Showing posts tagged feminism

unholy demon rhythms: i take huge offense at the term ‘sex positive feminist’. So, what, are...

comicbooksandallthatjazz:

i take huge offense at the term ‘sex positive feminist’. So, what, are women who dont agree with certain types of degrading and aggressive porn sex negative? what about women who feel that the sex industry as a whole is damaging and degrading? they dont enjoy sex? they’re not like the other…

I’m a sex positive feminist who doesn’t like degrading porn. As someone who knows sex workers - women I recognize as people and as friends - I think there is a difference between recognizing a woman’s agency and respecting male porn producers who get off on abusing women. For me, the term “sex positive feminist” is about recognizing the problematic dichotomy of either pitying or criminalizing sex workers - much like we do, oddly enough, to religious women who choose to veil. I may not agree with the niqab or the burqa, but seeing women who veil as oppressed while simultaneously criminalizing them for their “choices” - even as we refuse to see the veil as a choice - is entirely hypocritical, sexist, and Islamophobic.

The religious element doesn’t play into this discussion as easily, but the complete lack of respect for women and our sexuality does. Porn itself, in my opinion, isn’t the problem; the industry is the problem. The same can be said of any number of industries that reflect and help perpetuate the misogynistic nature of our society. Is the woman who cakes makeup onto her face every morning anti-feminist, or is the beauty industry one that benefits from the exploitation of women? Are “plus-size” women who love fashion participating in their own oppression, or is the fashion industry one that likes to keep bigger women in their place? I think it’s entirely possible for a woman to love beauty and fashion while identifying as feminist, just as it’s possible to recognize the sexist nature of the porn industry while remaining sex positive.

Sex positive feminism is about much more than sex work, too - it’s about realizing we are sexual beings with every right to express our sexuality as we please without being reduced to labels like “slut” and “ho.” 

(Reblogged from comicbooksandallthatjazz)

My queer feminist thoughts on children…

So, I made a vow when I was about 7 that I will never become pregnant, and I plan to keep that promise to myself forever.* Even after I die, in case science one day allows for dead women to give birth. If I DO end up having kids, which of these options should I choose: adoption, impregnating a woman with my imaginary semen, asking a friend to incubate my eggs, stealing one (from a Republican family, obvs), or buying one from a trafficker?

* There aren’t many promises I made when I was 7 that I am still interested in keeping, but my 7-year-old self was spot-on here. I must have been (accurately) predicting a future full of non-reproductive queer sex at an early age.

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I make the following pledge as an activist, and as an American that believes fully in the rule of law. Should I be called to sit on a jury for a rape trial, I vow publicly to vote not guilty, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the charges are true.

Jury Duty at a Rape Trial? Acquit! « A Voice for Men

WTFWTFWTFWTF?!! Really, what else is there to say? I can wax rhetorical as much as anyone else but do I have to?!

He has this to add: “Better a rapist would walk the streets than a system that merely mocks justice enslave another innocent man. And better a system that cannot be trusted as it is, be corrected from within by a single honest citizen in the name of real justice”. Words fail me.

(via redlightpolitics)

This is very trying. In other words, even if you witness a rape taking place with your own eyes, don’t put a man in prison for it. Because fighting against an allegedly ineffective system is more important than what happens to women. 

(via moreapologies)

The only reason rape cases are “corrupt” in this country is because female victims are expected to defend their own actions and put their sex lives on trial in order to appeal for sympathy, and if she’s not some kind of virginal white princess, she was “asking for it.”

(Reblogged from moreapologies)

List of rape myths

moreapologies:

marilyncuberle:

This is a great list for everyone to read. I have a few problems with the way he worded some points but overall this is a good read and I hope you will take a few moments to look it over.

I know a lot of people who need to read this — thanks for passing it along.

(Reblogged from moreapologies)
moreapologies: padaviya: lipstick-feminists: (via cuntymint, thatbridgeisonfire) And we certainly need more people in prison! (I have no idea if the claim in this cartoon could ever be right but aside from that…) View high resolution

moreapologies:

padaviya:

lipstick-feminists:

(via cuntymint, thatbridgeisonfire)

And we certainly need more people in prison! (I have no idea if the claim in this cartoon could ever be right but aside from that…)

(Reblogged from moreapologies)

The Gendered Dynamic of Ladies’ Nights

There’s a post on Sociological Images about Ladies’ Nights at bars. Basically, women usually get into the bars for free, while men must pay a $5 cover (it’s the same around here, and even worse at house parties, which I avoid like the plague). On the surface, a lot of people would argue that this is sexist towards men, because they’re the only ones who have to pay, but when women are being used as objects to help lure men in and buy drinks, the power dynamic becomes more complicated than that.

