Small Strokes Big Oaks

Welcome to the first edition of the Feminist Odyssey Blog Carnival! This month, we’re talking about female friendships, and I’m really excited about it. We’ve got some great entries for y’all and I’m sure you’re just as stoked as I am about reading them. So, without further ado, I present to you an extraordinary collection of posts on feminist female friendships!

Movies and Media

Debbi Pless wrote about Don’t Trust the B* in Apartment 23 in her post, Clawing Towards Friendship with Don’t Trust the B* in Apartment 23 posted at Kiss My Wonder Woman!. She shows us how real-life friendships aren’t always about being BFFs in the end. She says: “Don’t Trust the B* might be a silly, vapid, hilarious show, but it’s got some of the most interesting female friendships on television. Just don’t tell them that.”

Carrie Nelson recently had an awesome series at the Bitch Magazine Blog. One of her posts in the series was Visi(bi)lity: Bisexuality as Rebellion: Sexualizing Women’s Friendships, which is all about how close female friendships are often sexualized in the media.

Sophie Standing wrote a great post reviewing several films that portray great female friendships. If you’re looking for some good movies to watch this weekend, check out Guest Writer Wednesday: Big Screen BFF’s — Cinema’s Greatest Female Friendships posted at Bitch Flicks.

Andrea MacEachern reviewed He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut by Jessica Valenti in her post, It’s Not a Book About Travel but Certainly a Good Read posted at Another Day of Grace.

Life, Love, and Romance

Emily Atwood wrote a thought-provoking post called The Effect of Feminism on My Female Relationsips posted at Diary of an Accident Prone Feminist. She says, “I have feminism to thank for some of my closest female friendships,” but she also draws attention to the fact that feminism has caused her to lose some friendships, too.

Margaret Hale tells us why she wants feminist friends in Feminism and Friendship posted at uncomfortablyhuman. She also talks about the problems that can arise with friendships when someone says she is a feminist.

Jo takes a different turn on the theme in her post, Experiences of Loving posted at A life unexamined. In it, she discusses how we see romantic-love as more important than friend-love, and how we shouldn’t fall into that trap.

Avital Norman Nathman found female friendships when she was pregnant with her son. In her post, Friendship: Boys to (Wo)Men at The Mamafesto, she tells a great story about how bringing a new life into the world helped her find a new life, too, and new friendships to go along with it.

Maehem wrote about how she thought she was a guys’ girl, but it turned out she was just parroting society in her post, My friendships with women posted at Life V 2.0.

Rebecca Parker from Ma Raison D’Etre wrote a beautiful post about being afraid to have female friends because you think guys won’t like you if you do. Check out: Believing Female Friends Are A Threat – And Being A Guy’s Girl at The Good Women Project.

Ashley Lauren (yours truly!) wrote Friendships Change and Grow, Just Like People at Small Strokes. You often choose people to stand for you at your wedding who you expect will be there for the rest of your life. In reality, though, friendships grow and change, and it’s sometimes important to let them.

Danielle wrote about similar problems with female friends surrounding her wedding. In her post, Feminist Odyssey Blog Carnival: Female Friendships, posted at from two to one, she finds strength in her husband-to-be, but not so much in her girlfriends, who reject her feminist beliefs.

Terri Givens wrote Women Leaders, Sisters and Friends posted at Terri Givens – diverse thoughts. In this post, she writes about her recent move to DC, and how Gloria Feldt’s No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power inspired her to start thinking about her female friendships in a new way.

That’s All, Folks!

Have you written something about female friendships in the past few months and didn’t get a chance to submit it to the blog carnival? Add a link in the comments!

And don’t forget to submit to next month’s blog carnival, hosted at Don’t Be Afraid to Open Your Eyes. The theme for next month is going to be Women and Film, so get writing!