**Esmée's writing on the The Emergency** The Emergency - Medusa Rising | World Building WomenRadical Materialist Feminism, radical feminism, eco-feminism, materialist feminism, publishing women, feminist, movement building, women’s writing, art, poetry, fiction, essay, international, politics, culture, policy, theory, philosophy, Esmée StreachailtMedusa Rising | World Building WomenEsmée Streachailt ****Starting at $2 USD per month**** | Access to complete posts, Gorgon Posse videos, Commenting & conversation, External reading recommendations, & Special Event invitations. ****First month always free****. UPGRADE **Into the Badlands** The long game. Male Supremacists Have Activated in Over 60 CountriesSo here’s what we have to do:Into The BadlandsSasha S. Graham **Rapid Response Explainer from Minneapolis** Where they've shown us how to win. > We've prepared a zine version of our text "Rapid Response Networks in the Twin Cities," describing the dynamic and resilient system that people in the Twin Cities have developed to keep the pressure on ICE. Please print and distribute! crimethinc.com/zines/rapid-... > > — CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective (@crimethinc.com) 2026-02-11T18:56:49.049Z **Ongoing Resistance Advice Series from PsychoPete** Practical, tactical, and focused on overcoming. > Much like the boycott guide (pinned to my feed), this document will be getting regular updates. Subscribe to get them. open.substack.com/pub/psychope... > > — Psycho Pete (@psychopete.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T00:57:44.038Z **Becoming Harder to Track** (not an endorsement) If you're planning to get in lots of good trouble, maybe be harder to find. ProductsCape ShopCape ShopGrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OSGrapheneOS is a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.GrapheneOS **Stay rad, bad, and be good to each other.** * * * You asked for it, we answered!! Comments are open to all members. Let's discuss all the things! Reading Circle May 1, 2026 -- DANCING GODDESS BY HEIDE GOETTNER-ABENDROTH Included in Pythia & Tiamat subscriptions, tickets available for Corras and Yacumamas. Public Visitors, become a member to join in the scheming 😁 Details Medusa Rising’s Gorgon Possea digital radical materialist feminist project publishing women | building movementYouTube NEW EPISODE ### Thank you for supporting this project. We're honored to be in this work with you. Reach out anytime for any reason: info@medusarising.org. Find us everywhere we are with the social web: @gorgons@medusarising.org. **( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆ ( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆ ( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆**

Part 1, Part 2 | Part 1 is a bonus post :) Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) spent eighteen months in a coma. She fought through Vecna's mindscape, navigated his memories, found refuge in caves he feared to enter, guided Holly Wheeler (Nancy’s younger sister) to safety, and clawed her way back to consciousness through sheer determination. When she finally woke up in Lucas Sinclair's arms, the show gave her one line that collapsed all that agency into nothing. The Duffers took Max's survival—her willpower, her strategic thinking, her fierce refusal to give up—and credited it to a boy. Never mind that Season 4 ended with Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" saving Max, giving the song a viral resurgence nearly 40 years after its release, positioning the music itself as Max's lifeline and agency. Apparently whoever wrote Season 5 forgot that happened, because now it turns out the song didn't matter at all—only Lucas did. The show spent an entire season making Max's connection to that song iconic, then retconned it into irrelevance so a boy could be her real savior. Nancy Wheeler wanted to be an investigative journalist. She got into Emerson College. She worked harder than anyone, and proved herself sharper than everyone. The series finale revealed she dropped out of Emerson to take a trainee position at _The Boston Herald_. The Duffers' explanation: "We never want her to take the obvious path. She's still trying to find herself and what she wants from the world." The ambitious girl who knew exactly what she wanted became a woman still searching, still confused, still figuring it out. Meanwhile, Jonathan got into NYU film school—his stated dream since Season 1. Steve got to stay in Hawkins coaching little league. Will got magical powers tied to his sexuality and a flirt. Every boy's ambition was destiny. Nancy's ambition became the obstacle she had to move past to find herself. Oh, also, alone—no significant other either. ## Max Mayfield: Eighteen Months of Sheer Will Credited to a Boy Max died. Vecna snapped her limbs, crushed her bones, blinded her eyes, stopped her heart. Eleven brought her body back to life, but Max's consciousness remained trapped in Vecna's mind for eighteen months. She navigated his memories like a maze, refusing to give up on escape. She heard "Running Up That Hill" playing from Lucas's bedside vigil. The music opened a portal to the hospital room where her comatose body lay. She ran toward it, got close enough to feel Lucas touching her hand, but the tape ran out. The portal closed and Vecna found her. She ran until she reached a cave he was afraid to enter—childhood trauma spaces he couldn't breach—where she hid for months. You asked for it, we answered!! Comments are open to all members. Let's discuss all the things! Upgrade to $2/mo and get all the posts all the way to the end! ****Starting at $2 USD per month**** | Access to complete posts, Gorgon Posse videos, Commenting & conversation, External reading recommendations, & Special Event invitations. ****First month always free****. UPGRADE ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

