Re: [-empyre-] geuzennamen

["N.Mauro-Flude" <nancy@sistero.sysx.org>]

Hi Anitza /et al.

Yes I was in a band Toydeath, who once supported Peaches at the metro in
Sydney on that tour.  From that time the band, previously quite
underground cult, queer & obscure, got picked up for a while as all the
hype by the consumerist adversiting kids like Tsubi *Jeans etc. to play
at all their private parties.   **I don't konw if we were helping
redefine identity by doing these gigs.  **I really hope so !** but *
*
I felt from this time and other experiences for me *it was more helpful
to engage with issues like feminism head on,
 at a more grass roots level. This might be an innapropriate time to add
to this but I am a core developer of the The Eclectic Tech Carnival this
is an annual womens hack lab.  It has roots in anarcho-feminism.  We are
interested in self led education as a tool of empowerment.  Our mission
is to improve women's access to art, information, technology and science
by providing an umbrella organisation for women's projects in these
areas.  The broad base reflects women's diverse experiences and
interests and enables us to highlight crossovers and interconnectedness
between areas such as art and technology.  Current  projects focus on
hands-on experience and knowledge sharing in the area of computers,
communication, information technologies and contemporary art.  The main
ongoing activities we have are the Genderchanger Academy
(http://www.genderchangers.org), the Syster Server Project
(http://systerserver.net) and the Eclectic Tech Carnival
(http://www.eclectictechcarnival.org).

These are grassroots projects, as a response to our own experiences of
gender issues in the IT world and beyond. 

