New York, 6:15 AM
Wed Nov 11
68 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
tips@jezebel.com
Editor-in-Chief:
Anna Holmes
Email | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Dodai Stewart
Email | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor:
Tracie Egan
Email | Twitter
Contributing Editors:
Anna North
Email | Twitter
Sadie Stein
Email | Twitter
Reporter:
Irin Carmon
Email
Editorial Assistant:
Margaret Hartmann
Email | Twitter
Contributors:
Jenna Sauers
Email
Rich Juzwiak
Email | Twitter
Lizzie Skurnick
Email
Interns:
Katy Kelleher
Twitter
| posts about #courtneyemartin more → |
The (Feminist) Times, They Are A-Changin' |
Republican Racist Jonah Goldberg Should Really Just Shut Up Already |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
Jezebel 
03/31/09
Let's consider the metaphor of society as a river, with many smaller rivers feeding it, making it whole: If "you can't step in the same river twice" - meaning that the water within has changed, yet the river remains more or less in the same relative position to it's neighbors / tributaries - anyone interested in activism would do well to understand not only the various "rivers," but their current states as well.
The water metaphor is even more appropriate when considering society, as water seems to act predictably (to seek sea-level, equilibrium), there are many influences that can disrupt this action that cannot be predicted, such as the weather, or erosion. In addition, humankind's efforts to direct, displace, or harness water are approximates, and we must keep in mind that there are any number of results possible from our acts of influence - for good or ill.
If people are all "drops of water" - we should remember that alone, our role may not seem so significant, but amassed, we can displace mountains of stone, one grain of sand at a time, if necessary.
03/31/09
Not to be too picky but white is not "colorless". Part of the problem with mainstream feminism (and just about every other movement) is the assumption that white is the norm and everything else is a deviation. White is not the absence of color nor the absence of culture. It is the majority color and the majority culture which is not the same thing.
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
I just figured my discussions with other women about women's issues were not good enough. I felt that teaching my daughter not to accept the status quo was not good enough; that speaking out about other social justice issues just weren't good enough. I will be a little prouder that the quiet efforts I make "for the cause" do make a difference.
Until someone tells me otherwise.
03/31/09
03/31/09
What makes me ragey are these Orwellian subgroups of people, usually but not always right-wingers, who use the vehicle "feminism" as a Trojan horse to push clearly antifeminist agendas into law. Exhibit A: those condescending fucks known as Feminists for Life.
Reproductive rights are one of the non-negotiables for me. Anyone who claims they're not necessary is, to say the least, no friend of mine; anyone who actively works to abolish them does not have the right to call themselves feminist. Point blank.
What other things do we think are the feminist non-negotiables?
03/31/09
Never mind that she writes people like Audre Lorde right out of the Second Wave as if she was never there.
Courtney herself was recently called out on a class privilege basis in the blogosphere and I can't say her responses much convinced me she understood the critique. I think we can do better, though.
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
Do be do be do, baby.
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
It reminds me of the time I overheard someone making a racial slur against Puerto Ricans specifically. I introduced myself, and told him that I was Puerto Rican - and the next time he went to say something like that, I hope he thought of me and had a second thought about saying something like that. I was polite, I didn't shout - and I have no idea if it worked or not, but it was the best way I could handle that moment.
So be a feminist, and be a good person, and don't be afraid to labeled. Some labels are great.
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
This is the same reason I would never call myself a Democrat or Republican. Hi, I'm hoot. I think that you should be able to do what you what, when you want, as long as it doesn't interfere with someone else's ability to do the same, and I think the government doesn't have any place to tell me otherwise. That's what I am...I am not Democrat or feminist or sexist or racist.
03/31/09
Labels are helpful because they allow you to gather with like-minded people and organize, which is the only way to effect change.
i mean, you are saying "...and I think the government doesn't have any place to tell me otherwise."
that's a political philosophy best encompassed by the Democratic party. so why wouldn't you not call yourself something when you fit the definition? (obvs i don't know if you really fit the definition, but as an example).
03/31/09
I see the value of being organized as a group, but that's not what "feminists" are. There not a political party that has a set platform...everyone has different ideas about what feminism is. About 75% of those ideas are not for me.
