Feminism is for atheists. Feminism is for Jews, both ethnic and religious. Feminism is for Muslims. Feminism is for pagans. Feminism is for Baha’i feminists. Feminism is for Mormons. Feminism is for Unitarian Universalists. Feminism is for Quakers and Buddhist-Quakers. Feminism is for the anti-religious, and for the anti-atheistic too. Feminism is for evangelicals.
Feminism is for black people. Feminism is for white people. Feminism is for Boricuas. Feminism is for chicanas. Feminism is for desi people. Feminism is for Asian people. Feminism is for people with a mixed race identity.
Feminism is not the top 3 blogs on your blogroll.
Feminism is for men. Feminism is for women. Feminism is even for white men.
Feminism is for environmental activists. Feminism is for animal rights activists, and those who prioritize people. Feminism is for anti-racists, but we certainly have our racist moments. Feminism is for the transsexual and genderfluid, but we also have our moments of gender essentialism and transphobic screeds.
Feminism is for trans men, even when they halt transition. Feminism is for trans women. Feminism is for cissexuals. Feminism is for people whose gender identity formation is ambiguous.
Feminism is a constellation.
Feminism is for mothers. Feminism is for the childfree. Feminism is for mothers who stay at home with their children, and mothers who work outside the home, and those who homeschool. Feminism is for fathers: gay, straight, partnered, and unparterned. Feminism is for fathers of boys and girls. Feminism is for stay at home dads.
Feminism is for heterosexual couples raising children, gay parents raising children, polyamorous people raising children, single parents raising children, and people who prefer to help raise the children of friends and family.
Feminism is for lesbians. Feminism is for gay men. Feminism is for bisexuals. Feminism is for people who like to look at men. Feminism is for asexuals. Feminism is for polyamorous women and polyamorous men. Feminism is for the monogamous. Feminism is for those creating unusual families.
Feminism is not just Shulamith Firestone and Andrea Dworkin. Feminism is not just Bell Hooks and Angela Davis. Feminism is not just “do-me feminism.” It is not just “choice feminism.” It is not just suffragettes, third wave, or second wave.
Feminism is for psychiatrists. Feminism is for the anti-psychiatry. Feminism is for people with PTSD, cyclothymia, narcissistic personality disorder.
Feminism is for the fat, the thin, and those with eating disorders. It is for real women, with and without curves.
Feminism is for people who I admire, people who piss me off, and people who I admire who piss me off.
Feminism is about safe spaces, or constructing safe spaces for groups that aren’t always centered in feminist discourse, or feeling frustrated with the pitfalls of constructing safe spaces, or criticizing the implementation of safe spaces.
Feminism is for those who adopt or foster, and those who use IVF, and those who’ve given birth to many children. Feminism is for the married, the divorced, the unmarried, the several times divorced (and happily remarried), those who are in interracial marriages, those who are in cross-generational relationships, those whose hard-won joyful marriages anger many Americans, and those who are unfairly barred from marriage.
Feminism is for the disabled and the abled and the parents of the disabled, and again feminism has its problematic moments.
Feminism has many definitions. Sometimes, it has none.
Feminism is for people who are pro-sex, and people who believe that pornography is irredeemable, and for sex workers. Feminism is for people who believe that values must sometimes be compromised from necessity, and those who believe that actions must be consistent with beliefs.
Feminism is for people who live at the intersection of many axes of oppression.
Feminism is for Americans in New York, California, North Dakota, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. It’s for people in Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Syria (by way of Iraq), India both “>group and singly, South Africa, and people who are pan-Africans — and that is only a sampling of blogs and not of activists on the ground.
Feminism is for people who practice BDSM, and people who think BDSM is oppressive, but probably not for many Goreans.
Feminism is for those who believe in litmus tests, and those who eschew them.
Feminism is for Republicans. Feminism is for fiscal conservatives. Feminism is for libertarians. Feminism is for anarchists and Marxists. Feminism is for Democrats. Feminism is for people in the Green party and people who think all American alternatives are far too conservative and people who are looking at American politics from the outside.
