Amigas & Allies

NEW!!  Women of Color at the Global Reproductive Health Forum, a project of the Harvard School of Public Health.  The single best Web collection of resources on reproductive issues for women of color, including recent work on Norplant, forced sterilizations, abortion access issues, sexuality, and addiction issues as well as classic and theoretical texts from Angela Davis, Gloria Anzaldua, Ana Castillo, Kim Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, and Bell Hooks. 

Sweatshop Watch is a coalition of different organizations and people committed to eliminating sweatshop conditions in the global garment industry.  The group is based on the "radical" idea that workers "should be earning a living wage in a safe  and decent working environment, and that those who benefit the most from the exploitation of sweatshop workers must be held accountable."   Be sure to check in and browse these different  labor, community, civil rights, immigrant rights, women's, and religious & student organizations....this is a powerful coalition site. 

Issues in Latina/o Health.  A UC Davis web project offers an overview of Latina/o Health beliefs, and Traditional Latino Medicines, as well as specifics on lupus, breast cancer, cervical cancer, diabetes, etc. among Latina/o populations.

Centro Feminista para las  Mujeres (FWHC) discute los anticonceptivos, el aborto, y otros asuntos de su salud.  Tambien hay esta seccion buena de voces femeninas sobre estos asuntos. 

Cruise FWHC's excellent comprehensive site on women's health care.  The Feminist Women's Health Center in Washington includes complete information on contraception, pregnancy, menopause, abortion, breast cancer, and other inmportant women's health issues.  It also includes this terrific section of women's personal stories. 

Run, don't walk, to James Crawford's excellent and informational website on national bilingual policy issues.  Independent academic, and former editor of the Washington's Education Week, Mr. Crawford's site offers clear and grounded reporting and analysis of the English Only movement, English Plus, bilingual education, efforts to save endangered languages, and language rights in the U.S.A.  Frequently updated, this is a must-see for anybody who cares about bilingual issues. 

New!   I've taken way too long to add here the amazing, Men Anacaona., a personal project site  of politics, opinion, and literature, from the perspective of    Haitian-Canadian journalist-in-training Anacaona, or as she describes herself, "a nappy-headed, know-it-all, big-mouth black girl who's out to chant down Babylon."  Ana has a huge collection of links relating to people of color issues, progressive issues,  literature, music, and much more. 

New!  As if Anacaona wasn't busy enough, she has established a second site, a  Third World Women Bibliography.  I think what's most interesting about this site is , well, first its very existence at a point in time when women of color are rethinking local, global, and ethnic identities; and second, the categories she constructs (feminist theory, labour & slavery, reproductive rights, among others) to draw those lines among global-historical commonalities and distinctions....lots of food for thought. 

About Face is a San Francisco-based grassroots group that seeks to create "an about-face in stagnant attitudes about women in our culture, to encourage young girls to feel good about themselves and their bodies."  The website is dedicated to identifying negative and distorted corporate advertising images of women with its gallery of offenders; to acknowledge those companies helping to forge positive change in women's images; and to educating and empowering women in all our sizes, colors, and forms.  This is a terrific site that offers lots of practical ways to support their project. 

Nawal El Saadawi is a leading Egyptian feminist, sociologist, medical doctor (psychiatry), and writer. She is one of the most widely translated contemporary Egyptian writers, with her work available in different languages worldwide. She is the author of a classic work on women in Islam, The Hidden Face of Eve, and of many other published works, including plays, collections of short stories, non-fiction, and novels, many of which are now translated into English, including Woman at Point Zero, Death of an Ex-Minister, and The Fall of the Imam. 

~  African-American feminist legal scholar Vernellia Randall has created an excellent website with substantive information, references, bibliographies, and links on Gender & the Law, Race & the Law and other legal issues.  Her site also includes this terrific bibiliography on Reproductive Issues and Women of Color. 

~ Chicano! A History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, a terrific PBS Documentary.  Make your local school or library order a copy and support PBS.  This site also features short bios of Chicana/o and Latina/o community leaders, organizers, artists, etc.  Be sure to notice how Chicana feminist  issues surface only briefly in the discussion of the Movimiento.....sigh. 

