Statement to Launchpad: Stop the Blacklisting of Feminist Voices

Why is the “Resistance Rewritten” workshop not happening at Launchpad?

Launchpad cancelled our event twenty four hours before it was scheduled.  The two speakers that were scheduled to give the presentation are radical feminists, and Launchpad fears that giving radical feminists a voice would, in their words, “alter the community’s perception of our establishment.”  In an email to the organizers of this event, they said that they “wish to avoid the controversy.”  The scheduled presentation has nothing to do with radical feminism at all – it’s about historical examples of social justice and environmentalism – but Launchpad believes that censoring radical feminists from speaking on any topic will preserve their public image among those who disagree with feminism.

Why does Launchpad want to censor radical feminists?

Radical feminists believe that a social system of male domination starts with human beings who are biologically male or female and creates two social classes of people: men and women. Socialization to either group can be a brutal process.  Our opposition believes that we should reform the caste system called gender by making it more flexible and palatable.  Radical feminists believe that gender is an oppressive caste system that needs to be dismantled so that all of us can be free.

For speaking out about this belief, radical feminists have increasingly been met with rape threats, physical intimidation and assault, and blacklisting.  By canceling our event, Launchpad has given in to forces that believe feminists deserve to be threatened with rape for speaking out about the systemic oppression of women.

Why should you care?

Launchpad and countless other venues and institutions who participate in this blacklisting are creating a culture that silences women, makes our experiences unspeakable, and uses fear tactics to keep us silent and obedient.  This is wrong, and it is cowardly.  We need to demand more from our community spaces and from our community at large.  If we allow bullies to silence women, who will those bullies go after next?

What can you do?

-Contact Launchpad and tell them that this behavior is unacceptable: 646-494-7211 and

info@BrooklynLaunchPad.org

-Pay attention: This kind of censorship is happening all the time, all over the country.  Call it when you see it and let the perpetrators know that women will not be silenced.

-Educate yourself:  Here are are a couple places to start-
–http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/21/55123/#.UcY7dKmw-eY
–http://www.deepgreenresistance.org/faq-radical-feminism/