FeistyAmazon
Huge festivals, except Michfest, don't really appeal to me, the way smaller ones that are more focussed are. I'm interested in a women only environment when I ritual, and preferably a natural one. It doesn't appeal to me to gather in a hotel one iota, in a city environment. For a mixed event, something both natural and citified, a smaller event like Berkeley Pagan Pride is enjoyable to me, maybe something in a local greenbelt park, like up in the Oakland/Berkeley Hills. I like the grassroots too, not the whole worship of 'big names' that goes on with gathering/festival circuits.
I know there are those that swear by Starhawk's 1500 strong Spiral Dance, and while I've enjoyed watching them on video/youtube, or others telling me their enjoyment of them, that is way too much energy for me, and too impersonal. I want something with more personal connection, and a 100-200 womon Spiral Dance is more than enough for me!
Burning Man fascinates me, and I'm glad people can go somewhere's and be their artistic Pagan selves, but like was mentioned above at Stonehenge, so many just go for a big drunk/drug fest and to get laid by as many people as possible. I'm all for: 'all acts of Love and Pleasure are My rituals' but so much of this is just about one big party/celebration and less about spiritual connections, community and Goddess, and EXPANDING those connections throughout the year, not just for that one event. My question is "how do such events fit into our daily lives and continue our deep connections through ritualling with one another in community? Not just for that one time a year, but THROUGHOUT the year. How do we keep the energy going?"
I have had no desire to go to Pantheacon. Raise all that energy in a mixed environment but have no Nature to connect with afterwards to ground? At least when I went to Michigan Womyn's Music Festival one year, and LED a large ritual of 200 womyn for the Full Moon, afterwards I spent an hour alone grounding as the Moon rose, connecting with Nature in that meadow we had just done the ritual on!
I like the idea of Land and Sanctuary, and CONNECTING with Nature in myriad ways, as well as with each other, and weaving the Tribes together in a REAL way, not just a virtual one! Yes, put your money where your mouth is, and KEEP IT GREEN(and I don't mean just $)!
Showing posts with label ect.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ect.. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
One of the founders of Butch Nation: Stacy Reed's beautiful paragraph around 'woman' and my response
“I believe that the word woman has more space and depth in it than anyone can even understand. I know that i can be any kind of woman i want to be, the rub is that the world doesn’t yet know it. It will take all our voices raised to make a change.”
This is SUCH a powerful statement Stacy, and EXACTLY what I experience on women’s Land in women’s ritual just last week. It goes beyond words to something very, very primal…and we as womyn, ARE powerful beyond words….but that innate power has been erased with all the patriarchal distractions and distortions we’ve endured for 2000 plus years….but in each other’s company we CAN and DO find that magic we each possess AS womyn, including OUR particular magic, AS Butch Womyn/Butch Dykes. Other womyn envy our strength, our particular power, our ability to nurture them, our Amazon Warrior spirits and our ability to stand up to men and INSIST on being their equals, not subservient to them. Thank you for these very powerful words that I know within my bones, whenever I’m on womyn’s land and in a community of womyn for 4 days or more….my heart opens in a way I cannot explain beyond that, but those who know, and have accessed these powers between us, KNOW something we lost long ago and many of us are working on regaining it.
-FeistyAmazon
This is SUCH a powerful statement Stacy, and EXACTLY what I experience on women’s Land in women’s ritual just last week. It goes beyond words to something very, very primal…and we as womyn, ARE powerful beyond words….but that innate power has been erased with all the patriarchal distractions and distortions we’ve endured for 2000 plus years….but in each other’s company we CAN and DO find that magic we each possess AS womyn, including OUR particular magic, AS Butch Womyn/Butch Dykes. Other womyn envy our strength, our particular power, our ability to nurture them, our Amazon Warrior spirits and our ability to stand up to men and INSIST on being their equals, not subservient to them. Thank you for these very powerful words that I know within my bones, whenever I’m on womyn’s land and in a community of womyn for 4 days or more….my heart opens in a way I cannot explain beyond that, but those who know, and have accessed these powers between us, KNOW something we lost long ago and many of us are working on regaining it.
-FeistyAmazon
Friday, August 5, 2011
From Dirt's blog on Transmen being Lesbophobic
MasterAmazon said...
