"What is it about queer and social activists that makes us so susceptible to
eating our own with so little provocation?"



Phillip Banks: Eating our own [Xtra, July 7, 2005]

If I've learned anything in the years that I've been involved in community building and activism, it's that for our efforts to succeed we need to have strong partnerships.

The partners may not share the exact same interests, or believe in using the same approaches to accomplish the goal, but if we agree that we are stronger together we'll stand a better change of being stronger together.

What I've also learned is that we sacrifice the big goal when we focus our anger and energy on each other rather than on the real culprits.

We spend so much time in our victimization and self-interest that we can't remain focused on the interests we share.

[Continued here]

It took three trashings to convince me to drop out. Finally, at the end of 1969,
I felt psychologically mangled to the point where I knew I couldn't go on.



Joreen Freeman: Trashing: The Dark Side of Sisterhood [JoFreeman.com, April 1976]

What is "trashing," this colloquial term that expresses so much, yet explains so little? It is not disagreement; it is not conflict; it is not opposition. These are perfectly ordinary phenomena which, when engaged in mutually, honestly, and not excessively, are necessary to keep an organism or organization healthy and active. Trashing is a particularly vicious form of character assassination which amounts to psychological rape. It is manipulative, dishonest, and excessive. It is occasionally disguised by the rhetoric of honest conflict, or covered up by denying that any disapproval exists at all. But it is not done to expose disagreements or resolve differences. It is done to disparage and destroy.

[Continued here]

"I wear the hat of psychotherapist, author, and teacher, but at
my core, I am a peace and social justice activist.



Charlotte Sophia Kasl [CharlotteKasl.com]

The message that runs through all of Charlottes books and workshops is that of empowerment-to find your authentic voice, trust your internal wisdom, open yourself to new learning and understand ourselves and others within a cultural context. She brings her material alive through humor, stories, personal accounts and a broad knowledge of many spiritual traditions.

[Continued here]

• 16-Steps for Discovery and Empowerment [CharlotteKasl.com]