Daughters of India | by Arpita Biradar 0:00 /476.17161 1× __At dawn, cruising on the roads of the countryside, I saw a cluster of women beaming from ear to ear, shovels in their hands, sweat dripping from the curves of their faces, a testament to labor. The agricultural land they were marching on recites a story of nourishment, sustaining a population of 1.4 billion humans, as much as it narrates a story of inequality, a denied economic power, a story of daughters left behind. The agriculture sector, which contributes immensely to the growth of the nation, failed to acknowledge these daughters.__ Women were suppressed for decades by a system ruled by ancient social norms that pushed them to the lower rungs of the ladder. With little economic and political power, women adhered to tradition, maintaining the status quo, describing it as fate, a natural order prescribed to them. What the country needed was systemic change. The year 2005 was a major step in this direction. The Parliament of India amended gender-discriminatory provisions in the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, giving daughters equal rights as sons in joint family property. The daughters of India were coparceners by birth in the ancestral property. The provisions gave them the right to own the land passed down, and many persevered on. __Somewhere, in a corner of the country, a girl must have applauded boisterously for its revolutionary nature with humongous potential to tilt the egregious figures of women’s land ownership.__ But amending laws on paper and implementing the same are two separate fights. The former has the power to start the conversation, but only the latter — the implementation, an area India has terribly failed in — can transform a society with its practices rooted in age-old traditions that serve one gender. A meagre 14% of landowners are women, owning 11% of agricultural land in rural landowning households. Line up every landowner in India, and the women would stand like a thin row in a sea of men. Women contribute substantially to on-farm labor but are not classified as “farmers”; they are merely viewed as “helpers.” The label ‘cultivator’ remains out of reach for most. The title ‘cultivators’ denotes not just ownership but authority and primary decision-making power, and is seen as unwomanly. Women’s names on the deeds is indubitably patriarchy’s worst nightmare. The law can be applauded for its potential, but progress can only be measured in terms of effectiveness. And the numbers above narrate their own story. Policies, weighed only in terms of their capacity, distort the ground reality. __“We never whined about inheritance; this has always been the norm,” my grandma said. I remember contemplating, “How do I explain equality to her — the economic power, the years of oppression?” Passing a law is half the battle won; imperative is to renew a system governed by these notions. I haggled for words. “Convoluted subject to explain,” I reasoned. So, I decided to keep shut instead. And that’s exactly how we inherit a status quo, a hopeless submission, if not indifference.__ India’s aggressively launched campaign “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” (Save the Girl Child, Educate the Girl Child) made lasting changes in the child sex ratio by preventing female feticide and improving girls’ survival and education. The country remolded itself in staggering ways but failed to eradicate the view of women as possessions. In many corners of the country, a potential change in her last name post-marriage is still viewed as a liability because with that name change her land now belongs to the husband’s family. If object is what women are reduced to, how will her natal land not be parceled out to male heirs? A family wants to keep control of its land because for India’s farmers, land is their only resource and wealth. The push for women’s empowerment through property ownership isn’t entirely about financial power and reclaiming what’s rightfully ours, but women’s liberation. There’s clear evidence that a woman having her own property or inheritance lowers domestic violence against women and hands them decision-making power, liberating them from violent relationships. Women as a whole are better positioned if they inherit as daughters. But when it comes to contentious topics (with women’s rights issues always among them), reality is often unpalatable. Research says women are significantly more likely to inherit land as widows than as daughters. Modern India has its women’s rights tethered to their marital status, where to bequeath as a wife of the deceased is easier than as a daughter; there’s a long way towards gendered wealth equality. It’s outrageous when people justify the persistent disparity by pointing to the tradition of passing gold jewelry down to daughters through generations. Transfer of movable assets does not legitimize widespread denial of women’s rights on immovable property. Gold does not garner a woman the respect or protection that land seems to offer. When I am asked about the richness of my country, I underscore the diversity India holds, with thousands of distinct caste groups with their own sets of beliefs, but I am also petrified by this variety, knowing it results in cultural gaps, a topic so delicate that if not handled with caution, it splits society into pieces. Is a male/female lens the best to use on the question of land and its ownership in a country with so many differences? When the problem statement isn’t just women, but which woman? Woman of which state? Woman of what caste? Which sub-caste? A married one, a widowed one, or a single one? A learned one or an unschooled one? An urbanite or a rural one? How can we allow all these different kinds of women to inherit land? The answer is yes. Certainly yes. All these different kinds of women. But this yes is still very unevenly spread. The women of the forward caste may have higher chances of ownership than those from a backward caste; women still struggle. A woman of a progressive state may sign a deed, but a woman from conservative surroundings may not. A claim of a widow may get addressed, but a single woman’s may get disregarded. A literate one may leverage her education to enforce the law; an unschooled one is unaware of the law. Among all these differences we can see one constant: woman. So, in fact, viewing inheritance and landownership through the gender lens is where progress can be made. Even with copious research highlighting the matter, years after passing the law, the majority remains oblivious. The issue persists, with discrimination not just against a single category but against women as a whole. At this juncture, a gendered lens is not just justified but essential, paving the way to intra-gender solutions as we progress. So yes, if revolution has to begin, we should start from here. From the land. __I glimpsed, in that bunch of elderly women, two petite girls striding faster than the group behind, small, quick steps, using both their tiny hands to hold a fruit. They deserve better. I hope for them. I hope they never lose their briskness. I hope their rapidity never wanes while facing the disparities of the world. I hope they clench what’s theirs with the same vigor. And when they talk about inheritance, I hope they say, “I inherited equality.”__ * * * **Arpita Biradar** is a writer from India whose work moves between the personal and the political. With a background in finance, she chose to work in the social sector, hoping to be part of solutions to broader issues of inequality and inclusion. Her work has appeared in _The Literary Cocktail Magazine_. When she’s not writing, she’s reading some highly contentious book, fascinated by ideas that challenge comfort and certainty. * * * You asked for it, we answered!! Comments are open to all members. Let's discuss all the things! ****MR is an autonomous RadMatFem project.**** ****Tip for the contributors!**** PAY WOMEN FOR WORK Gorgon Posse of Medusa Rising | Medusa RisingMedusa Rising -- medusarising.org -- exists to take radical materialist feminism into the next arm of its spiral: to share these ideas and analysis all over the world in easily accessible and useful forms. We are eager to publish, promote, and discuss new…PodbeanPodBean Development * Free Audio NEW EPISODE Friday 23 Jan w/ Jaclyn Lanae * Reach out anytime for any reason: info@medusarising.org. Ghost, collects no info on our subscribers. We own our list. Medusa Rising neither shares nor sells any subscriber/contributor information. All information shared with Medusa Rising is at the user's discretion. 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<figure class="kg-card kg-bookmark-card"><a class="kg-bookmark-container" href="https://wlrnmedia.com/2026/02/05/edition-118-feminist-love-with-jocelyn-crawley-esmee-streachailt-of-medusa-rising/"><div class="kg-bookmark-content"><div class="kg-bookmark-title">Edition 118: Feminist Love with Jocelyn Crawley &amp; Esmée Streachailt of Medusa Rising - Women’s Liberation Radio News</div><div class="kg-bookmark-description">Edition 118 features an interview with Medusa Rising’s Esmée Streachailt and commentary from WLRN’s Jocelyn Crawley about the concept of feminist love.</div><div class="kg-bookmark-metadata"><img class="kg-bookmark-icon" src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/icon/cropped-cropped-WLRN-Logo.png" alt="" /><span class="kg-bookmark-author">Women's Liberation Radio News</span><span class="kg-bookmark-publisher">WLRN Staff</span></div></div><div class="kg-bookmark-thumbnail"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/thumbnail/Edition118CoverARt.jpg" alt="" /></div></a></figure><p>Cousins, find here part of a conversation I had with WLRN about feminist love, a little bit the personal kind, a little bit the political kind, and a little bit how feminists could give more of it to each other. </p><p>Something nourshing on weekend when so many of us feel depleted and overwhelmed.</p><p>Both Thistle and I (and so many others) have responded thoughtfully about the tensions that erupted at FiLiA2025. While this conversation is not about those events directly, it does grow out of the awareness we share that feminists will never win for women if we keep tearing each other down.</p><p>WRLN will post the full conversation later this month. We get into the nature some deeeeeep waters. </p><h3 id="updates">Updates</h3><p>Comments are now open to all on our posts. You asked for it, you got it. I guess I was being overzealous about keeping the trolls out. xx</p><p>Also, apology for the posting chaos this week. I got my wires well and truly tangled moving everything for the Stranger Things series. Humans, carbon based, a little random. 🙃</p><p>Be good to each other,<br />Esmée </p><hr /><div class="kg-card kg-signup-card kg-width-regular " style="background-color:#F0F0F0;display:none"> <div class="kg-signup-card-content"> <div class="kg-signup-card-text "> <h2 class="kg-signup-card-heading" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Sign up for Medusa Rising</span></h2> <p class="kg-signup-card-subheading" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">World Building Women</span></p> <div class="kg-signup-card-fields"> <input class="kg-signup-card-input" id="email" type="email" required="true" placeholder="Your email" /> <button class="kg-signup-card-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF" type="submit"> <span class="kg-signup-card-button-default">Subscribe</span> <span class="kg-signup-card-button-loading"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="24" width="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24"> <circle cx="4" cy="12" r="3"></circle> <circle cx="12" cy="12" r="3"></circle> <circle cx="20" cy="12" r="3"></circle> </svg></span> </button> </div> <div class="kg-signup-card-success" style="color:#000000"> Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. </div> <div class="kg-signup-card-error" style="color:#000000"></div> <p class="kg-signup-card-disclaimer" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">FIRST MONTH FREE. FREE &amp; LOW COST MEMBERSHIPS. FEMINIST AF.</span></p> </div> </div> </div><div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-none kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-link-accent "> <div class="kg-cta-sponsor-label-wrapper"> <div class="kg-cta-sponsor-label"> <span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Feminist algorithm needs you!</span> </div> </div> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">We are our only algorithm! </span><br /><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Do postmodern magic!</strong></b><br /><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">More connection! More sharing!</span></p> </div> <a href="https://linktr.ee/medusarisingorgonposse?utm_source=linktree_admin_share" class="kg-cta-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF"> Our Linktree of Socials and Connection </a> </div> </div> </div><h3 id="thank-you-for-supporting-this-project-were-honored-to-be-in-this-work-with-you">Thank you for supporting this project. <br />We're honored to be in this work with you. <br /></h3><p>Reach out anytime for any reason: <a href="mailto:info@medusarising.org" rel="noreferrer">info@medusarising.org</a>. </p><p><strong>( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆ ( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆ ( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆</strong></p>

