Tuesday 29 June 2010

Announcement - FWSA Event



Dear Members,
We are pleased to announce this year's FWSA event 'A Dead End?: Feminism Within & Beyond the Academy', which will be held at the Women's Library (London) on 2nd October 2010 at 1pm. The event will consist of a roundtable discussion followed by the presentation of the 2010 FWSA Book Prize, and the association's Annual General Meeting. Chaired by Srila Roy (University of Nottingham), the roundtable will include the following speakers: Kat Banyard (UK Feminista),Sukhwant Dhaliwal (Goldsmiths/ WAF), Clare Hemmings (London School of Economics) and Maggie O’Neill (Durham University).
Admission is free, but attendees must register in advance via email (administrator@fwsa.org.uk) in order to be guaranteed a place on the day. There are 40 places available and, once registrations have reached this number, FWSA members will be given priority on the waiting list.
Please advertise the event widely by circulating the poster attached. For more information please emailadministrator@fwsa.org.uk.
Very best wishes,
Nadine Muller
(FWSA Publicity Co-Ordinator)
Nadine Muller
Department of English
University of Hull
Cottingham Road
Hull
HU6 7RX

Monday 28 June 2010

CFP: Centre for the Study of Women and Gender - post-grad

CSWG CALL FOR PAPERS

The Centre for the Study of Women and Gender at the University of Warwick would like to invite postgraduate students from any institution working in the field to present at the Graduate Student Seminar Series for the coming academic year 2010/2011. We welcome submissions from a number of disciplines on any gender related topic. This year, as well as welcoming conventional papers, we also encourage innovative and creative methods of presentation (such as the use of visual or more interactive materials, for example).

The annual Graduate Seminar Series provides a friendly, informal setting for graduate students to give presentations and exchange ideas relating to women and gender studies. Seminars aim to be interactive, and at each meeting students present for twenty minutes each on a topic of their choice, followed by a question-answer session and general discussion. Attendance is open to everyone, both faculty members and students, within and outside the university. Seminars will take place on two or three Wednesdays per term at 5pm (dates TBC).

The goals of the seminar series:
• To provide a safe and comfortable venue for students to present their research, to fine-tune conference presentations/possible publications or to simply get used to the idea of speaking in front of a group.
• To encourage everyone to get together informally to learn about what the student community in the UK are working on in relation to gender/feminist studies.

This centre is interdisciplinary and draws its membership from across the university. It aims to provide a focus for research and teaching on women and gender in the university and to facilitate the development of interdisciplinary research in the area of women’s and gender studies. Women’s and gender studies has been established for around twenty years at Warwick; the Centre itself was established in 1993 and in the summer of 2002 it became a research centre based in the Department of Sociology. For more information about the Centre please visit: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/gender/

Abstracts should be:
• Maximum 200 words
• Submitted along with a brief biography of the author; including their institution and department, and research interests.
• Submitted by September 3rd 2010
• Email abstracts to Katy Pilcher: K.E.M.Pilcher@warwick.ac.uk

Friday 25 June 2010

Call For Design - Women's History Month

Calling all female artists, designers, illustrators and creatives!

Women's History Month needs a logo!

The winning design will feature on our website, all our publicity material and any future merchandising material.

We are a very new, very small, voluntary, as yet unfunded organisation, so we cannot offer payment for this job, but your name and website will be credited on our website, we will give you freebies of any merch we make and your work will be helping to promote and celebrate women's history and achievements and empower women.

You have complete creative freedom. All we ask is that you include the words 'Women's History Month' and the tagline 'What about her story?' and some kind of icon.

Please submit your logo as a tiff or jpeg no bigger than 10mb to mzzzpiggy@gmail.com by Friday 30th July. We encourage you to get in touch with any questions you may have.

Women's History month is organised by a small group of female volunteers and emerged from the London Feminist Network in May 2010.

Women's History Month is an annual event that aims to raise knowledge and awareness of women's history, and celebrate and promote women's achievements.
The first UK Women's History Month will be 1st-31st March 2011.

You can read more about the group here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117048825006401&v=info&ref=ts

CFP - Sexual Nationalisms

Conference - 27 & 28 January 2011 - University of Amsterdam

Sexual Nationalisms
Gender, Sexuality and the Politics of Belonging in the New Europe

Since 1989, and even more so after 9/11, the rise of new nationalisms has been
inextricably linked to a refashioning of the politics, identities and
imaginaries of
gender and sexuality in Europe. The old virile nationalism analyzed by
George Mosse is
now being reinvented in the light of a new brand of sexual politics.
Feminist demands and
claims of (homo)sexual liberation have moved from the counter-cultural
margins to the
heart of many European countries? national imaginations, and have
become a central factor
in the European Union?s production of itself as an imaginary
community. Rhetorics of
lesbian/gay and women?s rights have played pivotal roles in discourses
and policies
redefining modernity in sexual terms, and sexual modernity in national
terms. How are
these baffling shifts in the cultural and social location of sexuality
and gender to be
understood?
In Europe and beyond, the refashioning of citizenship contributes to
the redefinition of
secular liberalism as cultural whiteness. Homophobia and conservatism,
gender segregation
and sexual violence have been represented as alien to modern European
culture and
transposed upon the bodies, cultures and religions of migrants,
especially Muslims and
their descendants. In the process, the status of Europe?s ethnic
minorities as citizens
has come under question. How can the entanglement of sexual and gender
politics,
anti-immigration policies, and the current reinvention of national
belonging be analyzed?
How are we to understand the appropriation of elements of the feminist
and sexual
liberation agenda by the populist and Islamophobic right?
The prominence of sexual democracy in the remaking of European
national imaginaries
requires bringing the critique of gender and sexuality beyond
second-wave feminism and
post-Stonewall liberationist perspectives. In late-capitalist,
post-colonial Europe,
struggles for sexual freedom and gender equality no longer necessarily
challenge dominant
formations; on the contrary, they may be mobilized to shape and
reinforce exclusionary
discourses and practices. The new politics of belonging is thus
inseparable from the new
politics of exclusion. This shift has not been without consequences
for progressive
social movements. Whereas in social and cultural analysis, nationalism
has long been
associated with male dominance, sexual control and heteronormativity, certain
articulations of feminism and lesbian/gay liberation have now become
intimately entwined
with the reinforcement of ethnocultural boundaries within European countries.
As feminist historian Joan W. Scott recently argued when she coined
the provocative
notion of ?sexularism?, new forms of sexual regulation have been
introduced, especially
targeting migrants, their descendants, and other ?non-whites?.
Discursively defining the
new national common sense, sexularism also operates at the level of
the visceral,
reaching deep into the sexual and racial politics, habits and emotions
of everyday life.
A required allegiance to sexual liberties and rights has been employed
as a technology of
control and exclusion ? what could be called a ?politics of
sexclusion?. Symmetrically,
the Europeanization of sexual politics has entailed counter-reactions
both inside and
outside Europe. In Eastern Europe admission to the European Union has
been conditioned on
the acceptance of the new standards of sexual democracy, which sometimes led
anti-European reactions to also frame themselves in sexual terms. In
Western Europe
?non-?whites can sometimes be tempted to identify with the caricatures
imposed upon them.
An increasing number of scholars in the humanities and social sciences
have begun to
investigate the important shifts taking place in discourses of sexual
freedom and gender
equality across the continent. These shifts open up new arenas for
ethnographic and other
empirical research. What role do sex and gender play in various
European nationalisms? In
which cultural terms are sexual and gender boundaries articulated?
What different
trajectories can be discerned, and how can differences between
countries be explained?
What are the effects of these transformations at the level of the
formation of community
and subjectivity? How do these discursive shifts become tangible in
everyday life? And
how can sexual politics avoid the trap of exclusionary
instrumentalization without
renouncing its emancipatory promise?
In order to discuss such questions, we invite contributions grounded
in ethnography and
other empirical research along the five following themes:

