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I want to take a moment from my usual ranting about the state of the world. (I'll leave that to Catherine Morgan's excellent post pondering why anyone who supports feminist causes would consider voting for McCain since he clearly supports sexism;see: my ranting comment on his speech in rural Kentucky about why he opposes legislation like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that allows women to sue employers who discriminate against them and effectively hide it for long periods of time because women just need the education and training, and don't forget to send him your resume through Moms Rising to remind him that all the education in the world doesn't do a damn thing if employers are allowed to discriminate against you because you are a woman.) OK, so maybe I'll rant a little before I discuss two cool options for feminists attending BlogHer's July 18-19 conference awesome, progressive in San Francisco. (I couldn't control myself. I'm just so befuddled by the idea that someone who liked Clinton's center-progressive policies would vote for someone who wants to continue Bush's not-remotely-close-to-center-let-alone-progressive-ideas that it causes me to write horrible run-on sentences with lots of supporting links.)
Deep breath. On to what I meant to focus on... Last month, I suggested that sex-positive feminists attending the conference might enjoy a field trip to the awesome, feminist, gender-neutral sex shop Good Vibrations. A few people left comments indicating that, heck yeah!, that's be fun. BlogHer Contributing Editor Maria Niles was even good enough to put me in touch with some people she knew at the store, and they were extremely enthusiastic about BlogHers coming to visit. Events staff offered me two options:
1. Thursday, June JULY 17: We can take a tour of the Good Vibrations store. The tour will be conducted by the amazing sexologist Dr. Carol Queen!!!! How freakin' cool is that?!?! Time is to be determined, but they are open until 8 PM, so I was aiming for meeting up in the lobby of the Westin around 6:30 and head over together. Afterward, interested parties who do not want to run back to their room immediately to test their fabulous new sex toys can feast on the delicious cuisine in the neighborhood. (Note: This is at the same time as the Newbie Mixer from 8-10PM on Thursday night, open to all first-time BlogHer attendees.)
2. Friday, June JULY 18: The store is hosting a panel discussion on do-it-yourself porn, moderated by Dr. Queen and featuring two filmmakers. We are welcome to join the evening event after attending the conference welcome session, although we would depart before it ends at 9 PM.
I need to let the good folks at Good Vibrations know how many people will be coming (hopefully all of us - heh heh) on the trip, and of course, which trip we prefer. If you are interested in this, please leave a comment below BY FRIDAY, JUNE 13 and let me know which event you prefer.
Likely to be equally stimulating (albeit in a very different way) than a trip to Good Vibrations is the Feminism & Gender Meet-Up on Day Two (July 19) of the conference. This will take place from 2:30-3:10, and be led by yours truly. We have 40 minutes to discuss whatever we want to about feminism, gender, and blogging. That's plenty of time to get everything we have to say off our chests, right? Sure... Personally, I'm interested in talking about how feminism plays out across culture and class. However, to quote Elisa Camahort, "whoever shows up can determine what you all want to talk about: From feedback on where you want BlogHer's coverage of your favorite topic to go next to plotting how your flock can achieve world domination." So if there's anything on the topic that you're thinking about (and I know you are), please come!
That does it for my (mostly) non-ranting post. Hope to hear from you ASAP! Goodness knows, most of us could use more fun feminist events in our lives.
Suzanne also blogs about life at Campaign for Unshaved Rants (CUSS) & Other Rants, about yogurt and pudding at Live Active Cultures, and about creating positive social change at Just Cause.
