Thanks so much, HGL, for taking the time out to give such helpful tips to this Festie Virgin. I appreciate it soooo much. You've given me a lot to mull over. I actually had already signed up for the Michfest forum before I wrote that post but the admins were taking their sweet time in activating my account so I wasn't sure how long it would take (maybe they're still a little hungover/recovering from Fest?). I just checked now and yay, we have lift-off!
The car wash is an interesting proposition (if you all weren't so far, far away...), though if it's going to be clothing optional like Fest, I'd need to get on that soon as it's already starting to get a bit nippy around here.
nanners, I may hit you up later to hear about your infamous tips. You sound like a woman whose brain I'd like to pick!
...
As far as the intention of the Fest goes... I'm of a similar mind to CherylNYC and the
other post by Nedra Johnson which Soon shared where she discusses DSCAB and SSCAB as more descriptive terms than AFAB and AMAB (DSCAB standing in for Dominating Sex Class Assigned at Birth and SSCAB for Subjugated Sex Class Assigned at Birth). I think it's a very delicate matter and not so analogous to, say, race, class, religion, etc (the reasons for which are explained quite beautifully, kindly, and clearly at the above post).
I have to say that the whole "penis is a female sex organ" and "you're a bigot if you don't sleep with a male bodied person,
especially if you ID as queer or bisexual" thing is pretty
de rigeur in the under 40 social justice activist/queer/LGBT crowd where I live... and it just... makes my eyes cross.
I emphatically agree that those who have female bodies and were
raised as female need separate space to heal and just let down their armour, even if it is for only a week a year in the middle of the woods in one part of the globe. I don't think that denying the differences in our bodies, our upbringings, our socializations, is doing anyone any favours and is, in fact, pretty misogynistic.
That being said, I think that if a serious discussion of the Michfest intention
specifically were to develop, I dunno, it may be better suited as a separate Red Zone "hot topic" if someone wants to start one as I know there are a lot of feelings and thoughts and this could get off topic pretty quick...
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