1. The Nationalization of Gender Equality
In secular European imaginations of immigrants and their descendants,
the Islamic
headscarf in particular has been perceived as an axiomatic signifier
of religious and
gender oppression. It has been listed along other ?uncivilized? ills
also attributed to
ethnic minorities and disadvantaged neighborhoods, whether they be
domestic violence,
forced marriage, or female genital mutilations. In contrast, recently
acquired milestones
in gender equality, like the legal right to abortion, have been
adopted by Left and Right
politicians alike as new symbols of timeless national essences. What
representations of
gender have been conveyed by contemporary constructions of the nation?
How have forms of
domination between men and women been challenged and/or reproduced in
neonationalist and
secularist projects? In what ways are migrant women?s lives affected
by the entwinements
of feminist discourses and movements with these projects? How have those women
experienced and handled being framed as simultaneously the main
victims and the main
accomplices of the new Islamic threat?
Whereas religion is understood as operating at the level of the
embodied, the habitual,
material and visceral aspects of secularism are generally ignored or
obscured. But what
is the secular counterpart of the religious body? What does a gendered
politics of
secularism look like? At times, restrictive policies against women
wearing headscarves
have been justified in terms of the necessary limitation of religion
to the private
sphere; at other times, they have been framed in terms of gender
equality and feminist
ideals. Should this justificatory plurality be taken at face value, or
does it point to
deeper and more complex resentments against postcolonial and other
?non-white? migrants?

2. The National Politics of Sexual Freedom
In Europe, ideals and practices of sexual freedom have mostly been
experienced as a
tangible break with formerly hegemonic religious traditions and the
restraints of
community and family. In particular, gay people have sometimes been
framed as the very
embodiment of modern liberalism, as self-fashioning, unattached, and
autonomous subjects.
Why have such representations been so effectively tied to the
nationalization of
modernity in some countries but not in others? What have been the
specific trajectories
of such representations, and how have they affected
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender
identified people in everyday life? What new normativities have been
shaped in the
process? And what have been the consequences of these discourses for
those who have been
framed as the ?others? of sexual democracy ? Muslims and ethnic minorities?
What have been the implications of such reinventions of sexual
whiteness for everyday
life in the global cities of Western Europe, and the sexual, cultural,
religious and
political diversity they offer? How have feminist and lesbian/gay
movements been affected
by these shifts in the social location of sexual and gender politics?
What does ?race?
have to do with the refashioning of sexual politics and identities? If
sexual freedom and
gender equality are being mobilized in a culturalist re-enactment of
European racism, how
does this affect white imaginaries and subjectivities? How are those
(historically)
excluded from whiteness affected by it? Which bodies come to be
constructed in the sexual
politics of neonationalisms? Which forms of ?queerness? are being
authorized and which
articulations of sexual otherness are being ?queered? and thus
excluded from sexual
normality? On what grounds does this occur, and how do these processes
materialize in
everyday life?

3. The Urban Geographies and Class Politics of Sexual Democracy
The interweaving of urban governance with sexual politics has been
normalizing certain
sexual spaces at the exclusion of others. In the context of an emergent urban
entrepreneurialism and as part of gentrification processes, sexual
others have been
conscripted into urban politics and spatial renewal, while new hetero- and
homonormativities have taken shape in the process. Gender
representations have also
played important roles in framing and representing cities as aesthetically and
commercially attractive for business, tourists and aspiring residents.
Simultaneously,
certain brands of urban theory have celebrated gay men and women as
the avant-garde of
urban change, hence of the conquest of formerly working class and
ethnic minority
neighborhoods by bohemian middle and upper classes. What roles have
sexuality and gay
urban presence played in processes of gentrification? How have sex and
gender been
articulated in the urban governance of social marginalization?
How are the sexual politics of neoliberalism to be understood? What
role does the market
play in the sexual reinvention of nationalism and citizenship and in
shaping new
(homo)normativities? Is the stigmatization of Muslim migrants as
sexually conservative a
reenactment of discourses that in the past stigmatized working class
communities as
immoral, archaic or authoritarian? What do the class politics of
?sexularism? look like?
What kinds of subjectivities are produced in new regimes of sexual progress?

