish the feat of becoming that which we wish to see? Clean air, water, energy, agriculture ... CLEAN everything! Contaminates gone! No more pollution whether in the form of lies, violence, fear-producing words or activities ... or merely the removal of inappropriately applied poisons to our environment. Mama always said that if you want something done you must get up and do it yourself. Since I do not know how to do this all by myself ... yet ... I am willing to blend my energy with others to the extent that I can ... so long as we share a common vision. How many New World Eggs does it take? What concepts or ingriedients ... wants or wishes ... hopes or dreams ... must be included in our New World Eggs? Visions? Is Revolution a requirement for the hatching of our Egg(s)??? I've so many questions and so few tangible solutions ... magically or otherwise.
I don't know about you, but I suspect you are as sick and tired as I am of cleaning up messes ... messes I didn't even knowingly contribute to ... messes I've spent the better part of 70 plus years of personal energy attempting to clean up one way or another ... whether it be child abuse, domestic violence, rape, a woman's choice, our water, our air ... and so on and on and on ...! I want heedless behaviors that are contradictory to healthy LIFE as we know it stopped! NOW! Well ... that is what I want. I think it may well be what we NEED as well to sustain our species. I do NOT, however, KNOW! Could we have a virtual gathering? Is that even possible? Could we plug our individual energy and knowledge into such a gathering or not? Or, would it even be worthwhile? Oh well, just my thoughts for the day!
Amazons ... Amazons ... Where are my sisters?.
by Dea Shore on Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 12:06pm
.
There was a time when I opened my space to Amazon Gatherings. Many sisters came to these gatherings who were not declared Amazons, but who were curious friends of Amazons ... some just came to gather ... to eat, drink and be merry. Good women ... free women ... Goddess-Loving women ... You know who you are! Mama, Auntie Joan, Auntie Wanda, Carolyn, Kini, Marione, Charlotte and too many others are no longer physically with us ...! Only a few sisters remain ...but, many daughters and daughters of daughters are out there needing the invitation and validation of an Amazon Gathering. And, I genuinely suspect they know who they are ... at least on some level.
Have you ever lived completely alone? Have you ever been complletely responsible for your own food, clothing and shelter ... for your own safety? Have you ever identified your fears ... fears revealed only to you ... viewable only to your own eyes in the dark mirror? Have you ever walked the dark? Have you ever experienced physical combat ... fought in self-defense? Are you faithful to yourself? Are you an Amazon? Have you ever been aided by an Amazon?
What is an Amazon? Who is an Amazon? Lets take a quick look at Nature and identify some creatures we can agree are examples of the Amazon path. See if you agree. I suggest that Bees, Sea Gulls, SeaHorse, Anemonies, Elephants, Hyenas, Spiders ... most trees and plants ... a vast amount of nature in general. Most of Nature is faithful to HERself.
I'd like to go on record to say ... here and now ... I do not deny the Gods, nor any other navel-less deity. I very simply do not relate well to them except through the Goddess. I have a Navel and I honor that connectedness first, last and always. It is engraved upon my spirit that I was once wholly dependent upon a Mother ... the navel is my enduring physical proof. ( And, so is Gravity!) So, as long as I am of this Earth, the Goddess is my Queen and I am Her worker-Bee, Her stinging warrior or whatever She needs me to be. Very few jobs require a penis or pollen!
Everytime I see the face ... or hear the name ... of one of our so-called leaders ... regardless of where I am ... I send a stinging dart of truth to them ... hoping ... they'll become transparent enough for me to find a seed of trust in them for me to nurture with love and respect. If I only knew how, I'd encase them in an eggshell until they matured into truthful, loving, friendly-to-this planet .. human beings. I'd render them to so friendly to women and all life on this planet that no woman would ever have to lock a window or door again, nor any critter need to flee to the safety of shadows in fear. If I were really ... really ... powerful, I'd disappear Patriarchy from this planet! There is probably a good reason I am not that powerful ... yet. I do not have all the answers ... nor do I understand all the answers that are offered ... and, neither do you!
As Amazon Crone ... I believe we need to brainstorm ... to go beyond personal rituals ... and find agreements among us. What do we want? for our sisters? our species? our planet including all the life forms upon Her??? How can we in simple everyday practice, habit or ritual begin to accomplish the feat of becoming that which we wish to see? Clean air, water, energy, agriculture ... CLEAN everything! Contaminates gone! No more pollution whether in the form of lies, violence, fear-producing words or activities ... or merely the removal of inappropriately applied poisons to our environment. Mama always said that if you want something done you must get up and do it yourself. Since I do not know how to do this all by myself ... yet ... I am willing to blend my energy with others to the extent that I can ... so long as we share a common vision. How many New World Eggs does it take? What concepts or ingriedients ... wants or wishes ... hopes or dreams ... must be included in our New World Eggs? Visions? Is Revolution a requirement for the hatching of our Egg(s)??? I've so many questions and so few tangible solutions ... magically or otherwise.
