Renee Gerlich is the author of Out of the Fog: On Politics, Feminism and Coming Alive, available from Spinifex Press. Out of the Fog is Renee’s second book in as many years — her first being The Brief Complete Herstory, a short, illustrated history of the world from the Big Bang to the present day, told from a female-centred perspective. You can find The Brief Complete Herstory on the Dragon Cloud Press website.
Renee’s writing also appears on Savage Minds, Uncommon Ground Media, and Canadian website Feminist Current. She was a contributing author to the 2021 anthology Spinning and Weaving: Radical Feminism for the 21st Century, and has done interviews with Women’s Liberation News, Feminist Current, Resistance Radio, Defend Feminists, The Green Flame and Savage Minds (available at the hyperlinks). Renee was a panelist at Seeking Feminist Future, an event hosted by Sydney University in February 2020, and her 2019 talk delivered with the International Women’s Day committee in Brisbane, called ‘Transgenderism, Neoliberalism and Rape Culture’, can be viewed here. Essays from this blog have been translated into French, Spanish, German, Turkish, Norwegian and Serbo-Croatian.
Renee’s feminist work has also involved regular exhibitions and stunts, and a fair amount of backlash! (You can read about her Pride intervention here, Phantom Billstickers ban here, and see her interview on TVNZ’s Q&A here).
Renee’s background is in arts and education, and she was researcher for a 2016 documentary called The HeART of the Matter, about the development and subsequent rollback of education reforms implemented by New Zealand’s first Labour government, and was a panelist for the 2016 Peter Fraser memorial lecture. She has worked as an art history tutor at Victoria University, and her writing on arts and literacy has appeared in Education Aotearoa, Education Review, MENZA magazine, Freerange, FishHead, the Dominion Post, and Salient.
You can support Renee’s work by visiting her shop at Dragon Cloud Press.
To contact Renee, write to: renee@dragoncloudpress.com
Really enjoyed reading this. Keep up the good work! Would you care to present at a conference in July 2017?
Where is your “DONATE” button?
I was heartened by this question, when you asked me… a year ago! And now I have finally set up a Patreon page!
https://www.patreon.com/nobodysdarlingnz
Why have you used my name in your article without my permission. I’m a transgender women and support the LBGTI community and will have no part of this. Take me out of you article immediately.
Hi Renee- Is there any way to make a one time donation? When I go to donate, it seems the only options are different monthly memberships. Thank you, Tina
Hi Tina – thank you so much! I’ve just updated the details in the “About” section to allow for one-off donations. I actually didn’t even realise Patreon didn’t allow them! I’m honoured that you’ve asked me, thank you.
Greetings Renee,
Two weeks ago I had no idea that 17 males (and counting) have been transferred into women’s prisons in NZ – where the Department of Corrections tell us that “Two-thirds of women in prison have been a victim of family violence, and half a victim of sexual violence…52% of women in prison have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Over half of women prisoners in Aotearoa are wahine maori.
I also didn’t know that school children are being asked to suspend material reality and “acknowledge” multiple “identities” such as transgender, pangender, agender, frostgender, demiboy, demigirl, neutrois, aporagender, lunagender – and presumably 7 billion or so others.
I had no idea that in countries like Canada, the USA and UK, men were sexually assaulting women in women’s refuges, exposing themselves to women and girls in changing rooms and committing serious sexual crimes against women and those crimes are being statistically counted as committed by “women”.
There is only one way this Orwellian nightmare can be stopped – and that is through radical feminist critique and organisation – women need to meet immediately and create a group – I suggest it be called WOMENS LIBERATION AOTEAROA .
I am based in Wellington and would very much like to meet you.
In solidarity
Caz
I’m lisa Irwin. Why have you puy me in your article without my permission. I’m a transgender women and I support the LBGTI community. I will have no part of this and I suggest you remove me from your article immediately thank you.
Hi Lisa,
I watched the documentary “Born This Way”, and have every right to quote from published material in my own work. I’m sorry that you did not seek name suppression, if that is something you now regret. Unfortunately once one makes public statements with one’s name attached, one cannot control where they are quoted and by whom.
Many thanks,
Renée
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You’re amazing Renee. thank you for writing with such heart and humor about things that are painful and often MADDENING to talk about. i feel like without a steady diet of crazy pills i wouldn’t make it through the day. humor helps
Hi Renee, I am a radical feminist in Auckland and I strongly wish to contribute to radical feminist activism in NZ.