4. The Sexual Politics of Immigration Policies
The ever-stricter immigration policies of Europe ? both at national
levels and at the
level of the E.U. ? have often been justified in terms of sexual
democracy: migrants,
especially from Africa or other Islamic countries, have been
ostensibly kept out, not on
racial, but on sexual grounds, in order to preserve the hard-won
democratic values of
Europe in the treatment of sexual minorities, and even more crucially,
of women. As a
consequence, these same migrants, whose matrimonial (forced, fake,
etc.) or sartorial
(hijab, niqab, etc.) practices have thus been under constant scrutiny,
are expected to
demonstrate a sincere adhesion to sexual democracy that is presumed
inherent to European
cultures, despite its very recent history and contemporary limitations.
How does such a constraint redefine the subjectivities of migrants ?
as well as that of
their European partners? What does it mean for a woman of Islamic
culture to be
encouraged to reject her family?s expectations in order to express her
sexual modernity?
What are the strategies available to migrant women and sexual
minorities who attempt to
resist oppression, even violence, while refusing to be co-opted by
anti-immigrant, if not
xenophobic or racist, politics? In other words, what are the
interactions between the
sexual logic of immigration policies and the sexual imaginaries and
practices of the
migrants thus targeted?

5. European Sexual Modernization and Its Discontents
Today, the borders of Europe are also sexual boundaries. Admission
into the E.U. requires
identifying with the agenda of sexual democracy. At the same time,
almost by definition,
non-European countries are suspect. Turkey?s tradition of secularism
largely inspired by
the French historical model has not been sufficient to dispel the
suspicion that this
Muslim country is alien to European sexual democracy ? as evidenced by
the visible
presence of the Islamic headscarf. In the same way, international
campaigns against
homophobia have largely been about the homophobia of others: the logic
of human rights
has focused more on legal repression than on legal discrimination ?
the penalization of
homosexuality outside Europe rather than the exclusion of gays and
lesbians from rights
of marriage and adoption within Europe.
Conversely, the Europeanization of sexual democracy has fueled
reactive nationalisms, not
only in those countries that are bound to remain on the margins of
Europe, such as the
Maghreb, but also in recent E.U. members ? regarding homosexuality in
particular, for
example, in Poland or Lithuania. How are European and non-European
sexual politics
reconfigured in this new context, i.e. what are the political
consequences, in various
countries within and outside of Europe, of this geopolitical context?

We invite all those interested to submit a one-page abstract and a CV by:
September 1, 2010.
Abstracts as well as questions can be sent to: Robert Davidson
(R.J.Davidson@uva.nl)

CF Submissions - TheAlogies of the Goddess

Call for Submissions

TheAlogies of the Goddess:
Dialogues within the Feminist Spirituality Community

Book Editors:
Angela Hope, Saint Mary’s University
Katherine MacDowell, Ocean Seminary College

Contact angela.hope@hotmail.com
Deadline to Submit Abstract: August 30th, 2010

Scope of the Proposed Book

Thealogy, or more accurately thealogies, constitutes a newly burgeoning field with respect to feminist praxis within the Goddess spirituality and feminist spirituality movements in recent decades. Despite this, most scholarly works on the Goddess movement and feminist spirituality are situated from a sociological, psychological, anthropological, or religionist approach. Aside from several ovarinal contributions from thealogians such as Carol Christ, Charlotte Caron, Melissa Raphael, and various others, thealogy within the context of Goddess spirituality and feminist spirituality has received little wider scholarly attention. The proposed book: TheAlogies of the Goddess: Dialogues within the Feminist Spirituality Community is an attempt to explore the thealogical dimensions of what it means to be a Goddess Feminist or Spiritual Feminist in this world from a scholarly and/or experiential perspective. Its intended audience is comprised of both scholars and practitioners alike.

Aim and Purpose of the Proposed Book

The book seeks to create an ongoing dialogue within the Goddess and feminist spirituality tradition, rather than to dictate doctrine or ascribe universal thea-based ideologies to the movement. It creates the space for Goddess and Spiritual/Religious Feminists to name their own thealogies, while facilitating constant discussions within the larger community. Our hope is that this book will engender lively discussion amongst women and men of various social backgrounds that will continue beyond the confines of this book, inspiring and supporting future thealogical scholarship and discussions within the spiritual feminist community about ways of doing thealogy. The aim of the book is to explore new ideas and new directions within thealogy rather than replicating or recycling the present introductory literature on thealogy. Though the book focuses on thealogical discourse, we welcome chapters in all aspects of the discourse, especially ones that create new language and new ways of doing/understanding thealogy. Thus, the goal is to continue crafting what constitutes thealogical discourse and praxis. Moreover, it is preferred that thealogy is not defined in relationship to theology, whereby theology becomes the Other to which thealogy gains its meaning and identity.

Situating Thealogy

Thealogy is distinct from theology in that it is ultimately the inquiry into the Goddess, the Sacred Feminine aspects of the Divine, or nonpatriarchal understandings of the Divine; whereas theology tends to focus on the Judeo-Christian (male) God. Its methodological and epistemological orientation tends to be rooted in feminist thought, thus thealogy is more accurately described as feminist thealogy. Thealogy is done by anyone who aspires to know and experience life in relation to Goddess and the Divine Feminine and has been expressed by such diverse groups as: Goddess Feminists, Goddessians, Dianics, Wiccans, Christian Feminists, Goddess Christians Feminists, Quaker Pagans, Goddess-Jewish Feminists, and so forth. This wide expression highlights how thealogy is a unique discourse that engages people across different religious and spiritual boundaries.

Engaging in thealogical reflection is not only personal, but also an interactive and dialogical endeavor. It is mental and experiential rather than dualistic or solely a cognitive function. As such, it is constituted in both theory and practice. Moreover, the nature of thealogical discourse is, we suggest, fluid, continuous, and in a constant process of becoming; it is never stagnant, unchanging, or even authoritatively binding. It is further hesitant towards universal truth claims and carries a healthy neo-pagan cautionary stance towards the notion of established doctrine. Thus, thealogy is focused more on processes that can mutate rather than producing products that are immutable and determinant. It is within this spirit that we suggest the following potential topics.

Potential Topics

The following are suggested, potential topics written to generate ideas and inspire creativity rather than be a binding, exhaustive list. We welcome any topic that deeply engages thealogy in new and innovative directions.