I will keep it simple. FTM/Genderqueer/transbutch/transmasculine, and other transgender identities have BEEN EXTREMELY CORROSIVE TO LESBIAN AND WOMEN ONLY SPACES! These days, at least in SF, there are none! All the parties are now for 'women and trans', the word Lesbian is rarely used, instead events are for 'queer folks', meaning mostly bio female, perhaps inclusive of MTF's and really meant for the Dyke community, whatever the current collaboration of self hating Butches who hate their femaleness, those women who admire their new found queer more male identities, ect. ect. ect.
Any Dyke who says: " I want this space for MY community, that is, Lesbians only(and don't even mention wbw Lesbians only)" is immediately silenced, why aren't bis included, Genderqueers included, MTF's and FTM's included?
So we keep backing down, and there are virtually no Lesbian exclusive or strongly Lesbian centered spaces left. In other words men and the male born and the wanna be men have their way. Butches are questioning right and left who they are and that they must be 'the man' as the testosterone fueled machismo to 'prove' one is more manly than another rages on.
Lesbians have been effectively silenced, even though we led the way. Meanwhile gay men GET to have their gay male spaces, and they too are starting to object to so called trans gay men who don't have dick, and will never have one.
If you want queer, have queer, but if you want Dyke, and to be surrounded by all women, then it's intensely LESBIANPHOBIC TO INSIST YOU MUST BE PRESENT, while wanting to be called by male pronouns, addressed as male, honored as male,ect. ect. while IN OUR SPACES. Happens all the time.
Kudos to those FTM's who are real mensch, and who understand this, and gather instead in their own spaces, or in pansexual ones, instead of trying to force their ways into ours.
I do agree with BadDyke, that "But what's the problem some of them seem to have with butches? Is it because butches confront the strictures on women, by refusing to do femininity, whilst transmen have in effect admitted the power of those strictures by conforming to them? And butches are a constant reminder, in some sense, of their cowardice in conforming? How many times have lesbians been asked -- which one of you is the man? Neither, we keep saying, we're both women, do you get it yet? Or been asked, if you like butches, why don't you go with a REAL man? Because they're not female, and a butch is." Couldn't have said better myself, BadDyke.
-MasterAmazon
I will keep it simple. FTM/Genderqueer/transbutch/transmasculine, and other transgender identities have BEEN EXTREMELY CORROSIVE TO LESBIAN AND WOMEN ONLY SPACES! These days, at least in SF, there are none! All the parties are now for 'women and trans', the word Lesbian is rarely used, instead events are for 'queer folks', meaning mostly bio female, perhaps inclusive of MTF's and really meant for the Dyke community, whatever the current collaboration of self hating Butches who hate their femaleness, those women who admire their new found queer more male identities, ect. ect. ect.
Any Dyke who says: " I want this space for MY community, that is, Lesbians only(and don't even mention wbw Lesbians only)" is immediately silenced, why aren't bis included, Genderqueers included, MTF's and FTM's included?
So we keep backing down, and there are virtually no Lesbian exclusive or strongly Lesbian centered spaces left. In other words men and the male born and the wanna be men have their way. Butches are questioning right and left who they are and that they must be 'the man' as the testosterone fueled machismo to 'prove' one is more manly than another rages on.
Lesbians have been effectively silenced, even though we led the way. Meanwhile gay men GET to have their gay male spaces, and they too are starting to object to so called trans gay men who don't have dick, and will never have one.
If you want queer, have queer, but if you want Dyke, and to be surrounded by all women, then it's intensely LESBIANPHOBIC TO INSIST YOU MUST BE PRESENT, while wanting to be called by male pronouns, addressed as male, honored as male,ect. ect. while IN OUR SPACES. Happens all the time.
Kudos to those FTM's who are real mensch, and who understand this, and gather instead in their own spaces, or in pansexual ones, instead of trying to force their ways into ours.
I do agree with BadDyke, that "But what's the problem some of them seem to have with butches? Is it because butches confront the strictures on women, by refusing to do femininity, whilst transmen have in effect admitted the power of those strictures by conforming to them? And butches are a constant reminder, in some sense, of their cowardice in conforming? How many times have lesbians been asked -- which one of you is the man? Neither, we keep saying, we're both women, do you get it yet? Or been asked, if you like butches, why don't you go with a REAL man? Because they're not female, and a butch is." Couldn't have said better myself, BadDyke.
-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
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Empowerment
What is empowering for you? As a Dyke, as a Female, and if you're Butch, as a Butch, if you're a Femme Dyke, as a Femme Dyke...but most of all, overall as a Female?
