Feminist Politics as Asylum
Malestream Introduction to Political Science textbooks say the same thing: politics is about who gets what, when and how. Although the way this formula has been interpreted, explicated, and practiced has been male-dominant feminist theorists, activists have been persistently digging into the gendered nature of the practice: that the resources, the way they are allocated, the decision-making mechanisms and the way political is understood carry the burden of the masculine mind, delimiting the political practice into the borders of men’s game of politics.
Bringing everyday life into this game of politics was not easy and quick. It continues to be challenged by the still masculine powerholders, feminist struggles in theory and on the street still continues to that end. The male-dominant political structures and related policy implementation have immediate effects on everyday lives of all genders, but the way the voices of all are channeled to and through the decision-making process has always been discriminatory at best, negligent at worst. Feminist voices have had significant implications for the inclusion of all the gender voices into this process by picking up the political in everyday life. Despite conservative, nationalist and religion-based setbacks we have succeeded in stretching the boundaries in formal politics. We need to continue in our struggle against the patriarchal extension of politics in our everyday life.
This issue is an attempt to join the feminist praxis around the world to see our achievements in making a difference in the running of politics, acknowledge the strength of feminist collective activism, explore the possibilities for alternative meanings and examples of feminist praxis, and raise our voices against the rise of authoritarian, fascistic, misogynist political trends that challenge the realistic hope for an earth on which we can leave peacefully.
We invite works that relate to feminist politics offering the theoreticians and activists a breathing space where they express, share, and relate their own experiences to the others, as well as forging alternative modes of struggles against the rising tide of politics of enmity. We especially underline works from the periphery, from the margins, the ghettos, and the non-binary gender places and dispositions that represent, live, enliven and (re-)produce the counter-knowledge against boundaries, fixed by, for and with manly powers. Here by works, we mean written and visual texts, academic and non-academic genres of knowledge production, artworks (including photographs and videos).