• Explorations in naming the nature of thealogy, the different kinds of thealogy, sources of thealogy, and/or the task of thealogy. From this vantage point, one would be talking more about the theoretical and methodological structures of thealogy. Does the Goddess tradition have its own sources to draw from such as experience, ritual, magic, and the arts? How does one engage in thealogy using these various sources? Furthermore, one might consider what it means to be a thealogian, including outlining what it is a thealogion does.
• Topics that concern language and thealogy, or Goddess-talk. What are the implications for women in naming the Divine—Goddess, and using the concept of “She”? What are the implications for men, nonhuman animals, and the ecosystem?
• Explorations concerning the nature of Goddess or the Divine Feminine. In other words, one might possibly entertain the ‘who, what, where, how, and why’ questions as they pertain to the Goddess. Is Goddess a separate entity, metaphor, or a projection of our mental processes? What does this mean for a Goddess or Spiritual Feminist?
• What is the nature of the ontological relationship between Goddess and life-form? What does it means to be a life-form, woman, male, or a Goddess/Spiritual Feminist in the world in relation to Goddess. Are we part of Goddess or separate from Goddess?
• Topics that explore the relationship between humans and other humans, nature, and animals as they might be rooted within an ecothealogical perspective.
• Understandings and approaches to suffering, hardship, and ‘evil’ as it is understood within neo-pagan ontology and epistemology. Is there such a thing as theadicy? Additionally, how does Goddess factor in to these understandings? Does Goddess cause suffering or ‘evil’? Is Goddess even omnipotent or omniscient? Or is Goddess understood best through a process thealogical perspective?
• Explorations in thealogical ethics or how ethics can be approached and informed by a thealogy. How is a human or Goddess Feminist to live their life in terms of morality?
• Explorations in performative thealogy or ritual thealogy and what the practice of ritual provides for the enactment and experience of thealogy. What is the task of performative thealogy in a Goddess context? How does magic contribute to our understandings of thealogy? What might define underlying ritual theory within a Goddess/Spiritual Feminist perspective?
• Topics that explore the goddesses and sacred myths: Are there mythological sources that can be engaged with in order to do thealogy? Can they be used to expound our understandings of creation from a thealogical perspective?
• Explorations of the myth of matriarchal history and whether or not this is meaningful from a thealogical perspective. Does it serve as the basis of a problematic soteriology with patriarchal tendencies or is it emancipative for women and men?
• Topics that explore that relationship between politics, political activism, and thealogy. Is doing thealogy related to feminist praxis? How do Goddess Feminists engage the public and political realm? Must all women who engage in Goddess/Spiritual Feminist traditions be feminists?
• Topics that explore whether or not Goddess Feminists experience transformation rather than redemption? What is the nature of this experience—teleological or process-oriented, static or constant, embodied or disembodied?
• Explorations in understanding the body from a thealogical perspective. How does the body and sexuality inform a Goddess Feminists understanding of thealogy?
• Explorations of Goddess/Spiritual Feminist identity. How do women and men experience and define themselves as embodying the sacred feminine or their faith? How do these self-definitions impact their day-to-day lives? What does it mean for an individual to be an adherent of the Goddess/Divine Feminine?
• Exploration of Goddess/Spiritual Feminist spiritual and religious development and revelation. How do individuals come to know the Goddess? How is the Goddess/Divine Feminine revealed to individuals? How do traditions unfold and evolve?


If you are interested in submitting a chapter to this edited book, please submit a 250 word abstract to Angela Hope at angela.hope@hotmail.com by August 30, 2010. For any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Tuesday 22 June 2010

A note on Rebranding Feminism Conference

As you know, I and my friend Jean Owen are organising a conference for next March called 'Rebranding Feminism'. A few weeks back, I announced the conference to a group of women who were interested in young feminism. Overwhelmingly, their responses were excited and curious. A handful of listeners, however, sat with dark clouds over their eyes. They clearly disagreed with the premise of the conference. Though, sadly, none of them came to tell me about their disagreement.

I want to stress that we are really interested in hearing both sides of the debate. Do you fundamentally disagree with the notion of rebranding feminism? Send me an abstract telling me why. The conference CFP is attached below:


(RE)BRANDING FEMINISM

A conference hosted by the Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies (IGRS), Stewart House, 32 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5ND.
1st -2nd March 2011.

Call for Papers:

There has been a general recognition, if not acceptance, of many of feminism’s key concepts. But does this mean that it has ceased to assert itself as a unique movement? Indeed, should feminism be (re)branded in an age when all ideologies are subject to market forces? And what should this rebranding consist of?

Two years on from the stimulating ‘Where are we now? A workshop on women and heterosexuality’ hosted by the IGRS, this conference will address some of the issues raised then to question the place of feminism in the twenty-first century. While there has been ambivalent press and general apathy towards those issues that once encouraged women to put the political into the personal, it is increasingly women themselves who think there is nothing more to discuss. Why has there been a decline in the link between the personal and the ideological? Do we need a different kind of feminism to meet the cultural, political and academic needs of a younger generation?

Topics might include but are not limited to:

• Are sisters doing it for themselves?
• Feminism on the frontline
• I can be a real bitch
• Family romances
• Home-makers and career women
• God was/is a woman
• Feminism and the sex industry
• Feminist renaissance
• Feminism is bollocks
• Rebranding feminism
• Pub talk

Abstracts between 200-300 words that explore any aspect of (re)branding feminism are sought as are poster submissions of 200 - 300 words on any topic related to rebranding feminism. Submit poster ideas and abstracts in a word document or .pdf.

Please send abstracts and poster ideas to both Jean Owen (ojean27@yahoo.com) and Elisha Foust (elishafoust@googlemail.com) by 5pm 1 October 2010.

PhD Scholarship in Global Women's Studies

Please note the following PhD Scholarship in Global Women's Studies now available at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Dr. Stacey Scriver Furlong
Postdoctoral Researcher
Global Women's Studies Programme
School of Political Science and Sociology
National University of Ireland, Galway
Ph. 091 494116
Rm. 204
10 Upper Newcastle Rd.
Galway
Ireland


CONNECT Doctoral Research Scholarship


Global Women's Studies





Research theme: Gender, participation and realising human rights in local and community contexts





The College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies at NUI Galway is pleased to offer a CONNECT Doctoral Research Scholarship in Global Women's Studies commencing in the autumn of 2010, renewable for up to three years.