I don't know about you, but I suspect you are as sick and tired as I am of cleaning up messes ... messes I didn't even knowingly contribute to ... messes I've spent the better part of 70 plus years of personal energy attempting to clean up one way or another ... whether it be child abuse, domestic violence, rape, a woman's choice, our water, our air ... and so on and on and on ...! I want heedless behaviors that are contradictory to healthy LIFE as we know it stopped! NOW! Well ... that is what I want. I think it may well be what we NEED as well to sustain our species. I do NOT, however, KNOW! Could we have a virtual gathering? Is that even possible? Could we plug our individual energy and knowledge into such a gathering or not? Or, would it even be worthwhile? Oh well, just my thoughts for the day!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
My Amazon Definition
It doesn't have to do with how far you can run, how much weight you can lift, and certainly not with patriarchal militaries. It has to do with the strong and powerful Spirit of a woman, whether 4 foot 6" and disabled, one of the most Amazonian LeatherDyke Witches I've known, who put their heart and soul into their own empowerment and that of other women as a whole....it is a Sisterhood, or whether you're 5 ft plus and 300 lbs or anything inbetween. It IS about being able to defend oneself, whether physically through the martial arts, or spiritually through magic and a powerful sharpened Female Mind, or both together. It's about never being willing to submit to men or their systems or the victimization of ANY woman throughout the world. IT's about protecting the mysteries of the Goddess, women only places and space, and about never compromising on the FULL EMPOWERMENT of women as a whole..it's also about being a woman loving woman, a Dyke who connects to women and the Sacred Female in mind, body and Spirit, bringing out her passionate Sacred Flame of Female resistance and power. And those women of all sexual orientations who love their own and other Females' Power and strength, whether sexually, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, on any or all of those levels.
Amazonism is a continual Female Resistance movement to all that patriarchal civilizations have tried to squander, suppress, beat, violate and put women down,our Priestesses, our Goddesses and our matriarchal ways of life in the past, and our Power, our Strength, our self-sufficiency, our creativity, and our Fierce Sisterhood with one another, and honor of the Sacred Female/Mother Earth/Goddess...and raising the next generation of girls and women to be similiarly empowered. This is what the Greeks and other patriarchal civilizations feared. We ARE real, and we ARE rising!
-In DykeAmazon Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
For more information check out: www.AmazoNation.com
One last thing: Amazons belong to an Amazon Sisterhood....whether you can connect with them now in the present, or connect with them in the past and/or future....that we are not women warriors alone in the world, but that we have a connection AS A SISTERHOOD to those who are likeminded, and that Sisterhood and sense of Sisterhood is just as important as to our own feisty and powerful qualities within where we DEMAND to be treated as equals, and fight till our last dying day for THE FULL AND TOTAL EMPOWERMENT OF OURSELVES AS WOMEN, WOMEN AS A WHOLE, AND MOTHER EARTH, AND OUR WOMON LOVING WOMON WAYS!
Amazonism is a continual Female Resistance movement to all that patriarchal civilizations have tried to squander, suppress, beat, violate and put women down,our Priestesses, our Goddesses and our matriarchal ways of life in the past, and our Power, our Strength, our self-sufficiency, our creativity, and our Fierce Sisterhood with one another, and honor of the Sacred Female/Mother Earth/Goddess...and raising the next generation of girls and women to be similiarly empowered. This is what the Greeks and other patriarchal civilizations feared. We ARE real, and we ARE rising!
-In DykeAmazon Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
For more information check out: www.AmazoNation.com
One last thing: Amazons belong to an Amazon Sisterhood....whether you can connect with them now in the present, or connect with them in the past and/or future....that we are not women warriors alone in the world, but that we have a connection AS A SISTERHOOD to those who are likeminded, and that Sisterhood and sense of Sisterhood is just as important as to our own feisty and powerful qualities within where we DEMAND to be treated as equals, and fight till our last dying day for THE FULL AND TOTAL EMPOWERMENT OF OURSELVES AS WOMEN, WOMEN AS A WHOLE, AND MOTHER EARTH, AND OUR WOMON LOVING WOMON WAYS!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
In response to Dirt's topic on 'Gender Identity Dismantled', and as Butches REMAINING in the Sisterhood!
June 20, 2011 3:45 PM
MasterAmazon said...
Another good post Dirt, and glad to see Double Ax joining us. I DO agree that trans is about the destruction of Butch Dykedom. I am DREADING SF Dyke March because I will be saddened to see more of my own now announce how proud they are that they are becoming FTM...yeah crashing the Dyke March party sporting their beards, flat chests, hormone induced attitudes, even though there was a Trans March(always copying us Dykes) the night before in the same space! And then they'll want to bring the parallels between the two communities together now that so many Butches consider themselves some version of male, whether 'Genderqueer' or full FTM(sans the bottom surgery most of 'em).
Most that I've known were originally handsome Butch Dykes, but as soon as they transition, with the whole narcissitic obsession with their changing bodies they begin to start fucking gay males, partly because they don't want to leave the 'queer' community, partly because they now are worshipping maleness within their own personhood/body, whereas being a true blue Butch Dyke is all about LOVING or LEARNING TO LOVE ONESELF as the handsome, strong powerful take up our space Amazon womyn we are and as lovers of womyn!