Sometimes, feminism is made of straw. Sometimes, someone really made the arguments that are often used as straw.
Feminism is for those who believe in reproductive rights — whether that means focusing on birth rape, on making sure that women of color have real choices, believing abortion is a moral good, disapproving of abortion but approving of choice, struggling for a principled feminist pro-life stance, educating people about masturbation, attacking domestic violence, or building up childcare options.
Feminism is not represented by this list, any more than it’s represented by any other single perspective on the whole.
Feminism is academic, or emotional. It is filled with rants and careful logical arguments.
Feminism is for lawyers (lots and lots of lawyers), writers (lots and lots of them too), scientists, engineers, recording artists, professors, students, quite a few sex workers, stay at home parents, veterans, ballerinas, and veterans who are also ballerinas. Feminists live on government assistance. They are poor, and middle class, and the kind of people who know the difference between OKOP and NOKOP.
Feminism is not about reaffirming every part of your identity, or of mine. Feminism is not about burning these things away, either. Privilege exists within discourses of feminism, but that does not invalidate the privileged or the underprivileged’s claim to feminism.
Feminism is not what I believe. Feminism is not what you believe. Feminism is Feminisms, many and varied.
I worked on this all night, plus a few hours yesterday and the day before. I am positive that it is full of errors, both technical (of the broken link variety) and categorical (of accidentally identifying people with groups to which they do not belong).
If you point out these errors to me, I will do my best to correct them (if I agree they’re errors). I’m also happy to expand the post to include more identities, examples, groups, and so on, if you point out what you’d like to see added or changed (and again, if I agree).
The last part of the list that I worked on was the international bloggers, so I’m afraid it got the short shrift. My apologies.
Just to let people know, I will be away from the computer for some time now.
—
(Also, I spent a while googling for a feminist defense of Gor, but I couldn’t find one. Perhaps it doesn’t exist on the internet! However, if it does and you can locate it, then I bow to your Google Fu.)
Also, anti-feminists and MRAs, please follow the rules outlined at the bottom of this post. Thanks.
Wow. Just wow.
Fucking fantastic post, Mandolin.
Stunning.
Thank you very much.
Suggested addition: Riverbend of Baghdad Burning, who is from Iraq but has recently moved to Syria. I don’t know for sure if she self-identifies as a feminist, but her book is published by The Feminist Press, and her posts (like “Atrocities,” “Summer of Goodbyes” and “Girl Power And Post-War Iraq” — it’s blogspot, so you may have to scroll down to the posts I’m referring to) show what I think of as feminist concerns and sensibilities.
Great, now I am never going to get any work done! ;) Awesome post.
Oh my gosh! It’s always such a shock to be linked to by “bigger” bloggers, especially when it’s a blog that I regularly read. Thanks for the mention!
Wow!
“Trans woman” instead of “transwoman,” perhaps? Saying “Trans woman” is no different than saying “rich woman” or “black woman” or “athletic woman,” just an adjective and a noun. “Transwoman” is a compound word that others trans women too much.
Also, is feminism for trans men?
Plus, good post.
Amazing post.
One small caveat – it’s “Boricua” – capital B, I believe, and an ‘o’ as the first vowel.
Absolutely stunning post, Mandolin. Am going to work my way through that list over the next little while (much like I’m working my way through the latest Carnival of Feminists).
Bottom line (and something that came up in a conversation I had today with someone who harboured negative impressions of feminism she attributed to her mother being a “man hating bra burner”:
‘Feminism’ should be plural.
(PS – my bio page is 404’d due to an errant quotation mark in the URL – correct link is here. :-) )
Great post.
Katie,
I tried to copy off of the site, and of course I mistyped. Thanks for the correction.
Amp,
Will include!
Matt,
Will alter!
Lisa,
Thanks a lot for taking the time to respond. Just a couple questions about:
I’m pretty sure I’m following what I’ve seen as typical usage by trans people, thus I’m wary of changing it. Are you trans? Can you give me a source of trans people making this argument?
In the list, I’m arguing that feminism is for men, so it would be especially hypocritical for me to say it’s not for trans men.
