THE RANDIAN FEMINISM MAILING LIST

Currently on RandFem: Free format discussions.

The Randian Feminism (RandFem) mailing list is a forum for people who share a common interest in Feminist philosophy, issues and perspectives, and in Ayn Rand's ideas and philosophy. Feminism from a Randian or Objectivist perspective - and Randianism or Objectivism from a feminist perspective. What are the similarities, what are the differences, and where may the one learn from the other? We aim for insightful discussions in a benign social environment.

The idea to create this list was inspired by the publication of the anthology, Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand, edited by Mimi Reisel Gladstein, and Chris Matthew Sciabarra, published by Pennsylvania State University Press on February 2nd, 1999. There is a web site about this book at: http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sciabarra/femstart.htm.

The RandFem list alternates between periods of structured discussion and periods of free format discussions when anyone can raise whatever topic they want for discussion.

Currently the list is unmoderated, alternating between free-format discussions and quiet periods.

PREVIOUSLY ON RANDFEM

May 29 - June 10 2000: Structured discussion of a new paper by Bryan Register entitled Ayn Rand's Approaches to Sexuality: Their Values, Disvalues, and Significances. The paper is available at: http://www.ifi.uio.no/~thomas/po/sexual-approaches.html

August 16 - 28 1999: Structured discussion of Charles Wieder's Objectivity essay, Who is Dagny Taggart? Art Versus Philosophy in Ayn Rand's Writings on Male/Female Relationships. This essay is available at: http://www.ifi.uio.no/~thomas/po/whoisdagny.html.

March 1 - July 12 1999: A moderated and structured discussion of Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand (see schedule below). The entire discussion is available in the web-based, searchable archives of the list (see archive info at the end of this document). A highlight of the discussion is available at: http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sciabarra/fem/femdis.htm. The discussion was moderated by Thomas Gramstad (thomas@ifi.uio.no) and Bryan Register (bregister@mail.utexas.edu). It was divided into 17 sessions, each allotted one week of structured discussion (see schedule below). The exception from the one week rule was session 5, which overlapped with easter, and it also proved necessary to add an extra week extension in the mid of may because of "discussion lag".

Session:    Author(s):                   Moderator:   Date:
   1        Sciabarra/Gladstein,Tuana    Register     March 01
   2        B. Branden                   Register     March 08
   3        Gladstein, Wilt 1(ch 3)      Gramstad     March 15
   4        Loiret-Prunet                Gramstad     March 22
   5        Vacker                       Register     March 29
   6        Brownmiller, Harrison        Register     April 12
   7        McElroy                      Register     April 19
   8        Wilt 2(ch 10)                Register     April 26
   9        N. Branden, Taylor           Gramstad     May 03
  10        Presley                      Gramstad     May 10
  11        Brickell                     Gramstad     May 24
  12        Love Brown                   Register     May 31
  13        Sheaffer, Paglia             Gramstad     Jun 07
  14        Michalson                    Gramstad     Jun 14
  15        Gramstad                     Register     Jun 21
  16        Hardie                       Register     Jun 28
  17        Conclusion                   Gramstad     Jul 05

The RandFem list was created January 14th 1998 by Thomas Gramstad. In the beginning the list was basically unmoderated. This means that when a subscriber posts a message to the list, it will be immediately distributed to all the other participants, without someone reading through or approving the message first (this is the so-called reflector mode - messages are distributed independently, immediately and unmoderated). As the group has been growing in membership, the need for structure and moderation has grown as well, and the list has been moderated from December 7th 1998.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANDIAN-FEMINISM LIST

You can subscribe (or unsubscribe) yourself to the randian-feminism list via this web page: http://ifi-lists.uio.no/mailman/listinfo/randian-feminism@ifi.uio.no. You can unsubscribe via the field at the bottom of the page. This mailing list is managed with the Mailman listserver.

HOW TO POST TO THE LIST

In order to post to the list, send your posting to this address: randian-feminism@ifi.uio.no. You will receive a copy of your own posting via the list when it is distributed.

ARCHIVES

The Randian-feminism mailing list is being archived with ListQuest, a fast and flexible searchable system at http://www.listquest.com/.

Starting august 2000, the list is also archived at http://ifi-lists.uio.no/mailman/listinfo/randian-feminism@ifi.uio.no, available to subscribed addresses.

Thomas Gramstad