Feminism will always work in a piecemeal way: pro-choice rallies, equal pay petitions, ect. I will support those things when they come my way. Until then...
03/31/09
I want equal rights. I want them now. Everyday that I don't have them is another day that all women of every race and age lose the fight for equality. I think that a lot of feminist "issues" keep us from focusing on the one that matters, because trust me there will be plenty of time to discuss whether or not I get to call myself a feminist if Steve Madden shoes make me swoon after the ERA is passed.
03/31/09
03/31/09
I would think that prostitution, as an issue that affects a great number of women directly and all women indirectly - in terms of the ideas it reinforces about women's bodies as the property of others - IS a priority, and is in fact a central facet of the fight for equal rights.
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
And I think what you're talking about is in fact a minority.
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
I am completely in agreement that it's a minority, it just gets my goat rather severely. I've had people tell me I can't be a real feminist (in RL) because I am in a hetero relationship. But then, there are silly people in every walk of life.
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
I'm sorry I offended you, person that I was not addressing.
(Was it the "Dude!" part? Because I'm from CA, and that's just how we talk. Dude.)
03/31/09
And it doesn't matter that you weren't talking to me. This is the internet, not a private conversation between two people. I was just pointing out that two people can have and share different experiences without discrediting one another.
03/31/09
03/31/09
@Khrushchev: Hm, so men (of all races, creeds and colors) are the one group this will work with, because they (we) are not oppressed? I don't know, I find that troubling. Just to play devil's advocate, do you not perhaps think that kind of notion might help feed into the kind of misgivings that Beat Girl expressed in her original post?
03/31/09
Even a frequent commenter or two on this site openly admits to it (and has yet to be called out on it), so I am not sure why you are surprised considering there are more radical sites/groups out there who have the attitudes Beat Girl mentions.
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09
Here is two examples just to prove I am not crazy:
Compare this male genitile mutalation post and accyomping picture and comments to any female one.
[jezebel.com]
And some comments:
[jezebel.com]
Also drinkingrose you mentioned not running into any anti-men feminists.
I would put forth that those people most likely don't get out much or have very tight and conforming social groups where opposing views are not tolerated. Compromise and tolerance of different opinions don't come easy to those who take such an extreme stance (and is in fact viewed as giving in to the enemy).
Or..you may just have been lucky. :)
03/31/09
04/01/09
There's always a wide spectrum. Like some democrats that hate Michael Moore. Their not going to stop calling themselved democrats and saying their not democracts because they don't like Michael Moore or his followers. And I am certainly not telling you what you should identify as (thats unfeminist!) but I just wanted to bring this up. Yes, some feminists believe that the only way to stop the oppression of women is to stop having romantic relationships with men. I think that its the belief that men will change once women start demanding differently and not dating men until otherwise.
Some feminists just hate men. Some women that don't identify as feminists hate men. Some feminists just cant say they love men as a whole (like you said) because many men are oppresive and enjoy it.I think a lot of those feminists who hate men are so blinded by the rage that they have over their oppression, they fail to see things in a more loving and accepting light.
Feminism is about women and men. Gender equality. It's about getting rid of patriachy and its oppression of all people. Even the men who thrive off of their privelege and oppress are ultimately suffering. Men suffer from sexism as well. And feminists that "hate men" may not be seeing this or are unwilling to recognize it becuase it's too painful or their too obsorbed with women's fight that they can't sympathize with men's. But I also don't want to take some of these women's identity away because some women just hate men because that's how they express their frustration with sexism against women and that's all. Complicated I suppose. But I know theres some feminists that drive me crazy but I remind myself that theres a spectrum.
04/02/09
03/31/09
But I do have a problem with people not calling themselves feminist. When women my age, in their early-mid 20's say (always with a giggle and a sneer and only if there are men in the room) that they are not feminist, I look down on them. I don't feel capable of embracing them as my sisters, and I feel that they are not capable of understanding what it takes or even what is needed to build a world of gender equality. And when men don't call themselves feminist, I think that they are not capable of equal partnership, of standing at my shoulder and helping me make the world better. In short, I think "non-feminists" are underminers and people that I can not trust, even when in other respects they are intelligent and forward thinking.
Anyone else have this problem?
03/31/09
03/31/09
03/31/09