This weekend Dallas's Phoenix Project will be putting on Femme Fest, a two day festival focusing on the fairest of all sexes. I sat down for a few questions with Jessica, member of Phoenix Collective and also one of many presenters you will encounter this weekend. -FP

What is the concept behind Femme Fest?

Femme Fest is designed to show respect for the female artists/musicians within our community. We hope to empower and encourage women to pursue their dreams of success, whatever they may be.

How does this festival coincide with the Phoenix Project mission?

This is about diversity and community, bringing progressive groups together for one common mission, radical change in our East Dallas community through cooperation, trust and solidarity.

In addition to musicians there will be workshops, speakers and other informative treats on the program. How has organizing this compared to one of the more traditional shows that PP puts on?

This has certainly put my organizational and promoting skills to the test. I have literally been eating, breathing and sleeping Femme Fest for the past month. It has taken so many people and groups coming together to makes this happen. Special thanks to Clandestine Project and Chris for helping us out with shirts. Spiral Diner for helping us out with promotion and food for the event. The Labyrinth for their generous donations, Mercy for Animals for their promotion help and Recycle Revolution for donating recycling receptacles.

What do you want the audience to take away from Femme Fest?

That there are many options available as to how you want to live your life.. You create your own reality. Life does not have to be a constant struggle. Through perseverance, family and community we can all find ways to live and work together to create sustainability within our communities and families. We hope men and women alike will feel empowered by the experience this weekend and that they will take that home with them and spread within their own community , workplaces and schools.

Can you tell us a little about DIY birth control?


Here is the intro to the workshop which is the one I will personally be presenting...

Since the 1960’s, when birth control pills were first introduced, millions
of women worldwide have taken them, believing they were safe and effective
for contraception. Unfortunately, that’s only a half-truth. Birth
control pills are indeed very effective at contraception. But the downside
is they’re extremely hazardous. Since the introduction of the Pill,
there’s been an explosion of women’s diseases and maladies in a scope
never experienced before in the history of medicine, including migraine
headaches, pms, breast cancer, heart disease, strokes, anxiety disorders,
blood clots, high blood pressure, uterine cancer, depression, the list
goes on and on.

Accounts of herbal birth control were first described by Hippocrates over
2,000 years ago. Native women of both North and South America made use of
more than 200 plants, roots and other medicines as means of birth control.

Controlling women's ability to decide when and how many children are
conceived is an historical type of economic control. After the plague in
Europe, the Church, which was by far the largest land owner and tax
collector, had lost a huge majority of its indentured servants. The feudal
system was lost due to great decline in population. The church
categorically set out to abolish any means of controlling birth rates to
regain its income in the form of serfs. The Church Inquisitors proclaimed,
"no one is more dangerous and harmful than the midwives," the wise women
that understood how to stop pregnancy and ease the pains of childbirth.
They knew methods of abortions as well as contraceptive herbs. The
knowledge was passed from woman to woman as men did not treat women. The
witch hunts virtually wiped out the knowledge.

I will be going into a detailed examination of the woman's cycle,
providing women with basic forgotten knowledge of how their body's work
and also providing information on herbal birth control options. The focus
is to empower women by helping them realize that their ability to produce
life is not a handicap that needs to be controlled with harmful
pharmaceuticals. With the right information it is a blessing that we can
control and regulate.