Sociological Images usually gets it right, and I agree with the analysis in their post. It’s the comments on this post bother me. Some write off the gendered dynamic and claim it’s simple economics, and others ask why women shouldn’t be entitled to a few freebies, given the fact that we’re paid less. One commentator actually accuses others of simply having very low opinions of men, as though the claims about men in bars are simply made up.

I mean, seriously. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A BAR?

Ladies’ Nights are meat markets. Men assume that every woman in the vicinity is single, heterosexual, and furthermore, attracted to them, and probably looking for a one-night stand. I have a hard time believing that women want to be treated this way when they walk into a bar, and I have a hard time believing they want men to mistreat them, grind up on them without asking, or call them names when they refuse their (inappropriate) sexual advances.

There’s something about the relative anonymity of a bar (that is, the dark, drunken atmosphere) that allows men to behave in ways they probably wouldn’t in daylight. They act sort of like 16-year-old boys on YouTube who like to harass young women in their comments (because if a girl is singing a song on YouTube, it’s obviously to show off her mouth to all the men and boys out there so they can imagine their dicks inside of it… first thing on her mind, really). I’m not saying I mistrust all men, and I don’t think the commentators at Sociological Images were implying that, either, but some disturbing realities come out in places where people are not afraid of being judged (either because it’s too dark, they’re too drunk, or they don’t plan to see you ever again). In a bar setting, those realities usually come in the form of misogyny: men think they have a free pass to touch, play with, and harass women because if they’re in a bar, they obviously want it. And when they don’t, you just call them a “whore” and move onto the next woman.

So yeah, I have a hard time believing that in situations where women are constantly degraded by men, it’s the men who are the real victims of sexist practices.

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When trans women are told that they need to stop being assertive and strong because it is a sign of male privilege - invariably by “feminists” who, of course, encourage cis women to be assertive and strong - that’s transmisogyny.

When trans women are told that they need to stop being assertive and strong because it is a sign of male privilege - invariably by “feminists” who, of course, encourage cis women to be assertive and strong - that’s transmisogyny.

When trans women are pressured into being silent, rarely offering their opinion, and refusing leadership roles for fear of being seen as male or accused of having male privilege, that’s transmisogyny.

When trans women are told that they are politically ignorant when they object to trans men “reclaiming” a derogatory term that has been used specifically against trans women and not against trans men, that’s transmisogyny.

When “women and trans” space allows everyone on a transmale spectrum to attend unquestioned (because even if their trans status is not respected, they would still be welcomed as a woman) yet people on a transfemale spectrum are subjected to scrutiny and those who are not “trans enough” are asked to leave, that’s transmisogyny.

When those same “women and trans” spaces, or even the ones that don’t police entrance, are attended by a dozen or so trans men yet zero or only one or two trans women, that’s transmisogyny. (It obviously indicates that they don’t feel welcome, don’t trust the organizers, or weren’t outreached to.)

When queer women’s spaces have trans women inclusive policies, yet any trans women who attend are generally ignored or not included in discussions, that’s transmisogyny.

What Transmisogyny Looks Like | The Bilerico Project

(via rotundlr, ourcatastrophe, faketrain, clitorisaurusrex)

(via genderqueer)

wow this is powerful

(via whyweneedsocialjustice)

Great post. There is a lot of transmisogyny (and racism, classism, etc.) within mainstream feminist rhetoric that I find problematic. It’s always helpful to remember, even when talking about oppression, the privileges we do have. Cis-gendered privilege in particular is something we don’t talk about often enough, especially in the face of “womyn born womyn” policies.

(Reblogged from whyweneedsocialjustice)

Imposed History

coffeefortwo:

So, she may not have been elected by the people, but I don’t care.

Australia has it’s first ever female Prime Minister.

:)

(Reblogged from coffeefortwo)

I would hate to be married to a man who claimed to love me but didn’t respect me. (But then, I’d hate to be married, period.)

(via allthatis)

Agreed… though I don’t like the institution of marriage to begin with, and obviously wouldn’t marry any man, lol.

(Reblogged from alesscurates)

Being a feminist in 2010 is like marchin for white power in the 1950’s

chemicalali:

Alimony,Free Entrance to the clubs before 12:00, Get fired less in a recession, radio markets to you only (Single Ladies on erry station is torture), what else u askin for ?

Equal pay, political representation, an end to our objectification in the media, an end to domestic abuse and sexual violence, to stop being patronized and exploited, to not be harassed for walking alone in the street, to not be treated like men’s playthings, to not be considered “disabled” when pregnant, to have birth control covered by insurance, to not be subjected to double standards when it comes to our sex lives, to not have people assume we got our jobs on the basis of our gender or appearance, to be treated equally in the classroom and encouraged equally in stereotypically ‘male’ subjects, to not have our abilities questioned based on what time of the month it is, to be able to assert ourselves without being called “bitches,” for men to be aware of their male privilege…

Do I need to continue?

(Reblogged from chemicalbk)