April - you are a power house!   These ideas look really interesting and you are so passionate. If others are in agreement I would suggest that you develop one and facilitate a BFN discussion meeting.   We are booked up to Nov 2009, but need to start scheduling after that. When do you fancy? I'm not sure how well attended a meeting too close to Xmas or NYE would be, Int FGM day is in Feb I think, Int Women's Day is in March; which are worth taking into account, but other that that I think the date should be up to you!   What does everyone else think?   Let's all get thinking about the topics WE all want to discuss and support each other in bringing about exciting new discussion meetings in 2010.   Go BFN!   K x Bristol Feminist Network http://www.bristolfeministnetwork.com/index.html --- On Wed, 1/7/09, April Reilly <rockandrollchicken@...> wrote: From: April Reilly <rockandrollchicken@...> Subject: Discussions To: bristol_feminist@... Date: Wednesday, 1 July, 2009, 10:36 PM     Hi there!   I thought I should get in touch because I have really enjoyed the discussions from BFN that have been held during the evenings at Cafe Kino. I found the topics totally relevent, and I think that the level of participation was fantastic.   As I have attended the discussions and other BFN events, I have noticed how as there is no formal membership or group hierarchy, which I think is really good. I like the idea of organising more autonomously. This has made me feel more welcome and more comfortable, and I think it would be great if only other feminist organisations could have been the same!   Since this is more the style of the BFN, I would like to become more active and more vocal by beginning my own discussions, in which I could arrange the discussion, the topic, reading material/stimuli, time and date, and in a way introduce and "lead" it.   I have already thought of some topics which I think would be of interest to other participants in the network, and these topics are: Patriarchy, Heteronormativity and Homophobia Feminism and Anarchism Rape, Sexual violence and Society (regarding attitudes towards it, in other words) Feminism and Global/Cultural issues (FGM, honour killings, female foeticide etc.) Fascism as a feminist issue   These are all topic ideas that I would really like to discuss more openly (instead of thinking to myself all the time!) because I think that they are still very important, adn I would like to circulate some thoughts regarding steps towards action, and just generally hear what other people have to say.   I especially think that fascism as a feminist issue would be a very key thing to discuss, with the growing popularity of the far-right and also being in an interesting political/economic climate which is one of the things that have allowed the far-right to become more popular i.e. the BNP winning two seats in European Parliament etc. I haven't heard any feminist discussion on this topic either, so this is definitely one that I would like to persue.   If this topic has already been discussed, then I would happily think of another thing that I would like to bring up as a BFN discussion.   If you could suggest anything to me, I'd be glad to hear it. In the mean time, I'll think things through and see what I can bring to the BFN!   See you soon!   April Reilly Beyond Hotmail - see what else you can do with Windows Live. Find out more.