Local Feminist Resources, Organizations, and Businesses
AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin
The AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin provides health care and social services to more than 2,100 HIV/AIDS patients in Wisconsin, regardless of their ability to pay, and promotes HIV/AIDS education and prevention efforts throughout the state.
Apple A Day Massage
Apple A Day Massage, located just two doors north of Broad Vocabulary, is dedicated to offering only the highest quality products and services. Their massage therapy techniques are designed to rejuvenate your mind, body and spirit. In keeping with the natural and organic product lines they sell, they use products of the highest quality to give you exceptional results.
Bremen Café
Milwaukee's premier small concert venue presents the best in live music: indie, acoustic, bluegrass, blues, creative folk and roots groups and singer/songwriters. We seek great players and pickers. Check the calendar for their women’s open mic nights!
Brew City Bruisers
Broad Vocabulary is a proud sponser of the Brew City Bruisers: the newest members of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), and Milwaukee's first all-girl roller derby league.
Cedar Block
Cedar Block is the presenter of odd little events in Milwaukee that fall oustide of the usual band performance or art opening. See their website for details.
Cream City Collectives
The mission of the Cream City Collectives is to provide an accessible community space that will allow for the creation and diffusion of knowledge, ideas and skills, specifically for the growth of radical and progressive social change. It is located in lovely Riverwest across the street from the
Riverwest Co-op.
Femme Mafia MKE
Femme Mafia MKE is dedicated to the original goals of Femme Mafia, Atlanta, with an emphasis on the localized needs of femmes in Milwaukee: a mostly working-class, segregated city, where queer femmes of color and white femmes do not often meet, collaborate, and mobilize. Femme Mafia MKE is a necessary component for the Milwaukee queer community, and they believe it's time for Milwaukee to recognize fabulous, fierce femmes everywhere.
Flying Fish Gallery
Flying Fish Gallery - find amazing cards and crafts! Artist Faythe Levine designed Broad Vocabulary's logo and sign. Look out for Levine's Art vs. Craft fair in in town in June!
Girl Scouts of Milwaukee
The Girl Scout program is girl-driven, reflecting the ever-changing needs and interests of participating girls. It provides girls with a wide variety of opportunities. The program encourages increased skill building and responsibility, and also promotes the development of strong leadership and decision-making skills.
The Healing Center
The Healing Center offers sexual abuse and assault survivors and their loved ones opportunities for healing through support, advocacy and community education. The Healing Center offers support groups for the abuse survivor, and education and advocacy on the issues of sexual abuse and assault, incest, rape and child sexual abuse.
Miltown Kings
The Miltown Kings - Milwaukee's only drag king troupe. Gender dysphoria at its HOTTEST.
Milwaukee Anarchists and Anti-Authoritarians
Milwaukee Anarchists and Anti-Authoritarians are a diverse group of anti-authoritarians seeking to connect with each other, our community and all like-minded individuals in non-hierarchal ways, as well as seeking to remove all vestiges of authority from our daily lives. To this end theyare opposed to such institutions as the state and capitalism, in favor of a free society based on mutual aid and voluntary cooperation.
Milwaukee Indymedia
Milwaukee IMC joins in collective with hundreds of journalists and independent media organizations to offer grassroots, non-corporate coverage of major protests and other events.
Milwaukee LGBT Center
The Milwaukee LGBT Center. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for LGBT people in the metro Milwaukee area.
Milwaukee Women's Center
The Milwaukee Women's Center is a diverse human service organization that celebrates more than 20 years of providing comprehensive services and treatment to men, women and children whose lives have been affected by family/intimate partner violence, substance abuse, mental health and poverty.
Paper Boat Boutique
Paper Boat Boutique & Gallery is a small independently owned shop which features over 60 local and national independent artists, crafters and designers who make unique items such as clothing, jewelry, stationary, household goods and amazing odds and ends. There is something for everyone, including ladies, gents and kiddies!
Peace Action Wisconsin
Peace Action Wisconsin is a peace and justice organization which works for a world where human needs are met, the environment is preserved, and the threats of war and nuclear weapons have been abolished. They are committed to non-violence as a way of life and offer their members opportunities for education, lobbying and public witness.
Pedal Pusher Society
The Pedal Pusher Society is a group of women and trans folks dedicated to creating a gender-inclusive cycling community.
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin
The mission of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Inc. is to empower all individuals to manage their sexual and reproductive health through patient services, education and advocacy.
Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative
Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative in Madison is a collectively owned and managed bookstore committed to social change and independent publishing.
Redbird Studios
Redbird Studios is a writers' place offering seminars, critique groups, private consults and studio space to help writers find their voices.
Rice N Peas
Rice N Peas is an independent film production group involved in journalism, documentaries, and other thought-provoking, socially aware productions.
Riverwest Co-op and Café
The Riverwest Coop and Café is a not-for-profit natural foods grocery
store and café that has been open to the public since 2001. Located in the
heart of the beautiful and diverse Riverwest community of Milwaukee, the
Coop is community-based, member-owned, volunteer-run, and it offers a
truly unique shopping experience. We know where our food comes from and how
that food is grown, and we keep our profit margins to cover our overhead. In
a true cooperative spirit, everyone participates and everyone voices their
ideas.
A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own feminist bookstore in Madison carries books for all interests and hosts readings, book clubs, and other events. A Room of One’s Own just celebrated its 30th anniversary, making it one of the country’s most successful and inspirational feminist bookstores.
Task Force on Family Violence
The Task Force on Family Violence of Milwaukee provides advocacy, education, and access to services to empower people to lead lives free from domestic violence.
The Tool Shed
The Tool Shed is Milwaukee's first and only
woman owned and operated gender-friendly erotic boutique specializing in
tools for those in pursuit of pleasure.
UWM Center for Women's Studies
The Center for Women's Studies at UWM facilitates research and course development about women and gender-related issues, coordinates the interdisciplinary Women's Studies undergraduate and graduate instructional program, and works with local, state, and national groups on issues of importance to women.
Vegan Essentials
Vegan Essentials sells all kinds of vegan products, from snacks to belts to footwear.
Web Etcetera
Web Etcetera is an interactive, Milwaukee-based, lady-owned web design company and multimedia training center. Beyond the many training classes offered, they also design and produce educational solutions for small and large companies, locally and nationally.
Wisconsin Women's Network
Now 25 years old, the Wisconsin Women's Network, a coalition of organizations and individuals, advances the status of women and girls in Wisconsin through communication, education and advocacy.
Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation
The Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) is an economic development corporation providing quality business education, technical assistance and access to capital for entrepreneurs. Established in 1989, WWBIC consults, educates and mentors owners of small and micro businesses throughout Wisconsin. We concentrate our efforts with women, people of color and those of lower incomes.
WMSE 91.7 FM
Broad Vocabulary is a proud supporter of WMSE. WMSE not only provides Milwaukee with the best of the best of local, national, and world music but also showcases local bands and events. We love them.
Woodland Pattern
Woodland Pattern is a wonderful non-profit cooperative bookstore and gallery
in Riverwest. They specialize in art and literature. Hurray!
National Feminist Resources and Organizations
Center for Reproductive Rights
The Center for Reproductive Rights uses the law to advance reproductive
freedom as a fundamental right that all governments are obligated to
protect, respect, and fulfull.
Coalition of Labor Union Women
The Coalition of Labor Union Women is America's only national organization for union women. Formed in 1974, CLUW is a nonpartisan organization within the union movement. The primary mission of CLUW is to unify all union women in a viable organization to determine their common problems and concerns and to develop action programs within the framework of unions to accomplish their objectives.
Colours of Resistance
Colours of Resistance (COR) is a grassroots network of people who consciously work to develop anti-racist, multiracial politics in the movement against global capitalism, committed to helping build an anti-racist, anti-imperialist, multiracial, feminist, queer and trans liberationist, anti-authoritarian movement against global capitalism using an anti-oppression framework and analysis.
Feminist Majority Foundation
The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), which was founded in
1987, is a cutting edge organization dedicated to women's equality,
reproductive health, and non-violence. In all spheres, FMF utilizes research
and action to empower women economically, socially, and politically.
GenderPAC
The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition works to end discrimination and violence caused by gender stereotypes by changing public attitudes, educating elected officials and expanding human rights. GenderPAC also promotes understanding of the connection between discrimination based on gender stereotypes and sex, sexual orientation, age, race, and class.
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence is a national activist organization of radical feminists of color advancing a movement to end violence against women of color and their communities through direct action, critical dialogue and grassroots organizing.
Infoshop.org
Kill capitalism before capitalism kills you! Infoshop.org is an amazing online resource of news, opinion and information.
