17 May 2013
“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help [...]
20 May 2013
By Molly Baker On April 23, University of Arizona student Dean Saxton, better known as Brother Dean, stood on a bench brandishing a sign that bluntly stated in bold, black letters “You Deserve Rape.” Saxton proceeded to verbally harass many women that walked by on their way to class, calling them [...]
15 May 2013
By Mohadesa Najumi When I think about what modesty means in today’s political, cultural and religious environment, I am inclined to believe that the concept itself does not involve choice, or any dimension of freedom or independent thought. Rather, modesty constitutes a dictatorial concept forced upon women whether they agree [...]
13 May 2013
By Kristen Reynolds As I sit here on the eve of my graduation, cataloging what I’ve learned over the last few years as a Black woman coming into (what I hope is) consciousness – I feel a great deal of shame. Shame and, if I am going to be incredibly honest, [...]
7 May 2013
*Trigger warning* Sometimes I feel like the NRA is actively just trying to lose all the credibility it has left in this world. Just when you thought the NRA’s annual convention in Houston this weekend couldn’t draw any more negative attention, it goes out and casually promotes a company selling a product [...]
29 Mar 2013
By Monica Torres When I sign my name, it’s Monica, not Mónica. When I order pupusas at my favorite restaurant, the waiter will give my accent an approving nod, as if to say, you’re one of us. But it will only take a harder question for me to reveal the [...]
18 Mar 2013
By Alexa Lambertis At an early age, I was exposed to a woman who essentially changed my life. A sweet lady with a southern background, she was introduced to me as a family friend. I met her in her own home, where we would spend a majority of our time [...]
TFW is excited to highlight the inventive work of several phenomenal women filmmakers in a forum that runs from today through Friday. Carmen Torres, tiona m., Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Anna Barsan, Pratibha Parmar, and Nev Nnaji reflect on the plight of women filmmakers in a male-dominated industry, feminist approaches taken up in filmmaking, filmmaking as both...
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Anna Barsan is a filmmaker and media educator currently living in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a Master’s in Film and New Media from the New School University and a B.A. from the University of Michigan in International Relations and Social Justice. She is co-creator and director of SIGNIFIED, a multi-platform documentary that aims to...
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Carmen Torres graduated from the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and also holds a B.A. in Literature and Philosophy from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. She has developed her professional career in film and cultural public broadcasting. In 2010, she directed Meridiano. Her TV series on Colombian and Argentine art history,...
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By Claire Oberon Garcia Like three million other Americans, I eagerly looked forward to the return of Mad Men. I love the show. But as an African American woman born in 1956 who did most of her growing up in the Northeast corridor between Washington, D.C., New York City, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, the appeal...
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I have strong views on sex. As a co-founder of the not safe for work tumblr Come Correct (bettacomecorrect.tumblr.com) I unapologetically let you know that “black feminist sex is the best sex ever.” Having sex as Black feminist and with Black feminists (joy!!!) is a transformative, healing and sacred part of my journey to...
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By Mari Kate Mycek While watching Man v. Food, I observed a very interesting relationship between men and non-human animals. The situations I’m going to describe were not unfamiliar to me, yet I could not recall a particular moment in which I had seen anything just like it. On more than several occasions during the...
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Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915 and died on July 17, 1959. She squeezed a lot of living–and a whole lot of music–into her 44 years on this earth. She was, in a word, incomparable. Nicknamed “Lady Day” by Lester Young (who died exactly four months earlier than Holiday), the legendary jazz...
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Recently, I taught Billie Holiday’s signature song, “Strange Fruit,” in my Critical Trauma Studies course in a harrowing session on lynching. My graduate students had prepared for class by reading David Margolick’s slim, captivating volume Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and An Early Cry for Civil Rights, along with scholarly articles on the...
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By Neima Jahromi Director Rebecca R. Rojer’s short film, Ashley/Amber focuses on a young woman named Ashley (Diane Guerrero) who receives an overwhelming amount of attention when her starring roles as a porn amateur and, later, a war protestor are linked by vigilant web commentators. Though this seems vexing enough, her troubles actually begin...
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By Ron B. Neal What happens when a feminist, a group of feminists or feminism as an ideology engages one of the most explicitly and unapologetically pornographic hip hop artists to ever touch a microphone? What does it mean to engage and dialogue with an unreconstructed masculine ideology of sex and sexuality? These questions...
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17 May 2013
Assata do not dry like dissipated plums under castro’s bronzing sun you mural fortress you live memorial spirited artifice rouged sea salt that marinates america’s wound Assata you like stripped bone road unaware of which exit is free birth brown coagulated rhythm redefined reborn rumba queen Assata dusk breath [...]
16 May 2013
“Affirmation” by Assata Shakur* ___ I believe in living. I believe in the spectrum of Beta days and Gamma people. I believe in sunshine. In windmills and waterfalls, tricycles and rocking chairs. And i believe that seeds grow into sprouts. And sprouts grow into trees. I believe in the magic [...]
16 May 2013
for Assata Amira Nakati Carter-Goff on her tenth birthday call down the name freedom call up the spirit of no matter what now call your shared name liberation veins steel will fierce focus shielding sacred smile laugh your own name radiant as cuba laugh your yawning name into language [...]
7 May 2013
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The Guardian