The active engagement of community groups in monitoring the local implementation of international human rights standards is a new and exciting area of human rights practice that warrants scholarly investigation (see for example www.pprproject.org). We also know that while women are generally under-represented in national politics and policy making, they are more active in community based advocacy. Recognising these trends, applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates with demonstrable academic interests in gender, human rights and the role of civil society organisations in the implementation of international human rights standards. The successful applicant will normally have a good honours MA degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. Political Science, Human Rights/Law, Community Development, Women's Studies) with strong research, communications and organisational skills. Applications will also be considered from students who hold, or expect to attain before Ju!
ly 2009, a high honours primary degree (first class or higher 2nd class) from a recognised institution in a relevant discipline. Practical knowledge of human rights and/or equality policies or mechanisms and/or of advocacy work in a relevant civil society organisation would also be an advantage.



The CONNECT Scholar will be an integral member of the Global Women's Studies Programme in the School of Political Science and Sociology, with Dr. Niamh Reilly acting as primary supervisor of the PhD project. In addition to undertaking PhD research on a topic, proposed by the applicant, related to gender, participation and the practice of human rights in local contexts, the CONNECT Scholar will contribute to the BA CONNECT in Global Women's Studies (approximately 15 hours per month from Year Two). This will include the ongoing development and delivery of advocacy oriented modules, coordination of activities to promote links between the BA CONNECT programme and local organisations, and related research activities. The Scholarship provides EUR15,000 per year (exclusive of fees) over a maximum period of 4 years. For further details and to download the required forms (CONNECT Scholarship Application and Referee forms and Scholarship Terms & Conditions) please visit: www.nuigalw!
ay.ie/womens_studies. For informal inquiries, please contact: Dr. Niamh Reilly (niamh.reilly@nuigalway.ie)



Deadline for receipt applications: July 9th 2010

Friday 18 June 2010

CFP: Doing Women's Film History: Reframing

Women’s Film History Network – UK/Ireland

Doing Women’s Film History: Reframing
Cinema Past and Future
13-15 April 2011
Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies: University of Sunderland


Despite their marginalization in film history, women have always been widely involved in and around cinema as: producers, directors, scriptwriters, cinematographers, editors, designers, actresses, sound designers, voice coaches, composers, distributors, programmers, cinema managers, publicists, critics, audiences, and so on. This international conference brings together researchers, archivists, librarians, filmmakers, website and database designers to explore new research in women’s film history, its future development, and its impact on approaches to cinema and film history itself.

We welcome individual case-studies of women working in or around silent, sound and digital cinemas, in different national contexts, or across different media; papers on historiographic, socio-economic and aesthetic issues (including the impact of the women’s movement); and considerations of the future of women’s film history posed by globalization, digital media and changes in archiving and databasing. Proposals for papers might include issues such as:


* sources and methodologies for gender-oriented film research
* strategies for archiving, preservation and programming of women’s films
* impact of women on cinema as audiences, campaigners, fans
* women’s career moves from other creative media into cinema
* future histories of women’s movement film workshops and recent filmmaking
* cross-national connections and comparisons
* relationship between feminism and women’s history
* usefulness of ‘women’s cinema’ as a category in post-feminist and digital contexts
* significance of women’s film history to women’s film practice now
* curriculum issues, e.g: critical canons, teaching and film availability
* women’s film historiography: filling gaps or changing film history?
*
Contributions from post-graduate researchers are welcome and some bursaries offered. Women’s History Review, Journal of British Cinema and Television and Framework have indicated interest in publishing suitable papers, subject to reviewers’ reports.

Keynote speakers and panelists will be confirmed in October.
The conference will include screenings, forums on teaching women's film history, the film studies curriculum, and the future organization and web presence of the Women’s Film History Network.

Proposals (150 word limit) for presentations of 20 minutes (including audiovisual material) should be sent by 1 December 2010 to: Lianne Hopper, The David Puttnam Media Centre, Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter’s, St Peter’s Way, Sunderland, SR6 ODD, UK; or by email to: wfhconference@sunderland.ac.uk. For more information about the Network and Conference please visit our wiki at http://wfh.wikidot.com.

Tuesday 15 June 2010

CFP: Motherhood and Philosophy - US

Call for Papers

Philosophical Issues of Motherhood

APA Newsletter for Feminism and Philosophy
The most recent issues of the Newsletter (including the one currently in
completion) were devoted to the question of the numbers and status of women in
professional philosophy (explanations for why we comprise a mere 21% of
professional philosophers, survival strategies, coping strategies for those who
survive, and enhancement strategies to bring more women in, publication issues
for women philosophers, success strategies for career survival).
This and coming years will also prove a challenge for many women in philosophy
as state and federal budgets are balanced by cuts to academic and educational
institutions and to public services which support those who make up the
politically marginalized and vulnerable populations. These hard economic times
affect all women, whether we are in professional philosophy struggling for
promotion, research funding, or just to keep our jobs, or we are returning to
school to improve our chances of getting or keeping work, or we are trying to
keep hearth and home together, children fed, companions in good spirit, and
ourselves economically viable.
It seems appropriate and timely to address a question central to the lives of
many women: motherhood.
The next issue of the Newsletter will be devoted to the question of motherhood
in its full breadth and depth. Essays on any topic related to motherhood will be
considered.
Please format your essays according to Newsletter requirements and should be
prepared for anonymous review. Length is limited to 4000 words inclusive of all
endnotes and references.
Submissions must be received by October 15th, 2010.
Send submissions electronically in either Word or PDF formats to Christina
Bellon, bellon@csus.edu using an appropriate subject
heading.

Monday 14 June 2010

CFP: Motherhood, Servitude and Care

MaMSIE (Mapping Maternal Subjectivities, Identities and Ethics)
Call for Participation
Motherhood, Servitude and the Delegation of Care
 Conference
and
`Maternal Subjectivities: Care and Labour`
Digital Media Competition

at Birkbeck, University of London
 September 23rd and 24th 2010
MaMSIE is an international network of scholars, artists and activists working in the emerging interdisciplinary field of maternal studies. Our 6th conference focuses on the interrelations between labour, capital, care and the maternal. In particular, it will consider the diverse ways ‘maternal care’ has been, and continues to be delegated and shared, and the implications for our understandings of maternal subjectivities and the labour of care. The conference will open up ‘maternity’ as a term that includes the paid and unpaid work of a diverse range of social actors: carers, domestic workers, au-pairs, nannies, child-minders, nurses, care-workers, extended family members and members of friendship networks, in addition to complex organisations such as charities and NGOs. The aim of this event is to generate a dialogue between two rich and substantial bodies of feminist scholarship; work on the history of domestic labour, service and servitude and current debates about globalism, migration and the care industries, recasting existing scholarship through the lens of maternal studies.