Off hand, feminism seems to be for Nick Kiddle and Piny (before she stopped transitioning) and lots and lots of people who go to Wiscon every year.
Various previously mentioned updates made.
Stuff of my own:
I’ve altered the Republican feminist to a different link and to a fiscal conservative feminist, after being advised that the woman I’d selected may not identify as Republican. If anyone has a new Republican, I’ll include them too.
I’ve switched the student link from sly civilian to jack goff (b/c there are already two embedded links to sly).
I’ve switched polyamorous people to polyamorous women and polyamorous men so that I could include both Myca and a polyamorous woman. (Another poly woman is linked under poly families raising children.)
I added angry young woman as a Mormon feminist to the section on religion. With her, I added a feminist quaker, feminist Buddhist-quaker, a feminist believer in Baha’i, and a feminist unitarian universalist. Another category I’m happy to add more slots to if people have suggestions.
Thanks, Mandolin. :) I probably shouldn’t have phrased it as a question, because I absolutely believe trans men should be in there.
I am a trans woman, and I’ll refer to Julia Serano for the reason why I suggested the change:
From Julia Serano’s Whipping Girl, pages 30-31.
Plus, just to repeat: This is a great post.
Thanks, Lisa! I input the changes, and I’ll change my own use, too.
I really should read Whipping Girl.
Wow, what an amazing post! Thank you for making this work of art and chronicle of the blogosphere, it’s like look at a really cool memory quilt.
I tend to use “trans woman” for the same reasons cited above. Also, I’m kinda curious… the “trans women” link is to a post I made on Feministe (very honored, thank you) but the post isn’t about anything trans related at all. Is it linked there because the author (me) is a trans woman?
Whipping Girl is not just for trans people! It’s a great book, and I really like the examination of how femininity is devalued.
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Holly,
Thank you for the compliment, and for letting me know about the term. You’re one of my favorite people to read, in comments or posts.
I did link the post because you’re a trans woman — many of the links above correspond more to author’s identity than post subject, although I tried to correlate the two. I would have linked feministe’s default page, but I wanted to make sure I was linking you specifically, and that was the most gender-oriented post I turned up by searching “holly” in feministe’s search box. I remember looking for a while, but I probably could have searched harder. Is there a more salient post that I could use?
—
Everyone,
My fiance points out that because of my anxiety and depression issues, I do not necessarily qualify as abled. (I linked myself because I didn’t feel like I knew other people well enough to say whether or not they were abled.) Any volunteers or suggestions for that spot?
Wow. That’s all.
I heart this post, although I wish that there was a link for “feminism is for pirates” up there :p
Heh, you said ‘Feminism is for Indian people’ and linked to a post by Samhita @ Feministing, but I believe she is Sri Lankan. Even if she were Indian, that would make her Indian-American… not Indian. There are too many differences between the rich people that immigrate and most of actual Indians/Sri Lankans/South Asians. Mostly that the latter are too busy working for a living to care about labeling themselves as ‘feminist.’
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“Heh, you said ‘Feminism is for Indian people’ and linked to a post by Samhita @ Feministing, but I believe she is Sri Lankan.”
Okay. I don’t read feministing, so I wasn’t sure. I searched her last name and found it on a list of Bengali last names.
I’ve changed the description to Indian-American for now, until someone can confirm she’s Sri Lankan. If she’s not, maybe I’ll add Maryanne Mohanraj, since her ancestry is Sri Lankan.
By the by, there is a link to a feminist writing in India later in the post.
—
Update: For now, I’m going to refer to Samhita as Desi following the lead of this post.
(It amuses me that I’ve acquired some sort of reputation as “the cissexual guy.”)
Thanks for several links here — much appreciated, and a great list.
Oh, hell, and though I’m hardly typical of the breed, I’m also a registered Republican (even if I’m giving money to John Edwards.)http://hugoschwyzer.net/2007/10/03/why-hugo-is-a-registered-republican-these-days/
Can I recommend an interesting blog on a tangentially related topic?
Overcoming Bias
The general topic of the blog is how to adjust for cognitive biases that get in the way of forming true beliefs.
