When did feminism become so embarrassing? A good read, this article is.
byI also generally shy away from celebrations of meaningless vulgarity, which, sadly, seems to be the leading theme in both Moran’s book and in the gigantic, flaming, multi-car pileup that is modern-day feminism.
Aimee Quenneville says
I’m afraid posting a silly editorial from an rightest source by someone who is in most ways not at all a feminist does not prove that feminism as a construct has gone down the tube. Feminism is the ideology that all persons deserve equal respects, rights and opportunities, regardless of gender or orientation. It is the stance that regardless of one’s [rather irrelevant] perspective on casual sexual encounters, everyone else is allowed to make such choices for themselves. It champions the idea that because I am young, blonde and female does not mean I by my nature HAVE to be subjected to a constant barrage of sexual harassment and abuse. It means that when I walk down the street, regardless or whether or not I choose to wear high heels (and yes, feminists do wear high heels; once again, your silly writer proves how little she appreciates modern feminism), I should be respected in the same way that a man wearing jogging shorts is not jostled for daring to go for a run.
Feminism means that it doesn’t matter how you feel about abortion or how I feel about abortion, unless said abortion directly affects and pertains to me. I, as a woman, can choose whether or not I want to have one. Someone else, as a man, gets to have the exact same freedoms- the only difference is, they never have to make that heart-breaking choice, and therefore are really devoid of any necessary opinion in this category. The way that you or I feel has no bearing on person X, who may feel precisely the same or exactly the opposite as either one of us. Regardless of my feelings on Botox, for example, you can do what you want to your body- inject it with poison, for all I care. It is yours to manipulate.
Until one has the biological opportunity and finds themselves in a position to become pregnant, they do not understand or have the right to tell another human being that their body is not their own. That they must make sacrifices that will affect them for the rest of their lives because of someone else’s ideological beliefs. That even though others, as men, have never and will never have to contemplate making that fateful call to a health care clinic, they still have the right to alter and in many ways derail one’s life.
Consider this thought experiment:
A 20 year old person goes to a party and has a few too many drinks. Perhaps someone put something in them, perhaps he or she had just finished exam period at university and was a bit overzealous in their celebrations. Regardless, they fall asleep. When they wake up, they are in a hospital with tubing and wires connecting them to another being; let’s call that person Nicky, for androgyny’s sake. Our 20 year old is then informed by a doctor that they are to be attached to, and responsible for, Nicky for the next 18 years and 9 months, give or take. If they choose to disconnect themselves from Nicky, Nicky will die. The first 9 months will be a particular period of adjustment, with our hero unable to consume alcohol, travel for long periods, work/go to school/go out with friends (in the later of the 9 months), and often feel rather ill, exhausted and often bedridden. As a student/member of the working class, this will particularly challenge our 20 year, who doesn’t have the resources to support themselves for nine months without work, let alone another as well.
Despite having done little wrong, other than perhaps having a bit too much to drink, or even just consuming something that had been tainted, our protagonist’s life has now been changed forever. If you became pregnant and knew that this pregnancy would likely destroy your future goals and put in jeopardy the life you had been working towards for years, would you go through with it, knowing you had no safety net, no rich daddy to pay for healthy, nourishing food, or to keep you and your ‘Nicky’ safe, warm and comfortable?
I can’t make that choice for someone else, because my father is rich and my parents are loving. I’m white and educated. I know that I am born of privilege that would coddle and protect me if I ever had to make the decision whether or not to abort. I know that if I didn’t or couldn’t make that decision, my family would ensure I had the best medical treatment, the best, healthiest food, the most advanced pain relief, a deferred education that money would allow me to return to, and all other available comforts, in addition to their love, support and empathy. But I recognize that all persons are not born equal, and I will not make that choice for a little girl who is like me, except that she is black, poor, uneducated and lives in a broken home that does not support, understand or appreciate her, because I do not know her struggle or the burden that pregnancy would be to her.
Melissa says
I, I, I, I, I.
I’m afraid, Ms. Quenneville, that your post is a perfect example of why we regard feminism warily. You seem to think that you should be able to act as you choose, regardless of how your actions affect other people.
I’m going to take awhile to unpack your post.
” It is the stance that regardless of one’s [rather irrelevant] perspective on casual sexual encounters, everyone else is allowed to make such choices for themselves.”
Except that casual sexual encounters spread diseases, break hearts, cause pregnancies that are usually unwanted, and tear apart relationships. The burdens of these casual encounters fall disproportionately on women. They are NOT good for society as a whole, and it is in society’s best interest to frown upon them.
“It champions the idea that because I am young, blonde and female does not mean I by my nature HAVE to be subjected to a constant barrage of sexual harassment and abuse.”
Agreed.
“It means that when I walk down the street, regardless or whether or not I choose to wear high heels … I should be respected in the same way that a man wearing jogging shorts is not jostled for daring to go for a run.”
Except that your wearing high heels is not entirely analogous to a man wearing jogging shorts. Men are stimulated visually. Women are generally not, and certainly aren’t in the way that men are. That is not to say you shouldn’t wear high heels, but you need to be respectful of the fact that you are turning men on, often against their wills.
Imagine a man you don’t know coming up and whispering sweet nothings in your ear. Feels rather creepy, no? That is mildly analogous to what you are doing when you dress in shoes that, by their design, thrust out your backside and your chest. It can make men really uncomfortable.
The realility is that we don’t live in a vacuum, and every decision we make (every single one) has ramifications in the larger society. Feminism used to understand this. Now it simply denies it.