Posting
The WYFC is a learning space, which encourages people both familiar and new to feminism to join. We have zero tolerance for hatespeech, however people new to feminism may ask questions or share posts which may unwittingly offend you in the process of their learning. Please remember it is our perojactive to be a learning space, and to encourage respectful discussion. This may mean that our space is not a safe space for you. However, the size and collective knowledge of our membership means that offensiveness is discussed and combated fairly quickly.
The WYFC encourages members to submit posts (either on Facebook or to this blog) on anything they feel is related to feminism. Most discussion happens on our Facebook.
We acknowledge it is impossible to always appeal to everyone, and we ask that members respect that.
Conversely, members should feel free to add and link to things they are interested in order to keep discussions varied and balanced. Given that this is a shared space, and we are often reliant on members for content, if you are unhappy with a common topic thread, please post what you find relavant as an alternative view (and more constructive way to raise awareness than a complaint). Please also respect that although something may not be relevant to you, it could be relavant to other members.
We are committed to promoting diversity in our posting, and to educate members on hierarchies of oppressions and intersectionality. We are also always learning.
Posts will also sometimes touch on things which may be triggering to you. We will endeavour to post trigger warnings on all posts containing rape/sexual abuse/violence/hatespeech.
Sexual and reproductive health issues are feminist issues and we will discuss things which may be unwittingly triggering or not relevant to you, or may not align with your values and beliefs. We ask that you respect that these issues are important and relevant to many members, and it is totally appropriate to discuss them in an explicitly feminist space.
There is no card-carrying level of feminism needed to be a part of this Collective, and no genuine questions are unwelcome questions. We feel confident that people drawn to a group which has “Feminist Collective” in the title, will not easily lend themselves to overt, deliberate offensiveness. As mentioned above, we moderate for hatespeech as well as unconstructive in-fighting, bigotry and prejudice. We advocate members being open to learning that may challenge their views, and we promote lived experience of other members as a way to discuss issues.
Organisers* reserve the right to block members who are deemed (by more than 2 organisers) of inappropriate behaviour after a warning. If it is clearly hatespeech, the member will be blocked immediately. If members are felt to be bullying others they may also be warned and blocked.
Members should feel welcome to disagree with posts made by others, in a constructive and open-minded way. We ask that if discussions boil down to a fundamental disagreement in ideology, members agree to disagree. This is a key principle we promote in the Collective, as there is no ‘right way’ to be a feminist as long as you are respectful and you check your prejudice, bigotry and self-righteousness at the door. If and when calls need to be made to clearly assert a stance as a Collective, decisions will be made based on where the majority of members seem to be standing.
That said, not all feminists may feel that this group offers them what they are after, and we remind them that this is not the only feminist group in Wellington and they are free to start their own. We genuinely wish them well.
This group is first and foremost a social group of self-identified feminists, and we hope to share camaraderie, fun, learning and activism with you in the future.
If you have would like to discuss our posting policy, please email wellingtonyoungfeminists@gmail.com
*Organisers are moderators and frequent posters on the Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter pages, and are also usually the people behind our events (all projects are advertised and open for members to attend and be involved with). Our organisers have a range of backgrounds, interests and skills. Learn more about our organisers.
