The Visions in Feminism Collective is so excited about the 2013 Conference line up!
feminism is for every body
For directions, please see the Conference Details page.
And check out the Workshop schedule!!
Thank you to everyone that helped make this year’s conference possible and to all past collective members, speakers, and attendees. Your foundation of support keeps the Visions in Feminism Collective spirit going!
Check out Conference Details and visit our facebook page!
We are happy to announce the 2013 Visions in Feminism Conference Date is :Saturday, April 6th
This Year’s Conference Theme is: Bringing Feminism to Un-Feminist Spaces
Feminism as a movement is often torn between a generic “Girl Power” label and overly isolating academic jargon. Both methods can distract the application of feminism from its focus. The spirit of feminism is inclusive, multi-faceted and complex. By creating space for voices from across religious, social, and political spectrums to address racism, classism, hetero and cis sex-isms we expand and infiltrate spaces that are not outwardly labeled as “feminist”. This year, the ViF conference will explore how we can bring feminism into areas of society that have been under-served by, do not openly identify with, or are unsympathetic to feminism’s goals. By focusing on these efforts, the movement can expand to reach those individuals who would not readily align themselves with feminism and successfully demonstrate the necessity of feminist approaches in continuing the anti-oppression work of the future.
Each year, Visions in Feminism seeks to provide a forum for diverse perspectives within a feminist framework to keep the movement relevant, inspire action by its attendees, and destabilize patriarchy and other forms of oppression.
We are asking that workshops be submitted via our googleform
Friday, January 25th 6-9
MOVA Lounge
2204 14th Street Northwest Washington, DC 20009
Drink specials include half-price wine, well cocktails and beer.
http://www.movaloungedc.com/
(just about 3 blocks from U-street metro – please note there is 1 step up from the sidewalk to enter the building)
Every year in DC “pro life’ activists descend upon the capital to protest individuals’ right to medical autonomy – and the Visions in Feminism crew hopes ur event will create an alternate space for folks to::
- Thank and support our local repro-justice organizers
- Give attendees a chance to reach out to their local legislatures
- Learn more about the history of Roe Vs. Wade and other legislation around abortion and other Reproductive Rights issues.
Why do we keep doing the event? New legislation keeps popping up every year, and groups like the DC Abortion fund continually work to provide folks access to abortion care through providing funds (and can use the signal boost!) Most importantly, we have to work to share our history to know where we are going. The Washington Post reported this week that: Most Americans under 30 don’t know Roe was about abortion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/16/most-americans-under-30-dont-know-roe-was-about-abortion/
So come drink with us –hear from the Visions in Feminism collective about the history of repro rights, hear from local activists – and mingle with awesome repro-justice warriors!
Be sure to RSVP by Facebook (and invite friends!)
The first step in planning an awesome, engaging & challenging conference is encouraging new folks to join our collective. So come to our meet & greet on October 17th to see if you’d like to help shape the 2013 Visions in Feminism Conference
More details are on the Facebook Event Page:
Thank you to everyone who attended the conference!! We’ll be in touch soon about some DCAF fundraising, upcoming events and one last survey so we can start thinking about next year.
The 2012 Visions in Feminism Collective would like to thank:
Gay Young, Shana Klein and American University’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, Jeanne Flavin, AU A/V Team, the Doll House, UMD Food Co-op, Soho Tea & Coffee, Science Club, Gilded Lily Burlesque, The Wind Up Space, Public Bar, Sushi Rock, Eighteenth Street Lounge, Zumbathoners, The Blaguard, our ASL interpreters and Nicole from AU Disability Support Services, Alanah Plaza, Studio 51
We’d also like to thank our speakers, facilitators, volunteers, attendees and previous collective members! The continuance of the Visions in Feminism Collective would not be possible without a wonderful legacy of strong, passionate feminists!
As if you needed another reason to attend ViF: WACDTF will be onsite doing a clinic defense training!!
The Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force is an all-volunteer, non-violent group founded in the 1980s to promote peaceful and safe access to women’s health clinics in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. At this training you will get a chance to learn the techniques we use to defuse potential problems with clinic protesters. Volunteer escorting is an important way to take a peaceful, proactive stance against the religious right, which wants to control women’s options. Come and help us prevent that from happening locally on the front lines of this insidious movement against women’s rights.
Since we are 2 days away we thought we’d share more information about the presenters at Block 2!
