Letters Dear Sekhmet, Hello and thankyou to the organisers of the 3rd Annual Anarcha-Fem Conference. I had a relatively foul time at the Conference by it wasn't your fault. In fact if everything had been as nice as the organisation I would have had 48 hours of blissdom and rejoicement. A friend and I agreed that aspects of the conference in fact resembled less of a meeting of progressive radicals and more of our first few days at high school. As women who don't meet mainstream expectations of femaleness, (ie we are active rather than passive) we all cop a lot of shit. We reap few of the benefits allotted to those who conform and comply. Given this, and given anarchy and feminism's commitment to creating alternatives communities, why the hell some people had to put up with put-downs and more ridicule and alienation, in what should have been a safe environment for all women, I don't understand. Some bigot-boy comedians I once had the misfortune of having a conversation with, told me, when I complained about their homophobic/racist/sexist jokes, that all humour offended somebody. I couldn't be bothered pursuing that issue, they'd heard my point of view and they didn't matter that much to me. But when I see humour used by women as a tool to make themselves feel important and loved ( I do think we can and should find other ways to feel this), and has the dastardly but very real side effect of making other people feel stink, at a conference with should be challenging cretinous behaivour not giving it space, it matters. To all women and to all the moments when women weren't too cool, (and/or were feeling strong enough) to meet new people, have new conversations, to laugh at themselves and to make an effort to ensure other people were feeling happy and safe, thankyou. Maria Palmerston North p.s (q) What do you do if you're driving along and see a space-man? (a) You park in it man!Letters Thank you for your comments, the collective felt it was important to reply to some of your serious concerns. We would like to emphasise though that there were many good things that came out of the conference and difficult issues like the ones you describe. We hope in future that with better organisation, more time, more emphasis on bonding and building trust that these issues can be overcome next time. So that we can maintain the high level of emotional satisfaction and support we women expect from each other. Dear Sekhmet, It was great to be at the 95 Anarcha-feminist conference at Makahika Lodge in February. Its bloody cool to have an annual get together which is women only space. I found on the whole women respectful of others talking space and listening well and spouting interesting ideas too. The workshops were diverse and practical and to look at areas where anarchism has fallen short was good too. Like talking about how to support te tino rangatiratanga in this land in practical instead of just token ways. Another new thing was lesbian workshops which I thought was really important considering the good lesbian turnout. I also want to say thanks to Lou for her skills in food mastery or mistressy I should say. What changes would I like to see next year? Well more time when women are less tired for getting to know each other. More of a chance to talk about what we would like out of the weekend, and the kind of respect we would like from others. But I must say it was a fab time for exploring ideas, common interests and differences and yeah lets do it again. If youve got any ideas for next year send them to us Bye bye Caitlin Wellington Dear Sekhmet, Today I witnessed a truly horrendous sight. I was up at Victoria University using the Sutherland Room which is for students with disabilities. Interestingly enough I had been reading on the subject of Images of Women for a womens studies course. I look up to see this *!:*! man wearing a T-shirt with the words Shut up stupid bitch splattered across his chest. I felt so fucken pissed off my first reaction was to pull out a gun and put a gaping hole right through the middle of his macho puke torso. Why not? Hothead Piscean would have had his guts for garters. However that is fantasy and that option was out. My next idea was to throw paint t him - still impractical given the circumstances. What should I do? Tell him what I think of his taste in shirts, well isnt that what he wanted, feminist backlash? I left the room having done nothing but fume (damn - no smoke came out my ears) and decided to ask my anarch-fem mates for ideas. So let me know what you think of this one and other sexist slap in your face situations. What youve done, would like to do. Write to SEKHMET but dont call our 0800 number coz we aint got one. See ya Caitlin Wellington