Key Questions

How do we understand the (maternal) subjectivities of a range of care workers and what might a consideration of such subjectivities contribute to our understandings of the maternal?
What are the political, economic, affective and subjective effects of sharing maternal labour?
How do histories of class, servitude, service, gender, ‘race’, and ‘care’ interact with contemporary neoliberal patterns of migration?
· What are the potentials for new relations that might emerge from specific constellations of maternal subjectivity and modes of care work?

We welcome submissions for participation from academics, artists, clinicians, activists and other practitioners working on issues related to the maternal, care, servitude, domestic labour, migration, etc. Please submit a 250-word abstract as an email attachment to mamsie@bbk.ac.uk by 30th June 2010.


The conference will feature keynote talks and a range of smaller workshop sessions. A small number of papers will be selected for live presentation; a larger number of papers will be included on the conference website; everyone will be welcome to participate from the floor and in the small workshop discussions.
Conference Fees: £60/£30 (unfunded)


`Maternal Subjectivities: Care and Labour`
Digital Media Competition

As part of the Motherhood, Servitude and the Delegation of Care Conference, MaMSIE are delighted to launch a Digital Media Competition.
Digital media entries should respond to the title `Maternal Subjectivities: Care and Labour`. This might take the form of a digital photographic work or a more abstract piece, such as a work of multimedia digital fiction or creative nonfiction, an experimental digital film, or website. Any form of digital output will be considered.
Everyone is welcome to enter, professional or amateur. Finalists will be chosen by a distinguished panel of artists, writers and journalists.
Prize: There will be a cash prize of £150 for the winning entry and two small runners up prizes. The winner and runners up will also receive free entry to the conference and their work will be featured on the conference website, and the online journal, Studies in the Maternal. Maximum 2 works per entrant, either as a digital file or URL.
To enter, please:
·Mark entries with your name, contact details and the title of the work
·Include a 250-word description of your piece
·Include a 100-word biography of yourself
·Include the work itself as digital file or URL
·Write ‘Maternal Subjectivities: Care and Labour
Digital Media Competition and Exhibition’ in the e-mail header
·Send entries to Kate Pullinger at kpullinger@dmu.ac.uk.

Deadline for entries: August 1st 2010.
Successful entrants will be informed by 15 September, 2010
For more information please visit: www.mamsie.bbk.ac.uk

Editors sought for thirdspace, a journal of feminist theory

The editors of /thirdspace: a journal of feminist theory and culture/ want you to join our team. We are looking for feminist scholars to strengthen our editorial working group and help sustain /thirdspace/ as a prime online journal for the best international work in feminist theory and culture.
Founded in 2000, our mandate is to produce a peer-reviewed journal, offering work in both English and French, that presents the best in scholarship on feminist theory and culture, broadly conceived. Our priority is enabling the publication of dynamic and cutting edge feminist scholarship within the modern climate of a profit-driven and competitive publishing industry. Our open-access model has been enormously successful in terms of readership, and can be viewed at: www.thirdspace.ca
We are seeking feminist scholars for the following roles:
Proofreaders
Layout editors
Section editors
The journal’s operations are conducted primarily through online contact (e-mail, instant messaging, the open access journal system). All editors must have regular access to e-mail and the web, and be comfortable with virtual collaboration. Editor duties include: reviewing submissions for suitability; soliciting referees to review articles; copyediting; and preparing submissions for final publication on the website. Other duties include fundraising, promotion of the journal, and soliciting submissions.
One position is reserved for scholars who are capable of editing submissions in French at a high academic level and performing English-French translation, as well as enthusiasm for promoting the journal to the francophone community and soliciting submissions from French-speaking scholars.
At this time, our editorial positions are non-stipendiary, as our insistence on open access has limited our opportunities for funding.
For all applicants, please indicate your experience in editing academic work, the strengths you would bring to the position, and the scholarly communities you are involved in. We welcome applications from emerging and early-career scholars (including senior ABDs, post-doctoral fellows, and new independent scholars).
Desirable, but not required, assets include: fluency in French; experience in fundraising and promotion; and HTML/web design experience.
The position(s) will commence in August 2010.

Please send a CV, a short letter of interest, and your contact details (including e-mail address) as a Word attachment by July 1 2010 to:
info@thirdspace.ca
We will be in correspondence with all applicants.

Conference on Women's Worlds - Canada 2011

(The English CFP is in the middle section)


¡Responde al llamado! Answer the call. Répondez à l'appel.

Si estás involucrada en la investigación y/o la defensa de la igualdad, el empoderamiento y los derechos de las mujeres, entonces deberías saber más sobre Mundos de Mujeres 2011, un espacio para entrar en contacto y entablar una conversación que TE incluye.

El 30º aniversario de esta conferencia feminista internacional e interdisciplinaria se llevará a cabo en Ottawa-Gatineau, Canadá del 3 al 7 de julio de 2011.

Hasta el 15 de septiembre estaremos aceptando propuestas de participación, que pueden venir de la academia, de las filas activistas y de cualquier grupo, coalición, red o equipo.

¡Esperamos que respondas al llamado!

Este evento congregará a académic@s, activistas, investigador@s, legislador@s, abogad@s, y artistas de todas las edades y de los cuatro puntos cardinales para discutir el tema "Inclusiones, exclusiones, reclusiones: viviendo en un mundo globalizado".

Para más información: info@womensworlds.ca

***************************

Are you engaged in research and/or advocacy relating to women's equality, women's rights, women's empowerment?

Then you should know about Women's Worlds 2011, a place where we can all connect and converse. The conversation includes you.

The 30th anniversary of this international and interdisciplinary global feminist conference will take place in Ottawa-Gatineau, Canada from 3-7 July of 2011.

Until September 15, 2010, we are accepting proposals from academia, the community level, and everywhere in between -- groups, individuals, coalitions, networks, teams.

We hope you will ANSWER THE CALL.

This event will bring together academics, advocates, researchers, policy-makers, workers, activists, and artists of all ages from around the world under the theme "Inclusions, exclusions, and seclusions: Living in a globalized world".

For more information: info@womensworlds.ca

***************************

Vous êtes engagée dans la recherche ou vous plaidez pour l'égalité des femmes, leurs droits ou leur autonomisation?

