What did you think about Fem2.0?

February 3, 2009 Written by Women

We had an exciting day yesterday — the Fem2.0 conference was an incredible experience for both the organizers and the attendees! Thank you, everyone — both online and in person — who brought passion, creativity and commitment to Fem2.0 to make it such a success. May the energy, inspiration and goodwill generated yesterday continue to grow and snowball into positive real change.

Here’s a link to pictures taken by Katie and others. Do you have pics, video or blog posts? Send us the links and we’ll post them on the site! (If you’ve got them on Facebook, you can add them to our page.)

Here is just a taste of what people are saying about us:

On Twitter

From AAUW Dialog (and see AAUW’s pics here)

I was lucky enough to be part of the Inauguration – on the Mall with my newest 1.5 million friends watching history change in front of our eyes. Well, I didn’t realize that, just a few short days later, I would have the same sense of being part of history, of being part of a change that has the potential to impact millions. In this case, it is as I listen to speakers at the Fem2.0 conference on how women’s presence on the web is already affecting not just women’s issues, but everyone’s issues.

From Writes Like She Talks (includes pics)

Let me just say that when I met people like Eleanor Smeal, Kim Gandy and Heather Booth, among several others, the first thing I said was, “Thank you!”  What else do you say to these women who have tirelessly fought for women’s rights and equality for nearly five decades?

From the NYAC Blog

There was great awareness at the conference that both online and offline outreach are becoming necessary to truly reach everyone that needs to be reached. If we neglect web 2.0 technologies, we miss out on all of the energy and passion of youth. If we rely solely on web 2.0 technologies, we miss out on the experience and opinions of people who don’t have computers and people whose idea of being high-tech involves having an email address.

From CNS News

The conference featured several panelists discussing how the "new media" can be used by feminists to advance their agenda of “reproductive choice and justice,” and other issues facing women, including discrimination against minority women and those who have children.

What did you think of Fem2.0? Please give us your feedback in the comment section below and let us know how your experience was, what your thoughts were and what we can do to keep these conversations continuing into the future. We will be putting out a survey about the conference in a few days, but in the meantime we want to hear directly from you.

We hope that next year our mind-meld of feminists will be even bigger. Stay connected to Fem2.0 and join our email list — and encourage your friends to join too!

And the Twittercasts will continue; join us Sunday evening at 10 p.m. EST (as always): What are the next steps? How can we keep yesterday’s energy and determination going into the future? What are your ideas for making connections in this movement and using technology/the Internet to do it?

Thanks for everything you’ve done to make Fem2.0 a success — we could not have done this without you!

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  • http://www.1000WomenCanChangeTheWorld.org Paula Constantino

    So much energy and enthusiasm… peppered with humor and lots of innovative ideas and strategies!

    It’s all about communication using Web 2.0 – blogging is big – but social media is coming up fast. Terrific chance to exchange ideas with vibrant women of all ages and cultures… Paula

  • http://www.1x57.com Amy Senger (@sengseng)

    It was one of the best conferences I’ve been to in a while. It was well organized and the quality, depth and breadth of topics and knowledge was tremendous. The fact is women’s issues are still severely neglected, both in our own country and around the world. There must continue to be a constant discourse. I was personally reminded how important it is to have women role models to inspire us to take on the issues we’re passionate about (as an athlete, I overjoyed to meet Christine Brennan!). It’s a time where we can leverage technology in a flatter, more open and transparent environment to promote equality and that which is simply right and just. Thank you!

  • Callie

    Can Anyone tell me what the final thought “quote” was from yesterday?

  • http://notmygal.com Tanya (@nerdette)

    I had a WONDERFUL time – and we had a wonderful session on cross-generational organizing and how we all can use now media and social networks as bridges to connect us.

    If you didn’t get a chance to come to the panel — please stop by and see highlights from our panel!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGhorkLoZyw

  • http://aintiawomanonline.com Emily

    Here you go Callie: http://www.fem2pt0.com/?p=634

    “We are in for a very long haul… I am asking for Everything You Have To Give. We will never give up… You will lose your Youth, your Sleep, your Patience, your sense of Humor and occasionally… the understanding & support of the people you Love very much. In Return, I have nothing to offer you but… your pride in being a woman, and all the Dreams you’ve ever had for your daughters, and nieces and grandaughters… Your Future and the certain Knowledge that at the end of your days you will be able to look back and say that Once in your life you gave Everything you had for Justice.

    ~Jill Ruckelshaus at the 1977 NWPC-CA State Convention in San Jose”

  • http://www.theturnerreport.com Suzanne

    Thanks so much Katie, Gloria, Shireen, Heather and Liza for making this all happen!!!

