Strident as fuck

[slemslempike]

Last night I dreamt that Prince Charles had died. That doesn't appear to have happened, though Prince William did go to a shop on the Falklands.

Annie Lennox blames stridency for turning men off feminism. You can't tell whether it's her views, or the reporting of them, but I am, as ever, irritated with the idea that feminism's most pressing issue should be to think about how to include men, and that the reason men aren't included (aren't they?) is that feminist women are off-putting. Putting aside the urge to say GOOD, IT WEEDS OUT THE IDIOTS, there's never any analysis about if men (as a group) actually feel excluded, as opposed to uninterested, and if so, why that is, beyond an assumption that it must be something that feminists are doing wrong. It also occurs to me that Annie Lennox's assertion that she shouldn't have to hide her masculine side is at odds with her feeling that feminists need to be more welcoming and softer-spoken. He is forthright, she is strident. He is driven and focused on the issues, she is a man-hating harpy who should stop being so myopic and make sure that the men around her aren't made to feel uncomfortable.

Feminism should make privileged people feel uncomfortable (including privileged women). I am hard pressed to think of any social progress at all (if I may be excused a teleological flourish) that has been solely achieved by being nice and hoping people won't mind. It would be far more to the point to say that feminism (assuming that by feminism we mean mainstream Western feminism, as the media invariably does) should address the exclusion of people such as sex workers, working class, black, queer, and trans women, than that we should worry about men as a group.

Here's a very partial* list of sites and articles that do far more to address, and work to rectify, problems with mainstream feminism than people bleating about the poor excluded men.

http://blackfeminists.blogspot.com/
http://transfeminism.tumblr.com/
http://nefac.net/node/164 (bell hooks on class)
http://www.thescavenger.net/feminism-a-pop-culture/why-feminists-should-listen-to-sex-workers-732.html
http://queerfeminism.com/
http://www.grassrootsfeminism.net/cms/

* On account of I am at work without my usual bookmarks. Let us blame THE MAN and THE SYSTEM for keeping me down by not including "wittering on on livejournal" as part of my job description.

Comments

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

"Loved it." "Unputdownable." "Stayed up till 2am on a school night to finish it." "Really well written." "Not overwritten." "Need to re-read it in order to think more about the ending." "Made me laugh." We had a really good discussion about the multiple layers of violence rippling through the book, and all the different women characters.