By Danielle Whitaker –

What the hell is “inclusivity,” anyway?

Greetings, sisters. My name is Danielle, a fresh face here at WLRN, and I’m thrilled to be joining this incredible collective of women sharing the powerful ideas and voices that most media outlets are actively working to silence.

When we speak of inclusivity, we are incessantly forced to remind our critics that inclusivity does not require the accommodation of anyone who demands inclusion. Groups, classes, and categories exist within all of society, and in a movement for liberation of the female class—women and girls—inclusion should be and is extended to all female people of all races, all sexual orientations, all socioeconomic classes, all nationalities, all levels of ability or disability, all belief systems, all identities, all ages. Despite the fact that many radical feminists are indeed women of color, women of lower economic status, and women from non-Western countries, we still face an endless onslaught of gaslighting (primarily from privileged Western males, ironically enough) that attempts to brand our diverse movement as elitist and exclusionary.

So perhaps next time someone tries to accuse us of not being “inclusive” enough, we can kindly remind them that the efforts of feminism include literally half the human population.

Just a couple weeks away, our March podcast centers around the inclusion of women with disabilities and the ways in which we can help elevate these women’s voices within our movement. This month, we will hear from Ellana Crew, a blind lesbian from Baltimore, as well as Tara Ayers, a MichFest volunteer who coordinated disability access for the event until its sobering, untimely end in 2015 following boycotts and harassment from trans activists.

Founded by Lisa Vogel in 1976, long before same-sex rights were even visible on the horizon, MichFest was a fully women-run, women-exclusive music festival offering an unparalleled opportunity for tens of thousands of women to connect and experience one another’s art. An annual staple of lesbian and feminist culture for four decades, MichFest provided a safe and empowering space for women to congregate without the dominating male presence to which we are subjected in every corner of the globe, every day of every year. For forty years, MichFest was a respite—however brief—from the daily weight of patriarchy. For forty years, MichFest welcomed and included all females from all walks of life—until it was bullied out of existence for not including men.

Revolutionary not only in its uncompromising commitment to the female community as a whole, MichFest also took exceptional care to accommodate women with special needs, including ASL interpretation for all performances, healthcare resources, and camping designated specifically for those with disabilities. Inspired by these efforts, we at WLRN have decided to provide written transcripts of all podcasts for our deaf and hard-of-hearing listeners within a week of each month’s release. Transcripts of past podcasts will also be made available in the coming months. In the interest of inclusion, we are collectively committed to ensuring our content is accessible to as many women as possible. As we continue to learn and evolve in our goals, we realize there is always room to grow.

As Bonnie Morris said of MichFest itself, “Nothing about us without us.”

We hope you’ll join us on Thursday, March 7 as we explore the herstoric legacy of MichFest and more in our 35th WLRN podcast. Don’t forget to help us reach more and more women by sharing your favorite content, and if you’re interested in contributing to feminist-powered radio, be sure to visit our volunteer page to learn how you can get involved.