How about Heather Corrina? She's the creator of Scarleteen.com (fucken kick-ass sex ed website) and she just wrote "S-e-x" which is pretty much the best and most thorough sex-ed book ever made. Also, I don't think she ever says "making love" in the book once, so that's cool. She also writes erotica and as kindsa essays and stuff... she's pretty bad-ass if you ask me

What about Kierra Johnson, E.D. at Choice USA, she has done amazing things in terms of young people's leadership development and access to information, tools, and resources in the reproductive justice movement.

The first person that came to mind was Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer prize winning columnist and feminist. She wrote a book called ...and His Lovely Wife about being a feminist and being married to a politician (Sherrod Brown) and all of the under-handed political tricks the opposing party tried to pull.

I heard her being interviewed on Fresh Air and she was just great.

I was just reading an article about sex trafficking(sp?) and though I have no particular person in mind, the subject is important.
I guess it's redundant to suggest that Feminists are against the forced sex trade of women but it should be obvious by now that we are the only ones who will ever actually do anything about it.

Interview Alix Olson simply because she kicks ass.http://www.alixolson.com/

given the use of Angela Davis in the photo, how about interviewing some black females?

The Feminist movement still does a rotten job of diversity, the online community is just as bad, but the use of AG's photo only adds to the black-women-as-mascots" vibe.

I'm just tired of the almost maternalistic, bordering on self-denial approach to dealing women of color by feminists and feminist bloggers.

it’s as if women of color are white women’s little sisters at best, their hobbies at worst. and underlying belief is that white women are the “real women� who need to show all women of color(especially black women) what it means to be feminine.

(2)Feminists write off white racism prejudice as the sole domain of white men, and when confronted with it, white feminists pull out phrases like “white male hegemony� “paternalism�, and other man-based tags to shirk all responsiblity on their end.

(3) They Inclusion Party. Feminsim at best uses a condescending “lets include� approach to embracing issues of race/women of color. It’s like saying, “hey we’re having a party, and wouldn’t it be nice to invite the dark people–it’s the ‘nice thing to do’�. this is the female equivalent of the class White Man’s Burden syndrome.

One more thing: please go back and study the following: The ERA, the Women’s Suffrage Movement and Eugenics. In the case of the ERA and the Women’s Suffrage Movement black women were left behind by white women, despite having various orgs go to black women and black civil rights orgs for support in their issues.

Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned parenthood and a pioneer of Eugenics, worked under the belief that abortion should be used to weed out the “genetically unfit� of society—namely minorities of color.

Feminists seem to never have a problem with the millions of black abortions, tho.

For these and other reasons, the vast majority of black feminists, black women and black men don’t take feminism seriously. never have, never will. the standard, run-of-the-mill bigot is traditionally much more upfront and honest. and therefore less irritating.

so yeah, my vote is for interviewing a couple more black females to find out how to be, i dunno... "more inclusive."

(hey, you gotta start somewhere.)

Yeah, interview more black females because they're black because they totally wouldn't be tokens then.

Just saying.

Anyway, has Angela Davis been interviewed here before? That would be mindblowing.

Jix--part of the ugliness of white privilege is its preventing those of us who are white from noticing the remarkable black women out there, doing kick-ass work. So, until white privilege no longer exists, we need to be ever vigilant against it by consciously reminding ourselves to give our attention to non-white activists. This doesn't have to be tokenism, but it does seem necessary since there are less black females profiled here than white, and I for one don't believe that results from conscious exclusion or from a lack of black women to profile. To not take an active role in consciously promoting more black women here would be to deny the existence of the privilege that blinds us.

Nellie McKay. Oh, my goodness, please interview Nellie McKay.

She is a twentysomething (she's never given out her definitive age) singer/songwriter who covers every genre from rap to funk to jazz to rock to alternative, and everything in between. She's sung in French, Spanish, and Japanese in addition to English. She is a feminist which shows clearly in her songs, especially Sari, from her first album, Get Away From Me, and Mother of Pearl from her latest album, which came out last month. Here are her the most feminist lyrics from her songs; the first is from Sari:

Well now I don't mean to offend, much
Just comprehend
When you're female and you're fenced in and
Phen-phened to no end
And no zen guide to men will help you fend off the brethren
And then the pen appears
And better than the oxygen network
Or the sword or the spear or the fork
Or the bored pork-fed horde
It's a mooring post—
The whore you'll miss the most when you're away
When you're in Snowshoe PA
Doin' some play from backstage
That deals with race and AIDS and gays and
Relationships and ballet
And then you're like "Hey hey, what'd ya say?
I can just sing my troubles away?"