  • http://feministadvisoryboard.blogspot.com MadamaAmbi

    Dear Sistas–I will be 55 in a week and I’ve just found my “community.” Oh yeah, I’ve been a feminist for decades, but I was dealing with crippling psychological and physical pain, and trying to understand the origins of my individual suffering. Then I studied feminist psychotherapy, learning that the personal is the political, that women as a class are impoverished and oppressed, and that that are endless ways to blame the victim. But I still wasn’t whole. Don’t get me wrong. It helped me hang in there, but my path to more health (more me) involved many kinds of medicine, support and the love of a good man to get me where I am today.

    Where I am today is online, and hallelujah for technology! I can’t show up at conferences, especially ones held on the East Coast in wintertime! Feh! But I get around the femisphere as well as anyone these days, and I’ve been at an endless feminist cocktail party since November 4. That’s when I turned my attention from the Obama campaign back to my regular feminist outrage.

    I went looking for feminists on Twitter, and I found more than a few who were welcoming and supportive and interested in my perspective. I visited blogs, left comments, wrote emails and made cold calls all over the femisphere, introducing myself. When I discovered Fem2.0, I had a major click. I friended them, I followed them, I wrote to them, and ultimately I lobbied them to please please please stream their conference so that I could participate from home.

    And they did. There were technical problems and I was only able to see the opening speakers and the closing plenary, but in between those, I kept up via Twitter and by the liveblogging of Amber Rhea and lauriewrites. I had attended Tweetchats on Sunday nights leading up the conference, and so when I had to fall back on Twitter in order to participate, it felt very substantive. And when I learned that they were projecting the Tweetstream behind the panelists, I totally felt that I was there. Really there in a profound way.

    Ultimately, the success of this movement will depend on inclusion, in my opinion. Fem2.0 is waving the inclusive flag…and that’s what I need, what I’ve always needed, in order to have community. I’m inspired by the individual women of Fem2.0 and also by their collective action. I also want to give a shoutout to Veronica Arreola for her inclusiveness and sisterhood.

    yours
    Madama

  • http://kiamshacom.blogspot.com Ananda Leeke

    I thought the conference was a great beginning. I am still marinating on what I learned, heard, witnessed, and felt. Today I wrote my first reflection which came in the form of a poem entitled “At A Crossroads.”
    See below or click here: http://kiamshacom.blogspot.com/2009/02/at-crossroads-poetry-inspired-by-fem-20.html.

    At A Crossroads of Awakening by Ananda Leeke
    Copyright 2009 by Madelyn C. Leeke

    Inspired by my participation in the Fem 2.0 Conference held at George Washington University on February 2, 2009, and African American artist Meta Warwick Fuller’s sculpture, Ethiopia Awakening (1914)

    Excerpt from That Which Awakens Me (iUniverse, Inc. – Spring 2009)

    We are at a crossroads.
    It is offering us a grand opportunity filled with great awakening.
    One that can bring us into a new day that gracefully unfolds into a new tomorrow and future.
    It is happening everywhere.
    Can you see it?
    Can you feel it?
    Do you want to be a part of it?

    Whether we know it or now, we are manifesting the words of our very own American artist sistalove Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller:

    “awakening, gradually unwinding the bandages of [our] past and looking out on life again, expectant but unafraid.”

    The bandages we are unwinding are complex layers of identities that include our ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, educational backgrounds, professions, places of residence, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and political beliefs.

    Many of us wear an array of t-shirts that mark as feminists, womanists, pro-choicers, right to lifers, democrats, republicans, green party members, socialists, communists, independents, conservatives, progressives, and middle of the roaders.

    Our labels of identity have often created barriers to our growth, coalition, understanding, and affirmation as women.

    Despite the differences, our identities make us who we are.

    They give us individual and collective meaning.

    And they must be valued, understood, respected, and affirmed.

    With all that said, I am left with a question:

    How do we awaken and unwind the bandages from the barriers of the past that created exclusion and misunderstanding?

    The answers for those of us who are connecting online reveal themselves a little each day as we interact with social media tools that have the capacity to expand our quilt of sisterhood.

    When we tell and document our stories, seek support and advice, educate and train, create and share content, advocate for common causes, launch businesses and nonprofit organizations, market and sell products and services, express our creativity, and engage in dialogue on our audio/video/text blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and other social networking and bookmarking sites, we give ourselves the opportunity to learn more about each other.

    Our learning efforts can open the door to ways we can honor, promote, and practice diversity, tolerance for a difference of opinion, self-care, compassion, patience, acceptance, mindfulness, loving kindness, and forgiveness.

    It all begins with our choice.

    If we choose to do the work of understanding who we are and what we believe and want, and seek out common interests without imposing our own strong wills, agendas, beliefs, and branding strategies, we can usher in a much-needed paradigm shift that creates space for our right brain to jump the broom and marry our left brain so that our power, passion, and purpose as women are aligned in strategic ways that give birth to new ways of being, communicating, and working together.

