SearchFeminist Pettiness
Released by Sami al Adeeb
It rhymes, sort of! This comment from a post by Amanda grabbed my attention. Yes, countless others, eloquenter than I have commented on it, but I need something to write about. For Mohamed!
We have women on this planet with REAL PROBLEMS and we’re going to fill our list with entries about our clothes and our weight issues?
Women in Iran are being sold into prostitution as children and then hanged for ‘promiscuous behaviour’… and the author of this list is going to concentrate on how long it takes to put on makeup. Shouldn’t the women with all the money and freedom the world has to offer (even if that money and freedom is fractionally less than that of their male counterparts) be trying to help the millions (billions?) of downtrodden women in China and Africa?
See, he cares. About women. In other countries.
What he says about those other countries is right, of course. Third world countries are, in general, shitholes. They are particularly shitty shitholes for women, and especially for the poorer ones. And this means that Western feminists should neglect their local issues? Why? It is a very selective false-dichotomy.
I worry about inflation and the housing bubble in the United States, and want Ben Bernanke to be more aggressive in correcting it. But inflation in Zimbabwe has just passed 1,000%; shouldn’t the Fed Chief be focusing on that? Many think America’s education system is in need of an overhaul, but shouldn’t their total attention be given to Sub-Saharan Africa? Why should we worry about racism here when Russia’s nationalists are waging a much more violent campign against minorities in their country? Why worry about immigrant issues here when foreign workers in the Middle East have all rights of indentured servants? And why the hell did you spending so much time and money to make your bistro steak with the bordelaise sauce when there are people starving in Africa? Because it’s delicious? You make me sick.
And what about those Middle Eastern women? Why should any of the Arab female friends who watched this play with me be offended by this..
when the same play has this..
And why worry about any of it when women are being raped in Darfur?
To ask advocates to restrict themselves to their worst respective shitholes is unreasonable, and unproductive. People will always be drawn to what’s near them, and try to fix it. That’s not to say Western feminists can’t help other feminists, because they can, and they do, but they can never be more than supporters. Third world feminists are familiar with their culture, its failings, and know their priorities. Western feminists can never be at the forefront, even if they wanted to be, and they shouldn’t want to; westerners can’t lead a third-world movement for the same reason men can’t lead a women’s movement. So why not focus on the situation at home?
Media issues, for example, are important, and won’t be solved by simple legislation. It will take many decades to deconstruct the gender roles and stereotypes that are perpetuated by the media. Dismissing feminist arguments by using the argumentum ad bullshit quoted above holds feminists to a stupid standard that nobody adheres to.
If I may borrow a phrase, the not-living-in-a-shithole pie is not finite. Shit can be reduced everywhere at the same time. Are there resources being wasted by talking about these petty things? To write this post I interrupted my very important duty to watch Scrubs DVDs… well not really, it’s still running in the background (Do you love Turk too? I love Turk). The internets give us an opportunity to talk about all the things we want to talk about, at our leisure, without needing to focus on only one issue. This is not cable news.
So really, if you think (whatever it is people are talking about) is boring/stupid/petty, then by all means explain why it is, or shut your piehole.
I agree! Turk is great!
also I work with a dude who is totally exactly like him. Every conversation ends with a new catchphrase or a new dance. What a guy.
Comment by tynic on May 31st, 2006 at 4:27 am |Turk is awesome, but my heart belongs to Rowdy.
also, nicely done :D
Comment by The Cat on May 31st, 2006 at 6:45 am |:^: :^:
I’m shocked, shocked, to find sexism in a beer commercial.
Seriously, this one probably caught by suprise. Sitting around thinking “some stupid cg animal mascot? no. Hot chicks, naw been done to death and will piss off half our customers. I know…”
Do they have feminist folks that work for ad companies/tv studios that for lack of a better word vet comericals/shows? Like, make an effort. Hire an member of NOW or whatever, and then when they screw up and do stuff like this they can say they tried to prevent it but a limited number of people can only interpert something so many ways and they might miss some.
Comment by red on May 31st, 2006 at 7:54 am |I’m thinking that from now one, every time I get a troll on my site who spews forth the antifeminist equivalent of “eat your peas, there are people starving in China!” I will answer with a link to this post. Thank you thank you thank you.