Heh, Stentor — I pulled it off of this entry.
Hugo, thanks for volunteering to be the Republican link. ;-) You’re welcome for the rest of the linkage; I always appreciate how fresh your angle is on things.
Doug, thanks for the link!
Re: Feminist from India, Apu of Cubically Challeged (host of the 46th Carnival of Feminists) fits the bill.
Just sayin’.
;-)
Overcoming Bias is kind of a weird blog, and the fact that a lot of the contributors are Ph.D academic types leads to a lot of reasoned discussion and very little trolling. There’s some great posts in the archives but it’s too much of a pain in the neck for me to look for them right now. (If someone asks, I’ll be glad to go post some choice links, but I don’t want to spend the time if nobody cares.)
In the meantime, I’ll link to some writings by one of the contributors, Eliezer Yudkowsky.
Twelve Virtues of Rationality
(A description of rationality written in beautiful, poetic language.)
The Simple Truth
(If someone starts arguing about “what is truth” send them here. If they continue to argue, they’re probably a troll.)
An Intuitive Explanation of Bayesian Reasoning
(This is important. You should read it. Probably first.)
A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation
(We are the Bayesian Conspiracy. You may join, if you are worthy.)
Mandolin, thanks so much…what a feast!
What a remarkable act of scholarship. Brava!
Great post! And thanks for including me in two of the links.
Feminism is for gamers.
Thank you so much for the inclusion here.
This is such a cool post. It really is. (That must have been a hell of a lot of work.)
I have to say that I do get angry sometimes with some feminists, and even with what I perceive to be feminism as a whole.
But this is a good thing. A very, very good thing.
It means I care enough to feel. My default state is apathetic; I do not tend to connect to people like I’m told others do.
If I were to tell you one thing I love most about feminism, it’s that it makes me feel.
And I have no idea why I’m telling you this, save that my brain is currently telling me I have to.
Lovely, lovely post. I’ll be at those links for hours, now.
It’s possible I’m not seeing it, but perhaps a thing about feminism being for SAHPs and WOHPs alike?
That is not a criticism, more a suggestion. For the post as a whole, damn. Nicely done.
(P = parent; WO = work outside – the ‘the’ is elided.)
What a great post and collection of links. Thanks for including me. Lots of other feminist bloggers with disabilities at my blogroll, by the way.
Hey, I just realized I got linked! thanks !(woo hooo! *happydance*)
Great post! (Occasional lurker, first-time commenter)
Heart is going to be vewwy vewwy upset.
Ok, this is the one thing I won’t get behind. A 50-year-old in a relationship with a 20-year-old? Fine, no problem, both are adults. A 40-year-old in a “relationship” with a 10-year-old? That is rape, full stop.
Xtina,
I included a SAHM in the list of occupations, rather than putting the dichotomy under child-rearing. I guess I come from a place of wanting to see mothers as mothers and wanting SAHM/SAHD to be part of how people enter their occupational lives, but that’s quite possibly the “not a parent” thing. If people would like me to add a SAHP/WOTH dichotomy to the varied families section, I’d be happy to.
Bitchy and Kay,
You’re very welcome.
Mighty,
Thanks for the link! I’d also link Tekanji as someone who writes about gaming.
Sailor,
Three times even!
Alix,
I think it’s great to be angry and to talk about anger within feminism. There is privilege, and it needs to be talked about. I tried, for instance, to link a lot of non-white bloggers in the list at points when race was not being mentioned, but I’m sure I could have done better, and that I did not do better without thinking about it is definitely indicative of my white privilege.
As for Lu particularly — There was some framing I didn’t like in Lu’s argument, about creating feminism as one thing so that it could be distanced from.
