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On Be-ing and sitting w/ a Dalyan scholar

Posted by Robyn on August 21, 2010 in Ethics, Feminism

I have been enjoying Mary Daly’s The Church & The Second Sex. It has raised several questions in my mind:

  • What is sex?
  • Why recover ontology?
  • What is PostChristian thought, exactly?

I’m sitting with these three questions, and hope that we will discuss them this coming week in our Ethics reading group.  For now, though, I want to remember the creativity and imagination of Daly.  It really comes through in this book, and I wonder why I hadn’t noticed it before?!  I knew she was creative, but I didn’t realize how clever her creativity was!  I would’ve given anything to have sat over a cup of coffee with her!

You might recall that Mary Daly passed away this past January.  (You can read the Mary Daly redux post here.)  I recall reading this specific text some 9 years ago.  My context was Abilene, Texas, and in many ways it is one of the “hearts” of West Texas.  I was a student in the Logsdon School of Theology contemplating future study.  I picked up Beyond God the Father AND The Church & The Second Sex in a Used Bookstore in the DFW area.  I paid three dollars for them.  I then read them in 2001.  I was naïve and just beginning to develop my feminist consciousness.  I was also in Texas Baptist country, and the sentiment toward feminism was that it was all angry!  I didn’t necessarily feel this way toward Daly’s work.  I felt as though she was creating ways to critically examine and think about patriarchy, oppression, “discrimination,” and other pressing issues that were harmful to women.

I recall sitting in the faculty lounge at Logsdon and asked:  ”what if the bible is irredeemably patriarchal?”  The Hebrew bible professor answered me.  It was a less-than-satisfying answer.  I remember questioning the maleness of Jesus as the saving agent in Christianity.  I was also dissatisfied with the answer that I was given.  These two moments set me on a path…a path  in developing my sense of feminism, feminist theology, and feminist ethics.  I am not complete in my feminist thought.  I continue to develop my feminist critique and look to the different waves of feminist theory to help inform me.

This Daly read has been good for me.  I’m ready to don my feminist space suit!

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Hi! My name is _____ or The Name Game

Posted by Robyn on August 18, 2010 in Technology

Welcome to the Name Game!  So true…and in so many ways…

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Learning Animal Ethics on the Fly

Posted by Robyn on August 17, 2010 in Ethics

I’m learning Animal Ethics on the FLY!  My 14 year-old chihuahua (yes, she’s from Mexico) is having some renal issues.  Naturally, I’m concerned.  Concerned about her, any pain she might have, and her quality of life.  I’m not as attached to the dogs as srh, but I’m wondering if that is changing.  I find myself being more careful with Cricket and wanting her to sleep with me at bed-time, which she has been doing on her own.  I remember the first time I met Cricket.  I was in college in Abilene, TX.  She jumped up into my lap and let Caleb (our first-born) smell her.  She was a shy dog, then 4 years old, and the Vet from where we were adopting her mentioned that this was uncharacteristic of what they had seen of her.  I have grown to love this one and love this one deeply.  Chihuahua’s are funny little dogs; this one is no different!

I will keep on loving this one and taking good care of this one until it is time to say good-bye.  After all, I’m learning Animal Ethics on the Fly!  This little Cricket has been good to me, and I want to be very good to her.  I have a great vet over at Tender Touch here in Denver, and Dr. Barr is taking good care of her!

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Sexuality as Nationalism

Posted by Robyn on August 16, 2010 in Politics, Queer

Its been over a week now since Prop 8 was overturned.  I have been rather silent on the iRobyn site.  I have my doubts with the institution of marriage (in fact, I have for several years) and the messy history it brings to fore.  On the one hand, this is incredible news.  Same-sex marriage or, the civil right for marriage for all persons–at least in California.  Important?  For sure.  But, is sexuality becoming a sort of nationalism?  A trend of supremacy, if you will?  Why is marriage, or nationalism for that matter, important in 2010?

The institution of marriage has been the bedrock of family values not only for conservatives, the GOP, but for liberals and Democrats, too.  Marriage has gone uncontested, and society has simply assimilated into dyads, marrying dyads to be exact, and this expression of life is counted as legitimate.  No one questions the problematic history of marriage.  No one challenges the misogynist characteristic of marriage.  Well, not no one.  Some do!  In fact, I do!  But, my voice and the voice of my radical feminist and queer friends (both men and women) don’t get much air play.  If my friend wants to be committed to her partner, she should be able to be committed to her partner and it be a valid expression of coupledom, or whatever they want to call it.  She should not have to marry this partner to be counted as legitimate.  And, my friend who wants to be committed to her partner should get the national benefits for being committed to her partner.  What I’m saying is that we need to find a different way to be coupled legitimately.  If we are in a union with another person, then that should be sufficient.  Common law or whatever it needs to be called, we need to find a different way to be “married.”  Because, as I think many folks believe, marriage just doesn’t work for everyone.

Yet, with the court decision regarding Prop 8, LGBT(Q) bodies are assimilated into the heteronormative concept of marriage.  And, for what purpose?  For financial reasons?  Perhaps.  To be counted as legitimate?  I sure hope not, but I think that is a reason folks are marrying!  After all, what citizen does not want to be legitimated?  We all likely want to belong in the country where we reside, but do we want to conform to the history of standards that are given to us?  I don’t!

For example, saying the pledge of allegiance.  Pledging ourselves to this country is a way that many of us conform to US nationalism.  Be it at a baseball game, school, or wherever.  Some folks choose not to do this.  In fact, I choose not to pledge my allegiance to this country.  I turn away from nationalism.  Likewise, should I turn away from sexuality?  Away from the LGBT(Q) movement?  If I disavow nationalism, shouldn’t I then disavow the problematic nature of marriage equality?  It is a bit more complicated than that, I think.

