The literal definition of patriarchy is “rule of the father” and families in which literal fathers dominate literal mothers and literal children are pointed to as exemplifications of patriarchy, but pedantry is the enemy of politics.  The patriarchy as a global system of domination is the rule of the father in …

The post Patriarchy and The Reproducers of Labour appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Montasteraki is a magnet for tourists in Athens.  Overlooked both the Acropolis and the Parthenon, and surrounded by museums and monuments documenting the rich history of Greece visitors to the city flock there en masse.  At the base of the Acropolis, along narrow pedestrianised roads, a street market of vendors selling hand …

The post The Artisans of Monasteraki appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Yesterday, this blog went mental.  With traffic approaching several thousand an hour, apologies to anyone who couldn’t get through.  The prompt for this was a post I wrote about the arbitrary arrest and detention of transgender people in Thessoliniki.  It was one of a few that I have written …

The post A Round Up of the Situation in Greece. appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Today marks the end of Radfem 2013.  After the stooshie caused by Radfem 2012 and their statement that the conference was only open to “women born women, living as women”, a coded and cissexist method of telling trans women to stay away,  This year, they have ditched that terminology in …

The post Gender, Sex and its Intersections appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

The sex industry is a highly conflicted site within modern feminism.  A global industry tainted with extensive forced labour and trafficking, it is situated at the crossroads of labour and abuse.  Those who argue for “sex worker rights” position it within a service industry narrative; those who argue for an …

The post Can the Sub-Alterns of the Sex Industry Speak? appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Operation Zeus in August last year marked the start of an ugly reminder of a European past that we thought we had long buried.  Nearly 60 years after the end of the Second European War, migrants were round up from the streets of Greece and shoved unceremoniously into internment camps. …

The post …and then they came for the trans* people. appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

The term “intersectionality” was coined by Crenshaw in 1989 to explore the experiences of Black women, trapped between dual discourses of “woman” – dominated by white women, and “Black” – dominated by Black men, to consider how their experiences were erased among competition between those alter-narratives and the fight for …

The post The Elements of Intersectionality appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Looking back to the start of the Month, UKIP had just taken third place in the local elections in England with an estimated 26% share of the vote, and Farange was being lauded as the champion of the little guy, with the ear of the government and considerable sympathy on …

The post Racism and the British State appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

The kick-off of the second wave of feminism is often attributed to Betty Friedman’s “The Feminine Mystique “, which described “the problem which had no name” – a generation of well educated financially stable miserable women trapped in domesticity in suburban America.  Reading that book nearly fifty …

The post Trans Exclusion, Essentialism and the Lavender Menace appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Today, over ten years on from when we marched against the Iraq War, we must face the tens of thousands of murders and millions of deaths that have been caused at the hands of the British Army and those which it supports.  The atrocities, the chemical warfare, the mass killings, …

The post Chickens coming home to Roost? appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Guest Post from Kirsty McAlpine

Reproduced with thanks from Women for Independence, via Bella Caledonia.  The mission statement for Women for Independence states: ““We will ensure that there will be a space for women’s voices and interests in the campaign. Independence will create opportunities for women to engage …

The post Lets go Beyond UK-OK appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

 Climate change is wreaking devastation across South East Asia, particularly Bangladesh. With the traditional farming industries in ruins, many are seeking a new life in the bulging cities, but both living conditions and working conditions there are treacherous. Those who seek refuge and travel oversees in search of security and …

The post Bangladeshi Workers: Dying to Survive appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

The situation for the migrant workers of Manolada hit the international headlines last month in the aftermath of a mass shooting.  But behind that acute incident lies a murky world of slave labour and sex trafficking all overseen by a corrupt and mafia infiltrated establishment.

In 2010, the investigative journalist, …

The post Is there Blood on your Strawberries? appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

First published in “Scotland’s Road to Socialism – Time to Choose”, edited by Gregor Gall and published by SLR Press, this article from the collection of 22 perspectives of a diverse range of people on the left towards the future of Scotland in the run up to the Independence …

The post Scottish Independence: A Step on the Road to Socialism appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the BBC’s coverage of the Scottish Independence debate is dire.  When they are not comparing our democratically elected First Minister to genocidal dictators, they are warning us about about all the risks and dangers we face in such uncharted territory.  ”Here be monsters!…

The post For A Balanced and Inclusive Independence Debate appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Up until October 19th, 2012, any migrant who had been detained in Greece as a result of not having legal papers to stay in the country, could be held for up to three months if they applied for asylum and six months if they did not, this was then extended …

The post Whats going on in the Internment Camps of Greece? appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

This is the third in a series which started by looking at gender, then followed up by looking at sex.  This post looks at the assumptions of a cis/trans binary and its implications, an issue which has had a particular focus in the third wave, as transfeminism brings …

The post Reflections on the Cis/Trans Binary appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

On the 6th April, a 23 year old woman was brutally beaten in Νέα Μάκρη. She was found collapsed on the road just outside her home with severe head injuries and rushed to the nearby Red Cross Hospital, but such is the condition of healthcare in Greece that there were no …

The post Yet Another Fascist Murder in Greece appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

The tactic of occupations of public squares was one of the main political movements of 2011 – a year which saw a rise in extra-parliamentary movements, as people lost confidence in the traditional political movements. No longer with faith in the system, traditional lobbying means such as petitions, pressure on …

The post The Occupations of the Public Squares appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

When I first visited Athens, almost exactly a year ago, the area between the Polytechnic and the Museum of Archeology in lower Exarchia was a no-go area.  Through the day, the area was littered with used needles other debris of drug paraphenalia, while at night between 50-100 would gather there. …

The post What happened to the Drug Users of Lower Exarchia? appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Exarchia Square is the heart of the radical area of Athens. People come see friends, make plans, catch up on news, have a drink and hang out in relaxed surroundings, either in the square itself, or in one of the many bars which surround it.  Convivial and open, groups mingle, …

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I wasn’t planning to write about Thatcher.  I reviewed “The Iron Lady” when it came out which pretty much summed up what I wanted to say about her, but I think her death has made a statement or perhaps exposed a truth that wasn’t expected. The links between the run …

The post The Control of the Public Realm appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Part two of a two part series (part 1), this post explores patriarchy, power, violence and female sexuality, arguing that a BD/SM is not unproblematic, but as a reification of patriarchial sexuality it may be beneficial in making explicit the power dynamics and violence which exist in a …

The post BD/SM and the Sexual Reification of Patriarchy (Part 2/2) appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

A child of the 70s, the idea of women covering their heads, now heavily associated with Islam, doesn’t seem that alien to me.  When I was a child, most older women wore headscarfs.  Little girls didn’t – except in dressup – and young women would usually have their hair flowing …

The post On Headscarfs and Hijabs appeared first on Second Council House of Virgo.

Guest Post from Katherine Smith

Dear Andrea Dworkin,

I can’t believe I’ve missed you all these years! I’ve just read In Our Blood and it’s transformed my feeling about the world. Very few books can do that. The penny’s dropped; a few jigsaw pieces just fell into place.

I’m most …

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