This is from Mother of Pearl. The entire song is about feminism, so I've put it all here. The lyrics in bold is said, not sung, by men, and are meant to be a humurous yet accurate portrayal of how people respond when women speak up. The song is supposed to be funny; it's not serious.

Feminists don't have a sense of humor
Feminists just want to be alone
Feminists spread vicious lies and rumors
They have a tumor on their funny bone

They say
Child molestation isn't funny
Ha ha ha ha!
Rape and degradation's just a crime
Lighten up, ladies.
Rampant prostitution, sex for money
What's wrong with that?
Can't these chicks do anything but whine?

Dance break!

They say
Cheap objectification isn't witty
It's hot.*
Equal work and wages worth the fight
Sing us a new one!
On-demand abortion, every city
Okay, but no gun control.
Won't these women never get a life?

Feminists don't have a sense of humor
Poor Hillary.*
Feminists and vegetarians
Feminists spread vicious lies and rumor
They're far too sensitive to ever be a ham
That's why these feminists just need to find a man

I'm Dennis Kucinich, and I approve this message.

*These lyrics are said by Nellie, not men.

She has an official website, but it doesn't have a lot of information. Her unofficial fan website is much more detailed and has been around much longer. I've put the URLs to both at the bottom. You can buy her albums on iTunes, sample them on Amazon, or listen to a couple of them on her website.

http://nelliemckay.com/

http://www.nelliemckay.org/

Toni. Morrison. Toni Morrison.
Toni ... Morrison ...

Toni. Morrison. Toni Morrison.
Toni ... Morrison ...

(sorry if this appeared twice ... wouldn't want to be redundant or anything.)

While this is completely off topic, I just wanted to point out that the women's suffrage movement would not have happened without the abolitionist movement. Diminishing sexism and racism have gone hand in hand since the formalized movements began. While I won't deny that there were/are instances of racism in the feminist movement or vice versa, it's important to note that feminism is about equality. There are most likely less people of color profiled here because there are less who are activists for feminism. (NOTE: This isn't saying that there aren't really awesome ones out there. And we should totally profile them and give them equal time. It's strictly about numbers. And no, I'm not advocating quotas.) We should strive to showcase the wonderful people (regardless of color, orientation, gender, etc.) who are doing so much for equality. 'Cause that's what feminism is all about.

Since we're on the topic of diversity, are there any awesome men we could feature that are doing cool things for feminism? We shouldn't forget about them, either. The only way for feminism to succeed is to get men involved as well. I introduced my boyfriend to feministing and now he reads/posts. This makes me a happy, happy girl. :)

hadji williams,
I'm not sure how regularly you read feministing, because- while critiques of the whiteness of mainstream feminism are often valuable- the interviews here tend to be from a really diverse and incredibly talented world of women. Do a search, it's a pretty great group.
As for my suggestions?
Prof. Mari Matsuda, an incredible critical race and gender legal scholar and passionate Hawaiian.
Maybe one of the founders of Girls Rock Camp? http://www.girlsrockcamp.org/
And how about Belquis Ahmadi? She's an Afghan human rights lawyer, with a focus on women. I think she's working at the International Organization of Migration now.

Nazanin. Don't let the beauty queen thing throw you. She's a very outspoken activist on human rights issues who, among other things, ran a successful campaign to save the life of an Iranian girl sentenced to death for defending herself from a rapist.

And to see you interview Malalai Joya would be really cool too.

I'd like to suggest Roz Kaveney, whose websites are http://rozk.livejournal.com and http://glamourousrags.dymphna.net/.

With little recognition, she's been active on the frontlines of feminist activism, transrights struggles, civil liberties work, and as done serious advocacy work for the mentally disabled. She's been involved in circles of all sorts, from her work for the recognition of BDSM lesbians during the sex wars, to her leftist/liberal activism at Oxford, to her work on the UK's literary scene. I just think she's quite fascinating.