For me, it's the martial arts. Nothing calms me down like sparring and kicking ass....and testing my skills against another talented martial artist. Gets out my aggressions, but feeds my Amazon power and tests my Will. I work out with a community of martial arts pals, some I've known as long as 20 years. We are a family, Black, White, Asian, Male, Female, though I'm the lone Dyke. Wasn't always so, but is for now, and yet fully accepted. We range from kids to 61. So, at 50, I know I can keep doing this at least till 60 if I keep myself fit enough. It also keeps my skills sharp should I need them on the street or in other situations, or to protect other women if need be. To keep me spiritually, emotionally and physically empowered.
Another is doing ritual with other women, especially Amazon ritual, connecting with Sister Dykes in power and strength. But most rituals these days there are few Butches coming to our women only spaces..so many are identifying as male or some version thereof and 'queer', and not attending women only spaces anymore. I LOVE that I can still ritual in born female women only spaces, but it saddens me to see, other than the Amazon rituals I lead, I am often the lone Butch in most Dianic circles, or there are just a couple others in a sea of mostly feminine women, often most who are straight or bi, and a smattering of soft Lesbians....but nonetheless if it's a well done ritual to Goddess, I leave calm and centered, at peace, and ride that ritual high for at least a day..then I know energy has been moved. And yet, oftentimes women are afraid to REALLY claim their power! They hold back, unless they've been doing it a long time, like myself, or a wildwoman or fierce Dyke.
The thing I must integrate is my worklife...I need to figure out to be fully empowered in my worklife. This I have not yet figured out and may have to change careers since opportunities in the one I have been trained for for so many years has dried up in this economy, with the death of affirmative action, there is no need to hire women in a male dominated field, especially a big Butch Dyke like myself....many are suffering with up to 20% unemployment, or higher. I want right livelihood, but will likely settle for the first job to come along, for survival issues. If I am not on this blog for awhile, that's why...looking for work...in the survival mode. I'm sure many of you have suffered as well, especially the more 'out' or Butch or Dykey in appearance you are. And yet...and yet...I WANT to find a way to do my 'right livelihood' where I can be happy and fully myself. THAT would be empowering indeed.
So, what is empowering for you???
-In Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
For me, it's the martial arts. Nothing calms me down like sparring and kicking ass....and testing my skills against another talented martial artist. Gets out my aggressions, but feeds my Amazon power and tests my Will. I work out with a community of martial arts pals, some I've known as long as 20 years. We are a family, Black, White, Asian, Male, Female, though I'm the lone Dyke. Wasn't always so, but is for now, and yet fully accepted. We range from kids to 61. So, at 50, I know I can keep doing this at least till 60 if I keep myself fit enough. It also keeps my skills sharp should I need them on the street or in other situations, or to protect other women if need be. To keep me spiritually, emotionally and physically empowered.
Another is doing ritual with other women, especially Amazon ritual, connecting with Sister Dykes in power and strength. But most rituals these days there are few Butches coming to our women only spaces..so many are identifying as male or some version thereof and 'queer', and not attending women only spaces anymore. I LOVE that I can still ritual in born female women only spaces, but it saddens me to see, other than the Amazon rituals I lead, I am often the lone Butch in most Dianic circles, or there are just a couple others in a sea of mostly feminine women, often most who are straight or bi, and a smattering of soft Lesbians....but nonetheless if it's a well done ritual to Goddess, I leave calm and centered, at peace, and ride that ritual high for at least a day..then I know energy has been moved. And yet, oftentimes women are afraid to REALLY claim their power! They hold back, unless they've been doing it a long time, like myself, or a wildwoman or fierce Dyke.
The thing I must integrate is my worklife...I need to figure out to be fully empowered in my worklife. This I have not yet figured out and may have to change careers since opportunities in the one I have been trained for for so many years has dried up in this economy, with the death of affirmative action, there is no need to hire women in a male dominated field, especially a big Butch Dyke like myself....many are suffering with up to 20% unemployment, or higher. I want right livelihood, but will likely settle for the first job to come along, for survival issues. If I am not on this blog for awhile, that's why...looking for work...in the survival mode. I'm sure many of you have suffered as well, especially the more 'out' or Butch or Dykey in appearance you are. And yet...and yet...I WANT to find a way to do my 'right livelihood' where I can be happy and fully myself. THAT would be empowering indeed.
So, what is empowering for you???
-In Sisterhood,
-MasterAmazon
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.
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