New coalition challenges the status quo of “Pornland, OR”

published at The Portland Alliance, February 2010

I have been a feminist a long time. First just a feminist, then a liberal feminist, then a sex-positive feminist by my early 20s. To my life-changing joy, I discovered radical feminism and I’m still in that camp, but traipsing through my early 30s brought me to a new way of working for women’s rights. I am now a Soroptimist.

Since last week I have been asking people if they know who the Soroptimists are and what they do. Some folks had vague recollections of community do-gooders, but most externalized the dialogue that ran through my brain upon receiving word of the conference, “Sorop-wha?”

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Extra, extra! Newspaper reporter interviews radical feminist!

published at Rain and Thunder: A Radical Feminist Journal of Discussion and Activism, Winter 2010, Issue #45

“Hi: I’m a writer at The Oregonian in Portland, working on a story about the sex culture in Portland and Oregon. I’m trying to find someone who can talk a bit about the anti-porn movement in the region.”

Three hours later we began a tense conversation. In between his email and the agreed-upon time for me to call I jotted down a few bullet points, then promptly forgot to reference them once our conversation found a lively cadence.
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Radical Feminism on the Web: The Carnival of Radical Feminists

Rain and Thunder: A Radical Feminist Journal of Discussion and Activism, Autumn Equinox 2009, Issue #44

In the face of diminishing print media slots, even writers with steady gigs are embracing the self-publishing cyberworld of blogs. Many newly-minted radical feminist writers have backburnered dreams of being paid staff journalists at print publications for the obvious reasons, but their urge to keep writing the good write remains untamed and blogs are their verdant stamping ground. read more

Samantha Berg: HerStories interview

One of a nine-part series of interviews done for the 19th Carnival of Radical Feminists at the blog Buried Alive.

Maybe you’re curious like me. How do people get from place to place, idea to idea? What’s their story? I’ve been fascinated with the details of people’s personal journeys ever since discovering online feminism. The idea for interviews this time around is nothing more than my curiosity given a voice. -pisaquari
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Paradigm shifts and paying for sex

published at The Portland Alliance, May 2008

There’s a fascinating book by Thomas Kuhn called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn’s the guy who came up with the much-abused term “paradigm shift”, but there are good reasons why the book is famous and “paradigm shift” ascended the throne of trite progressive catchphrases.

Before we get back to the salacious topic of prostitution promised in the title, let’s get a grip on what a paradigm shift actually is according to the man who invented the phrase.
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