This is one reason I probably won't be going to Butch Voices in Oakland either, because they are the voices of 'butches' who really are 'genderqueer, FTM, or male worshipping' and NOT Female identified Butches...in fact SEVERAL of us Locals tried to put on specifically a Female Identified Butch workshop from diverse points of view, and ALL OF US FEMALE IDENTIFIED BUTCHES had our workshops shot down, in favor of Sasha Goldberg who is a failed FTM, had her breasts cut off, and even bragged about it at the time, and with that male appearing hormone induced voice, now deciding, she really is a 'female identified' Butch...yeah....and their little Genderqueer darling.
Unless Female Identified and Female Loving Butches begin to SERIOUSLY organize and develope alternatives, and TAKE BACK OUR RICH AND PROUD BUTCH DYKE HERSTORY, we will be neigh invisible,and indeed it will be the'genocide of the butch' as I see every time I go back to San Francisco...and am dreading on Saturday and Sunday seeing who else has jumped on the trans/genderqueer/call me by male pronouns/cut off my breasts and take male hormones and sport a beart/stache bandwagon...WHILE STILL INFILTRATING AND COOPTING DYKE COMMUNITIES!
-MasterAmazon
June 21, 2011 5:56 PM
MasterAmazon said...
Also wanted to add this:
"Not one items above cannot be explained away by narrow gender norms society seeks to enforce and reinforce on a multitude of levels everyday. That the male medical machine is utilized in this endeavor is hardly surprising, they have been utilized to maintain "normality" for centuries using similar mechanism of torture." From Dirt
I SO AGREE with the above statement. Butches throughout history when found out they were living as men and loving women, assuming male privileges were often banished, murdered or put to death. In the 50's and before up until at least the 1980's Butches have been put in mental institutions and sometimes treated horribly with attempts to feminize them before they'd be allowed to be released, aversion therapy, electroshocked, and in the 1920's having their clitorises removed for being too sexually active and independent. Talk about trying to make someone not just feminine, and 'fit into' perfect ladylike roles, but also attempting to make them an 'ex-gay', and then there IS the 'ex-gay' movement which deliberately tries to feminize Butches, shame them, as well as try to get them to have sexual feelings to men. The psychiatric has never been kind to ANYONE with homosexual inclinations, and ESPECIALLY those who didn't conform to the feminine straitjacket and were too Butchy or tomboyish in the case of females, or too effeminate in the case of males.
So now the trans movement leans upon both psychiatry, psychology and medical doctors, the very institutions that have oppressed ALL homosexuals, and especially those NOT in the 'gender straitjacket' for hundreds of years, to help them NOW CONFORM to another 'gender binary' as they are so comfortable saying....that whole 'gender binary' crap is all a load of bullshit, used to silence Butch Dykes, other Lesbians and even some gay men now who object to how the trans movement is destroying our communities and abilities to relate to one another whether as Lesbian women loving women who LOVE or are learning to LOVE our own born female bodies, no matter our expressions, whether Butch, Femme or Androgynous or anything inbetween, or infiltrating the gay community with those with hetero/bi tendencies who don't have dicks but consider themselves 'gay'.
Maybe I DON'T want to hear discussions of hormones, surgeries, whining, villification of Lesbians, or being assumed I or my partner as a default because we are Butch are assumed to LIKE being called by male pronouns in all circumstances, and our very Femaleness invisibilized, as it's always been for Butches, the self fulfilling prophecy 'you just want to be a man' that is always hurtled at us because we TAKE UP OUR SPACE AND DON'T BACK DOWN, and that we are outside of womonhood altogether..... -M.A.
June 21, 2011 6:07 PM
MasterAmazon said...
One last thing: We ARE NOT OUTSIDE OF WOMONHOOD altogether, and feminine especially straight and sold out bi women try to sell us that line, activist Femme Dykes love Butches BECAUSE WE ARE WOMYN, and share that with them: though we may be tough, we are also compassionate, sensual, sexual and loving and often put our partner's sexual pleasure above or at least equal to our own. ALMOST NO MAN EVER DOES THAT!!! And that is exactly WHY we are different from them...at least one of the reasons. There are many flavors of womonhood/femaleness, and we MUST CLAIM our part in it, and NOT allow ourselves to be shut out of womonhood OR Sisterhood especially, we have been some of the FIERCEST Sisters. Think of the ancient powerful Gorgon Amazons, the most radical ones, and there were many others, and whether they were Butch, androgynous, and I can't imagine they were high femme because they were rebelling against the straitjacketing of female power and movement and expression because of the incoming patriarchal religious systems and societies, they were 'not nice' about it, and we gotta lose our 'niceness', in favor of our freedom and of our very core identities and Selves as part of the Sisterhood...not written out of it as 'Butch bros'! I fucking hate that! I'm not a 'Butch bro', I'm a Butch DykeAmazon and fierce Sister in the Sisterhood! And I will be till the day I die!
-MasterAmazon
MasterAmazon said...
Another good post Dirt, and glad to see Double Ax joining us. I DO agree that trans is about the destruction of Butch Dykedom. I am DREADING SF Dyke March because I will be saddened to see more of my own now announce how proud they are that they are becoming FTM...yeah crashing the Dyke March party sporting their beards, flat chests, hormone induced attitudes, even though there was a Trans March(always copying us Dykes) the night before in the same space! And then they'll want to bring the parallels between the two communities together now that so many Butches consider themselves some version of male, whether 'Genderqueer' or full FTM(sans the bottom surgery most of 'em).