Hadji Williams,

I wonder if you were able to track down the feministing interview archives? In case you weren't (it took me a few tries), here's a link: http://feministing.com/interviews/

I find at least 29 women of color on that page, leaving out some whose racial identity was not obvious to me as I scrolled down. There's always room for improvement, of course.

I'm disappointed to hear that you've run across white feminists who are still trotting out that tired old "racism is the responsibility of men" line. I'd thought/hoped that we'd put that one to bed, and am more grateful than usual for the non-assholery I usually encounter.

As for Margaret Sanger, while she was a proponent of eugenics, especially as her career advanced, her main focus was not people of color. She developed her birth control ideas as a visiting nurse among NYC's immigrant communities--at that time, mostly Jews and Italians, and the brochures advertising her clinics were printed in English, Yiddish, and Italian. She was eugenicist--that wasn't all she was, of course--but her racism was not necessarily the same thing as racism today. Eugenics has a long, varied, and shameful history that has tainted most aspects of western thought at one point or another in the past two hundred years, and as you rightly point out, feminism is no exception.

Now that I think about it, I don't believe Sanger was working on abortion issues at all--she was providing information about and methods for contraception.

Aayan Hirsi Ali

She recently moved to the US after the Dutch revoked funding for her protection. The protection that she needed from groups in Holland.

Correction, Dave, the Dutch government decided not to fund secret-service-style agents for her while she lives abroad. She still gets protection in the Netherlands, where she's been hanging out these days as a result of the state-funded protection she receives while in-country.

First, I nominate fabulous Australian (aboriginal) magistrate Pat O Shane, who's most famous for acquitting and praising women brought before her for wittily defacing sexist billboard ads.
Second, I urge Dave and all those others equally confused about Aayan Hirsi Ali's situation to read her autobiography, "Infidel", in which she explains quite clearly her reasons for wanting to move to the US.

>>Since we're on the topic of diversity, are there any awesome men we could feature that are doing cool things for feminism? We shouldn't forget about them, either. The only way for feminism to succeed is to get men involved as well.

While I do think sexism hurts everyone-- I have to say that the feminist movement has been quite successful in the since it still exists and is growing and thriving to this day. The women who fought for this movement, did not need men, nor do we need men to fight the fight for us. It's about sisterhood and autonomy.

not a recent one:

Elaine Morgan, author of many books including desent of woman, which was the first of many that took on sexism in evolutionary theory.

Please 'not Oprah's bookclub' this book, you'll love it!

There are most likely less people of color profiled here because there are less who are activists for feminism.

Yup. And there aren't more women in CEO positions and working as Senators and Governors and Mayors and Police Chiefs because there are "less" (sic) who are qualified for those positions.

Also, the definition(s) of feminism have come largely from WHITE women, so it's possible the definitions are lacking?

Some of the responses to hadji are rife with the very condescension she's talking about in her post.

Don't just give your knee-jerk response. Think about what hadji is saying, and OWN the parts of it that you know are true. (most of her post, by the way)

I think it would be great to interview someone who doesn't have "star" power but who reaches many people nonetheless -- maybe one of the leaders of California Nurses Association -- a truly badass organization -- a professor who put women's history on the map (full disclosure: I'm a professor, hence the handle) -- a grassroots activist whose been fighting the good fight for a long time. Linda Burnham of the Women of Color Resource Center leaps to mind. Or students who have been fighting back against the racist, sexist, homophobic shit on their college campuses -- they're real heroes. The young women who led the demo at CCSU after the racist cartoon was published on the heels of the rape satire, for example.

Stars are cool and can draw some attention to the site and the feminist movement, but most of us doing what we do aren't stars -- we're just ordinary folks keeping the movement alive through our each one-reach one-teach one work.

Tinfoil- How did the concept of "less" (as in there just aren't as many of them) become "less" that are qualified because of their race? That's pretty much the opposite of what I said. I said that there are awesome activists out there of all races that deserve their time. Not that they're in any way less deserving. We, as feminists, should strive to be active in all communities, and feministing does a really great job of highlighting that work, regardless of race and orientation.

There just aren't as many activists of color out there, so let's change that. Many of us don't want feminism to be a white girls club, which is why some work against it. I, for example, volunteer with younger girls in West Philadelphia. And hopefully some of them will be profiled here one day.

As for feminism's definition coming from white women- you're right. And it wouldn't have happened without them. We should thank them for what they've done (and acknowledge their flaws) and move on to change feminism to apply to all women and men today. But no re-definition of feminism will go against the fact that feminism is about EQUALITY for all and always has been.

