Saturday, December 22, 2007

1st Best Canadian Blog Awards Meltdown


Just how fucking hard is this to figure out?
There are Canadian feminists. With blogs. Writing about feminism.
It doesn't matter whether you like feminists or get feminism, or whether the SoCons approve, or whether some idiot says you can't have a category for feminists unless you balance it with one for men abused by their spouses, or whether you would prefer feminists call themselves by some other name, or whether it's a little extra work, or whether you think feminists ought to be taught a lesson, or whether they are nice to you or call you a dickhead, or any of the other weasely excuses used so far. They are not relevant.
And yet somehow an argument as to whether or not the 2007 Canadian Blog Awards should include a Best Feminist Blog category has been going on for three days now.
There are Canadian feminists. With blogs. Writing about feminism.
They already are a category. Deal.
P.S. Dave is my hero. For his comments below his post, for standing up for fairness and truth and for not taking any weasel crap.
Update : Yes, JJ, you're right, the list of heroes is actually quite impressive : PSA, Dr. Dawg, Fern at Birth Pangs, Mattt at bastard.logic, and beginning of course with Berlynn from Politics 'n Poetry who simply said : "I have a concern. There is no Best Feminist Blog.", seconded by Prole from A Creative Revolution.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

How many times has the phrase "the first rule of holes" been used this week in reference to Sask, Big Daddy Dipper, etc?

They kept digging; they keep digging. They have now dug so deep that they've hit sheet rock.

Yet they still won't put down the goddamn shovels.

West End Bob said...

There are Canadian feminists. With blogs. Writing about feminism.

The "gospel" according to Alison - I love it!

Daddy Dave is my hero, too . . . .

daev said...

The irony of this whole situation is that via this whole meltdown, the Canadian feminist blogosphere is probably tighter and more coordinated than ever and is, I dare say, a force (for good) to be reckoned with. In a way, the CBAs and the pursuant controversy is a poignant demonstration of *exactly why* there should be a Best Feminist Blog category.

JJ said...

Right on, Alison. I wish I could be that clear and succinct.

BTW, Dave is my hero too. And PSA, he's been absolutely stand-up about this.

Anonymous said...

Go, sistah.
Absolutely astounding there are still so-called progressives arguing the legitimacy of feminism.
Will be interesting to see how they manage to unshit the bed.

Saskboy said...

Jan, no "so-called progressives" are arguing the "legitimacy of feminism". If you think feminism needs the masthead of a category on the Canadian Blog Awards to be legitimized, then I really don't know what to say to that.

Dave said...

If you think feminism needs the masthead of a category on the Canadian Blog Awards to be legitimized, then I really don't know what to say to that.

Whoa, there Buckwheat!! Just, fucking , Whoa!

Feminism IS a topic. YOU and YOU in a conspiracy with your CBA conspirators did everything in your power to try to reduce its legitimacy.

Feminism will survive and thrive long after the CBAs. In fact, feminism might just kill those very awards because of the inability to achieve a 21st Century standard.

DO YOU GET MY FUCKING DRIFT?!!

Alison said...

'K, Saskboy, that remark was just dishonest, wasn't it? Pretending to be too dumb to get Jan's point so as not to have to answer it.

Look, I know you're much more of a mixer than I am - I remember how thrilled you were to get a link from KKKate after the Sask blogs picnic last year. But I've also seen you stand firm on a point of conscience when you think an injustice has been done or a wrong overlooked.
So what are you up to here, huh?
Just blowing things up for the hell of it? What?

Saskboy said...

"
Just blowing things up for the hell of it? What?"

Actually, it feels more like I'm running around with a pile of TNT, and while various sides try to touch their match to it, a few bloggers I thought I could count on for reasonable debate have been trying to touch their match to it too.

==

"Feminism IS a topic."

No kidding. One could even say that it could touch every category already listed, which Berlynn actually said once. And two categories actually contain explicit criteria welcoming feminist blogs, and those that blog mostly about gender/sexual equality.

Dr. Dawg's concerns that we're "scared" of feminism is grandstanding bullshit, and I hope after people go away for the holidays that they come back to some other controversy more important to the world than a blog awards not doing "precisely" what they demand (while they offer no help in a volunteer capacity as was suggested to them).

Dave said...

And two categories actually contain explicit criteria welcoming feminist blogs, and those that blog mostly about gender/sexual equality.

You won't let that go, will you?

That attempt on your part has been cleanly dispatched... and you have been taken to the woodshed over it.

By the way. You had a volunteer to judge the entrants to a BFB category but seem to have ignored it.

Oh well.

Dr.Dawg said...

TMS--Threatened Male Syndrome.

Merry Christmas, all.

Havril said...

Personally, I'm all for a BFB category.

I have to admit I haven't followed this debate very closely (too busy changing diapers -- consider that your official birth announcement, Alison). So what I haven't seen is whether any consensus has emerged amongst the very bloggers that might be considered under this category -- does the "feminist blogosphere" want a BFB category? We know where Alison and some commenters stand, but what have others said?

Not that I think there ought to be or such a consensus, or that the existence or lack thereof should be determinative of whether a BFB category should exist. Just wondering.

Alison said...

Congratulations, Havril, Mrs Havril, and Baby Havril.
And now you'll have to give me just a moment, H, to adjust to your new non-snarky tone ;-)...ok. Some obvious stand-outs in the BFB category would be those blogs which provide research and news on issues of women's health and justice not found elsewhere.
Red Jenny, DAWN, F-Email Fightback, Birth Pangs, and Choice Joyce are obvious such examples and, no, I don't see a consensus being necessary. There's 27 separate blog categories in this year's awards - should be obvious which ones would be considered primarily feminist. Just as it's obvious which ones are 'sports' or 'food'. (Is this what you meant?)
Anyway, never mind all that now. Good wishes to your little family, Hav. Hoping you all get a nice lie-in together today. Hugs.

Saskboy said...

Perhaps I should let the issue be, but I thought I should correct Dave's impression here "By the way. You had a volunteer to judge the entrants to a BFB category but seem to have ignored it.

Oh well."

I got one or two emails about judging it. I emailed back, and never heard anything further from them, and I did not make an effort to discourage them.

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