Comments on: Dear Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival: Fuck Off

By: Heidi.

Heidi. — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:23:19 +0000

Thank you for writing this, It made me feel a little better about the world ;) !

By: redwoods

redwoods — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 23:45:28 +0000

“I think this is a case not of “the lady doth protest too much” but of the lady not fucking protesting ’cause she fucking did it. ”

QFuckingT, ma’am, QFuckingT.

By: Glynnis

Glynnis — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 05:49:30 +0000

Word, Violet. The intractable hostility the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival has toward transfolks is not acceptable, and at the very least they deserve to be called out on a regular day. But for this? They can’t even bring themselves to admit that outing people on the internet is fucked up and unsafe. I think this is a case not of “the lady doth protest too much” but of the lady not fucking protesting ’cause she fucking did it.

By: Sunshine

Sunshine — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 02:20:30 +0000

If Ms. Vogel does not care that she and her group are endorsing hate crimes by their actions, their lawyer should tell them that they may be legally liable if a transwoman is killed because they outed her. A wrongful death suit or two is a powerful lesson in minding one’s words.

By: violet blue

violet blue — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:58:40 +0000

Thanks for the great comments, everyone!

And thank you Harold and Chili – the reason I used “Michigan” in the post was not to refer to the entire state or use sloppy shorthand. Many attendees simply call the festival “Michigan” for short, and that is how I’ve heard it referred to as for over ten years now. Maybe it’s a Bay Area thing, but when Good Vibrations used to send a team to the festival to do workshops (when I worked there), everyone just called it “Michigan” and this is what I got used to calling it, and hearing it called. Perhaps I should put the colloquialism in as another ‘AKA’…

By: Chili

Chili — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:35:12 +0000

Big thumbs-up for this post,
although Harold does have a point. For the sake of preciseness you may want to edit so only those get hit who deserve it.

By: Harold

Harold — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 05:25:59 +0000

No complaints on the intent of your post, but towards the end you screw up on the wording. In the last several paragraphs, you shorten “Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival” to “Michigan” when you should really have used “Michfest”. Ms. Vogel and her associates do not control the entire state, and many (most?) of us Michigan residents have no interest in outing or bashing anybody.

By: Zach Gold

Zach Gold — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:52:08 +0000

Thanks for this “blog,” Violet :)

I’m from New York and often hear refusal of support from feminist groups cited as a major roadblock in the passage of GENDA.

By: Lisa Padol

Lisa Padol — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:17:15 +0000

Thank you for separating the hate crime from everything else, as that really is the crux of the matter. And, thank you also for being very clear about what kind of response you would consider acceptable.

By: Loveofmystery

Loveofmystery — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:55:47 +0000

I admire you for speaking your mind.

By: Allison Moon

Allison Moon — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:49:02 +0000

One point of correction

it is a feminist music festival with a dedicated policy of only admitting women that were born with decidedly female bodies

That isn’t entirely accurate, because MichFest has allowed female-bodied male-identified people in, and some trans-men are even on the advisory committee.

This adds another layer of shitty hypocrisy to the kerfuffle.

By: pensive

pensive — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:48:42 +0000

rock on, girlfriend. seriously.

By: Amy J.

Amy J. — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:19:38 +0000

This is an awesome, right-on post (and blog, for that matter). Thank you for the brave, smart work you do.