~ exoticize this...! a web site for South Asian & Asian/Pacific Islander feminist sources-- queer, art, academics, zines, magazines, authors (i.e. fiction & poetry), resources, pop culture, bibliographies, allies, and more, more, more!!!  This is a beautifully designed site with zillions of nooks and crannies to explore, as well as links to the newest and hippest stuff on the web.  Created by Mimi Nguyen aka slantgirl, who has an amazing postcolonial webpage of her own....spend hours on these sites, at least....i'm still discovering new parts myself.... Woo hoo!  Women of color are taking over the web, a page at a time!!! 

~  Planned Parenthood USA's website includes information on women's health, contraception, and reproductive issues as well as info on education and advocacy.  Definitely check out the page on Your Contraceptive Choices.  For excellent general information on reproductive health, contraception, and emergency contraception (in English and en espanol, check out this site by Princeton's Office of Population Research. 

Miss Melty is an insightful twenty-something whitefeminist who authors a site about....well, gender, race, politics, and life.  This is a terrifically readable zine-style compilation of thoughts and writing.  Do not miss her terrific articles on bilingualism & another on "me too ethnics"

~  One of the oldest feminist organizations in this country, The National Organization for Women has a complete website including substantive sections on Abortion and Reproductive Rights, Affirmative Action, Economic Equity, Global Feminism, Young Feminism, and more... 

~ Isis --  a page dedicated to the art and culture of women of the African diaspora. At a new address, so not fully functional, but definitely worth a visit. 

~  Check out some recent articles by one of my favorite African-American feminist scholars, bell hooks.  In "Sisters of the Yam," bell insightfully critiques Katie Roiphe's The Morning After, and in "Misogyny, Gangsta Rap, and The Piano," bell carefully teases out issues of gender, race, and class in the media. 

~  ACLU Website on Women's Rights  We should all be proud card-carrying members.... be sure to check out their excellent and concise discussion of affirmative action.  Oh heck, it's worth quoting here: Affirmative action does not penalize white males. Fairness requires ending biased practices, not perpetuating them, and that includes ending the unjust advantages traditionally enjoyed by whites and white men. The conscientious effort to hire or admit women and people of color is a way for employers and schools to break their habit of favoring whites and males, and a way to facilitate the transition to nondiscriminatory practices. Restructuring a discriminatory status quo to create a nondiscriminatory environment isn't "reverse discrimination," but it may feel that way because something is being lost: White people are losing the favoritism they so long enjoyed in a system that discriminated on the basis of color and sex. Continued at ACLU site...

~  Check out SAWNET,the South Asian Women's Network Website with its excellent selection of resources beginning with this bibliography of South Asian Women's Writing and author profiles, as well as news, articles, announcements, and info on health, careers, and domestic violence.  This is probably a good place to mention a terrific anthology of writings by women of the South Asian diaspora titled Our Feet Walk the Sky by aunt lute press (1993).  Look for it--or demand it--at your local bookstore and library. 

~  There are some terrific women's resources on the 'Web, but unfortunately some of them just don't realize that we're not all 'just women.' (meaning white women).  Some of us are women of color, some of us are lesbian, some of us are working class...this is the 90s, ladies.....and feminist scholarship _must_ engage issues of race, class, and sexuality as well as gender. That said, go ahead and check out Feminist Com.  Mimi Nguyen reminded me that they also have a good selection of information on AIDS, Baby Care, Birth Control, Eating Disorder Treatment Centers, Women's Health Clinics and more.... 

~  Frontera Magazine.  Music, arts, culture and politics for Latinos on the cutting-edge. A sample of the irreverence, wit and humor of the print version, online! 
~Han Queeran (= queer + korean) .  Okay, this woman is Her-sterically Smart, Funny, and Together (with a the capital T).  Check out this amazing site full of commentary, essays, and bibliography focused on issues affecting Korean gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and otherwise queer folk.  Like I said, women of color are taking back the web....woo hoo!
 

~  Women's Sports!  Since the Title IX decision in 1974, women's sports teams have grown astronomically... Since I cannot even begin to do justice to the explosion of activity in women's sports, I simply bow to the experts....check out  Amy Lewis' WWW Women's Sports Page.  Be sure to cruise the new Professional Women's Basketball Leagues, the ABL and WNBA. 

