Feminist Theory
Feminism 101
In a patriarchal society, men are the default humans. Women are the sex class. They are defined in terms of their relationship to the default humans, the men: whether as daughters, mothers, sisters, wives, or potential mates. This definition is automatic and fundamental. A woman’s femaleness—and thus her sexual potential—is, in a patriarchy, always uppermost. [...]
I figured it out
The “it” being this: As you’ve identified, one flaw, hopefully not fatal, of lefty feminism is the tendency to militantly guard the door. If that is the case — if contemporary leftist feminism is like that — then why? And when did it happen? I know I’ve told you guys a million times that I’ve [...]
About that non-vacuum in which Stupak happened…
Kate Harding has a good piece in Salon that captures the PUMA-a-year-later zeitgeist we’ve been talking about here (to recap: A year later, world suddenly gets what PUMAs were talking about, House Democrats pass healthcare reform for men, and Rachel Maddow is becoming post-rational). Harding’s piece is called Face it: The Democratic Party is not [...]
Christie Hefner, Sarah Palin, and the meaning of feminism
Last year I got into several disputes over whether it was appropriate for Sarah Palin to consider herself a feminist. Most people, including me, consider her abortion stance anti-feminist, but is that alone enough to disqualify her? She clearly embraces the feminist message in other respects, and self-identifies as a feminist. (Notice, of course, that [...]
NOW conference infiltrated by NOW members
The fallout from the NOW election is proving very amusing. Over at Viva La Feminista, Roni writes breathlessly: There have been comments flying in the blogosphere and Twitter that the Palin people were a rumor. I took pics of at least one of them. She took a picture! Of “at least one of them”! I’m [...]
How would you define the fourth wave of feminism?
Earlier today, commenter Alison said: I think the women at Feministing are at war with the 4th wave just as much as they are at war with any woman who does not meet their card carrying Democrat standard. Their recent post in which they are defensive in regard to criticism that they do not support [...]
This is what a conservative feminist looks like
I’m a feminist. I’m also a liberal. The two are not synonymous. There have always been women who are feminists without being liberals or leftists. That’s because feminism is bigger and broader than our existing American political distinctions. It is entirely possible to be a feminist — to believe in and advocate for women’s equality [...]
“Stone her”
That was the cry when Sarah Palin appeared at a campaign stop in Philadelphia. “Let’s stone her, old school!” yelled a man in the crowd. Maybe that’s next. Over at The New Agenda, Amy Siskind raises the spectre of Kitty Genovese and asks, “Are Democratic women the new bystanders?” What started as “MILF” has taken [...]
A comment that should have been a post: the difference between the height of Women’s Lib and today
I’m in the habit of carrying on substantive conversations with people in the comment threads, so it sometimes happens that my Serious Opinions About Major Issues end up being expressed not in posts, but in off-hand comments. Which is fine, except that whenever people ask me stuff like “where did you say that thing about [...]
An open letter to Feministing
I tried to post a comment at Feministing but, as usual, was bitterly rebuffed by Typekey, which thinks I’m a Soviet spy. So here’s the question I want to ask about this post: What is the empirical foundation for the claim that “creating a culture which values genuine female sexual pleasure can help stop rape”? [...]