Most that I've known were originally handsome Butch Dykes, but as soon as they transition, with the whole narcissitic obsession with their changing bodies they begin to start fucking gay males, partly because they don't want to leave the 'queer' community, partly because they now are worshipping maleness within their own personhood/body, whereas being a true blue Butch Dyke is all about LOVING or LEARNING TO LOVE ONESELF as the handsome, strong powerful take up our space Amazon womyn we are and as lovers of womyn!
This is one reason I probably won't be going to Butch Voices in Oakland either, because they are the voices of 'butches' who really are 'genderqueer, FTM, or male worshipping' and NOT Female identified Butches...in fact SEVERAL of us Locals tried to put on specifically a Female Identified Butch workshop from diverse points of view, and ALL OF US FEMALE IDENTIFIED BUTCHES had our workshops shot down, in favor of Sasha Goldberg who is a failed FTM, had her breasts cut off, and even bragged about it at the time, and with that male appearing hormone induced voice, now deciding, she really is a 'female identified' Butch...yeah....and their little Genderqueer darling.
Unless Female Identified and Female Loving Butches begin to SERIOUSLY organize and develope alternatives, and TAKE BACK OUR RICH AND PROUD BUTCH DYKE HERSTORY, we will be neigh invisible,and indeed it will be the'genocide of the butch' as I see every time I go back to San Francisco...and am dreading on Saturday and Sunday seeing who else has jumped on the trans/genderqueer/call me by male pronouns/cut off my breasts and take male hormones and sport a beart/stache bandwagon...WHILE STILL INFILTRATING AND COOPTING DYKE COMMUNITIES!
-MasterAmazon
June 21, 2011 5:56 PM
MasterAmazon said...
Also wanted to add this:
"Not one items above cannot be explained away by narrow gender norms society seeks to enforce and reinforce on a multitude of levels everyday. That the male medical machine is utilized in this endeavor is hardly surprising, they have been utilized to maintain "normality" for centuries using similar mechanism of torture." From Dirt
I SO AGREE with the above statement. Butches throughout history when found out they were living as men and loving women, assuming male privileges were often banished, murdered or put to death. In the 50's and before up until at least the 1980's Butches have been put in mental institutions and sometimes treated horribly with attempts to feminize them before they'd be allowed to be released, aversion therapy, electroshocked, and in the 1920's having their clitorises removed for being too sexually active and independent. Talk about trying to make someone not just feminine, and 'fit into' perfect ladylike roles, but also attempting to make them an 'ex-gay', and then there IS the 'ex-gay' movement which deliberately tries to feminize Butches, shame them, as well as try to get them to have sexual feelings to men. The psychiatric has never been kind to ANYONE with homosexual inclinations, and ESPECIALLY those who didn't conform to the feminine straitjacket and were too Butchy or tomboyish in the case of females, or too effeminate in the case of males.
So now the trans movement leans upon both psychiatry, psychology and medical doctors, the very institutions that have oppressed ALL homosexuals, and especially those NOT in the 'gender straitjacket' for hundreds of years, to help them NOW CONFORM to another 'gender binary' as they are so comfortable saying....that whole 'gender binary' crap is all a load of bullshit, used to silence Butch Dykes, other Lesbians and even some gay men now who object to how the trans movement is destroying our communities and abilities to relate to one another whether as Lesbian women loving women who LOVE or are learning to LOVE our own born female bodies, no matter our expressions, whether Butch, Femme or Androgynous or anything inbetween, or infiltrating the gay community with those with hetero/bi tendencies who don't have dicks but consider themselves 'gay'.
Maybe I DON'T want to hear discussions of hormones, surgeries, whining, villification of Lesbians, or being assumed I or my partner as a default because we are Butch are assumed to LIKE being called by male pronouns in all circumstances, and our very Femaleness invisibilized, as it's always been for Butches, the self fulfilling prophecy 'you just want to be a man' that is always hurtled at us because we TAKE UP OUR SPACE AND DON'T BACK DOWN, and that we are outside of womonhood altogether..... -M.A.
June 21, 2011 6:07 PM
MasterAmazon said...
One last thing: We ARE NOT OUTSIDE OF WOMONHOOD altogether, and feminine especially straight and sold out bi women try to sell us that line, activist Femme Dykes love Butches BECAUSE WE ARE WOMYN, and share that with them: though we may be tough, we are also compassionate, sensual, sexual and loving and often put our partner's sexual pleasure above or at least equal to our own. ALMOST NO MAN EVER DOES THAT!!! And that is exactly WHY we are different from them...at least one of the reasons. There are many flavors of womonhood/femaleness, and we MUST CLAIM our part in it, and NOT allow ourselves to be shut out of womonhood OR Sisterhood especially, we have been some of the FIERCEST Sisters. Think of the ancient powerful Gorgon Amazons, the most radical ones, and there were many others, and whether they were Butch, androgynous, and I can't imagine they were high femme because they were rebelling against the straitjacketing of female power and movement and expression because of the incoming patriarchal religious systems and societies, they were 'not nice' about it, and we gotta lose our 'niceness', in favor of our freedom and of our very core identities and Selves as part of the Sisterhood...not written out of it as 'Butch bros'! I fucking hate that! I'm not a 'Butch bro', I'm a Butch DykeAmazon and fierce Sister in the Sisterhood! And I will be till the day I die!