I find it interesting that you consider what I've said to be a "knee-jerk reaction." That's not what it was. Perhaps the "condescension" that you're talking about is actually a moderate response to a valid topic.

Jill Tracy and the other women of Womens Voices Illinois are very cool women. They recently toured the state stopping at colleges, high schools, women's groups, hospitals, etc. talking to women to find out what issues are most important to THEM when it comes to policy-making. They enouraged women to vote, and taught them why it is so important that THEY in-particular become more involved in politics. Despite being all republicans, they have done a stellar job of encouraging women throughout Illinois to become more politically active.

I don't know if the URL on my comment worked, so here is a link to the women of Womens Voices Illinois:

http://www.womensvoicesillinois.com/

cool. i appreciate the links and interviews. it's not about quotas with me it's about consciousness. i never gave much thought to the issues until i asked mys sisters and mother growing up why they were never involved in the ERA movement and why they didn't get all excited about Billy Jeane King beating Bobby Riggs and they reminded me that it simply didn't apply to women of color.

i thought that was "just their opinion" until i went thru my life and watched how the most liberal and "open-minded" white girls and white female treated girls and women of color growing up. it was as if it was fine to mention MLK, Jr. and Oprah and Angela Davis when white male supremacy when it benefited their needs, but otherwise, they were just as biased and marginalising to us, only they employed tactics of condescension and "it's those evil white guys" for everything they were equally responsible for doing.

unfortunately i see it still way too much, today which is why i stay abreast of as many orgs and groups that are fighting to change that.

however, i take issue with SouriezLaJoconde's following statements:

1) "there just aren't as many activists of color out there, so let's change that."

2)"As for feminism's definition coming from white women- you're right. And it wouldn't have happened without them. We should thank them for what they've done (and acknowledge their flaws) and move on to change feminism to apply to all women and men today."

Let's start with #1:

There are plenty of black, cuban, chinese, insert- ethnic-group-here feminists out there. the problem with the feminist mindset is that its so predisposed to thinking in terms of WHITE and OTHER that you don't recognize them unless YOU chose on YOUR terms at YOUR convenience. if you simply googled "black female feminists" of "black female bloggers" for example you'd find legions of women who've been slugging it out for just as long, under equally and worse circumstances and developing equally powerful insights, solutions, organizations, etc.

(It's bigger than Angela Davis and whichever 2 or 3 soul singers you're partial to.)

As for #2--As for feminism's definition coming from white women- you're right. And it wouldn't have happened without them. We should thank them for what they've done (and acknowledge their flaws) and move on to change feminism to apply to all women and men today.

that's the biggest problem that's facing feminism: That feminism is proudly-rooted in a mythological WHITE WESTERNized FEMALE VIEW of what womanhood is stunningly backwards. Women of world don't operate from that foundational view, and by continuing to spread that gospel, you're being as oppressive as any man ever could be.

the idea that woman's identity and femininity could come from any other angle or foundation is just too much for people to accept.

and so much of what feminism has become isn't about change or evolving, but forcing this comfort zone on all women even if it isn't the core of their truth.

simply talking to other women, particularly non-white, non famous women you'll find this to be quite true.

Juley Fulcher, the director of Break the Cycle's Washington, DC office.

As for #2--As for feminism's definition coming from white women- you're right. And it wouldn't have happened without them. We should thank them for what they've done (and acknowledge their flaws) and move on to change feminism to apply to all women and men today.

Thank them? Sometimes I want to slap them, and suggest that maybe, just maybe their lily whiteness is blinding them to all the WoC feminisms and feminists out there. They've even managed to define womanhood out from under me, a Latina transwoman.
Do these folks know how to Google 'womanism'? How about Xicana/Chicana, mujerista, transfeminism, etc.?
I for one don't want to be bolted on the side of white nontrans feminism like some cheap accessory. And I hate to say it, but this request for someone to interview leaves me feeling dirty, somehow. Educate yourself!
So many folks here and elsewhere have raised the issue of WoC invisibility and yet white feminists insist on dragging us into white feminism instead of making feminism represent all women.