Needless to say, I think sexuality is becoming a bit like nationalism.  What should the LGBT(Q) movement do now?  How should our bodies respond to assimilationist politics?

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“Jesus misses you!”

Posted by Robyn on August 15, 2010 in iLife

I have seen her twice now, here, in this establishment.  Last Sunday and today.  Both times, she was in her garb.  Last week she was in a rush.  This week, too, but today she sat down on the couch with me and we chatted.  She got up to leave–being a tad late and all for her next gig–I mentioned that we needed to chat again.  She responded favorably.  I told her to tell Jesus “hi!”  And, as she was half way out the door, she turned around and said (mind you, I was sitting on the other side of the room, so she said it loudly!) “Jesus misses you!”

I think what I like most about this interaction is that she pretty well knows where I stand, religiously, that is.  And, her ability to sit with difference, my difference, is what encourages me (urges me?) to be in conversation with her.  I also have a deep respect for her, and for what she is doing, despite, of course, my own stand-point and criticism(s).  What she is doing is important.  And, because of this, I will be up for another conversation when I get a handle on my comprehensive exam material.  We’ll likely meet in the virtual office that we both use–one of two places, I’m sure.

So, Jesus might very well miss me.  I don’t know?!  But, the fact she asserts it as such, makes me respect this process all the more!  And, if she’s reading this, you have NO idea how valuable our conversations are.  Thank you so very much!

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iRobyn footer–do you know what it says?

Posted by Robyn on August 5, 2010 in Technology

You may have never looked at the footer on this website.  I don’t blame you.  It’s way down at the bottom of the page.  But, I do know some of my faithful readers, here in the City of Denver and on the East Coast and Texas.  I even have some readers from Canada!  Many of you engage me on my posts either on facebook or via email.  In the event that you don’t know what the footer reads, I’m posting it here:

iRobyn|iWitness Culture|iWrite All Rights Reserved.  This website is fueled by the particularity of community and the power of passonate Latin@ friendship. When I’m writing, its powered by Denver’s own Pablo’s Coffee, particularly Danger Monkey, or Chicago’s Intelligentsia Coffee. This site is rooted in all things critical. Namely, the ongoing critical thoughts & struggle to live the questions, knowing that the answers reside en las preguntas. Additionally, this site is rooted in the borders of truth, goodness, and beauty, & the ongoing intersection/borderland life of a QueerMestizo. ¡Viva la Raza!

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Gendering Religious Studies in Japan

Posted by Robyn on August 5, 2010 in Feminism

“Gendering Religious Studies in Japan”

  • Respondent:  Morny Joy (University of Calgary, Canada)

    • Thursday Morning 9:00-11:00 ,  August 19th Bahen 1230

    Where feminist and gender studies in Japan have advanced, religion has been a less than frequent topic for Japanese feminists and gender studies. For many feminists, religion is a tool of patriarchy that is still used to oppress and exclude women, and to deny them the opportunity to make their own decisions. A similar resistance to gender concerns and feminism was felt more strongly in religious studies than in other fields in Japan. Scholars of religion frequently took up women’s religious life as a topic. However, introducing concepts of feminism or gender was seen as insinuating a particular political design into research and as such was viewed as an undesirable stance that lacked scholarly neutrality. Feminism, however, does not only criticize religion. Feminist thought can influence women’s religious practice itself, and transform it. The religious world in Japan has been informed by gender studies in recent years, and movements to reform religious organizations are emerging. This panel is an attempt by Japanese feminist scholars of religion who strive to redress the in-built male-centered structure and gender blindness prevalent in the academy. For this purpose, we examine the homosocial structure in the academy of religion and at the same time attempt to bring gender perspectives to the studies of Japanese religions. Specifically, the issues of exclusion of women from the mountain religions, an unconventional spiritual quest of a female Buddhist priest and queer activism in Japanese Christianity will be discussed.

    • Noriko Kawahashi   ( Nagoya Institute of Technology )  Presiding
    • Kayoko Komatsu   ( Tama University )  Women Researchers in Religion-Related Fields
    • Naoko Kobayashi  (Keio University )  Secular Benefits Outweigh Religious Restrictions-The Exclusion of Women from Sacred Precincts
    • Masako Kuroki   (Kyotogakuen University)  The Spiritual Quest of a Woman Priest in Tendai Buddhism
    • Yuri Horie ( Ritsumeikan University ) Re-Queering Christian Sexual Norms in Japan: On “Recognition” of Sexual Minorities

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      Your Voice is muy importante

      Posted by Robyn on August 5, 2010 in iLife

      Sometimes it is hard to have a voice,
      Especially when one is invisible.
      Sometimes all one can do is Speak,
      Especially when one is threatened by Invisibility.
      Speak your voice,
      Even when that voice shakes and trembles.

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      It’s all about love and imagining new possibilities!

      Posted by Robyn on August 4, 2010 in Politics

      Remembering November 2008. I was in chicago when I heard this “special comment.” I am critical of marriage and its historical practice of oppressing women and privileging hetero-patriarchy.  But, perhaps Keith has a point.  What’s so bad about allowing all persons to marry and create for themselves new and possible ways to relate.  Perhaps allowing all to marry is but one way to imagine these new possibilities…

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      SB1070 is in FULL EFFECT | Mexican Frontier USA Migración Migration SB 1070 law ley México USA Tijuana Border Patrol

      Posted by Robyn on August 3, 2010 in Latinos, Politics

      Some stuff just pisses me off. This is just one of the items currently pissing me off. And, you know the steorotype about angry and emotional Latinas? Well…if you don’t, you should!

      Have you seen the wall in Tijuana? Here it is…

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