-MasterAmazon
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
About being/staying a Butch Female rather than transitioning to male: response to Dirt's blog 'What would make you transition to male?'
March 28, 2011 2:43 PM
i.d. said...
"I have a very feminine face that could be considered 'beautiful'. This means I'm unable to 'pass' most of the time, also that some men actually find me attractive despite the fact I have a shaved head and wear men's clothes. I also have gay men trying to hit on me because of my feminine face etc which must make them think I am a young boy etc.
I know Dirt thinks passing isn't a good thing, but frankly, why would I want to live a life of hassle and homophobia by being openly masculine and female. What kind of a life is that eh?"
___________________________________
MasterAmazon's reply:
Well, some gay men's pedophilia really does get to me.... or their worship of very young men....and they DO hit up on Butch Dykes too, including when I was younger and thinner, and almost always on my first partner in SF, who was petite and Butch thinking she was just out of boyhood...which disgusted both of us....that IS a real phenomena, and BEING MEN, they don't have sexual boundaries oftentimes, or respect. One drag queen at the last gay event I went to felt up my Butch partner's nipples as they passed by and I was out of the room. My partner was very upset about it..it was very clear she was a BUTCH DYKE, NOT a dude! And yet, this drag queen felt they had the right and privilege to hit on her....
At the end of the night the drag queen touched my arm, and I said "Don't EVER touch my partner again!". Which makes me NOT want to be in mixed situations with gay men...
But what kind of life can you live as a Butch Female, indeed if that is what you are, which just by what you say you may not be, is living a life of integrity. I was NEVER feminine, maybe at a very young age I didn't object to wearing dresses, because I didn't know about the differences between boys and girls and I hadn't yet felt the deep sting of being treated differently than my brother. I was the older sibling, and I went to an all girls school where we were all equals....it wasn't till I began to realize around age 7 that I was treated differently and forced to play with dolls and do domestic things like cook and clean while my brother didn't have to do either, that I objected...and began to adopt more tomboy ways...I've been a tomboy all my life since then..it's not something 'I decided' to be, like one day you're Butch, the next day Femme or feminine...so what are you saying? That you'd rather stay feminine so the gay boys leave you alone, or you'd rather transition to male, where THEY'D STILL HIT ON YOU, NOW THAT YOU'RE FULLY MALE APPEARING?
Being and staying a Butch Dyke is LIVING a life of integrity, not having to 'pass' either as feminine to survive, like many Butches had to do in the past, especially in regards to work, and could only 'butch it up' in the dyke bar scene, or to submerge my Butch Femaleness by adopting even more male attitudes, hardening myself, or transitioning to male.
So yes, you'd deal with homophobia and hassle being an open Butch FEMALE, rather than passing as either feminine, or transitioning to FTM, but you'd also be living a LIFE OF INTEGRITY, where you did not have to hide who you truly are.
That is why I see most Butch Females as true Amazons, because we are strong, powerful womyn, part of a Sacred Sisterhood of women loving women, throughout time....and that WE ARE NOT ALONE, even if sometimes it feels that way!
-MasterAmazon
i.d. said...
"I have a very feminine face that could be considered 'beautiful'. This means I'm unable to 'pass' most of the time, also that some men actually find me attractive despite the fact I have a shaved head and wear men's clothes. I also have gay men trying to hit on me because of my feminine face etc which must make them think I am a young boy etc.
I know Dirt thinks passing isn't a good thing, but frankly, why would I want to live a life of hassle and homophobia by being openly masculine and female. What kind of a life is that eh?"
___________________________________
MasterAmazon's reply:
Well, some gay men's pedophilia really does get to me.... or their worship of very young men....and they DO hit up on Butch Dykes too, including when I was younger and thinner, and almost always on my first partner in SF, who was petite and Butch thinking she was just out of boyhood...which disgusted both of us....that IS a real phenomena, and BEING MEN, they don't have sexual boundaries oftentimes, or respect. One drag queen at the last gay event I went to felt up my Butch partner's nipples as they passed by and I was out of the room. My partner was very upset about it..it was very clear she was a BUTCH DYKE, NOT a dude! And yet, this drag queen felt they had the right and privilege to hit on her....
At the end of the night the drag queen touched my arm, and I said "Don't EVER touch my partner again!". Which makes me NOT want to be in mixed situations with gay men...
But what kind of life can you live as a Butch Female, indeed if that is what you are, which just by what you say you may not be, is living a life of integrity. I was NEVER feminine, maybe at a very young age I didn't object to wearing dresses, because I didn't know about the differences between boys and girls and I hadn't yet felt the deep sting of being treated differently than my brother. I was the older sibling, and I went to an all girls school where we were all equals....it wasn't till I began to realize around age 7 that I was treated differently and forced to play with dolls and do domestic things like cook and clean while my brother didn't have to do either, that I objected...and began to adopt more tomboy ways...I've been a tomboy all my life since then..it's not something 'I decided' to be, like one day you're Butch, the next day Femme or feminine...so what are you saying? That you'd rather stay feminine so the gay boys leave you alone, or you'd rather transition to male, where THEY'D STILL HIT ON YOU, NOW THAT YOU'RE FULLY MALE APPEARING?