I was inspired and empowered when I saw your protest alongside Charlie Montague against giving children sex hormones in the Pride parade this year. I was also relieved to see that there were some feminists being public with such an important message.
How can I get in touch with you? Do you know if there are any Radical Feminist groups in Auckland?
It would be great to hear back from you.
Beautiful writing. Causes me to think a lot about the kind of society that we’re currently living in – and the kind of society I’d like to be part of in the future. A principled thinker who genuinely cares about the issues she raises. I find the posts empowering and exciting. Seann Paurini
Hi Renee,
If you can see my email address could you please contact me. Someone connected to your blog contacted me on reddit but on an old account (I turn them over every few months) and I only saw the message now (over three months later) but it is from a now deleted account. I would love to be able to get in touch with you or her.
Sorry for being cryptic but I don’t want to blast her name on your blog without permission.
So pleased I found your blog! Keep up the writing Renee.
Hi Renee, I wanted to tell you that I think you are showing a lot of courage with your writing. You make some excellent points. Women out here are starting to wake up, even if we are terrified to speak up. So please keep writing – you are on the right side of history and time will prove you right, though we might have to lose everything and more first. I have always had a lot of love and respect for the Greens and I really hope that there is a way forward within the party on these issues.
Kia kaha Renee, wishing you strength and courage.
New reader here. Looking forward to folliwing you and supporting a fellow Kiwi. Cheers.
Great blog. Of course anything I read today that contains some measure of sanity is a relief. Definitely Orwellian days. And I’m afraid that the growing infestation of insanity is not going to be stopped. I say we need to find refuges and connect with one another.
Hi Renee,
I’d like to invite you to the FeministWiki project.
If you’re interested, please contact me at the email address I entered into the comment form, so I can send you your username and password privately. 🙂
Kind regards and thanks for all your amazing work,
SocJusWiz
Courage is infectious and gender critical feminists, like you, seem to be the living a world that makes sense on these critical issues . Kia Kaha Renee
Hi Renee,
I am a transexual female (people are free to disagree but meh, I was born this way lol) and I refuse to have anything to do with this ‘trans’ activist male violence against women. I won’t be told I’m part of a ‘trans’ community. I support the efforts of feminists in defending biology against this sex-denying cult attempting to erase women and infiltrate lesbian/gay movements. Gender terrorism comes to mind to describe this stuff. I might take a personal hit because of it but it’s for the greater good. I hope you weather the storms of hatred aimed at you and have the support you need to keep this going. xx
Small Patreon contribution made to show my support.
What a powerful blog, and such engaging writing. It’s given me so much to think about, and such a relief to know I’m not the only one bothered by a lot of this stuff. Thank you.
Renée, I can’t find you on twitter…I hope all’s ok. Don’t know how else to reach out in solidarity.
No doubt she has been banned from twitter for speaking the truth about sexual dimorphism in mammals. :/
Great informative writing, really riveting and personally challenging! Shocked about your censoring in the media in NZ, I’m clearly a bit naive. I thought we had free expression.
I’ve sent links to my immediate family, so important for my daughter starting ENGLISH and politics in Victoria! and my son. My smart wife is going to love your stuff.
You are doing a great service to humanity’s slow rise to intellectual freedom and slower rise to social maturation— will we ever be civilised!
Hello Renee. I am really enjoying your writing, regardless of the fact that these are not enjoyable subjects. There is something so straight forward about your work that I can’t help but read on. I’m on my third piece now. Thanks for doing all the hard reading so i can come along and just read your work, and get an education. The new knowledge leads to only anger, and a burning fury for change. I will be checking in this page to see more, for sure. Great Work Renee!! I appreciate you getting the word out there. Cheers to you.
Dear Renee,
The TRADFEM international radfem translation collective would be honoured to post a French version of your Brisbane presentation on tradfem.wordpress.com – Would you authorize this, please? A hyperlink will guide viewers to your blo.
Martin
Hi Martin! Thank you, that would be an honour. Let me know when it’s up!
Hi Renee,
We are a collective of women in Vancouver, Canada who are in the process of gathering like-minded women for a global coalition of feminists and feminist groups who are willing to speak up about women-based oppression and the necessity of women-only organizing.
I’d love to give you more details about who we are and what we are planning if you’d be willing to email me.
Hope to hear from you soon,
-Mariah
Loved this video. I would like to see the whole conference if possible and I would like to read something else on this topic.
Best regards from Argentina
Isadora
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3GlmyQ1Y2s