The Pratfalls of Feminism.

[ladymirth]

It's rather weird to be defending pro-life when you're pro-choice yourself.

See, the thing is, I DON'T believe that all pro-life activists are misogynists and anti-feminists. I know that the feminist agenda will always include pro-choice, but I don't see why people who cannot agree on only that aspect of feminism should be automatically disqualified from being feminists at all. 

Hence, this huge OT thread on anti_feminism . 

It's really weird. My own pro-choice beliefs are continually parrotted back at me, when all I want to say it that people who believe in pro-life aren't automatically evil. 

I just understand that pro-life women are placed in a rather impossible postion. They believe that abortion is the same as murder, and murder is basically universal morality. So of course saying "that's just your belief, and you can't impose it on me" can't fly with them. But at the same time, a lot of pro-life women care about women's rights too. 

I am honestly confused about this whole "you can be personally pro-life, but it doesn't matter as long as you're politically pro-choice" issue. Isn't pro-choice and pro-life always a political stance? You either think that women should have a choice in the matter, murder or nor murder, or you want the law to intervene and take that choice away. There's no such thing as pro-abortion, after all. 

This is why I get so tired of the feminist movement sometimes. It's as intolerant and narrow-minded as any antiquated church. You can't be feminist if you give up your career and have children, you can't be feminist if you're a devout Christian, you can't be feminist if you don't believe pornography is evil, you can't be feminist if you like blowing men, you can't be feminist if you think that sluts do exist, you can't be feminist, YOU CAN'T BE FEMINIST!

And for the love of the Mother Goddess, STOP BANDYING ABOUT THE WORD "MISOGYNY" LIKE IT'S ON CLEARANCE SALE!!

It's even more fucked up than the Monotheistic Churches. At least they've had centuries to evolve and grasp the concept of tolerance. And they're not in a constant state of war with one another now.  

Would it kill the radicals to admit that they can still disagree on certain issues, fight against each other on certain issues, and still be part of the same damn movement?

And now I'm sitting back thinking that maybe I'm the one who doesn't get it. Maybe I AM 'over-open-minded'. Will I look back on this post in another six months and groan at my own naivete? 

I'm feeling very young and uncertain today.

Comments

[ladymirth.livejournal.com]

But to say that the feminist movement rejects the idea of women staying with the kids is even more close-minded because it feeds onto a very stereotypical image of the feminist and trivializes the complexity of any ideology behind the subject of mothering.

But I'm not talking about stereotypes. I'm not talking about the image that people in general have of feminism. I'm speaking from countless experiences when people who purport themselves to be strong feminists have come out themselves and put down mothers, adult entertainers, sex-positve feminists, Christian women etc.

As for stereotypes, there is no smoke without a fire, after all. Also, the different ideologies of third wave feminism are so varied and most of the time at cross purposes that I cannot accept that the feminist movement as whole can fight against any given stereotype with a united front. Whenever one faction of the feminist movement tries to break down a preconception, another one rises up and actively reinforces it.

I did a research about the porn wars of the 60s and 70s last semester, which is when the first great rifts in the women's movement began. The intolerant viciousness and mud-slinging that began in that era continues in grand tradition today, in mainstream media as well as in fandom. It sickened me so much that I refused to identify as a feminist for a while.

Again, all of the "standards for a feminist" that you mentioned is a harsh generalization based solely on the image that society/media gives off.

Society nothing. I wouldn't even know that this how some feminists think if it weren't for the fact that feminists haven't come out and said this to my face, and if I hadn't encountered women who have suffered disdain at the hands of such feminists.

Mind you, I'm not saying that all feminists are like this. Mostly, it's the radicals. But "radical" is such a relative term, that it's still difficult to single out who the culprits are. Especially since it's usually the case that while a feminist may not hold all the aforesaid stereotypical beliefs, she may still hold a few of them.

Just to be clear, I'm not attacking feminism as a concept. I'm attacking the individuals who are so caught up in their own ideas of what that constitutes that they can't tell when they're being hypocrites.