Being and staying a Butch Dyke is LIVING a life of integrity, not having to 'pass' either as feminine to survive, like many Butches had to do in the past, especially in regards to work, and could only 'butch it up' in the dyke bar scene, or to submerge my Butch Femaleness by adopting even more male attitudes, hardening myself, or transitioning to male.
So yes, you'd deal with homophobia and hassle being an open Butch FEMALE, rather than passing as either feminine, or transitioning to FTM, but you'd also be living a LIFE OF INTEGRITY, where you did not have to hide who you truly are.
That is why I see most Butch Females as true Amazons, because we are strong, powerful womyn, part of a Sacred Sisterhood of women loving women, throughout time....and that WE ARE NOT ALONE, even if sometimes it feels that way!
-MasterAmazon
Monday, February 28, 2011
Controversy around wbw space for Amazon Lilith Rite at Pantheacon
This is my response:
I AM an Amazon Warrior and a Butch Dyke. I circle in mostly Dianic circles and certainly women only ones. I also teach Amazon mysteries and for me, they are meant to be for bio female women born women only…the womb is a part of it, but there is also an energy between women that stems from our bodies since birth, and for those retaining their Female proud identity. While Z spoke perhaps unskillfully about the Dianic tradition, and it’s unfortunate that Rabbit didn’t make it clearer that the Amazon workshop was exclusively for born females only, there has been an onslaught against not just women born women space, i.e Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival both by those born male living as transfemales, but also those born female living as male/genderqueer. I’ve heard all the trans rhetoric before, have known my fair share of trans of either gender, ect. ect. ect. There is an impasse. In many folks mind there is NO reason why we should defend born female space, by and for those born as females, whether you’re Butch, Femme, androgynous, Amazon, whatever, living in a Female body AS a Female. And Females come in many stripes.
Those born male have had privileges they won’t own up to, especially autogynophilic transsexuals/transgenders who had successful careers as powerful men, married to women AS A MAN, with very male privilege, then come into the Lesbian community and expecting us to kowtow to them and their needs in the same manner as straight women kowtowed to them in the straight world. A stridency and assumption of privilege NEVER taking ‘no’ for an answer.
Those transitioning or considering themselves male or some version of male don’t belong in women born women space either because they are not Female Proud. They reject their female identity. I understand the pain being a Butch Lesbian of the discrimination in the work world, out on the street and in my own family of what it is like not to be ‘feminine’ and rejecting of femininity WHICH DOES NOT EQUAL WOMONHOOD OR FEMALENESS, ANY MORE THAN MASCULINITY EQUALS MALENESS, both are social constructs, and NOT physical or sexual realities, and the discrimination for not fitting into society’s boxes. This I do thoroughly understand and have my OWN incidents on the streets and with folks in the world for not being ‘gender conforming’.
And yet Dianic Wicca has given me immense pride in being Female, in being a Lesbian(the Dyke Witches brought me out)and in the POWER of bio Females of all stripes coming together to worship Goddess. There is a special magic to it that goes beyond words, but to pure energy. I have felt it particularly in Amazon rituals I have led where there are more Butch Females present, many Lesbians and very strong Femmes. It IS a bio-female Mystery. And the Amazon Traditions are somewhat different and even a bit wilder than strictly Dianic Wicca….but very parallel to that Tradition in many ways. AND WBW ONLY!
Trans individuals HAVE THEIR OWN MYSTERIES to explore rather than riding the coattails of Lesbians, Lesbian and Female Traditions, communities or spaces, and it goes back to the Castrati of the Goddess Kybele, who removed their male members(penises) in ecstatic rites to the Goddess Kybele, and lived as eunuchs and/or MTFs the rest of their lives. Janus was another bi-gendered Diety as well that could be honored, and there’s NOBODY saying that ANY individual cannot invoke ANY Diety, Male or Female or Both or Inbetween that Calls to them.
What we are saying is that we have our OWN Rites and it is just as discriminatory to INSIST on having access to them, as it would be if I INSISTED on attending Native American ceremonies without permission by actual Natives because I ‘vibe’ with Native Traditions and identify hugely with their people and energies….OR I ‘vibe’ with African American folks and insist on being part of THEIR rites, whether invited or not, because I have a right to, and they’re being discriminatory if they don’t allow me….that is cooptation at it’s very worst, and the trans community in either direction have particularly focussed on the bio female women’s communities and Lesbian communities and INSISTED on their ‘rights’ to be in our spaces, whether we agree to it or not.
