f-word and breastfeeding

[slemslempike]

Virtually every time I read an article on the f-word, think "my word, that's a pile of crap" and click through to comments, it turns out to have been written by Abby O'Reilly. Today's was no exception:

Why Facebook's photographic stance is actually perfectly reasonable and in no way anti-breastfeeding.

In particular, I was irritated by the ways she starts out by saying that she doesn't upload photographs of her own naked breasts that she's taken, which leads into the justification that therefore nursing mothers shouldn't upload pictures of their breasts. I hadn't actually been aware of the thing about facebook no-breastfeeding stance. FFS. I am also heartily sick of feminist writing taking a pretence at "reasonableness" and objectivity when actually it's just ill-thought through bullshit.

Comments

From Abby O'Reilly

[(Anonymous)]

I came across this thread through an Internet search. I initially wasn't going to comment, but I thought it would be worth clarifying a few points, simply because I have read threads attacking me personally here before. I am not going to discuss the minutiae of the original post, as I realise that no-one here is likely to be receptive to anything I say.

Firstly, Slempslempike, you will notice that the format of blog posts on The F Word have changed. You no longer need to click through to the comments section and scroll down the page to determine the contributor. You didn't need to with the post in question. Authors are now identified at the top of the posts. You no longer have a need to read anything I have written.

Secondly, for the benefit of everyone else, a bit more information...I write for The F Word on a voluntary basis. Anyone involved with The F Word from a creative point of view is a volunteer. I blog when I can in addition to my full-time job as a political researcher and out-of-hours job as a freelance writer. This is no harship, and I do generally enjoy it. I am not particularly young. I just turned 25. Am I an idiot? Well, I suppose that depends on your defenition. I always excelled academically, have a good degree from a good university, and am endowed with enough sense and ability to be able to communicate with others both aurally and in writing. This, I understand, is not everything, however, from what I gather here an idiot is an individual who holds an opinion that happens to stand in opposition to your own. Is this feminism in action?

The purpose of the blog is to provoke discussion. I can only write from my own perspetive as it would be disingenous of me to write something I don't believe in order to intentionally please readers. That said, I don't set out to intentionally displease readers, I just write from a subjective perspecitve, and genuinely look forward to reading comments. Sometimes the very best comments are those displaying a differing viewpoint. Surely feminism is about embracing a diversity of opinions? My writing is not perfect, and at the same time as using it as a forum to articulate my opinions I try to write in a humorous and entertaining way. I may not always achieve this, but it's something I enjoy doing, or trying to do. The use of the word "daguerreotype," for example, may not have been perfect, but neither was it particularly misleading nor deflective. To suggest it was really obfuscates the main issues.

When I found this I wasn't upset or angry or even that bothered, just deflated. Considering that I strongly believe in the pursuit of women's rights and have, over the last few years, sacrificed a lot of my personal time in order to write for The F Word, I find it ludicrous that so much vitriol would be directed against me as an individual for doing nothing more than sharing my personal perspective. Women are vicitims of so much injustice. We still don't get the top jobs, the top salaries, the recognition that we deserve, and yet (as displayed by this thread) instead of women joining in solidarity they are taking recourse to insulting people who ultimately want the same as them. So call me a 'prat,' an 'idiot' and, by all means, establish an Abby O'Reilly hate campaign. If you honestly believe that would be the best way to channel your energies, go ahead. I am perfectly receptive to criticism of my opinions, but not when it digresses to petty and downright childish personal attacks because they just seem, well, needless.

Re: From Abby O'Reilly

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I think it's pretty well-known that the f-word is not a professional site. I don't think that that means that the articles posted there shouldn't be subject to criticism. Many of the people who post in this thread write or do other creative work on an unpaid basis, but do not think that this renders their work unimpeachable. I am not criticising your work because it doesn't come up to some professional standard - rather, I am comparing it to other blogs I read, which are also written on a voluntary basis, fitting the time in around jobs, family responsibilities and other commitments, but which still manage to present an intelligent commentary on their chosen topic.

It is not the fact that your opinion is different from ours that we are viewing as idiotic, but the fact that this opinion does not appear to be very well thought-out, and is poorly supported. Your academic background is irrelevant to our feelings about the article that you have written. The examples from upthread show the specific points better: the lack of consideration of the broader context for Facebook's policy decision, the unthinking acceptance of the definition of 'obscene' without noting how it is specificially women's bodies that are more often judged to be obscene, the lack of awareness of how this has a greater impact on women of colour.

Criticism of political writing (regardless of whether or not it is undertaken as paid work) is indeed feminism in action. The idea of blindly "embracing a diversity of opinions", regardless of what those opinions might be, is not a useful form of feminism to me. I support your right to have any opinion you choose, but this does not mean that I will necessarily "embrace" it, or that I won't criticise it.

To clarify, I am not saying that you should not hold opinions that are different from mine, or that you should not write articles, or that the f-word should not publish them. I am saying that, as a feminist reader, I find your articles disappointing. No-one wants articles written purely as a crowd pleaser, but frankly, this article came across as a superficial apology for Facebook's anti-feminist policy and practice.

The comment about adding "hating Abby O'Reilly" as an interest refers to one of the functions of the livejournal site, where users can list topics that interest them, and also references an in-joke among some of the members. None of us have the intention of starting a "hate campaign" against you, and I apologise that it has come across so nastily.

I do not hate you, or want to stop you from writing. I am mostly exasperated that what could be interesting and useful feminist articles are, in my opinion, neither. Had I realised that you would read this post, I would have used a less dismissive tone, but I would still have made the same criticisms. The post was written primarily to express my frustration with your articles with friends, and to discuss our responses with each other.

(Also, mostly a side note - I read the f-word using the lj feed, and the authors' names don't come up on that. I included the information about clicking through in my post partly to say that I had had taken issue with the article before seeing who had written it.)