Media Matters
Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
QueerKit
QueerKit was created by and for other radical queers interested in escaping uniformity, gay emancipation, commerciality, and lifestylism. They are dedicated to digitally mobilizing the brilliant queer population by organizing them, informing them, and connecting them with likeminded others around the world with the absence of stereotypes, marketing, and sexual agendas. Their goal is to highlight a gay scene that very much exists but hardly recognized. Most importanty, they strive to emphazise the diversity of people by showcasing queer brilliance instead of products or commodities.
Rock-n-Roll Camp for Girls
Rock-n-Roll Camp for Girls is music + education + encouragement + fun + opportunity + cool = self-expression and independence. And, make it affordable, if not free, so that every girl has an equal opportunity to get involved. It's that simple.
Third Wave Foundation
The Third Wave Foundation is a feminist, activist foundation working nationally to support young women 15 to 30. Through financial resources, public education, and relationship building, Third Wave helps support and strengthen young women and their allies working for gender, racial, social, and economic justice.
Transgender Care
The Transgender Care Health Information Archive provides information on transitioning, surgery, hormone therapy, electrolysis/hair removal, and other topics of interest to transgendered people, friends, and professionals.
Transgender, Gender-Variant, and Intersex Justice Project
The TGI Justice Project's (TGIJP) mission is to challenge and end the human rights abuses committed against transgender, gender variant/genderqueer and intersex (TGI) people in California prisons and beyond.
United for a Fair Economy
United for a Fair Economy is a national, independent, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3)
non-profit organization. UFE raises awareness that concentrated wealth and
power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide,
and tear communities apart. They support and help build social movements for
greater equality.
Vegan Action
Vegan Action is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the animals, environment, and human health by educating the public about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle and encouraging the spread of vegan food options through our public outreach campaigns.
Voices from the Gaps
Voices from the Gaps, a collaborative project at the University of Minnesota, compiles and preserves information on the lives and works of women artists of color in North America.
Websites for Girls and Young Women
An extensive list of web links geared towards young women, compiled by Joan Korenman of the Center for Women and Information Technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
ZNet
Brought to you by the folks behind Z Magazine, ZNet is a community of people trying to understand society and change it for the better.
Global Feminist Resources and Organizations
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights.
Anarchist Black Cross Network
The Anarchist Black Cross Network is a decentralized and egalitarian network
of organizations committed to the original ideals of the Anarchist Black
Cross movement -- of seeing prisons and the poverty, racism and genocide
that accompanies them to be symptoms of a social order whose last days are
near.
Animal Liberation Front
ALF's mission is to effectively allocate resources (time and money) to end the "property" status of nonhuman animals. It works to abolish institutionalized animal exploitation, which assumes that
animals are property.
CrimethInc
CrimethInc is the black market where we trade in this precious contraband. Here, the secret worlds of shoplifters, rioters, dropouts, deserters, adulterers, vandals, daydreamers—that is to say, of all of us, in those moments when, wanting more, we indulge in little revolts—converge to form gateways to new worlds where theft, cheating, warfare, boredom, and so on are simply obsolete.This webpage is one of many manifestations of the underground network through which we work to realize these daydreams, to take the reigns of our lives and make our history rather than using the same energy to insist we are being made by it. If you have illicit ideas and intentions of your own to share, you're invited to join us here.
Corporation Watch: Holding Corporations Accountable
CorpWatch counters corporate-led globalization through education, network-building and activism. They work to foster democratic control over corporations by building grassroots globalization a diverse movement for human rights and dignity, labor rights, and environmental justice.
Earth First!
Earth First! is an international movement composed of small,
bioregionally-based groups. Earth First!ers take it upon themselves
to become intimately familiar with the ecology of our area and the most
immediate and serious threats to it. They apply "direct pressure" to stop the bleeding, with a combination of education, litigation, and creative civil
disobedience.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people
around the world. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental
organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and
foundations worldwide.
Idealist.org/Action Without Borders
Idealist.org/Action Without Borders connects people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives. Action Without Borders is independent of any government, political ideology, or religious creed. Their work is guided by the common desire of members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems, in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect.
Independent Press Association
The IPA amplifies the power of independent publications so as to foster a more just, open and democratic society.
International Indian Treaty Council
The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) is an organization of
Indigenous Peoples from North, Central, South America and the Pacific
working for the sovereignty and self-determination of indigenous peoples and
the recognition and protection of indigenous rights, traditional cultures
and sacred lands.
Protest.Net
Protest.Net is a collective of activists working together to create their own media by publishing a public record of their political activities on the web, standing up and showing that serious activism is alive and well at the dawn of the 21st century.