<div class="kg-card kg-toggle-card"> <div class="kg-toggle-heading"> <h4 class="kg-toggle-heading-text"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Real Talk</span></h4> <button class="kg-toggle-card-icon"> <svg id="Regular" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewbox="0 0 24 24"> <path class="cls-1" d="M23.25,7.311,12.53,18.03a.749.749,0,0,1-1.06,0L.75,7.311"></path> </svg> </button> </div> <div class="kg-toggle-content"><p><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Medusa Rising likes a good tactic when we see one. In the age of deep atomization, lessons on </span><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">collective action</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> are needed. Medusa Rising also has a committed point of view that does not track Ahmed’s. Her queer ontology and trans activism do not comport with female liberation, AND transgender and LGB people deserve to live in dignity and in common. Gender and Sex are not interchangeable elements of reality. </span><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Gender is</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> the primary system of </span><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">domination </strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">supporting patriarchy. Our TQ and LGB cousins also have rights that protect access to the resources of work and lives free of harassment. Women’s sex based </span><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">rights protect access to resources</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">, as do all civil rights, and cannot be compromised – including the right to seek support to complain on behalf of our rights. Contradictions arise all the time, often to the detriment of women because </span><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">male-het-cap-patriarchy knows a man when it sees one and it defends him</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRFH5Q7JtY"><u><span class="underline" style="white-space:pre-wrap">Sara Ahmed, "Complaint as a Queer Method"</span></u></a><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j_BwPJoPTE"><u><span class="underline" style="white-space:pre-wrap">Sara Ahmed: On Complaint</span></u></a></p></div> </div><h2 id="meditations-and-musings-on-complaint">Meditations and Musings on <em>Complaint!</em></h2><h2></h2><div class="kg-card kg-audio-card"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/media/2026/01/Voice-260114_132504_thumb.png" alt="audio-thumbnail" class="kg-audio-thumbnail" /><div class="kg-audio-thumbnail placeholder kg-audio-hide"><svg width="24" height="24"><path d="M7.5 15.33a.75.75 0 1 0 0 1.5.75.75 0 0 0 0-1.5Zm-2.25.75a2.25 2.25 0 1 1 4.5 0 2.25 2.25 0 0 1-4.5 0ZM15 13.83a.75.75 0 1 0 0 1.5.75.75 0 0 0 0-1.5Zm-2.25.75a2.25 2.25 0 1 1 4.5 0 2.25 2.25 0 0 1-4.5 0Z"></path><path d="M14.486 6.81A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 17.25 9v5.579a.75.75 0 0 1-1.5 0v-5.58a.75.75 0 0 0-.932-.727.755.755 0 0 1-.059.013l-4.465.744a.75.75 0 0 0-.544.72v6.33a.75.75 0 0 1-1.5 0v-6.33a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 1.763-2.194l4.473-.746Z"></path><path d="M3 1.5a.75.75 0 0 0-.75.75v19.5a.75.75 0 0 0 .75.75h18a.75.75 0 0 0 .75-.75V5.133a.75.75 0 0 0-.225-.535l-.002-.002-3-2.883A.75.75 0 0 0 18 1.5H3ZM1.409.659A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 3 0h15a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 1.568.637l.003.002 3 2.883a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 .679 1.61V21.75A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 21 24H3a2.25 2.25 0 0 1-2.25-2.25V2.25c0-.597.237-1.169.659-1.591Z"></path></svg></div><div class="kg-audio-player-container"><audio src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/media/2026/01/Voice-260114_132504.m4a" preload="metadata"></audio><div class="kg-audio-title">Meditations and Musings on Complaint!, by Jocelyn Crawley, read by Esmee</div><div class="kg-audio-player"><button class="kg-audio-play-icon"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M23.14 10.608 2.253.164A1.559 1.559 0 0 0 0 1.557v20.887a1.558 1.558 0 0 0 2.253 1.392L23.14 13.393a1.557 1.557 0 0 0 0-2.785Z"></path></svg></button><button class="kg-audio-pause-icon kg-audio-hide"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24"><rect x="3" y="1" width="7" height="22" rx="1.5" ry="1.5"></rect><rect x="14" y="1" width="7" height="22" rx="1.5" ry="1.5"></rect></svg></button><span class="kg-audio-current-time">0:00</span><div class="kg-audio-time">/<span class="kg-audio-duration">888.476792</span></div><input type="range" class="kg-audio-seek-slider" max="100" value="0" /><button class="kg-audio-playback-rate">1×</button><button class="kg-audio-unmute-icon"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M15.189 2.021a9.728 9.728 0 0 0-7.924 4.85.249.249 0 0 1-.221.133H5.25a3 3 0 0 0-3 3v2a3 3 0 0 0 3 3h1.794a.249.249 0 0 1 .221.133 9.73 9.73 0 0 0 7.924 4.85h.06a1 1 0 0 0 1-1V3.02a1 1 0 0 0-1.06-.998Z"></path></svg></button><button class="kg-audio-mute-icon kg-audio-hide"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M16.177 4.3a.248.248 0 0 0 .073-.176v-1.1a1 1 0 0 0-1.061-1 9.728 9.728 0 0 0-7.924 4.85.249.249 0 0 1-.221.133H5.25a3 3 0 0 0-3 3v2a3 3 0 0 0 3 3h.114a.251.251 0 0 0 .177-.073ZM23.707 1.706A1 1 0 0 0 22.293.292l-22 22a1 1 0 0 0 0 1.414l.009.009a1 1 0 0 0 1.405-.009l6.63-6.631A.251.251 0 0 1 8.515 17a.245.245 0 0 1 .177.075 10.081 10.081 0 0 0 6.5 2.92 1 1 0 0 0 1.061-1V9.266a.247.247 0 0 1 .073-.176Z"></path></svg></button><input type="range" class="kg-audio-volume-slider" max="100" value="100" /></div></div></div><p>White supremacy and male supremacy are still  alive and kicking for many reasons — one being that complaints about them are systematically and surreptitiously suppressed. In her important book<em> Complaint!</em>, feminist and queer theorist Sara Ahmed discusses the role of <strong>institutional suppression</strong> that keeps complaints of sexual harassment and racial discrimination from being articulated and addressed in the higher education sector. Many members of these institutions still cleave to antiquated principles of privileging white males while allowing them to overtly dehumanize and degrade women and people of color in all sectors of society–including the university setting. Individuals committed to anti-racist and anti-sexist practices must devise tenable solutions, so Ahmed presents her best strategy. But first, let’s look at the problem without fear and self-deception. </p><p>In the introduction to <em>Complaint!,</em> Ahmed explains the <strong>paradox of complaining</strong>. Specifically, she states that “To be heard as complaining is not to be heard” (1). To complain of injustice to be heard as <em>merely</em> complaining by some listeners, as expressing a preference instead of a need. We who have studied the many workings of oppression, like Ahmed and you and I, note a pattern. My speculation is that individuals who misread complaints as <em>mere</em> complaining often wish (consciously or unconsciously) to remain ideologically aligned with systems of domination and power. By dismissing complaints, they maintain their emotional, cognitive, and material investments in oppressive systems, preserve their own privilege, cultivate a false sense of belonging, and generate material wealth. </p><p>Transforming a valid complaint into 'complaining' effectively <strong>trivializes the dissenter</strong> as a 'whiner,' silencing them under the pretense of avoiding petty quibbling and wasting time. </p><p>Ahmed’s introduction characterizes <strong>complaints </strong>as a negative message superiors <strong>can turn back on the individual</strong>, labeling them<strong> a source of negativity</strong>. This negativity is then rejected for disturbing the comfort or ease of  some larger or more valued group. Complaints, and those who complain, are thus <em>killjoys</em>: killing joy for the larger whole. This framing of complaints shuts down conversations that expose the killed joy of the complainant who seeks to have a need met. This tactic values the comfort of ‘everybody’ else over the recognition of the one complaining.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2025/12/Untitled-design--2-.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="600" height="289" srcset="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2025/12/Untitled-design--2-.jpg 600w" /></figure><p>In Chapter 1, Ahmed provides the reader with a framework through which to understand how institutions fail individuals who come forward with complaints. The failure takes place in the context of policies and procedures people are to follow when making their complaints. Ahmed found that those who made complaints consulted many policies, including those that related to equality and diversity, bullying and harassment, attendance management, and dignity at work. Complaint arises when good policy is not followed. Thus policies, Ahmed argues, function as evidence of what <em>institutions are not doing</em>. The policies and procedures of an institution suggest that infractions will be addressed and resolved in specific ways, but often they are not. Ahmed refers to awareness of this disparity as <strong>minding the gap</strong>. She also points out that when individuals start the process of making a complaint they often encounter the deliberate <strong>user unfriendliness</strong> of the policy documents. <strong>The process itself becomes a barrier to resolution and change</strong>. These institutional failures affect complaints made regarding sexual harassment, transphobia and bullying, disability and discrimination and more. I found myself silently agreeing with individuals who view reporting experiences of inequality as a waste of time. In fact, they can amount to  evidence of the institution <em>wasting the victim’s time</em>. </p><p>As Ahmed unfolds her argument, she unveils more institutional failures to address experiences of oppression and subordination. In Chapter 5 she notes that many complaints transpire <strong>behind closed doors</strong>, via private conversations or email communications which other staff members are not cognizant of. In these cases multiple members of the same staff could be subjected to similar forms of harassment yet not be aware of the others. This isolation also works in the institution’s favor. A lack of collective awareness regarding abuse allows the mistreatment to continue and even proliferate. We need to admit that <strong>“breaking the silence” is not enough</strong> to win the war against the patriarchy, white supremacy, and other structures of domination. We also <strong>need to discuss <em>how</em> the silence is being broken</strong>, such as whether it is transpiring in some <em>ad hoc</em> isolation or in a <strong>public, formal discussion among the department as a community</strong>. When done <em>this</em> way, everyone within an office could become aware that a professor had harassed multiple students or colleagues, rather than individual students and colleagues sharing what happened with one or two other people within the department.</p><p>As <em>Complaint!</em> concludes, Ahmed’s solution for the ongoing problems generated by patriarchy becomes plain. In the final chapter, entitled <em>Complaint Collectives</em>, she discusses the development of what she broadly defines as <strong>complaint collectives</strong>. In defining them, Ahmed discusses her visceral reaction to the individuals who were present as she shared the anti-domination ideas found in <em>Complaint! </em>in various speaking engagements. Specifically, she notes that every time she has this work, she experiences the same feeling of the audience being there <em>with</em> her. She senses that the beingness is a form of <em>encouragement</em> for her to keep doing and saying the feminist things that challenge power. (Herein lies the feminist strategy  of abandoning the hierarchical <em>power over</em> model in which one person or group controls the people under them and instead choosing the <em>power with</em> model so that energy can be positively, effectively shared and exchanged with others.) </p><p>A complaint collective is created in <strong>a feeling of shared suffering</strong> that becomes an ideological agreement, and <strong>grows into commitment</strong> to encouraging one another to operate against the patriarchy in material ways. Ahmed suggests a process of <strong>combining stories</strong><em> </em>of individuals who have suffered violence at the hands of the institution t<strong>o construct institutional wisdom</strong>. The term <em>institutional wisdom </em>refers to the extensive knowledge that individuals who participate in these dissident discourses acquire through the process of speaking and listening to one another. It’s consciousness raising. These conversational practices can involve examining the strategies of institutional functioning and how those include techniques deployed to interrupt their oppressive machinations (I call these patriarchal institutions <em>mechanical man-led machines</em>). The complaint collective then, is an <strong>anti-patriarchal process</strong> of people engaging in a productive struggle towards freedom from the regimes of domination. Its power, as may be implied by the term, is the <em>collectivity</em> of complaints. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2025/12/Untitled-design--1-.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="String of figures holding hands behind a sign for open strategy" loading="lazy" width="600" height="289" srcset="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2025/12/Untitled-design--1-.jpg 600w" /></figure><p> Complaint collectives are her <strong>tactical support systems</strong> for organizing around and against oppression. The complaint collective, I think, is an ideal form of strategic resistance. Regimes of domination work by emphasizing that subjugated people are individuals who have unique rights and can therefore make their own decisions regarding how to cultivate a meaningful, viable life. They shape our eyes not to see them. These collectives also discourage discourse and rumination on the problem and encourage movement toward solutions. Fortunately, many radical, dissident, and otherwise anarchic thinkers understand that because subjugated people are discriminated against as a class (whether the class is people of color, women, etc.), a<strong> collective struggle</strong> against white and male power is not only smart but imperative. But Ahmed recognizes the <strong>limitations</strong> of complaint collectives as well. Specifically, she concludes sharing one’s struggle with the institutions of the domination system is not always productive. The process, the frames and labels, the potential isolation of a complainant can all work to prevent resolution. In addition to incorporating complaint collectives into our process of strategic resistance, we need to <strong>prepare our opposition</strong> to doctrines of gradualism and compromise which slow down the process of liberation. A group need not be as patient as an individual.</p><p>Feminists interested in the experiences of historically subjugated groups who speak up will find value in Ahmed’s <em>Complaint! </em>I found Ahmed’s clear articulation of the <strong>inefficacy</strong> of telling victims to<em> </em><strong>just start speaking up</strong><em> </em>regarding the discrimination and harassment they experience. The system of <strong>domination is designed to</strong> make speaking up and speaking out difficult and to <strong>shut victims up</strong>. I see it as a way that institutions “teach us a lesson” by showing us that the attempt to combat oppression will be met with <em>both</em> salient and sneaky, subtle forms of resistance to our needs. Yet, as Ahmed states, “the complaints in the graveyard can come back to haunt institutions. We can come back to haunt institutions. It is a promise” (308). Let the haunting begin. </p><p> <em>Complaint!, by Sara Ahmed (Duke University, 2021). </em></p><hr /><p><strong>Jocelyn Crawley</strong> is a radical feminist writer who resides in Atlanta. Her passions are strategizing against rape and sexual assault with other dissident people and thinking through how patriarchy operates in critical, methodological ways. Jocelyn believes that radical work can and should take place in communities with respect for the role that subjectivity plays in creating internal dissent, new questions, and the evolution of consciousness.</p><div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-none kg-cta-immersive kg-cta-centered"> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap"> MR is an autonomous RadMatFem project. </strong></b><br /><br /><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap"> Tip for the contributors!</strong></b></p> </div> <a href="https://donate.stripe.com/28E9AUg6S5uV2JecHG0Ny02" class="kg-cta-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF"> PAY WOMEN FOR WORK </a> </div> </div> </div><figure class="kg-card kg-bookmark-card kg-card-hascaption"><a class="kg-bookmark-container" href="https://www.podbean.com/pu/pbblog-jw62s-13c6f7b"><div class="kg-bookmark-content"><div class="kg-bookmark-title">Gorgon Posse of Medusa Rising | Medusa Rising</div><div class="kg-bookmark-description">Medusa Rising -- medusarising.org -- exists to take radical materialist feminism into the next arm of its spiral: to share these ideas and analysis all over the world in easily accessible and useful forms. 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<p>Here's the thing feminists have been saying for decades, but the mainstream still refuses to hear: : we've been training girls to perform domestic labor since they could grip a tiny spatula, and<strong> society called it cute</strong>. Baby dolls that cry, wet themselves, and demand constant care. Play kitchens with miniature cleaning supplies, because apparently <strong>nothing screams "childhood joy" like a toy mop</strong>. Entire toy aisles built around the premise that little girls are just future mothers and wives in training. But a pretend jade roller? A foam face mask that smells like strawberries? Suddenly the discourse is worried about the message. Suddenly it's a crisis of values. The cognitive dissonance is loud enough to wake the neighbors. </p><p>In September 2025, Fisher-Price released something that broke the internet in all the wrong ways: the "Mini Me Moments Self-Care Sensory Gift Set." A toy designed for toddlers, featuring a baby-safe face roller, pretend cucumber eye slices, and a crinkly fabric face mask. The kind of thing that mimics the "GRWM [Get Ready With Me]" videos saturating TikTok and Instagram, scaled down for tiny hands that can barely hold a spoon. The reaction was swift and furious. X (formerly Twitter) lit up with outrage. Parenting forums combusted. "Dystopian," they called it. "A gateway to vanity." "The beauty industry colonizing childhood." One viral tweet asked, with palpable horror, "Why on earth does a baby need a gua sha massager?" </p><p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/style/skin-care-children-rini.html"><u>op-eds</u></a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DSDipaOE_Lh/"><u>and social media posts</u></a> poured in like a flash flood—part of a broader panic about kids' beauty products and skincare lines targeting ever-younger demographics. Commentators wrung their hands about innocence under siege, about little girls being groomed for a lifetime of appearance anxiety before they could even tie their shoes. The consensus was clear: this toy represented everything wrong with modern childhood, a slippery slope toward body image issues, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeanette-leardi-3978b126_dystopian-skin-care-for-4-year-olds-gets-activity-7395974023723118593-WmH6/"><u>lookism</u></a> and shallow materialism. Fisher-Price had apparently crossed some invisible moral line, and the internet was here to drag them back across it. But here's what those parents seemed to notice amidst all that righteous fury: just three aisles over in that same toy store, sitting in peaceful, uncontroversial silence, were the toy vacuum cleaners. The miniature ironing boards. The plastic kitchen sets complete with tiny mops and dustpans. The baby dolls that come with their own bottles, diapers, and strollers, encouraging toddlers to <strong>practice the demanding work of motherhood</strong> before they're out of pull-ups themselves. </p> <div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-none kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-has-img "> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-image-container"> <a href="#/portal/account/plans"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2025/04/1000003150.png" alt="CTA Image" /></a> </div> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Starting at $2 USD per month</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> | Access to complete posts, Gorgon Posse videos, Commenting &amp; conversation, External reading recommendations, &amp; Special Event invitations.</span><br /><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">First month always free</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">.</span></p> </div> <a href="#/portal/account/plans" class="kg-cta-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF"> UPGRADE </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gh-paid-content-notice"><h3>This post is for subscribers only</h3><p>Become a member to get access to all content</p><a class="gh-paid-content-cta" href="https://www.medusarising.org/childhood-in-the-mirror-why-panic-over-self-care-toys-but-normalize-the-housewife-starter-pack/#/portal/signup">Subscribe now</a></div>