Nancy

Anitza Geneve wrote:
> Hi Reneee

> Very briefly...Peaches did come out to Australia in 2004 at a big day
> out concert. Briefly my memeories of it was she was in usual form but
> there was little likely hood of gettng up close to the stage to see
> her performace as the first several rows consisted of fairly drunk
> guys, akin to a football pack.  I do appreciate what she aims to
> achieve as an artist but I think it was lost on that particular day-it
> all seemed a tad sad when I overheard a comment from one guy to
> another 'she's ugly but it's a pair of tits'. They really did not seem
> interested in her performance. I'm not trying to say anything here
> just relaying a memory.
>
> Anitza
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Renee Turner" <geuzen@xs4all.nl>
> To: "soft_skinned_space" <empyre@gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 9:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] geuzennamen
>
>
>> Hi blakkbyrd and everyone on Empyre,
>>
>> I appreciate your skepticism, and to address your questions, I'll 
>> have to do a little backtracking. Our name De Geuzen, is a
>> historical  one.  It has its roots in the Spanish occupation in the
>> Netherlands  during the 16th century.  The Geuzen were those who
>> resisted the  Spanish, and the Spanish "gave" them the derogatory
>> title which was  the equivalent of 'rogue' or 'beggar.'  But over
>> time, the resistance  took that negative name and started to see it
>> as a badge of pride.    It went from being a name they were *given*
>> to a name they  *appropriated* and which was re-inscribed through
>> their actions and  context. Today,  the word, geuzennaam is still
>> used in the Dutch  language whenever disparaging terms are
>> re-appropriated as a badge of  pride. (I saw you were writing from
>> Amsterdam, so maybe you already  know this, but it might be useful to
>> others on the list  :-)
>>
>> Tracey used the term* queering the language*.  And in fact,  this 
>> kind of appropriation is key to *queer* studies and theory. Someone 
>> else brands you, but you reappropriate the title for your own
>> devices  while still carrying its histories and connotations.   Also,
>> it  happens within pop-culture all the time and is closely related
>> to  drag.  Think of someone like Peaches (in English, everyone knows
>> this  is not just referring to fruit) or Hole (which is not just a
>> place  Alice in Wonderland fell down) or Madonna who adorned a
>> t-shirt with  the words, snatch.  These kinds of flips are something
>> talked about  extensively in Dick Hebdige's  Subculture: The Meaning
>> of Style  (1979) and brought into a more gender based context with
>> Judith  Butler's writing.  Both of which, have directly and
>> indirectly,  informed our thinking.
>>
>> Basically, the collection of geuzennaam (it is an older thread in our
>> work) grew out of our own desire as women to explore our stereotypes.
>> (it's connected to our uniforms and the paperdolls)  And the project
>> started out simple, as a circulating list of words being added to and
>> translated across different languages amongst women.  It was a 
>> catalyst for discussion.  Some words known by older women had faded 
>> out of use. To be a bluestocking or crumpet, is not so common any 
>> more.  So, the list is a kind of changing sociological portrait.
>>
>> And the t-shirts were first done at a Do-it-yourself exhibition.  We
>> simply had  the list of words on sticky back vinyl, shirts, an 
>> ironing board and a label with the Geuzennaam definition which could 
>> be sewn on. The women who were there immediately got it, and while 
>> pilfering through cloth and  words, you would hear things like "oh 
>> this is mine"...or " no this one... this one is even better".  They 
>> chose for themselves .  And we were able to explore ideas of 
>> stereotypes, cliches and "hurtful names", in a way which we never 
>> could have, if we said: "Now, lets talk about how women have been 
>> disparaged through words."  But at the same time, that is exactly 
>> what we were discussing while making our shirts and simultaneously 
>> bringing those words into our temporary possession.
>>
>> And as the set of t-shirts went online, other things happened.  We 
>> had an Amsterdam gay teen magazine contact us about featuring the t-
>> shirts in their magazine.  And again another trope, these words are 
>> not just about women but cross over into other marginalized territories.
>>
>> *Ryan* maybe this is also connected to your notion of subrational  
>> And this idea of leaving questions....allowing for a slippage... at 
>> once implicating and being implicated, and most of all, an element
>> of  play. I guess this work raises the question,  do we banish this 
>> terminology or open it up, hold it in plain view and continually re-
>> define it? While I understand some people prefer the former (it is a 
>> perspective we are familiar with), we have opted for the latter.
>>
>> Regarding the legal issue you raise, I don't know that much about
>> Australian law.    Someone Australian might be better suited to 
>> discuss the law there, than me.  Does anyone know if Peaches, or
>> Hole  have been on tour there   ;-)
>>
>>
>> all the best,
>>
>> Renee
>>
>>
>>
>>> From: Renee Turner <geuzen@xs4all.nl>
>>> Subject: [-empyre-] Tactics and Strategies
>>>
>>>
>>> Or another example, we have been archiving the negative names for
>>> women over several years (ranging from the virgin to the whore)  and
>>> have turned them into a set of T-shirts sold in our webshop.  Our net
>>> stats show us that people often come to our site because they are
>>> searching for porn. (their keywords reveal them ;-)  And oddly
>>> enough, they linger.  We actually get teenagers that email us because
>>> they want to add to our list of words, or they want to buy a T-shirt.
>>> (sorry this project is in Dutch but hopefully you get the idea:
>>> http://www.geuzen.org/current/geuzennamen/ ) In a way, through mis-
>>> recognition and the vernacular of the web, our work can move across
>>> unfamiliar territories or finds itself viewed in unconventional
>>> registers.
>>>
>>>
>>> Dear Renee
>>>
>>> I've looked at this project and would like some more information,
>>> please.
>>>
>>> How is it empowering for women to have you collect insulting terms 
>>> for women from teenage boys and then market the results on 
>>> teeshirts? Please direct me to the appropriate feminist theory.
>>>
>>> I'm also intrigued how you would propose getting such an 'artwork' 
>>> past Australia's anti vilification and anti-discrimination laws?
>>>
>>> This looks like a red light district tourist trap to me.
>>>
>>> blakkbyrd
>>> [from amsterdam]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Send instant messages to your online friends http://
>>> au.messenger.yahoo.com_______________________________________________
>>> empyre forum
>>> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>
>>
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