This weekend, women and female-identified alike congregated to embrace their souls and bodies at the first ever LadyFest Baltimore. Originating eight years ago, LadyFest was created by a few female activists involved in the Riot Girl and Do It Yourself (DIY) movements who wanted an event that would celebrate women and female culture.
Since 2000 with the first LadyFest in Olympia, Wash., a multitude of states and countries have hosted their own. 2008 will see LadyFests in Bordeaux, London, Toronto, Switzerland, Buenos Aires, New Zealand and other locales.
In the beginning of 2007, Baltimore saw its own LadyFest stirrings with the efforts of four radical women who began holding meetings to discuss feminine issues with the ultimate goal of planning a LadyFest.
Xander Dumas, one member of the planning committee, joined in May 2007 when the group was rolling into high gear with over 25 participants, brainstorming ideas and coming up with new ways to invigorate the Baltimore feminist community.
Over the past year, there have been numerous fundraisers for LadyFest Baltimore which have helped pay for all of the components and also served as advertising for the main event. Any additional, unused funds went to Power Inside, a nonprofit organization working to help rebuild the lives of women impacted by incarceration, street life and abuse.
The planning committee quickly decided that while the first LadyFest focused mostly on female musicians, the Baltimore edition should have a heavy focus on workshops and learning experiences.
"There are a lot of great women with really interesting things to say and to teach, and some of them are radical in mainstream society terms ... We wanted to make it more available to anyone who wanted to learn about alternatives to mainstream culture," Dumas said.
Alternative is definitely the right word for the trend in eclectic workshops offered by LadyFest. Housed mostly in St. John's Church, also known as 2640 (St. Paul Street), workshops from Saturday morning until Sunday night ranged from raw food cooking lessons, to discussions on feminist race relations, to breast casting, knitting lessons and interpretive poetry readings.
In a workshop on menstrual protection alternatives, women learned about the dangers of using conventional tampons and pads for both their bodies and the environment. They also learned what the other options are, including homemade pads, sea sponges and DivaCup (think of it like an upside down diaphragm) which are supposedly less harmful.
The women who led the group, Harriet Smith and Sine Jensen, stressed that tampons, in addition to creating risk for Toxic Shock Syndrome, sucks out all types of nutrients from the body, scrapes the cervix walls and releases dioxin into the bloodstream.
Smith said, "Capitalism and patriarchy have hand-in-hand made us believe that we need to put dioxin-filled cotton into our c---- to care for our menstruation ... Hey capitalism! I don't hate myself that much to let myself put chemicals and badness into my body."
The leaders urged women to also think about the environment while taking care of their menstruation through purchasing reusable alternatives, or at least those that are organic.
The average menstruating woman uses 9,000 tampons or pads in her lifetime, most of which end up in landfills. Smith and Jensen encouraged serious reduction in disposable menstrual products.
Another discussion group on women's relationships with their body hair featured a half hour documentary, titled, Women and Body Hair: An Intimate Relationship that explores the cultural expectations of women's bodies as it related to visible body hair.
The film focused on personal body hair anecdotes of young women, mostly in their early 20s, all the time questioning why women shave if purely due to societal pressure.
After the viewing of the documentary, the 30 or so participants divided into two groups and discussed their own stories, questions and concerns regarding body hair.
The women asked questions such as: Is this a purely feminine phenomenon, or are men struggling with their own body hair as well? Is there a difference between shaving your underarms, your legs and your public areas? And even if we choose to shave, how can we be more understanding of those who don't? Although no definitive answers were given, the women walked away feeling relieved that others have had similarly tumultuous relationships with their body hair.
Not only did participants feel an overwhelming sense of community over the three-day LadyFest, but even those who led workshops were inspired by the efforts and attitudes of the attendees and organizers.
China Martens, a single radical mother, led a workshop on radical parenting called, "Don't Leave Your Friends Behind: Supporting Anarcha-Feminism & Supporting Mothers and Children." After her first book, The Future Generation: A Zine-Book for Subculture Parents, Kids, Friends & Others, was published by Atomic Book Company, Martens went on a book tour.
When she read about the plans for a LadyFest in the City Paper, she knew it would be a place to spread her message of education and tolerance for children in the generally child-free anarchist community.
"I think it's great to be a part of this. We need to build positive things ... there is an upsurge of issues and activism and I want to participate in that and with people who are open to these issue ... It's been really productive and people have walked away learning things they had never even thought about before," Martens said.
Baltimore, according to both Martens and Dumas, has played an integral role in making this LadyFest as successful as possible.
"The city has a lot of wonderful qualities and also struggles; you can be beaten down, it's really a hard place to live," Martens said.
"But things are changing and there has been a lot of gentrification, which I never thought could ever come to this place. There is the community growing around Red Emma's bookstore and a great art scene and probably tons of activists groups that I don't even know about ... it leaves you a little inspired."
Dumas agrees with the positive growth in Baltimore. "There are a lot of really interesting things going on in Baltimore ... Baltimore is very unique."
Jessie Hughes, an attendee and native Baltimorean, also acknowledged the changes in the city.
"I've really seen Baltimore grow over the years, especially as a musician in the music scene here, I've seen it blossom. Sometimes when you are in a smaller city, there is a pulling together and the need for it is moreapparent," she said.
"What you have is a bunch of people who are willing to step up and who are intelligent and highly motivated and they come together. They exist in every city but there's been a noticeable lacking in the past here and people are finally stepping up."
It appears that the first LadyFest Baltimore was ultimately a success. According to Dumas, over 100 people attended the opening party and concert and workshops boasted as many as 30 participants.
Hughes confirmed this, saying, "I think it has been really informative but it's been a very open environment for people to share their views and opinions. ... I've really enjoyed that a lot. There have been enough people that there are many different viewpoints represented but it's also intimate enough that it still feels accessible, so it's been nice."
"We've had a really positive experience ... it's been a great turnout," Dumas said. She explained that next year's LadyFest hopes to be bigger and better perhaps with increased advertising and more participant input.
In each schedule pamphlet, an evaluation was included to encourage attendees to voice what they liked and disliked about the experience.
"I'm thinking it's been really successful," Dumas said. "It's been great and as far as following up this year and into the future ... We're hoping there will be a LadyFest next year but that's up to Baltimore."