RAWA
RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, was
established in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1977 as an independent
political/social organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and
for social justice in Afghanistan.
War on Want
War on Want fights poverty in developing countries in partnership and
solidarity with people affected by globalisation. They campaign for workers'
rights and against the root causes of global poverty, inequality and
injustice.
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where social movements,
networks, NGOs and other civil society organizations opposed to
neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of
imperialism come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas
democratically, for formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and
network for effective action.
Extra Reading
AK Press
AK Press is a worker-run book publisher and distributor organized around anarchist principles. All decision-making, including which titles to distribute and what to publish, is done collectively. Their goal is to make available radical books and other materials, titles that are published by independent presses, not the corporate giants, titles with which you can make a positive change in the world.
Alyson Bookstore
Alyson specializes in LGBTQ fiction and non-fiction. Subjects range from erotica to comics.
Bitch Magazine
"It's a noun, a verb, a magazine." A smart, hip "feminist response to pop culture" always available at Broad Vocabulary.
Chick Lit
Chick Lit is an online language and literature forum for those obsessed with reading.
ColorLines
ColorLines is the first national, multi-racial magazine devoted to covering the politics and creations of communities of color.
Feministing
Young women are rarely given the opportunity to speak on their own behalf on issues that affect their lives and futures. Feministing provides a platform for them to comment, analyze and influence. Visit this online news/blog site to see what they have to say.
Justseeds
Justseeds' mission is to make available the most exciting independent and political culture that is being created. The site focuses on promoting a wide array of political art and printmaking being made today, the best constructed and sharpest designed anarchist culture and publications, and street art, stencil and graffiti culture that is critical of and engaged with the larger world we live in.
LiP
LiP takes creative aim at a culture machine that strips us of our desires and sells them back as product and mass mediocracy. Brazen, audacious and presumptuous, LiP combines a biting aesthetic consciousness with a structural understanding of power. Refusing to be colonized by despair, cynicism or apathy, LiP gives voice to those working for a sustainable society rooted in cooperation and diversity. LiP confronts the miserabilist capitalist system with dangerous humor, liberated eroticism and Informed Revolt.
Microcosm Publishing
Microcosm Publishing is an independent publisher and distributor based in Portland, Oregon. They distribute ideas through zines, books, pamphlets, stickers, buttons, patches, t-shirts, films, and more. Microcosm focuses on publishing zines and books in the hopes of adding credibility to zine writers and their ethics. Their titles attempt to teach self-empowerment to disenfranchised people and to nurture their creative side.
Punk Planet
Punk Planet is a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to music, culture and politics. It's fiercely independent and dedicated to living outside the mainstream.
Queer Life News
Queer Life News is a monthly publication that celebrates Wisconsin’s diverse population with boldness and class. Each issue contains insightful articles penned by local personalities who are in the know. From what’s happening locally and nationally to features on everyday life, Queer Life has got it all. Available statewide, Q Life is the information voice of the LGBT community.
Quiteria
Quiteria is a Brazilian, feminist website that our friend Isabella Gargiulo writes for. It has great links to Brazilian events as well as online zines. There's also video footage of Isabella's hot sister at Brazil's Ladyfest. P.S. It's written in all Portuguese.
QZAP
The mission of the Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) is to
establish a living history archive of past and present queer zines and
to encourage current and emerging zine publishers to continue to create.
Seal Press
Seal Press was founded in 1976 to provide a forum for women writers and feminist issues. Since then, Seal has published groundbreaking books that represent the diverse voices and interests of women—their lives, literature, and concerns. Fueled by the radical thinking and daring work of our authors, Seal’s list includes books on women's health, parenting, outdoor adventure and travel, popular culture, gender and women's studies, and current affairs. Among their many notable authors are Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ariel Gore, Ayun Halliday, Inga Muscio, Barbara Sjoholm, and Michelle Tea.
Soft Skull Press
We’re not exactly sure how to describe Soft Skull but we know we love 'em. We want you to love 'em too.
South End Press
South End Press is a nonprofit, collectively run book publisher with more than 250 titles in print. Since 1977, they have tried to meet the needs of readers who are exploring, or are already committed to, the politics of radical social change.
Undercurrentz
Undercurrentz is Milwaukee's newest biweekly newspaper, featuring local authors, artists and events. We love 'em!
Venus
Venus Magazine focuses on women in independent music, art, film, fashion, and DIY culture.
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