<figure class="kg-card kg-bookmark-card kg-card-hascaption"><a class="kg-bookmark-container" href="https://youtube.com/@medusarisingorg?si=ECJu1FCD3jOy9b5n"><div class="kg-bookmark-content"><div class="kg-bookmark-title">Medusa Rising’s Gorgon Posse</div><div class="kg-bookmark-description">a digital radical materialist feminist project publishing women | building movement</div><div class="kg-bookmark-metadata"><img class="kg-bookmark-icon" src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/icon/favicon_144x144-1.png" alt="" /><span class="kg-bookmark-author">YouTube</span></div></div><div class="kg-bookmark-thumbnail"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/thumbnail/xb1tjprOCLYtRJjE3vnEkkqtob55AF5P6WS8WdIHrzK6euTldxxk8GxLXCKKUChvSOzFmyf7gAs-s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj-1" alt="" /></div></a><figcaption><p><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">JACLYN &amp; ESMEE TALKED THIS THOUGH IN EP 18</span></p></figcaption></figure><p>In a world where the news is dominated by fascist leaders gaslighting the public, where peaceful protesters are shot and killed, where basic human rights are under siege… stationing a spiritual revolution as the weapon most at hand may seem trite. Something akin to taking a bouquet of flowers to the front lines of a war. However, despite initial appearances, the soul-level work we do within and at home is actually one of our most powerful assets in dismantling patriarchal structures and radically transforming our shared reality.</p><div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-yellow"><div class="kg-callout-text">The necessary, even obligatory nature of cultivating a spiritual state rooted in deep self-love cannot be understated. Because above all, <b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">patriarchy needs disempowered women</strong></b>. Patriarchy needs women who doubt ourselves; <b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">women who remain mired self-sacrifice</strong></b> and martyrdom, perpetually <b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">putting the needs of others above ourselves</strong></b>; women who are <b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">obligated look to men</strong></b> and patriarchal systems to validate and reward our efforts - and even our existence.</div></div><p>It goes without saying, then, that <strong>Matriarchy and feminism - both as social constructs and ideologies - need grounded, empowered women</strong>. And that means women who have done the Soul Craft work of coming to deeply love ourselves; this is <strong>especially true for the women running the show</strong>. There are implicit dangers in the naive assumption that slotting women into leadership roles will inherently create a more balanced social dynamic simply because of the “innate” characteristics attributed to women: creatures wired to nurture, to prioritize the well-being of the group, to birth and create from shared and equally allocated resources.</p><p> The list of women in positions of authority and/or government who enthusiastically serve and play into the patriarchy is long. bell hooks described these types of women as “Male Identified Women.” Androcratic women. And <strong>it doesn’t take much digging to see their superficiality</strong>. Not in their clothes or makeup or cosmetic surgery, but <strong>in the way they placate men and the system in order to serve their own interests</strong>. Kristi Noem is a prime example. So is Delcy Rodriguez, the interim leader of Venezuela, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Sanae Takaichi, the Prime Minister of Japan. These women are not leading with feminine principles toward a more equitable and just future for all.</p><p> Matriarchs and feminists know this truth well: while turning positions of leadership over to women would certainly create profound change, it would not categorically be for the better. Of course, Mrs. Noem and the others are not representative of all women in leadership. Not all women are as unhealed as these. However, they clearly exemplify the need for Matriarchal leaders to be more than women or even feminists. They <strong>need to embody the ideology that Matriarchy and feminism are founded upon. Foundations that are very far from the dominance, extreme individualism, and competition of the patriarchal world</strong>. And that requires a spiritual approach, a healing protocol. A personal revolution that redefines value from the characteristics of a spiritual body - a soul. This is Soul Craft.</p><div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-yellow"><div class="kg-callout-text">It’s painfully obvious that unhealed and <b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">self-righteous revolutionaries will drive, defend, and reinforce oppressive and dominant systems </strong></b>making them dangerous to the matriarchal cause - and that truth has nothing to do with their gender. <b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Women that were manipulated by and conditioned into a patriarchal, extractive social system</strong></b> may still seek to dominate other women even in the safe confines of a matriarchal society. They <b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">may continue to hoard resources and power as a way of proving their worth or creating a sense of safety</strong></b>. They may manipulate or abuse - perhaps even unconsciously - as they try to create a “new” order based on an old structure that was never healthy or sustainable to begin with.</div></div><p>Intellect can support various perspectives, but rebuilding away from a technocratic order requires more than reason. It requires a fundamental shift in ideology. In order to dismantle patriarchy then, we must break down the habits and mindsets in which it is founded. We must be willing - even eager - to disregard money and power as the gold standard of value (pun intended). We must doggedly seek and continue to reorient toward a more spiritual perspective that gathers us around a revolutionary world view. One that espouses generosity, care, support, compassion, justice, and equality as the goal posts; the markers of great leadership, patriotism, and pillars of the society we are fiercely fighting to build. <strong>Assimilating this massive and foundational shift requires women in leadership who don’t need approval from men or patriarchal systems to validate, empower, or provide safety</strong>. In short, we need women who love themselves. Political analysis can help reshape the world, but to maintain that new shape, we also need to become more fully human, more connected to ourselves and each other.</p><p> Made somewhat jejune by social media influencers, spiritual healers, and coaches the world over - myself included - the deeper implications of prioritizing self love are actually more relevant than ever. Crafting ourselves into beings that have cultivated a profound self love is, arguably, the most transformative soul craft work in which we can engage. <strong>It makes us more capable of care, generosity, justice, and egalitarianism</strong>.</p><p> Empty people will perpetually and ravenously consume and hoard. Humans - and women in particular - who operate from a place of full-to-overflowing love of self no longer need external validation. This liberates us from placating special-interests or “powerful” individuals, and seats our leaders in the service of leadership for the good of the collective.<strong> Soul-crafted self-love insulates us from the corruptive and corrosive forces</strong> of greed and power because we’ve entirely disregarded those resources as valuable. This makes us capable of creating and sustaining systems that also disregard greed, and power-over.</p><p> Crafting a matriarchal community and world orders that are egalitarian, supportive, and appreciative of the value of its people requires healed (or at least aware, healing women) to lead. The movement needs women to love ourselves in order to be able to see ourselves as powerful - without the testament of a title or station or superiority to evidence that truth. The movement needs women who know their worth - without the substantiation of money or power over others. Without competing with other women or trashing them in traumatized repetitions of patriarchal structures. The movement needs women who don’t need dominant, patriarchal structures to corroborate their authority or worth.</p><p> To build a humane world as our ancestors did, we need new internal, personal habits and belief systems as much as new policies and communal practices. <strong>We need to become (more) healed people to create a healing world</strong>. In this Soul Craft project, Medusa Rising and I hope <strong>to unveil and retool these habits, thought patterns, and belief systems, together</strong>. Join us, would you?</p><hr /><p><strong>Jaclyn Lanae</strong> is a coach, and author, and a seeker who has found effective tools for bringing women into their own alignment with Source and into a love of self and fosters authentic living and relationship, and standing in power.</p> <div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-none kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-has-img "> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-image-container"> <a href="#/portal/account/plans"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2025/04/1000003150.png" alt="CTA Image" /></a> </div> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Starting at $2 USD per month</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> | Access to complete posts, Gorgon Posse videos, Commenting &amp; conversation, External reading recommendations, &amp; Special Event invitations.</span><br /><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">First month always free</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">.</span></p> </div> <a href="#/portal/account/plans" class="kg-cta-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF"> UPGRADE </a> </div> </div> </div> <h3 id="thank-you-for-supporting-medusa-rising-your-solidarity-means-the-world-to-us-cousins">Thank you for supporting Medusa Rising. <br />Your solidarity means the world to us, cousins. <br /></h3><p>Reach out anytime for any reason: <a href="mailto:info@medusarising.org" rel="noreferrer">info@medusarising.org</a>. </p><p>Ghost collects no info on our subscribers. We own our list. Medusa Rising neither shares nor sells that list. !! Feminist Safety First !!</p><p><strong>( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆ ( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆ ( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆</strong></p>

