i've been thinking about a number of ideas lately that i've been meaning to work through in this little forum. while i am at work right now, and thus cannot even begin to touch on them in any meaningful way, i wanted to throw them out there. i have absolutely no plans for the weekend, so i'm hoping to be able to take a stab at organizing my thoughts around at least one or two of these issues, and posting them for your viewing pleasure (or pain, or ambivalence, or outright disdain).
-- why do so many women, especially younger women, reject the label of "feminist?" hugo had a nice post on this subject a few weeks ago, and it's an issue on which feminists go around and around and around. one little word, so many complications.
-- what is it that makes the status of "victim" slightly seductive? what is the rationale of willingly occupying that mindset, choosing that perspective? (hint, i think that there actually is one).
-- why is the collective identity created by shared fandom so alluring? watching some of the webcast of the white sox rally downtown got me on that track...
-- is it just me, or is the world seeming like a more menacing and unkind place with every passing day? perhaps that's a bit of an overstatement, but i've had that somewhat unshakable sense for awhile now, and i'm interesting in taking apart the potential factors for that (the news media? the political climate? the cultural climate? the chemical balance in my brain? all of the above??)
on a lighter note, cat blogging to come later tonight. enjoy your halloween weekend! i heard a great costume idea yesterday - smear some egg on your face and go as george w. bush.
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2 comments:
i think the issue of all the associations around the term "feminist" is exactly what i want to explore. it's so interesting how it has different connotations for different people, right? and from some of the feminist history that i've learned (recent history, even), i think a lot of the negative connotations that people have about feminism come from a media that wasn't at all interested in portraying feminism in a positive light.
it's a really interesting discussion, and while it's frustrating to me to have all this brouhaha around a word, i realize it's hard to make "feminist" progress when we all aren't even quite sure what "feminist" means! everyone has their own definition, and that makes it fascinating and complicated and crazy :)
and for the record, i think anger and action are the perfect partners in crime :) anger can fuel action, and action can be a productive output for anger.
The way I see it, feminism back in the day was a tool used to break out of a particular mindset, i.e. the patriarchy, gender inequality, submissiveness. But those problems don't exist today to the extent that they did back then. Young girls growing up at this time are far more empowered and have greater opportunity to discover who they are for themselves. Sexism is far more subtle now in the ways it's expressed through society and culture. And it's way more confusing because it's not just coming from men anymore. So I guess my feeling is that the battlefield has changed, and the old terms don't necessarily apply anymore.
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