Remember when I invited you all to come on out (pun intended) for this year’s National Young Feminist Leadership Conference? Me, too, even though it feels like it was eons ago. Were we ever so young? Was I ever so awake? Did I ever spend a day not swimming in to-do lists and conference planning meetings? Who knows. All I know is, we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re gonna smash the patriarchy together. But we might as well get a drink or some food or just a moment to appreciate our friendship together, too!
That’s why I’m organizing a meet-up during this year’s NYFLC for the Autostraddle readers who are attending the conference! And guess what, y’all? My coworker Nancy is gonna co-host with me because she’s queer, going to A-Camp, and extremely well-versed in the Autostraddle universe! Double your pleasure, double your fun, double the feminist killjoys drinking coffee to get through the day, amirite.
We’ll be meeting up at 7PM on Saturday night, one hour before our big ol’ dance party! (Spoiler Alert: There’s a dance party. Whether or not Drake will play is still being decided, but you know what team I’m on.) Just come down to the hotel lounge for some drinks, some food, and some new friends! (PS, if you’re not registered for the conference yet you can still get in! You’ll have to register at the door, though, because online registration is closed.)
It’s my honor and privilege to change the world alongside all of you. Also, your hair looks great today.
I can’t RSVP to the Facebook event, but I will be there. Thank you for planning this, so psyched!
I don’t wanna be a Debbie downer but I attended the conference last year and my group and I noticed some really messed up things happening like:
-no spot for pronouns on the name tags
-no gender neutral bathrooms (staff said they forgot to put the signs up, but did so after queer caucus made noise about it)
– no trigger/content warnings including showing a video in the opening segment with all attendees present in which a woman was brutally assaulted and murdered. It was very graphic and loud and, like I said, came with no content warning.
Like I said, these were just experiences from last year’s conference. Hopefully, things like this will be corrected for all of y’all in attendance this year.
You’re not being a downer. It’s important to call out insensitivity when you see it, otherwise nothing changes.
I feel like people are hesitant to discuss flaws in groups that support causes they believe in, for fear that they are somehow derailing or undermining that cause.
But any organization worthwhile will welcome constructive criticism, especially when it’s relates to the wellbeing of its members.
hello! i’m on staff for fmf and help plan the conference, so here we go!
+ we changed up our nametags this year to add a pronoun field based on the feedback we received, so yay!
+ i was on staff and also the person who got the signs for our bathrooms professionally printed and i can 100% assure you that we did a sign hanging / easeling in the morning in which the bathroom sign got lost in the mix. it was hung up when the issue was brought to our attention, not because we were pressured into it. we’ve had gender-neutral bathrooms at this conference for years. it’s standard practice.
+ we’re not showing that film again but did take the feedback about trigger warnings we got very seriously. i got involved in feminism via anti-rape activism, which i’ve been doing for over six years, and a lot of us have similar roots in this movement. we heard you! we’re constantly improving – and that’s part of the process of building this movement!
hope this helps!