<div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-yellow kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-link-accent "> <div class="kg-cta-sponsor-label-wrapper"> <div class="kg-cta-sponsor-label"> <span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Coming soon | we're teaching girls they can't relax</span> </div> </div> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Beatrix Kondo</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">, of Brazil, shares a series deepdive into the many layers of a scandal over </span><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">self-care, girlhood toys, servitude socialization</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">. </span><br /><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">If you haven't upgraded, now is the time. </span><br /><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">All memberships come with a </span><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">one-month trial</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">. </span></p> </div> <a href="#/portal/account/plans" class="kg-cta-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF"> Join Today </a> </div> </div> </div><p>Yes. <br />Speculative fiction is where we work out im/possible futures. And why are there so many female and feminist speculative fiction writers? Why was speculative fiction created by a woman? Because the women’s liberation movement is a speculative undertaking. </p><p>The tagline of Medusa Rising is ‘world building women'. I chose it because very broadly speaking <strong>WIERD nation feminists stopped ambitiously world-building</strong> a long time ago: some of us focused on current expressions of patriarchy (domination culture &amp; systems, He/Him/His), some of us acquiesced to patriarchy’ seductions (sex work is work), some of us turned on each other, some of us moved out to womyn’s lands and never come back, and some of us gave up out of need or exhaustion. </p><p>The <strong>backlash has been everything, everywhere</strong>, all at once for a long time. The work of the last 50 years claimed the lives of many feminists of all kinds. The sheer unrelenting onslaught of His loathing and envy broke more than one of us. We owe each other, in all our factions, grace and gratitude just for making it this far. We need to get over ourselves and get back to world-building. </p><div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-yellow"><div class="kg-callout-text">Medusa Rising offers a method for this we call <b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Strategic Intersectionality</strong></b>. We make this distinction because the OG intersectionality <i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">was</em></i> a <i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">powerful</em></i> <i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">method</em></i> that became a compliant ideology over the last 40 years. We add 'strategic' to underscore the method – SI is a VERB. The task I've set myself for 2026 is to noodle through a few examples of how SI might work to help the women's liberation movement get on with the liberation. #LFG</div></div><p><strong>This fracked and factional period has been a boon in very important ways</strong>: we have stronger analyses of many issues related to race, class, and sexuality than we did before. We have brought more specific expressions of patriarchy into the mainstream consciousness: like police violence and over-policing, disparities in general and maternal health, more effective approaches to climate and ecological damage, more and less revolutionary ways of inhabiting one’s privilege, clarifying the legacies of empirialism, the rampant abuses of deregulated global corporatism, and so on. We have a much more complete view of <strong>The Problem. The Emergency. Him. Patriarchy is the Polycrisis</strong>.</p> <div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-none kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-has-img "> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-image-container"> <a href="#/portal/account/plans"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2025/04/1000003150.png" alt="CTA Image" /></a> </div> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Starting at $2 USD per month</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> | Access to complete posts, Gorgon Posse videos, Commenting &amp; conversation, External reading recommendations, &amp; Special Event invitations. </span></p> </div> <a href="#/portal/account/plans" class="kg-cta-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF"> UPGRADE </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gh-paid-content-notice"><h3>This post is for subscribers only</h3><p>Become a member to get access to all content</p><a class="gh-paid-content-cta" href="https://www.medusarising.org/world-building-isnt-that-a-sci-fi-thing/#/portal/signup">Subscribe now</a></div>

