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ismnotwasm

(41,998 posts)
Mon Sep 16, 2013, 01:10 PM Sep 2013

Why we shouldn't give up on feminism.




By JEN GIACALONE

I’m hanging it up.

Yeah, that’s right. I’m done with feminism.

It’s not working. We’re getting nowhere. In fact it actually seems like we’re going backwards. Someone come confiscate my “Feminist as F*ck” t-shirt, buy me a beekeeper suit and leave me to my new, non-feminist existence which will entail popping out more children and possibly listening to a lot of Katy Perry, who is an avowed non-feminist.

(The woman who dresses her tits up like cupcakes says she is not a feminist, are you surprised?).

Fighting double standards has become worse than passé. In that entire media whore-nado over Miley Cyrus and her VMA spectacle, the only person I saw pointing out that Robin Thicke is actually kind of questionable for grinding his bits on a girl who could be his daughter… was another dude.

Even we in our own circular firing squad of feminism didn’t manage to catch that one, as we were too busy deciding whether to be mad at Miley because she was demeaning herself (maybe) or because she was treating the black women onstage with her like sex dolls (probably) or because “We Can’t Stop” is a mediocre song that has gotten far more play than it deserves (definitely).

The juggernaut of terrible anti-abortion laws just keeps coming despite our best efforts to stop it.State legislatures are in a race to the bottom and still they manage to exceed my expectations.

I’ve stopped saying “It can’t get any worse,” because it’s become a dare. Statutory rape cases like the one in Montana just frustrate and depress me; a 49-year-old male teacher walked away with a 30 day sentence after a supposedly consensual relationship with a 14 year old student ended in her suicide.

I just can’t anymore.


http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/feminism-isnt-working-and-i-give-up/
6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Why we shouldn't give up on feminism. (Original Post) ismnotwasm Sep 2013 OP
I’ve stopped saying “It can’t get any worse,” because it’s become a dare. seabeyond Sep 2013 #1
Exactly ismnotwasm Sep 2013 #2
Love it. redqueen Sep 2013 #3
Unless you've given up ismnotwasm Sep 2013 #4
Oh yeah. I know all about that. redqueen Sep 2013 #5
About this fight... redqueen Sep 2013 #6
 

seabeyond

(110,159 posts)
1. I’ve stopped saying “It can’t get any worse,” because it’s become a dare.
Mon Sep 16, 2013, 01:42 PM
Sep 2013
I have arguments with otherwise entirely reasonable people who wonder aloud whether women really take enough responsibility for avoiding rape, that maybe they’re just not careful about what they wear and where they go because women’s sexuality just isn’t the same as men’s, and we don’t understand how hard it is for them to control their penises.

As if every woman in America doesn’t havea list of things in her head that she does to avoid getting raped. As if the staggering 35% of college aged guys who have admitted they would rape someone if they thought they could get away with it are beyond educating. As if we are completely wasting our time hoping for any better.


du is the only place i have this discussion. none of the people in my real life says this. but then... well, they are pretty progressive especially as they are repugs. what a fuckin hoot.


Except, I can’t.



This is how it works. We get mad, we fight, we get tired, we get mad, we start again. Rinse, repeat. Feminism isn’t without its flaws, and it doesn’t seem able to speak with one voice or crystallize answers on the darker, stickier aspects of human nature and sexuality. But if I may get Rumsfeldian for a minute, this is the army we have. The fight comes to us whether we seek it or not, whether we want it or not, and whether we are ready or not.


thank you. i needed to hear this.

amarillo texas. got it. amarillo fuckin' texas. driving down a main street in the middle lane a charity was set up at the red light. they do that here. and they walk the line at a red light and get donations. i always give a buck or two. i pull out my buck as i get closer. i see it is to help sexually trafficked children. the man is getting near, as he sees me hold up the buck. and i am digging out more bills. told him, too important for a buck, and added more.

amarillo fuckin texas.

it did my heart good.

ismnotwasm

(41,998 posts)
2. Exactly
Mon Sep 16, 2013, 02:03 PM
Sep 2013

I see no point in sticking my head in the sand, and pretending to empower myself by denying the negative effects of patriarchy.

redqueen

(115,103 posts)
3. Love it.
Mon Sep 16, 2013, 02:37 PM
Sep 2013
I love sex, I consider myself pro-sex, and I want to say that women should do whatever the hell they feel like with their vaginas, yet I feel like that’s a pipe dream and that it’s neither safe nor OK to do that. Because it’s not.

ismnotwasm

(41,998 posts)
4. Unless you've given up
Mon Sep 16, 2013, 02:41 PM
Sep 2013

Then you're free to ignore all the damage, all the pain, all the inequities and embrace some mystical risk-free wave of feminism spoon fed to you by corporate patriarchy.

"None so blind" and all that.

redqueen

(115,103 posts)
6. About this fight...
Mon Sep 16, 2013, 03:19 PM
Sep 2013

These battles for liberation will continue for a long time. A VERY LONG time.

It helps to remember it took generations before we got the right to vote. The battles to control our own bodies, to escape the sex class, to no longer be treated as if our sex is an insult... generations.

And the fact that they're fighting us so viciously should be encouraging. I remember when I bristled at the notion that someone would use the insult "throws like a girl" here, and I was roundly mocked. Back then, the response to challenging this sexist reinforcement of women's lower status resulted in laughter. Before then it was probably just ignored.

Now it's a fight. And you know what comes next.

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