There is an integrity to the Female body, from birth, from coming outside our Mother’s wombs as born Females, being raised as Females whether we conformed to appropiate ‘gender roles’ or not, or resisted feminization like so many Butches have, went through puberty AS FEMALES, came into menarche AS FEMALES, and chose whether to have children or not, come out as Lesbians and be free from childbearing, or practiced a lifetime of birth control, and looked to all of the world for a place to find home, as I have with Amazon mysteries, from the age of 10, in 5th Grade, when the Goddess first Called to me through studying the Greek religion and myths in school, searching for a Female Diety that more reflected my Female body, and a people that reflected my tomboy sensibilities that WAS NOT MALE…the Amazons, and the Maidens of Artemis. To get into the martial arts in the mid ’70′s when few girls or women were doing martial arts, and even full contact, that grew my Amazon capabilities; and to see that same Amazonian energy in other bio Female women I sparred; and to eventually come out as a Dyke and to meet Dyke Witches in my Feminism and Philosophy Class and go to my first women only rituals and wake up something that has stirred inside me lifelong.
This is a VERY DIFFERENT Path than what those born male, or even intersex have gone through, and later decide to transition to female; and certainly those who decide they really are male and that Lesbian or Butch identity is not enough for them and they really feel they are males.
-To my Sister Amazons, Female proud Butches and Dianics stay strong,
-FeistyAmazon
I AM an Amazon Warrior and a Butch Dyke. I circle in mostly Dianic circles and certainly women only ones. I also teach Amazon mysteries and for me, they are meant to be for bio female women born women only…the womb is a part of it, but there is also an energy between women that stems from our bodies since birth, and for those retaining their Female proud identity. While Z spoke perhaps unskillfully about the Dianic tradition, and it’s unfortunate that Rabbit didn’t make it clearer that the Amazon workshop was exclusively for born females only, there has been an onslaught against not just women born women space, i.e Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival both by those born male living as transfemales, but also those born female living as male/genderqueer. I’ve heard all the trans rhetoric before, have known my fair share of trans of either gender, ect. ect. ect. There is an impasse. In many folks mind there is NO reason why we should defend born female space, by and for those born as females, whether you’re Butch, Femme, androgynous, Amazon, whatever, living in a Female body AS a Female. And Females come in many stripes.
Those born male have had privileges they won’t own up to, especially autogynophilic transsexuals/transgenders who had successful careers as powerful men, married to women AS A MAN, with very male privilege, then come into the Lesbian community and expecting us to kowtow to them and their needs in the same manner as straight women kowtowed to them in the straight world. A stridency and assumption of privilege NEVER taking ‘no’ for an answer.
Those transitioning or considering themselves male or some version of male don’t belong in women born women space either because they are not Female Proud. They reject their female identity. I understand the pain being a Butch Lesbian of the discrimination in the work world, out on the street and in my own family of what it is like not to be ‘feminine’ and rejecting of femininity WHICH DOES NOT EQUAL WOMONHOOD OR FEMALENESS, ANY MORE THAN MASCULINITY EQUALS MALENESS, both are social constructs, and NOT physical or sexual realities, and the discrimination for not fitting into society’s boxes. This I do thoroughly understand and have my OWN incidents on the streets and with folks in the world for not being ‘gender conforming’.
And yet Dianic Wicca has given me immense pride in being Female, in being a Lesbian(the Dyke Witches brought me out)and in the POWER of bio Females of all stripes coming together to worship Goddess. There is a special magic to it that goes beyond words, but to pure energy. I have felt it particularly in Amazon rituals I have led where there are more Butch Females present, many Lesbians and very strong Femmes. It IS a bio-female Mystery. And the Amazon Traditions are somewhat different and even a bit wilder than strictly Dianic Wicca….but very parallel to that Tradition in many ways. AND WBW ONLY!
Trans individuals HAVE THEIR OWN MYSTERIES to explore rather than riding the coattails of Lesbians, Lesbian and Female Traditions, communities or spaces, and it goes back to the Castrati of the Goddess Kybele, who removed their male members(penises) in ecstatic rites to the Goddess Kybele, and lived as eunuchs and/or MTFs the rest of their lives. Janus was another bi-gendered Diety as well that could be honored, and there’s NOBODY saying that ANY individual cannot invoke ANY Diety, Male or Female or Both or Inbetween that Calls to them.
What we are saying is that we have our OWN Rites and it is just as discriminatory to INSIST on having access to them, as it would be if I INSISTED on attending Native American ceremonies without permission by actual Natives because I ‘vibe’ with Native Traditions and identify hugely with their people and energies….OR I ‘vibe’ with African American folks and insist on being part of THEIR rites, whether invited or not, because I have a right to, and they’re being discriminatory if they don’t allow me….that is cooptation at it’s very worst, and the trans community in either direction have particularly focussed on the bio female women’s communities and Lesbian communities and INSISTED on their ‘rights’ to be in our spaces, whether we agree to it or not.
There is an integrity to the Female body, from birth, from coming outside our Mother’s wombs as born Females, being raised as Females whether we conformed to appropiate ‘gender roles’ or not, or resisted feminization like so many Butches have, went through puberty AS FEMALES, came into menarche AS FEMALES, and chose whether to have children or not, come out as Lesbians and be free from childbearing, or practiced a lifetime of birth control, and looked to all of the world for a place to find home, as I have with Amazon mysteries, from the age of 10, in 5th Grade, when the Goddess first Called to me through studying the Greek religion and myths in school, searching for a Female Diety that more reflected my Female body, and a people that reflected my tomboy sensibilities that WAS NOT MALE…the Amazons, and the Maidens of Artemis. To get into the martial arts in the mid ’70′s when few girls or women were doing martial arts, and even full contact, that grew my Amazon capabilities; and to see that same Amazonian energy in other bio Female women I sparred; and to eventually come out as a Dyke and to meet Dyke Witches in my Feminism and Philosophy Class and go to my first women only rituals and wake up something that has stirred inside me lifelong.