<div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-yellow kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-link-accent "> <div class="kg-cta-sponsor-label-wrapper"> <div class="kg-cta-sponsor-label"> <span style="white-space:pre-wrap">before WE dive in -- talk back to Medusa</span> </div> </div> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">FINAL DAY 😀 MEMBER POLL</span></p> </div> <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1zItmh-acwXQfE_ixzBiP89BybGIBrxunlYog59Ml5sBSRw/viewform?usp=header" class="kg-cta-button " style="background-color:#000000;color:#ffffff"> Click Me to the Poll </a> </div> </div> </div><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe width="200" height="113" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eMC1xUa95rI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen title="Ep 19 Bonus Vid | Arrest The All - Sunny Apocalypse vs The Most Arrestable Trafficking Ring Ever"></iframe></figure><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe height="150" width="500" style="border:none" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?share=1&amp;download=1&amp;rtl=0&amp;fonts=Arial&amp;skin=f6f6f6&amp;btn-skin=c73a3a&amp;multiple_size=320&amp;square_size=300&amp;order=episodic&amp;filter=all&amp;limit=3&amp;season=all&amp;tag=all&amp;font-color=000000&amp;logo_link=podcast_page&amp;i=qbitv-1a32a39-pb"></iframe></figure><figure class="kg-card kg-bookmark-card"><a class="kg-bookmark-container" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VByvklaL3Tc0zD5MtHgViyjj__MDZZnZKHBp9PecIYE/edit?usp=sharing"><div class="kg-bookmark-content"><div class="kg-bookmark-title">Show Notes - Epstein Trafficking - Sunny Apocalypse</div><div class="kg-bookmark-description">How the Epstein Class Fails to the Top – https://youtu.be/dFgIRpGnUJA?si=VYroTlCnN6028_5C About abusers &amp; rapists Why Does He Do That https://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-He-That-Controlling/dp/0425191656 Understand Rapists https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Sexual-Violence-Convicted-Persp…</div><div class="kg-bookmark-metadata"><img class="kg-bookmark-icon" src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/icon/kix-favicon-2023q4.ico" alt="" /><span class="kg-bookmark-author">Google Docs</span></div></div><div class="kg-bookmark-thumbnail"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/thumbnail/AHkbwyILwgLnL-WMjGaOCe0d-1qeVN5kl3pDx2BJjGQF-dNj9h2ikVBMXDUj4pulsakt8fJRDOKqOqXjH8oqo-3-x6_oBWNLooauQXdN5XEjwwtqUfFqv4o-w1200-h630-p" alt="" /></div></a></figure><hr /><p><strong>Sunny Apocalypse</strong> is a civic educator, artist, and cultural commentator shaped by lived experience. Sunny has worked as a local civic leader, served on a Democratic 2024 campaign, and had a pretty decent career inside corporate systems for 25 years where power is concentrated and employees are gaslit. Those worlds taught her how institutions really function—and how easily people are trained to accept what feels wrong.</p><p>Today, Sunny blends grassroots organizing, campaign experience, art, and adult education to make American politics understandable and human-scale. Her work uses plain language, retro social studies visuals, and practical actions to help people stay engaged. Sunny believes democracy survives through clarity, community, and care for one another.</p><p>Started Feb 2025</p><p>Website <a href="https://sunnyapocalypse.com/"><u>https://sunnyapocalypse.com/</u></a></p><p>Substack <a href="https://sunnyapocalypse.substack.com/"><u>https://sunnyapocalypse.substack.com</u></a></p><p>X <a href="https://x.com/bmoreviachicago"><u>https://x.com/bmoreviachicago</u></a></p><p>Bluesky <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/teedublavee.bsky.social"><u>https://bsky.app/profile/teedublavee.bsky.social</u></a></p><p>Redbubble <a href="https://www.redbubble.com/people/twadlington/shop"><u>https://www.redbubble.com/people/twadlington/shop</u></a></p><hr /><p>Groove with The Gorgon Posse Playlist<br />Songs for Breaking Up with Male Supremacy</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe style="border-radius:12px" width="100%" height="352" title="Spotify Embed: Gorgon Posse Playlist" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/3GTb1DFqPHpYVpkSsTAPNO?si=Bue-HRHNReiCR54xFM7lQg&amp;pi=Z-E4TU2VR-e8L&amp;utm_source=oembed"></iframe></figure><h3 id="thank-you-for-supporting-medusa-rising-your-solidarity-means-the-world-to-us-cousins">Thank you for supporting Medusa Rising. <br />Your solidarity means the world to us, cousins. <br /></h3><p>Reach out anytime for any reason: <a href="mailto:info@medusarising.org" rel="noreferrer">info@medusarising.org</a>. </p><p>Ghost collects no info on our subscribers. We own our list. Medusa Rising neither shares nor sells that list. !! Feminist Safety First !!</p><p><strong>( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆ ( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆ ( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆</strong></p>