Comment by hedonistic on June 1st, 2006 at 7:31 am |Thank you. Lovely. And I love hedonistic’s idea.
I also like another thing I read on a blog called The Chubby Girl Brigade. Basically, anytime anyone says anything to you that you dislike, find insulting, or simply don’t wish to dignify with a response, respond by saying, “Are you calling me fat?”
“Are you sure you want a cheeseburger?”
“Are you calling me fat?”
“Do you need extra dressing?”
“Are you calling me fat?”
“My, that color certainly is, uh, bright.”
“Are you calling me fat?”
“Don’t you think there can be intelligent discourse about politics instead of mindless, kneejerk blamethrowing?”
“Are you calling me fat?”
“Why are you concerned with such trivialities when there’s a war on?”
“Are you calling me fat?”
Try it. It’s extremely therapeutic. And it confuses the sanctimonious. Bonus.
Comment by Sara on June 1st, 2006 at 11:33 am |Dismissal with contempt clusters has been the traditional response to any action not approved by the patriarchy. Women who worked were told they should be home cleaning their house and taking care of their family. Thousands of years of telling women that the most important thing in their lives is less important than the least important thing in anyone elses life. They do it because it works. It avoids the need to justify opression, because they cannot justify opression.
Comment by thebewilderness on June 1st, 2006 at 12:59 pm |We learn this dismissal with contempt thing from very early on and I think one of the most important things we learn in life is to stop it.
Actually, its used by just about every group known in an attempt to frame an argument in such a way that only they can win. It just remains at its most blatant in those situations where patriarchy-supporters try to tell women how they ’should’ be thinking.
Comment by The Cat on June 1st, 2006 at 9:05 pm |And that is fundamentally diffrent than feminist telling, well, everyone how they ’should’ be thinking?
ok, so you happen to agree with one view, you use the same tactics. Tell others what to think, and belive absoloutly in it. Dismiss those that disagree with you by displaying contempt and using a whole bunch of really heavly weighted words.
it tends to make me a little sick when I see people who I agree with, people with totaly valid points, resort retarded tactics and start spouting retoric.
Comment by red on June 2nd, 2006 at 7:31 am |Red, bad habits are pounded into all of us at an early age, because live in a dog-eat-dog BDSM culture where people are either dominant or dominated. I agree that some feminists fight back using the same rhetorical weapons as the dominant culture. You don’t like it, but your suggested effective alternative would be . . . what?
(Hey, I can probably say “BDSM” here without being caught by a spamulator! Heh.)
Comment by hedonistic on June 2nd, 2006 at 7:44 am |Guess the alternative would have to be rasing the level of debate, and not being hypocritical by saying one thing to the opposition and then falling into the same traps you blame them for when you are in private or with your base.
Argue the actual valid points in public. In private, grow the fuck up and realise that you are acting just as prejudiced and knock it the fuck off.
realise that your base is already energised, and that the retoric just puts off moderates that would support you and your goals.
I mean, ou are talking about social problems. How does bashing people, more or less, behind thier backs help that? What does it do for the cause?
Comment by Red on June 2nd, 2006 at 8:39 am |I’ve never actually seen a feminist dismiss someone else’s argument as ‘petty’, red. Usually because we’re on the back foot to start with. I’m really not sure where you’re coming from here.
Comment by The Cat on June 2nd, 2006 at 6:17 pm |I’m not sure either. :/
Comment by Sami al Adeeb on June 2nd, 2006 at 9:56 pm |He must have found that secret stash of badly-reasoned, bigoted feminist writing that I was looking for last week. Why did you keep it to yourself, red? I needed it for my article. Must be a patriarchal plot.
Comment by tynic on June 2nd, 2006 at 10:38 pm |Maybe he’s just too high to express himself properly.
Again.
Comment by sacredwombat on June 2nd, 2006 at 10:46 pm |Actualy I was at work, and actually doing work.
I think.
anyway, I suck, a bunch. Confused “petty dismisal” as “a dismissal which is petty” as opposed to “dismissal for being petty” or something.
Any confusion in this post is due to that other thing.
Comment by red on June 3rd, 2006 at 2:32 pm |