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Circle for women of color
Putting this on the list so it's on our collective radar.
So far I have seen mentions for:
a general women of color Circle
a Circle specifically for Asian women
a Circle specifically for Black women
Would love to hear more from our users on this.
Edit: I tried to fix this ugly formatting but I got a server error OH WELL.
No circle on Ovarit is a safe space. The lesbian circle, for instance, is lurked on even by men here. Let's not try to make it seem like asking for a WOC circle is a call for a woke safe space.
WOC should feel comfortable enough to be themselves as fellow radfems, but the reality is the existing circles do not foster that kind of environment and it is clear that white women are to be centered in all those spaces. For starters, having a circle deliberately centering women of color can bring out more non-white voices and instill more confidence and connections for the women who feel ignored, dismissed, and attacked even though we're in the same fight against Patriarchy. For one, a secure WOC circle with good mods wouldn't entertain racist derailing and concern trolling that is rampant whenever racism is brought up on this site.
I perhaps said this inelegantly, and if so I apologize. I am not trying to make it seem like asking for a WOC circle is a call for a woke safe space predominately because I do not know what a "woke safe space" is. What I had intended was that if we have 1 and 2 firmly in place what is the intrinsic benefit seen to be?
Agreed entirely.
I am likely a bright eyed idealist. I want the exact same thing but I also think that we should be pushing that in the main circles. I think you are right that such a circle can serve to bring out more WOC, and I shouldn't have omitted the benefits when pointing out what I see as potential issues.
I think you are likely too idealistic. I've already read between the lines, and I'm guessing the reason why we don't already have spaces for women of color here is because none of the leadership here includes women of color. That is not meant as an insult, but it's easy not to see respecting non-white experiences as being a priority if everyone who matters here is white.
You can already see the backlash from bringing race out into the open. White women here are vocally decrying racism while also telling us to stay in our place and stop trying to "prioritize race over sex" or "fracture" the movement. At this point, I'm not sure if a WOC circle will be enough to combat the culture here that is too easily outraged when we refuse to obfuscate whiteness. But if you have some ideas for transforming the dominant culture here rather than creating a smaller counter-cultural circle, by all means put them into action.