<div class="kg-card kg-button-card kg-align-left"><a href="https://www.medusarising.org/upside-down-feminism-how-stranger-things-systematically-destroyed-its-women-by-beatrix-kondo/" class="kg-btn kg-btn-accent">To Part 1</a></div><p>Robin Buckley came out in Season 3 to help Steve Harrington process rejection. The bathroom confession remains one of the show's most beloved scenes—Maya Hawke delivered vulnerability and terror in equal measure, capturing what it feels like to risk everything by naming yourself to someone who might destroy you for it.</p><p>Except the scene itself relies on lazy, harmful tropes. Robin comes out because the Russian truth serum forces her to confess, which is just forced outing repackaged as a plot device. Forced outing isn't funny, isn't cute, and reducing a lesbian woman's coming out to chemical compulsion is lazy, prejudiced, and misogynistic as hell. The show took one of the most vulnerable moments in a lesbian woman’s life and made it involuntary, stripping Robin of agency in the very scene meant to establish her identity. After all, she’s coming out to the show’s foxy-rich-guy-athlete, a character who’s usually a live threat to teen lesbian girls in fiction and real life. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2026/01/Robin-in-Fight-Mode--2-.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="200" height="350" /><figcaption><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Robin in Fight Mode</span></figcaption></figure><p>Beyond that symbolic violence, Robin's desire never belonged to her, serving instead as Steve's character development, teaching him that not every girl exists for his romantic consumption. Her coming out facilitated his growth, making her the Manic Pixie Dream Gay Girl, existing through all of season three to make a straight man more emotionally literate.</p><p>Season 5 repeated the pattern with even less subtlety. Robin's relationship with Vickie existed primarily so Will Byers could witness homosexual happiness and find courage to come out himself. Once Will came out, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DTEPudGDd5M/"><u>Robin and Vickie apparently broke up off-screen</u></a>, and Vickie vanished from the epilogue entirely.</p><p>The Duffers' response? <a href="https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/are-stranger-things-robin-and-vickie-still-together-duffers-weigh-my-thoughts"><u>"What percentage of couples stay together after college? Extremely low."</u></a> A shrug, a footnote, a statistic deployed to justify why the show's only explicit lesbian relationship got discarded the moment it finished serving the male narratives.</p><p>Meanwhile, Will gets a full coming-out arc, magical superpowers tied to his homosexuality, emotional validation from every character, and an epilogue scene flirting with a guy at a bar showing romantic possibility.</p><p>Robin is one of <em>Stranger Thing’</em>s leaders, but her desire is only a plot device to facilitate men's growth. Will's desire: transformative, heroic, rewarded with powers and a future.</p><h2 id="the-bathroom-scene-that-wasnt-hers"><strong>The Bathroom Scene That Wasn't Hers</strong></h2><p>Season 3, Episode 7. Robin and Steve are trapped in a bathroom, convinced they're about to die from a Russian truth serum. Steve confesses he likes Robin, and she laughs—not cruel, just desperate—and tells him she didn't like Steve staring at Tammy Thompson in class because she had a crush on her too.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2026/01/Bathroom-1.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="600" height="314" srcset="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2026/01/Bathroom-1.jpg 600w" /><figcaption><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Bathroom of Ahoy Ice Cream, Robin and Steve meet for real</span></figcaption></figure><p>The scene works because Maya Hawke makes it work, her delivery carrying the weight of every queer girl who's had to come out defensively, explaining why she can't give a boy what he wants while terrified he'll hate her for it.</p> <div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-none kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-has-img "> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-image-container"> <a href="#/portal/account/plans"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2025/04/1000003150.png" alt="CTA Image" /></a> </div> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Starting at $2 USD per month</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> | Access to complete posts, Gorgon Posse videos, Commenting &amp; conversation, External reading recommendations, &amp; Special Event invitations.</span><br /><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">First month always free</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">.</span></p> </div> <a href="#/portal/account/plans" class="kg-cta-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF"> UPGRADE </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gh-paid-content-notice"><h3>This post is for subscribers only</h3><p>Become a member to get access to all content</p><a class="gh-paid-content-cta" href="https://www.medusarising.org/the-manic-pixie-dream-gay-girl-how-robins-sexuality-served-wills-coming-out-arc-then-got-discarded-by-beatrix-kondo/#/portal/signup">Subscribe now</a></div>

