Feminist Lab was founded in 2010 by two friends who share a passion for life and literature and find themselves looking at both through a similar feminist lens. Though their approaches are quite different, they believe that feminism should enable each and every woman to have the strength to construct identity for herself, while also serving as a unifying social and political alliance that incorporates many voices. So, they decided to join in the conversation. There is a lot of work to do deconstructing patriarchy, and they are up for the challenge.

One of the main goals of Feminist Lab is to enhance and contribute to the community of feminists online and in the world. FemLab bridges the gap between theory and lived experiences. FemLab wants this site to be a common space for individual feminists to find information about local and national issues, participate in conversations about the public images of women and their personal attitudes, coordinate activities and resources, and share their stories and experiences with one another.

Why a “postmodern” world?

In literary terms, the postmodern suggests texts/readings/responses which confront ideal truths, whole and complete analyses, beliefs in objectivity, concepts of norms or universals . . . and celebrates the fragmentation! (See the comparison between Modern and Postmodern on University of Colorado professor Dr. Klage’s web page.)

The term postmodern is highly contested: it quite literally means different things to different people in relation to different fields and time periods. The term, for us, is an ideal representation of the subjectivity involved in making meaning in a world which exerts endless influences on personal identity. Simply put, we want to draw attention to the power and the right of people to create the world for themselves. Rather than focus on the inevitability of social forces which shape us and seem to deny subjecthood, we want to emphasize the individual’s power to shape those social forces. And, since subjective experiences and performances preclude the possibility of universally reliable short cuts or codes, individuals participating in such a world must communicate their questions and understandings with one another.

Several key theoretical points which inform our feminisms:

Gender is a fluid, malleable, social concept and all gender expressions and identifications are welcomed and encouraged to contribute to the collective understanding of personhood.

Definitions shift and change with use (and abuse).  Words like “feminism,” “woman/women,” “man/men,” “male,” and “female” should be examined and re-examined.

People shape their worlds. There is no voice too quiet, no experience too marginal, no topic too removed from the concerns of women which does not bear discussion, debate, and action.

KM Volmer taught English Composition at Saddleback and Orange Coast Community Colleges in Southern California, and has begun her PhD work in Women’s Literature at Northern Illinois University. Gulp.

Kimberly Smith is a writer and thinker. She has recently found her mission in life: to be an advocate for women. She thrives holed up in her office writing to the world about what she sees and is always wondering if anyone is listening.  She has rejected the color pink since she was four (no exaggeration, there is photographic evidence) and now recognizes the significance of this rejection–not of the color itself, but of the representation of women as damsels in distress waiting for their prince charming to come to the rescue.