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History of Feminism

In reply to the discussion: Why should I speak up? [View all]

ismnotwasm

(42,674 posts)
12. It's actually the blogger Redqueen turned many of us on too.
Wed Mar 27, 2013, 06:00 PM
Mar 2013

She's a trans rad-fem, and she is really to speaking women loving women, because she says,

The Prudes’ Progress: Re-membering Feminist Desire

How can we cultivate in ourselves a sexuality of feminist desire and connect with others who are doing the same?

I can only even begin to answer this question for women who love women. I don’t necessarily think it’s impossible for anyone else, but I find it difficult to imagine and I wouldn’t know where to start. Because patriarchy is a big deal (these five words are, for me, the essence of radical feminist thought), I don’t believe you can just exchange the words “women” and “men” within a feminist work, because that “big deal” puts women and men in such different positions.



And

Of the many different works I could have attempted to create, I’ve attempted this one, which is about women loving women. Other articles about different forms of feminist desire will necessarily have different content and follow a different path. If you can imagine them I encourage you to write them. My feeling is that feminist desire is difficult, and gendered power imbalances make it a lot more difficult, because instrumental sexuality is designed to run on those imbalances. And so if feminist desire is possible between a woman and her male partner, it’ll probably be because of the ways in which he’s exceptional (after all, a feminist woman picked him), and exceptions are difficult to cover in a general piece like this.

I’ve also just chosen to skip some major issues entirely. For example, I’ve chosen not to engage with the difficult issues of the masculine phallus, with eroticised degradation of women, with how society contextualises sexual relationships it sees as being between women and men and with the function of male privilege in sexual relationships. These issues require explicit treatment of a kind not given here, and are probably best addressed by a woman who has sexual relations with men.



http://radtransfem.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/the-prudes-progress-part-ii/#feministdesire


Although I identify as hetero, I have no problem with this series of articles, because there is something very profound about what they say about sexuality. She uses many quotes and has a bibliography at the end of the series that's worth a peak in itself. So while it doesn't address hetero dominance structures in great detail, she does discuss a path to rid oneself of sexual baggage. I also appreciate her attempts at not 'othering' different Points of view, as well as acknowledging her own areas of privilege. It won't be everyone's cup of tea. Those who stalk this little group will deliberately misconstrue it.

(Thank you Rdqueen)

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Why should I speak up? [View all] seabeyond Mar 2013 OP
In the words of a "Metric" song, Helen Reddy Mar 2013 #1
There are a variety of ways not-to-yawn, some of which may work better than others. nt patrice Mar 2013 #3
i have tried them all. and when someone wants to be sexist, doesnt matter. they will continue seabeyond Mar 2013 #4
Yep. n/t Helen Reddy Mar 2013 #5
This. nt redqueen Mar 2013 #8
Is it possible that actual research shows that telling people not to say stuff doesn't work? patrice Mar 2013 #2
Calling out the language which is the outward tell boston bean Mar 2013 #6
It works for me. ismnotwasm Mar 2013 #7
Excellent post. redqueen Mar 2013 #9
would you post the link to that article? niyad Mar 2013 #10
It's actually the blogger Redqueen turned many of us on too. ismnotwasm Mar 2013 #12
thank you, and thank redqueen niyad Mar 2013 #13
sorry, when I hear sexist, ignorant, woman-hating, bigoted crap, I am going to say something. niyad Mar 2013 #11
Men have the biggest responsibility to call other men out because we are responsible for Arcanetrance Mar 2013 #14
i agree with you. it is a mans responsibility. seabeyond Mar 2013 #15
It can do a number of things ismnotwasm Mar 2013 #16
The recent rape stories in the two high schools show that first world sexism can be just as bad i Arcanetrance Mar 2013 #17
There is an active thread right now going on about that ismnotwasm Mar 2013 #18
though the people that are saying this refuse to listen to those that are from that area and tell seabeyond Mar 2013 #19
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