This is a VERY DIFFERENT Path than what those born male, or even intersex have gone through, and later decide to transition to female; and certainly those who decide they really are male and that Lesbian or Butch identity is not enough for them and they really feel they are males.
-To my Sister Amazons, Female proud Butches and Dianics stay strong,
-FeistyAmazon
Friday, August 20, 2010
Binding, Butch Posers, Self Hate around our Butch Breasts
In response to an old post of Dirt's, I am giving my reply. I also want to mention last week on women's land, during my Amazon ritual, I ALWAYS allow my breasts to fly free, and there is a connection between our Amazon rites, and being bare chested as the Wild Women that we are! This has taught me much self love to be in the presence of other strong and powerful and PROUD DYKEAMAZONS honoring their Female minds, bodies and spirits, and validating both ourselves and each other. THAT is the essence of true Sisterhood!
"For many years I hated my breasts, because I have unusually large breasts(probably inherited from my mother, and because I'm a big dyke too). Like Dirt said, it took me years to begin to accept them, one was getting rid of the binders(bras), even sports bras hurt to wear...so mostly, except when I'm new on a job, they fly free! As long as I don't have to missile tit them, then I'm fine with them...and on women's land, I like to pull my shirt off and wear them proudly! Women's land has been so healing for me!
So has a lover who LOVES my big breasts, and has taught me to love them because she does...and that even though I have big breasts, I'M STILL BUTCH!
That's what this is all about, teaching each other self-love about our bodies, NOT self-hatred, and it may be dependent on one Butch mentoring another in this, and certainly finding partners whether Butch, Femme or otherwise who ADD to your self-loving and NOT your self-hate!"
-In Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
"For many years I hated my breasts, because I have unusually large breasts(probably inherited from my mother, and because I'm a big dyke too). Like Dirt said, it took me years to begin to accept them, one was getting rid of the binders(bras), even sports bras hurt to wear...so mostly, except when I'm new on a job, they fly free! As long as I don't have to missile tit them, then I'm fine with them...and on women's land, I like to pull my shirt off and wear them proudly! Women's land has been so healing for me!
So has a lover who LOVES my big breasts, and has taught me to love them because she does...and that even though I have big breasts, I'M STILL BUTCH!
That's what this is all about, teaching each other self-love about our bodies, NOT self-hatred, and it may be dependent on one Butch mentoring another in this, and certainly finding partners whether Butch, Femme or otherwise who ADD to your self-loving and NOT your self-hate!"
-In Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
Monday, March 29, 2010
On Being an Amazon
On another list I'm on, a young lesbian woman who is small of stature asked if she could consider herself an Amazon, even though she's small. To me, it doesn't matter what size or height you are. There are men who fetishize tall women who are tuff, and that has NOTHING to do with what a true Amazon is.
Here's my response:
Height has nothing to do with it, who we are inside our soul and our expression in the outer world taking up our space, power, strength not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well as working towards the empowerment of all women throughout the world, building Amazon sisterhood and going wherever we DARE to go doing whatever we dare to do without regards to men or their opinions, THAT is what makes up an Amazon, that and knowing how to kick ass either physically, mentally, psychically or all three when we must. One of the strongest Amazons I've known was my ex who was 4 foot 6 inches and took up her space wherever she went, expressed her opinion and took no shit. She was a LeatherDyke, a Witch and an Amazon, and NOBODY would silence her! She taught me alot! I brought her out into leather, and she brought me further into Wicca, we shared skills, and both definitely Amazons. She also struggled with multiple disabilities, and now she's roaring on the other side.....Yes it IS a Sisterhood, and no, it's not merely a myth....that's the patriarchal viewpoint. WE EXIST, and if you're truly an Amazon inside, you'll know, and you're not alone.
Also check out www.AmazoNation.com
-In DykeAmazon Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
Here's my response:
Height has nothing to do with it, who we are inside our soul and our expression in the outer world taking up our space, power, strength not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well as working towards the empowerment of all women throughout the world, building Amazon sisterhood and going wherever we DARE to go doing whatever we dare to do without regards to men or their opinions, THAT is what makes up an Amazon, that and knowing how to kick ass either physically, mentally, psychically or all three when we must. One of the strongest Amazons I've known was my ex who was 4 foot 6 inches and took up her space wherever she went, expressed her opinion and took no shit. She was a LeatherDyke, a Witch and an Amazon, and NOBODY would silence her! She taught me alot! I brought her out into leather, and she brought me further into Wicca, we shared skills, and both definitely Amazons. She also struggled with multiple disabilities, and now she's roaring on the other side.....Yes it IS a Sisterhood, and no, it's not merely a myth....that's the patriarchal viewpoint. WE EXIST, and if you're truly an Amazon inside, you'll know, and you're not alone.
Also check out www.AmazoNation.com
-In DykeAmazon Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
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