<div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-grey"><div class="kg-callout-text">To set the table for our Reading Circle on Feb 1, I'm sharing this review edited for this reprint. Find the entire article at <a href="https://theradicalnotion.org/issue-seven-pdf" rel="noreferrer">THE RADICAL NOTION, issue 7, p 54+</a>. <br /><br />At the time, Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health was in the works, so there's a focus on matters of abortion that can seem untimely now but never is.</div></div><hr /><p>In 1974 the founder of <em>Mouvement de Libération des Femmes</em> and of the feminist ecology movement Feminist Front, Françoise d’Eaubonne published a book that asks the question of our time: feminism or death?</p><div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-yellow"><div class="kg-callout-text">… it is urgent to transfer power, <i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">then, as quickly as pos-</em></i><br /><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">sible, to destroy power</em></i>. The transfer must be made from<br />phallocratic man, responsible for this sexist civilization,<br />to women, awakened to the disasters.<br /><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap"> —Françoise d’Eaubonne</em></i>, <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2829-feminism-or-death?" rel="noreferrer">Feminism or Death?</a></div></div><p> The entire heart of radical feminism is here. It has the force of Dworkin, the historical acumen of Irigaray, the theoretical sophistication of Millett, the ambition of Daly, the anarchist daring of Goldman, the commitment of Davis—all wrapped up in the staggered rhythm of a too-faithful translation from the French. </p><p> Thrutopia? TrAd? Solving the poly crisis? The conversation in our upcoming Reading Circle will consider these contemporary movements that have their roots all right here. </p><p></p><div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-yellow"><div class="kg-callout-text">D’Eaubonne has three central desires for the world:<br /><br />• women’s sexual/social autonomy and pleasure through<br />the end of compulsory femininity, or ‘femitude’;<br /><br />• women’s control over population size via contraception<br />and abortion as practiced in cultures that recognized femininity as a humanity;<br /><br />• the replacement of men’s power/domination of the<br />earth for profit with a women’s ‘power of non-power,’ or<br />non-dominating principles of social and economic organization.</div></div><p>Yes, please, let’s go! Fuck’s sake, we have been saying this for long enough and men (‘of all genders’) keep riding roughshod over women and the earth—their legally protected privileges making sure it hasn’t cost them enough yet, and by the time it does most of us will be dead or wishing we were.</p><p> Orgasm and abortion are central to d’Eaubonne’s ecofemi- nism. Placing these elements of bodily experience at the core keeps the focus on women’s replete humanity and historically proven wisdom regarding rates of reproduction, two principles absent from communist/Marxist goals for revolution and the wider ecological conservancy movements of d’Eaubonne’s day … all the way to this one.</p><p> Impeding both orgasm and abortion (women’s autonomy) is the phallocratic institution of ‘femitude.’ Distinct from ‘femininity,’ femitude is that collection of stereotypes and social practices that diminish women’s be-ing to render us servile, right down to how we experience our sexuality. Femitude gives us a word for ‘woman’ in man’s/the patriarchal imaginary that leaves ‘femininity’ and ‘the feminine’ available for positive metaphysical and phenomenological meanings.</p><p> D’Eaubonne’s touchstones are Kate Millett and Simone de Beauvoir, founding theorists on this collection of practices. (In fact, if you read these three, you are well grounded as a radical feminist.)</p><p> Femininity, in d’Eaubonne’s lexicon, is the female element of sexual difference woven with women’s various temperaments and elaborated historically in the periods when women have asserted their own wills. Femininity isn’t exactly ‘pre-discursive’ or outside politics, but it is not a wholesale construct of ‘masculitude’s’ psycho-sexual projections either.</p> <div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-none kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-has-img "> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-image-container"> <a href="#/portal/account/plans"><img src="https://www.medusarising.org/content/images/2025/04/1000003150.png" alt="CTA Image" /></a> </div> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">Starting at $2 USD per month</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> | Access to complete posts, Gorgon Posse videos, Commenting &amp; conversation, External reading recommendations, &amp; Special Event invitations. </span></p> </div> <a href="#/portal/account/plans" class="kg-cta-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF"> UPGRADE </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gh-paid-content-notice"><h3>This post is for subscribers only</h3><p>Become a member to get access to all content</p><a class="gh-paid-content-cta" href="https://www.medusarising.org/to-orgasm-without-terror-feminism-or-death-by-francoise-deaubonne/#/portal/signup">Subscribe now</a></div>

Public & Corras | Audio Pods Always Free

Long Read | Spoilers | Part 1 The Disposable Girls: Barb, Eleven, and the Sacrificial Lamb Economy

Bonus Post | A Nudge of a Starter Kit #LFG

Members Perk - New Video Pod

Essay| Trigger warning: sexual assault and victim-blaming. 

Big Update | We're Back! Let's Go! New Gorgons!

The exact circumstances around the search are not known. But activist Samuel Tunick is charged with deleting data from a Google Pixel before CBP’s Tactical Terrorism Response Team could search it.

In response to some post-feminist pushback | Crosspost

In response to some post-feminist pushback | Crosspost

Update| Share the insight and mischief with your besties!

Update | Light Festivals, February's Reading Group, and a collage!

Goofing with a local LM

This chasm can't be where feminists land after 50 years

A remix and an experiment