I’ve been thinking about the WAM! Conference for a few days now, attempting to wring out a post or two about it. I wrote a little bit about  before and after the conference at MMW.

I met some wonderful people at the conference, including Latoya from Racialicious, Samhita from Feministing, and Jill, Cara, Jack from Feministe. I met a lot of feminist writers whose names I’ve seen over the years, including Jennifer L. Pozner, Lisa Jervis, and Rebecca Traister. It was fulfilling and exciting to put faces and voices to people I’d “cyber-known” for years, and exhilirating to meet new faces. I met some wonderful activists, writers, and media makers, including Jean Stevens of Code PINK, Rebecca Spicuglia from Women’s Media Center, and Linda Kay Klein from The Sister Fund.

But it’s not all rainbows and ice cream cones. Since WAM! is about feminism and analyzing privileges and oppressions, I appreciated Renee Martin’s criticism of the conference at GlobalComment:

When women seek to come together we need to consider if the conditions allow for a multiplicity of voices to be heard. In the end, what happens is that you have women of privilege speaking about the marginalized rather than speaking to them and this only serves to support the hierarchy of bodies that has existed since the beginning of feminism.

Renee has a great analysis of class and ability issues; definitely check out her critique.