Boundaries: It’s Not About You
Presenter: Shane’a Thomas
Shane’a Thomas has been a licensed clinical social worker in the DC/Maryland area for more than 5 years, mostly gaining experience with in the Special Education public and private DC and Montgomery County school systems. Here is where she started to see real issues among teaching staff, administration and therapeutic staff with crossing emotional and physical boundaries with students and clients, with good intentions (of course), but those at times can be just as harmful. She has used her “Boundaries: It’s Not about You” training for about 4 years in various settings, including the “Social Work Practice for Individuals” graduate course she teaches for University of Southern California’s Virtual Academic Center within the School of Social Work. Shane’a is currently also doing individual office and home-based therapy for children and adults, doing psychological assessment for a senior citizen’s center for people with low-incomes, and coordinating an LGBTQ group for teens and young adults in Rockville, MD called Rainbow Youth Alliance.
Transforming Trauma: Self Soothing and Coping Through Yoga and Meditation
- Presenter: Jasmine Chehrazi of Yoga Activist and Yoga District
Jasmine Chehrazi has taught many of these techniques to trauma survivors through yoga outreach programs supported by Yoga Activist, a nonprofit she founded to help make yoga and mindfulness practices accessible to all. Jasmine is a certified Yoga Therapist and trains yoga teachers as faculty at George Washington University. She founded Yoga District, a collective of four community-run yoga studios across three wards in the District, where she teaches in instructor training programs. Jasmine also leads Yoga Activist trainings on sensitizing yoga for trauma survivors. Whether in a DC jail, university, corporate setting, or yoga studio, Jasmine is enthusiastically committed to sharing yoga practices that have been the backbone of her own development.
Body-Positive Abortion Support
Presenters: Aurora Heather, Mo, and Emily Creveling of DC Doulas for Choice
*The D.C. Doulas for Choice Collective is a volunteer-led-and-run, pro-choice organization that provides doula care to people across the wide spectrum of reproductive health, pregnancy, and choice. As full-spectrum doulas, we not only work with clients to help them feel safe, empowered, and as physically comfortable as possible, we also help to validate the client’s experiences and choices on the client’s terms. Aurora was a volunteer for NYC’s Doula Project and is elated to continue that work in DC with the Collective; she is also a seasoned birth doula and holistic health care practitioner of many stripes. Mo is the founder of the Collective, and is a DONA-trained birth and postpartum doula and lactation counselor working toward her Juris Doctor and Master of Public Health. Emily currently works at a local clinic as a Health Educator, where she does pre- and post-abortion counseling and facilitates birth control and reproductive health education as well as offers her services as a doula.
Are you itching to hear more about what will be offered this Saturday (March 24) at the Visions in Feminism Conference? Well we have Sneak Peak at the workshops happening in ‘Block 1′
Title: Embodied Sexualities
- Presenter: Avory Faucette
Avory Faucette is an award-winning genderqueer feminist legal activist and writer. Zie blogs on queer identities, feminism, gender, and sexuality at Radically Queer and on the intersections of kink, polyamory, and queerness at Sex Positive Activism. In hir workshops and discussion groups, zie explores questions of how we negotiate identity, how gender and sexuality intertwine with other parts of our selves, and how we communicate authentically in our personal and activist lives. Zie is particularly interested in how trans sexualities can inform everyone’s sexual experiences and in supporting sex-positive trans feminism. Hir recent work focuses heavily on the creation of sexual scripts in education and media, and on radical ways of challenging those scripts through imagination and creativity to create a healthy sexuality.
Title: How to Talk About Fat Without Being an Asshole: Combating Fatphobia
- Presenters: Jess Hobbs, Sara Horvath, Reid Solomon, and Shara Tipton of the BFD Collective
The presenters of this workshop are the members of the BFD collective, a group attempting to pioneer fat positivity in the DC area. In addition to its members having presented in various workshops across the country, the BFD collective holds regular meetings, socials, and events for fat-identified people, as well as fat allies, centered on the ideals of fat positivity.
Title: Hollaback!: Empower Yourself, Reclaim the Streets, and End Street Harassment
- Presenter: Shawna Potter of Hollaback! Baltimore
Shawna Potter, Director of Hollaback! Baltimore, is the only child of a single mother and therefore a feminist. She has been living in Baltimore since 2002 but has experienced harassment in countless cities while on tour with various musical projects. She currently screams for War On Women, is ordained to perform wedding ceremonies and runs Big Crunch Amp & Guitar Repair with her partner in life and crime. A current member of the Transgender Response Team and head organizer of 2011′s Baltimore Slutwalk, Shawna is not satisfied waiting for the world to change.
Also keep in the conversation by checking out our Presenters Twitter List
The Conference is right around the corner (Saturday March 24th) , and we will soon have posted:
- Workshop Names & Bios
- More info on our keynote Dr. Jeanne Flavin
- Conference Schedule
In the meantime, follow us on twitter ( @ViFCollective) , be sure to let us know you are attending by registering by paypal/sending us an email & sharing our conference event on Facebook!
Also, have you checked out the awesome Eureka Moment Tumblr & thought done by American University Women’s Initiative & submitted your ‘Eureka Moment’?