Vous devez assister Mondes des Femmes 2011, l'occasion rêvée de nous rassembler et d'échanger. Soyez partie prenante de cette conversation.

Le 30e anniversaire de cette conférence féministe internationale et interdisciplinaire aura lieu du 3 au 7 juillet 2011 au Canada, dans la ville d'Ottawa-Gatineau.

Jusqu'au 15 septembre 2010, nous acceptons des propositions venant des milieux universitaires et communautaires, tout autant que de groupes, personnes, coalitions, réseaux et équipes.

Nous esperons que vous allez RÉPONDEZ À L'APPEL

MF 2011 va rassembler des universitaires, militantes, chercheures, décisionnaires politiques, travailleuses, activistes et artistes de tous âges et de partout pour échanger sous le grand thème "Inclusions, exclusions et réclusions: Vivre dans un monde globalisé".

Pour plus d'information: info@mondesdesfemmes.ca

Friday 11 June 2010

What is Feminism For? Monday 14 June - Lucy Cavendish College

You are warmly invited to come and discuss:

"What is Feminism For?"



Kat Banyard, author of "The Equality Illusion", will be appearing at the

annual Women's Word Festival at Lucy Cavendish College on Monday 14 June

(6.30pm-7.30pm).



In her new and ground breaking book, The Equality Illusion, Kat Banyard

sets out the major issues for 21st-century feminism, from the growing power

of the sex industry, and the myths and taboos which still surround rape and

domestic violence, to the widening pay gap.



Forty years after the Equal Pay Act, women are paid on average nearly 25%

less per hour than men, and 30,000 of us are sacked every year simply for

being pregnant. Women make up only 12% of FTSE directors, and remain firmly

in the minority in parliament and in the legal profession.



Meanwhile, women's bodies are objectified like never before in magazines,

online and in lap dancing clubs.



At “What is feminism for?” Kat Banyard will discuss the timely and important

resurgence of the feminist movement currently being spearheaded by young

and politically active women in 21st-century Britain.



Tickets for the event are £6. To book a place, please go to

http://www.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk/pages//posts/what-is-feminism-for135.php
and follow the links to the Women's Word online booking page



womensword@lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk

01223 764020 / 339243

UK Feminista Summer School - How cool is this?

UK FEMINISTA SUMMER SCHOOL

http://www.ukfeminista.org.uk/all-events/3-ukfeminista-event/72-summerschool.html

Dates:Sat 31.07 - Sun 01-Aug-2010
Times:10:00 to 17:00
Place:London
Address:Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London. EC2A 3EA
Contact person:UK Feminista
Web Site:http://www.ukfeminista.org.uk
Telephone:
07775 855037



We're delighted to announce the first ever UK Feminista Summer School is taking place on Saturday 31st July - Sunday 1st August 2010!

Two whole days of of feminist activist training and inspiration - and absolutely free! Open to all women and men who want to create a more gender equal world. Book today because places are strictly limited!

How to register: Download a registration form and return it to
info@ukfeminista.org.uk


AGENDA

Please note: further sessions and speakers are still being confirmed and a full agenda for the Summer School will be posted here soon!

DAY 1: Saturday 31st July, 10:00-17:00

Speakers confirmed: Zoe Williams, the Guardian; Karin Robinson, Democrats Abroad; Shaista Gohir MBE, Muslim Women's Network UK; Heather Harvey, Amnesty International UK; Denise Marshall, Eaves; Baljit Banga, Newham Asian Women’s Project; Kat Banyard, author of The Equality Illusion & Director of UK Feminista; WOMANKIND Worldwide; Fawcett Society

Workshops: How to run a feminist group; running an effective campaign; fundraising skills
Panel discussions & seminars: The importance of feminist organising; the feminist year ahead; men and masculinity

DAY 2: Sunday 1st August, 10:00-17:00

Speakers confirmed: Kira Cochrane, the Guardian; Hannah Pool, journalist; Michelle Daley, Disability Awareness in Action; Pragna Patel, Southall Black Sisters; Jess McCabe, the F Word; Joy Millward, Principle; Julia Minnear, Women's Environmental Network; OBJECT; Lynne Parker, Funny Women

Workshops: How to use the media; how to influence local and national politics; creative campaign and direct action; promoting diversity within feminist groups; public speaking skills;
Panel discussions & seminars: Women and the media; Feminist Question Time; Why climate change is a feminist issue

Download the poster for UK Feminista's Summer School


ACCOMMODATION & VENUE DETAILS

For information about how to get to the Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre visit the Amnesty website.

Download a list of hotels and hostels within the vicinity of the venue.

Women 2.0 - The history of the movement

Watch the full episode. See more Women 2.0.

CFP: P-SWIP Annual Fall Meeting

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PANELS
PACIFIC SOCIETY FOR WOMEN IN PHILOSOPHY ANNUAL FALL MEETING
November 6-7, 2010
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA

P-SWIP welcomes submissions on any relevant topics in feminist philosophy.

This year, we are happy to announce Lori Gruen, Wesleyan University, as the
keynote.

Essays should not exceed 4000 words, standard format, prepared for anonymous
review, and submitted electronically in WORD or PDF formats. Draft or otherwise
incomplete submissions will not be accepted.

Submission deadline: August 13, 2010

Please submit essays to Emily S. Lee, Executive Secretary, Pacific SWIP at
elee@fullerton.edu.
Notification of acceptance will be made by September 15, 2010.

Come join us and celebrate women in philosophy!

Emily S. Lee, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Executive Secretary, Pacific SWIP
Department of Philosophy
California State University, Fullerton
Fullerton, CA 92834
657-278-3694
elee@fullerton.edu

Funny Friday

My funny friend Anna sent me this today. It caused coffee to run out my nose. That's happened twice this week (so far).

Thursday 10 June 2010

Women, Power and Politics - London - Theatre

Check out the Tricycle Theatre's Women, Power and Politics Season!

http://www.tricycle.co.uk/festivals/women-power-and-politics/

CFP: Art of Gender in Everyday Life - Idaho

THE ART OF GENDER IN EVERYDAY LIFE VIII
A Multidisciplinary Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS

Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID
March 10 & 11, 2011


ABSTRACT POSTMARK DEADLINE: Friday, November 19, 2010

Gender is not a given. Its meaning and significance are constantly in flux.
This conference will explore the various ways in which gender is crafted, celebrated, endured, deciphered, expressed or, in short, the art of how it is lived on a daily basis.


