02.07.11 – jasonfox welcomes you to angry feminist monday!
In the last little while I’ve been reading quite a bit of radical feminist/queer thought, and while I find a lot of it I like, I also find a lot that makes me want to shoot someone in the FACE. Which involves a bit of turnaround for me since I identify somewhat as a radical feminist- as in, “I think Andrea Dworkin was right about some stuff” radical. However, so much stuff out there is just so INFURIATING that I’m starting to reconsider.
Yes, I’m a feminist. Yes, I consider patriarchal society to be a detriment to the human race, not just one half but as a whole. Yes, I believe that misogyny exists in the trans community (as it does in pretty much every community) and needs to be examined, yes, yes, yes.
But if you call yourself a feminist and yet see the choice of transpeople to transition as selling out to the patriarchy? FUCK YOU.
In fact, let’s take this a little further.
If you call yourself a feminist and yet denounce sex workers as selling out to the patriarchy, FUCK YOU.
If you call yourself a feminist and yet denounce women who choose to practice BDSM as selling out to the patriarchy, FUCK YOU.
If you call yourself a feminist and yet denounce women who choose to be stay-at-home moms as selling out to the patriarchy, FUCK YOU.
If you call yourself a feminist and yet dismiss racism as simply an outcrop of sexism (thus dismissing issues particular to women of colour and further alienating them), FUCK YOU.
If you call yourself a feminist and yet see the choices of other women (and, in fact, men- because men can be feminists, and transguys are men, see how that works?) as subject to a rigid code of conduct beyond “consensual and safe”, FUCK YOU.
Because if you call yourself a feminist and any of the above apply to you, you’re part of the fucking problem.
I’m not saying that no one should ever critique, say, the leather community, or the trans community- after all, no choices are made in a complete vacuum, and society does influence our choices, and (to an extent) our identity. But feminism is supposed to be about choice. Not just your choice. Not just what you think is “okay.” Not just what passes your damned muster. EVERYONE’S choice.
Besides, if someone goes through a procedure as expensive, extensive, invasive, and stigmatizing as transitioning, you better damn well recognize they’re not just pissed that their moms never bought them Tonka trucks.
This rant brought to you from the If You Don’t Know Jack Shit About Something, For God’s Sake Don’t Make An Ass Of Yourself Trying To Look All Sympathetic And Stuff Diner, with a side order of “I can’t believe I still have to explain this shit!
AND ON ANOTHER NOTE. It is not okay to disregard a girl’s thoughts, opinions, or art just because…
… she slept with someone!
… she slept with a lot of someones!
… she slept with someone you want to sleep with and IT’S NOT FAIR!
… she wears “slutty” clothes (what does that word even mean)?
… she likes boys!
… she likes girls!
… she likes boys and girls!
… she looks “girlish.”
… she looks “boyish.”
… she doesn’t look the way you want her to look.
… she doesn’t say what you want her to say.
… she’s cis.
… she’s trans.
… she’s not the same race as you.
… she has tattoos.
… she has a handbag and a tiny dog.
… she’s thin.
… she’s fat.
… she knows someone famous.
… she might have fucked someone famous.
… she has a blog in which she occasionally mentions someone famous.
… she has or has had an eating disorder.
… she’s an immigrant.
… she works in an industry you personally consider degrading (the fashion industry, the porn industry, the sex industry, whatever).
… she’s a virgin.
… she’s not a virgin.
… she’s religious.
… she’s not religious.
… she had an abortion.
… she has kids.
… she’s young.
… she’s old.
… she did something at some point in her life that you wouldn’t have done, or would have done differently, or would have been smarter about, et cetera ad infinitum.
Can we as a species move the fuck on from this bullshit notion that men are people and women are types? That only the “right” kind of girl (and what’s “right” for a girl changes all the time anyway) deserves our time and attention and respect, and all other kinds are disposable? That a girl is only as good as her stereotype, or her reputation, or the length of her skirt, or the colour of her skin, or what her job is, or what she looks like, or how much boys like her, or how closed she keeps her mouth, or how closed she keeps her legs?
COME ON.