    Are we ready to awaken and fully unwind the bandages of our past?

    Are we ready to look out on life again, expectant but unafraid of manifesting a shared destiny along common interests while affirming and maintaining our separate identities and causes?

    These questions are rhetorical.

    We already know the answer.

    We are smart, capable, and talented women.

    So let’s walk past the crossroads and make what we know a reality.

    Won’t you come?
    Won’t you come?
    Won’t you come?

  • http://kiamshacom.blogspot.com Ananda Leeke

    Hi All. I edited the poem last night and wanted to submit a corrected version. I also added some historical facts that I think you might find interesting. See below.Enjoy!

    REVISED POST – At A Crossroads – poetry inspired by Fem 2.0 conference & African American female artist/poet Meta Vaux Warwick Fuller

    Here’s some juicy Black Women History facts….

    Do you know who Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller was? She was an amazing sistalove artist and poet who was born on June 9, 1877. She died March 18, 1968. Our sistalove Meta was the first African American artist to make art celebrating Afrocentric themes. My favorite Meta piece of artwork is her sculpture Ethiopia Awakening. Click here to see a photo:
    http://negroartist.com/negro artist/Meta Warrick Fuller/pages/Meta Warrick Fuller ethiopia awakening1_jpg.htm.

    Click here to learn more about Meta: http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/227/Meta_VW_Fuller_sculptor_of_Black_themes.

    Tune into BAP Living Radio on March 29th at 7pm EST for a discussion about Meta with Dr. Renée Ater, a Professor of American Art at the University of Maryland. Dr. Ater will discuss her research and soon-to-be published book about Meta. Click here to listen to the show: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/18598.

    At A Crossroads of Awakening by Ananda Leeke
    Copyright 2009 by Madelyn C. Leeke

    Inspired by my participation in the Fem 2.0 Conference held at George Washington University on February 2, 2009, and African American artist Meta Warwick Fuller’s sculpture, Ethiopia Awakening (1914)

    Excerpt from That Which Awakens Me (iUniverse, Inc. – Spring 2009)

    We are at a crossroads.
    It is offering us a grand opportunity filled with great awakening.
    One that can bring us into a new day that gracefully unfolds into a new tomorrow and future.
    It is happening everywhere.
    Can you see it?
    Can you feel it?
    Do you want to be a part of it?

    Whether we know it or not, we are manifesting the words of our very own American artist sistalove Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller:

    “awakening, gradually unwinding the bandages of [our] past and looking out on life again, expectant but unafraid.”

    The bandages we are unwinding are complex layers of identities that include our ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, educational backgrounds, professions, places of residence, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and political beliefs.

    Many of us wear an array of t-shirts that mark us as feminists, womanists, pro-choicers, right to lifers, democrats, republicans, green party members, socialists, communists, independents, conservatives, progressives, and middle of the roaders.

    Our labels of identity have often created barriers to our growth, coalition-building, understanding, and affirmation as women.

    Despite the differences, our identities make us who we are.

    They give us individual and collective meaning.

    And they must be valued, understood, respected, and affirmed.

    With all that said, I am left with a question:

    How do we awaken and unwind the bandages from the barriers of the past that created exclusion and misunderstanding?

    The answers for those of us who are connecting online reveal themselves a little each day as we interact with social media tools that have the capacity to expand our quilt of sisterhood.

    When we tell and document our stories, seek support and advice, educate and train, create and share content, advocate for common causes, launch businesses and nonprofit organizations, market and sell products and services, express our creativity, and engage in dialogue on our audio/video/text blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and other social networking and bookmarking sites, we give ourselves the opportunity to learn more about each other.

    Our learning efforts can open the door to ways we can honor, promote, and practice diversity, tolerance for a difference of opinion, self-care, compassion, patience, acceptance, mindfulness, loving kindness, and forgiveness.

    It all begins with our choice.

    If we choose to do the work of understanding who we are and what we believe and want, and seek out common interests without imposing our own strong wills, agendas, beliefs, and branding strategies, we can usher in a much-needed paradigm shift that creates space for our right brain to jump the broom and marry our left brain so that our power, passion, and purpose as women are aligned in strategic ways that give birth to new ways of being, communicating, and working together.

    Are we ready to awaken and fully unwind the bandages of our past?

    Are we ready to look out on life again, expectant but unafraid of manifesting a shared destiny of common interests while affirming and maintaining our separate identities and causes?

    These questions are rhetorical.

    We already know the answer.

    We are smart, capable, and talented women.

    So let’s walk past the crossroads and make what we know a reality.

    Won’t you come?
    Won’t you come?
    Won’t you come?