ALL submissions related to the art of living gendered lives will be considered.
* Given our keynote speaker, Andi Zeisler, Co-founder of Bitch Magazine, the Committee is especially interested in submissions that address the following:

GENDER AND THE MEDIA
GENDER IN POPULAR CULTURE
GENDER AND THE ARTS (including: the presentation of gendered performances, films, etc., as well as academic papers)

* The committee is also interested in receiving submissions from graduate and advanced undergraduate students. The committee will hold a student paper competition and award prizes for the graduate and undergraduate submissions they select.


PRESENTATION FORMATS: Presentations may take several different formats, including: papers (resulting from group work or individuals); slide presentations; films; readings; and performances. Presentations should be no longer than 20 minutes in duration.

Complete panels can also be submitted. Panel submissions will only be considered, however, if the following information is included: cover sheets and abstracts for a complete group of four participants; and the specific question to be addressed.


SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Submissions will be accepted BY POST ONLY.
POSTMARK DEADLINE: Friday, November 19, 2010

Please enclose the following items for the committee’s consideration:

1. an ABSTRACT of no more than 300 words
The title should appear clearly at the top of the abstract; the presenter’s name should not appear on the abstract. No changes to either the title or abstract can be made following submission.
2. a COVER SHEET with the following information: presenter’s name; presentation title; presentation format; institutional affiliation (including department) and academic status; phone number, street and email addresses; A/V needs; and a 50 word bio
3. a CD or DISK with both the abstract and cover sheet as Microsoft Word documents (as abstracts, affiliation, email addresses and bios will be reproduced in a booklet for all presenters)
4. a REGISTRATION FORM AND CHECK for the registration fee for each presenter made out to the Anderson Center; this fee will help us to cover conference expenses including meal costs and admission for both the keynote speaker, Andi Zeisler, and LUNAFEST.
PLEASE NOTE: If the abstract is not accepted, this check will be destroyed.


Send all materials to:
Anderson Gender Resource Center
Idaho State University, Stop 8141
Pocatello, ID 83209-8141
Attn: The Art of Gender in Everyday Life VIII Committee


PLEASE NOTE: Should your abstract be accepted, you will be required to provide a draft of your paper by NO LATER THAN JANUARY 28, 2011, so that your session discussant will have time to review your work.
Also, if your abstract is accepted, you will be subscribed to the listserv artofgender@mm.isu.edu, and you will receive all updates via email from that account.
QUESTIONS? Email us at: gndrctr@isu.edu or check out our website at www.isu.edu/andersoncenter

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Fellowship for Women in Philosophy

National Humanities Center Offers Fellowship for Young Women in Philosophy

The National Humanities Center has endowed a fellowship in philosophy in memory of the late Philip Quinn. It will be awarded to young women in philosophy, preferably untenured assistant professors. The first award will be made for the academic year 2011-12, and the fellowship will be awarded annually thereafter. The fellowship will support a year in residence at the National Humanities Center with a fellowship stipend of $50,000 plus travel expenses. The application deadline is October 15, 2010.
Applicants should submit the Center’s standard form, available online at nationalhumanitiescenter.org/fellowships/appltoc.htm Candidates eligible for the Quinn Fellowship will automatically be considered. For the purposes of this fellowship the Center will waive its normal expectation that recent Ph.D.s not be revising dissertations.
For further information on the Quinn Fellowship, see nationalhumanitiescenter.org/newsrel2010/prquinnfellowship.htm

Monday 7 June 2010

Toril Moi Lecture - Nottingham - 29 June

CAS Annual Lecture

What does it mean to Claim that Sex, Gender and the Body are Socially Constructed?

Professor Toril Moi
James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University

Tuesday 29th June 2010
5 – 6.30pm
A30 Arts Centre Lecture Theatre
with a wine reception


To register your attendance,
please contact Allison Pearson:
allison.pearson@nottingham.ac.uk

Luce Irigaray - Public Lecture - 16 June Nottingham

The Centre for Advanced Studies at The University of Nottingham are pleased to announce the following Annual Lecture:

Towards Reciprocal Exchanges with the Other(s)
A lecture from Professor Luce Irigaray, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Introduced by Professor Judith Still, Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Nottingham

Wednesday 16th June 2010, 5.00 – 6.30pm
A-30, Arts Centre Lecture Theatre

To be followed by a wine reception, to which you are cordially invited.
Please RSVP to Allison Pearson (allison.pearson@nottingham.ac.uk) in order that we can cater accordingly.
Centre for Advanced Studies
The Orchards, University Park
University of Nottingham
Nottingham NG7 2RD
Tel: 0115 95 14838

Wednesday 2 June 2010

hetero-gay

I'm lucky enough to have befriended a young (oh my god she's 13 years younger than I am!) woman who is highly intelligent with a dynamic personality. Recently, she's come out. Good for her I say! Upon coming out, she hoped for what (I thought) we all hope for: love. What she is finding is in some ways, just the opposite: sex. She's fallen for a girl who thinks that to aim for monogamy is a betrayal of gay. To aim for monogamy and to be gay is hetero-gay.

I have to admit to loving this term. It sounds very much like something I would throw around in my early 20s because it sounds good.

So I wonder - has the term hetero-gay been co-opted from Foucault's 1970 interview, printed in Foucault Live? I don't have access to the text right now, but if I recall correctly, Foucault challenges the gays (and I suppose the lesbians) to live differently; to find new ways of creating love and sex and bonds that are otherwise than those of heterosexuality. He wishes for gays to find ways to exist together beyond those tied to the history of marriage and the asymmetrical power relations that exist therein.

Great, I say! Fantastic! However, once you get to be in your mid-thirties and find that you are one of a handful of people in the world with the right to legally partner with the one you love, ideology goes out the window. Well, it does for me in any case. I am horrified by the stories that come out of America telling tales of couples who have have spent decades together only to be separated by hospital staff in their final days. I'm equally horrified that families, many of whom have had no contact with their gay son or daughter, have the right to take over property and assets with no recognition of the relationship their child was in. Horrified.

Ideology is one thing when you're young but quite another when you're old.