@Hadji: Beautiful post. Me too, times too.

while we are talking about diversity, i would love to see some native american activists. perhaps it is b/c i don't know many, and b/c having grown up on a reservation, i have seen far too much violence against women that goes unnoticed and unpunished.
so, yeah, that's my vote.

hadji~wonderful!

Her campaign website isn't up any longer, but she ran for Congress in District 5 in TN for US House against Jim Cooper, who claims to be a Democrat (his voting record begs to differ). She also helped start up a low power radio station in TN (www.radiofreenashville.org) and all sorts of other stuff (she's worked at a Rape Crisis Center and at adult education centers). She's a really great lady!

how familiar are people with book called "War On The Weak" by Edwin Black? It's about the history of Eugenics and the role of Margaret Sanger in it.

check it out.

you'll find that Sanger and others deemed eugenics a viable tool for population control among poor, indigent, cripple, jews, italians and blacks in the early 1900s. eugenics was about weeding out those of "poor genetic stock" in sanger's opinion.

her work with eugenics was the foundation for in planned parenthood and the abortion movement.

check out the book--it's at any library--i bought my copy at borders a couple years ago when it was released.

Sadly, Sanger was not the only birth-control pioneer to be involved with eugenics; I believe Moses Harman, despite his admirable work on behalf of women's rights to sexual autonomy and his early use of the term "rape" to describe forced sex within marriage, was also involved. While Sanger's investment in eugenics was certainly deeply informed her work in birth control and what became pro-abortion-rights movement, that's not true for the whole movement. The early birth control movement also included such radicals as Emma Goldman, who was organizing immigrants and the poor. She wrote in a letter to Sanger (who was to desert her in later years) that "Not one of my lectures brings out such crowds as the one on the birth strike." (Her use of the term "strike" is so characteristic of Goldman--she was constantly making connections among various radical causes, I find this one particularly heart-warming.) I've never read anything to implicate Ezra Heywood or Ida Craddock in such vile views, either.

Sanger was a woman of many flaws and shameful views, but the birth control movement was always bigger than only her--no matter how she herself liked to look at it. Fortunately, her work in the eugenics sense was a failure, fortunately--wealthy educated WASP women craved access to birth control even then, and the rest of us did not stop breeding.

You point to a vital truth, though, which is that every social movement picks up the prejudices and hatreds of its larger cultural context. Feminism has certainly had this problem with racism, as you point out, as well as with homophobia and transphobia. Black nationalism, like most nationalisms, invoked patriarchal rhetoric. The labor movement has a history of racism and sexism (as well as, I should add, a history in which the best elements of that movement fought against those things).

I sometimes wonder if movements for the liberation of marginalized, disenfranchised groups are especially vulnerable to adopting such horrible views in bids to appear more "respectable," showing that they're "like" the mainstream they're fighting by making common cause in excoriating a different hated group.

Oh, hey, one more thing--I haven't read War on the Weak, but I'll bear it mind. Have you read The Legacy of Malthus by Allan Chase? It's a truly excellent book about eugenics and its pseudo-scientific roots in the past two centuries. It's probably out of print now, but it's well worth tracking down. It does an amazing job of demonstrating just how pervasive the ideology of eugenics was up until the second world war, I believe, and how thoroughly it permeated mainstream thought. It's not quite as accessible in style as Stephen Jay Gould's Mismeasure of Man, but once you get into it, it's pretty damn gripping.

Interview with Dr. Henry Morgentaler would be awesome. Same goes for Hayao Miyazaki (need a translator), who has been a long-time pro-feminist man.

My picks for women have already been mentioned, but I do think more WOC interviews will be great.

As for one earlier poster, as a WOC, I'm really tired of people using Margaret Sanger to hate on PP. PP was the only place for a long time where as a broke, WOC college student, I could get affordable health care and reproductive care. PP also hires tons of minorities, and are often very good about carrying staff that speak various languages to help women that many not speak english. I don't agree with a lot of Sanger's ideas on race and eugenics, but you have to place her in historical context.

here are most likely less people of color profiled here because there are less who are activists for feminism.

I don't know where you get that from. If you take even a small look at the interview archives here, I think you'll see that woc are doing feminist activism all over the damn place. And that's just on this site, which is just a drop in the big old feminist bucket. Hadji's right on--I think that sometimes it's just convenient for folks not to see past their own nose.

Kathleen Hanna!!!!
And ask if Le Tigre will ever tour again.
=D