~  Okay I lied.  I will try to do justice to the new WNBA. I must confess to little crushes on MVP Cynthia Cooper (right) of the Houston Comets, and also on the L.A. Sparks' own Lisa Leslie (lower left).  Cynthia holds league records for most points per game and three point field goals, and is in the top ten for many others, including free-throw percentage, steals, assists, and minutes per game. And did you know Lisa holds the record for most points ever in any (men's or women's) high school basketball game?  Playing for Morningside High School in Inglewood, California, she scored 101 points against South Torrance High School in the first half alone. She later of course went on to play in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta for the USA Basketball Women's National Team and now, the L.A. Sparks. 

~  Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Summary), United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Bejing, China 1995 and  USIA Resources for Women: Implementing the Platform  Includes summary of Beijing Platform and links to the various strategies and resources implementing each section of the platform. 

~  President's Interagency Council on Women, US Department of State.  It is our government too....check out this impressive list of government resources on women and women's issues...... 

~  The United Farm Workers are currently in the midst of the Strawberry Campaign to improve wages and working conditions for California agricultural workers.  Founded by Cesar Chavez and currently headed by Arturo Rodriguez and Dolores Huerta, the UFW has a long history of struggle for the rights of immigrants and people of color.  See their current research links and UFW history. 

~  The Asian Pacific American Politics page includes academic resources, literature, activist resources, and a directory of AsianAm scholars.  check it out..... 

~  In Motion Magazine is a multicultural, online U.S. publication which promotes progressive social change among communities of color and working people. 

~  Lesbians of Color History Project at USC.  Review coming soon... 
 

~ Creative, funny, thought-provoking, and right on target--the Guerrilla Girls have declared themselves "the conscience of the art world."  With lines like "Guerrilla Girls proclaim internet too pale, too male!"--these savvy activists are challenging racism and sexism in America's art scene....and beyond!  Browse their amazing poster collection, travel diary, and event log.... 

~  Pocho Productions provides critical humor and analysis of racism in the U.S. in this beautiful, new-and-expanded website....yes, of course, they can be pretty sexist, so think "coalition" and look for the brilliance in this amazing collection of satire and parody (here's a Village Voice article about them).  These guys are geniuses....and if you don't know how to laugh at yourself (and that chorizo stain on your shirt), you'd better stay away.   

~  Still in Mourning (though there's always reruns):  Probably the single most underrated, unacknowledged genius in television history is my hero, the working class diva, Roseanne. Roseanne literally rewrote the roles of housewives, mothers, daughters, and the sitcom family itself in her savvy and down-to-earth show, Roseanne. Families are not perfect or corny in her show, but they are very, very human. The episode in which Roseanne and Jackie escort Becky to obtain birth control belongs in TV's hall of fame, surely. Roseanne's wisdom, insight, and wicked sense of humor make her one of my favorite all-time actresses, and a down-to-earth role model for all women.  Now that Roseanne has gone off the air, we'll see what this amazing woman comes up with next....

~  The Beijing Cafe (1995 U.N. Women's Conference)

~  Eventually the man freed himself from the window and ran away, with Marie screaming after him, "You motherfucker, don't you ever come to my place again!!"  Carrie Rentschler writes Perpetuate My Fist! on women and self-defense. 

~  The Abortion Rights Activist  Yay to Adam Guasch-Melendez for putting together this excellent site of abortion info and resources. 

~  Girls On Film.  The ultimate feminist film review site.... 

~  MANUSHI - an Indian Women's Feminist Journal 

~  Progressive news & views....My personal favorite for general news coverage and progressive analysis is the weekly SF Bay Guardian.  Here's a link to various other sources for progressive progressive perspectives at the impressive Economic Democracy Information Network at Berkeley. 

~  Finally, there's always How to fight the radical Right, a guide to political organizing.

~Can't say enough good things about mimi nguyen's personal site.  Updated frequently, usually at 3 a.m., she includes witty and insightful essays, links, and cool drawings like the one to the right here. 

~  Yvonne Chireau's African-American feminist website with links and course syllabi on African American religious traditions.  Hasn't been updated in a while but worth a look-see..... 

~  Everybody knows Lucky...but just in case you don't, check out...Lucky Gutierrez's "Bien Vendidos" homepage and his "little soap box on politics and culture."  Lucky's critiques of Chicano culture and pop culture manage to be both insightful, biting, and caring.  This is a really cool site.