About

Sistermatic Response came about when two sisters, sisters who spent many hours swinging on swings and staying up into the wee hours of the morning, realized that all the things they regularly discuss--such as sexism and gender oppression; sexuality; gender identity; gender roles and expectations; racism, heterosexism, cissexism, classism, and how those all tie into each other and tie into sexism; the problematic (and positive) themes and tropes they regularly saw in their favourite (and least favourite) TV shows, novels, movies and comic books; and the dismantling of and resistance to the various and complex systems of oppression that make up this culture--could be written about, too, and shared with others.

And so this blog was born, as a place for us to publicly discuss, dissect, and rant about the world we live in and the things we experience on a daily basis.

In an attempt to be open and honest about our social privileges, the things that can't help but greatly affect our experiences and the way we view the world, Idzie and Emilie are both white, able-bodied, lower-middle-class, cisgender women.  Emilie is heterosexual; Idzie doesn't identify as straight, and usually says she's not-quite-straight for lack of a better label. We strive always to be aware of our privileges in every interaction we have, to listen and to learn, and to just not be assholes.  We want to be making positive steps in dismantling systems of oppression of every kind, and we try hard in our daily lives not to perpetuate oppression, though we recognize that as flawed and very privileged individuals, we don't always succeed.  Please do tell us if we've fucked up: we want to do better!

• To learn more about the vocabulary and language we use on this blog, check out the Language page.

• To find some interesting and important articles, books, and websites that have influenced either Emi or Idzie (or both), go to the Resources page.

• And lastly (or at least lastly in terms of directing you to other pages), we very much enjoy respectful and aware comments, people sharing their experiences and stories, and letting us know when we're hitting the nail on the head, when you disagree, and when we're fucking up.  However, we don't want to play host to the horrible-ness that often shows up in the comments section on other feminist blogs, so we've illustrated some things we won't accept over at the Comment Policy page.

Our Bios:

Idzie often describes herself as an unschooling vegetarian animistic green-anarchist feminist hippie child, though she's no longer sure how attached she is to all those terms anymore, and is pretty sure "radical" should be somewhere in that description, as well.  She's best known for her writing on Unschooling, as she's the authour of the popular blog I'm Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write., and is currently writing a book about Unchooling.  She loves food with a burning (no pun intended) passion, and can often be found barefoot in the kitchen, banging pots and pans around as she creates and experiments.  She also has an unreasonably large obsession with purple, and is usually wearing at least one item of clothing in some shade of that colour.  Follow her on Twitter @Idzie, and follow her Tumblr blog Life in the Radical Lane.

Emi likes: singing; colours; writing; reading books, especially fantasy; collecting books, especially beautiful ones and old ones and ones in pristine condition and not necessarily the ones I want to read; collaging, especially artist trading cards (big canvases--and by canvases I mean papers--are hard to fill with art); playing ukulele; mandolins, mostly looking at them and touching them and coveting them, since I don't own one or know how to play; sunrises (I stay up to see them more often than I get up early enough); fluffies, including but not limited to dogs, cats, guinea pigs, otters, rats, owls, and sloths; hedgehogs (they fall more into the category of pricklies than fluffies, but I don't like most other pricklies, like cacti and uncomfortable sweaters); comfortable sweaters; beautiful picture books; cozy blankets; art; cheesecake; playing highland snare drum; Bailey's; massages (especially head scritchies); messages (especially the friendly sort); Doctor Who; cosplaying; swings (especially when they're not so narrow that they hurt my butt and hips); fabrics with wonderful textures; and puns.
Things that can go fuck themselves: the kyriarchy; the government; the police; the tollbooth.

Contact

Send a message to SistermaticResponse@gmail.com and it'll be forwarded to the main addresses of both Emi and Idzie.  Specify which sister you're directing the message at if you want to make sure that's the sister who responds!  As with our comment policy, abusive emails will most likely be deleted.