One thing I found utterly fascinating when I was doing the searches for the post was that searching “feminism BDSM” or “feminism sex-positive” turns up a lot of links of people arguing that feminism is too for BDSMers or sex-pozzes and also a lot of people saying “Fuck you, feminists, for not liking BDSM and sex”, and few links of feminists actually criticizing BDSM or sex-positive feminism (at least under that name). I don’t know if that has more to do with google’s linking system than with the actual percentage of posts on both subjects, but it was interesting. I think there’s a danger of us creating our own straw-feminisms for pillory, like “feminism is against BDSM” or “feminism is against stay-at-home mothers” or “feminism is against home schooling” when this represents our worries about feminism more than the actual arguments being made (in the blogosphere in 2007), or at least more than the actual proportion of the arguments being made.
RachelPhil,
No, Heart probably won’t be happy. :-P I did link her in several positive contexts, so hopefully that will serve to highlight that there are points of agreement as well as disagreement.
The author of Perverse Adult is a friend of mine — he’s in a cross-generational relationship (approximately 20/40, though closer to 25/45 at this point). I included him because of that identity, not because of the post itself, although the post itself was an obvious one to link to. I do think it’s an interesting post even though I disagree with large parts of it.
My reaction to him is in comments under my real name (also Rachel), although I couldn’t say for sure I’d still agree with everything I said then. (If you go over and read that post, Sailorman, you might find some fodder for the thread about children fucking children, as I believe my central argument against Perverse Adult’s was harm reduction.)
I don’t know that I agree that one can be a feminst and a pro-lifer. I think that by taking away a choice, either by pressuring women or creating laws or generally making your disgust with a medical procedure known to the one in three (American- I don’t know the statistics in other countries) women who has had or will have an abortion in her lifetime, you are making choice more difficult for women.
I read Hugo’s link and I wanted to vomit. It is completely obnoxious to say that feminists are only concerned about abortion- it is simply a topic that gets a lot of media attention, in part because it is an issue that is such an example about how the patriarchy is trying to control women- if they can’t make one medical descision, why should they get to choose when to have sex, when to change their name, when to have or not have children? He also claims that feminists don’t care about sex selective abortion in India or China, when we do, we just realize that abortion restrictions aren’t going to change the real problem, which is a cultural bias against women going back thousands of years. He supports Feminsts for Life, which refuse to take a pro-contraception stand, even though that is the only thing that will reduce abortions. Finally, he refuses to see that even when we have the time, money, and male support, some women just do not want the goddamn pregnancy. Do. Not. Want. Will. Abort.
I completely disagree that one can be anti-choice and pro-women.
Well. There was a reason I said “those struggling to find a principled pro-life stance” rather than “people who are pro-life.” I do admire that Hugo always struggles, but I wanted to leave room for the reader to interpret what I was saying as “struggling and failing.” I agree with all your critiques of his post.
Hugo said something on a Feministe thread that suggested he’s since abandoned his attempts to find a viable pro-life framework. Perhaps he’ll let us know.
My somewhat complicated stance is sort of reducible to this: one can be a feminist and also be wrong about things. So, I would say that I don’t believe that being pro-life can ever be a feminist stance, but that doesn’t mean that everyone who is pro-life is therefore necessarily not a feminist — though as Amanda noted on Pandagon once, Hugo’s just about the only person in the blogosphere who seems to be sincerely dedicated to feminist principles despite his pro-life stance. (Occasionally, we get women commenting here who claim to be pro-life radical feminists. I don’t like their argument at all, but it may be similarly sincere.)
I’ve heard people suggest that you can’t be a feminist and a racist. One clear drawback to this is that it motivates people to deny when white feminist actions are racist, since it would disqualify them from being feminist. Racism is not a feminist stance, but racists can be feminists, and I would say that there are a few feminist bloggers who I do think are racist (using the traditional definition of obvious malicious intent and noxious beliefs, instead of the anti-racist definition which acknowledges unconscious and embedded biases and assupmtions). I think it’s important to continue saying that their views are unacceptable and anti-feminist and straight-up wrong, but I don’t think withdrawing the feminist label from them is the correct solution. Ditto for people who are transphobic.
I’ve also heard people say that feminists must be animal rights activists and so on, and I just think it’s not the best line of attack. Western feminism is a part of western society and reflects western biases and privileges; rather than limiting it to the most ideologically pure, I would argue for working within feminism with the intersections of other movements such as anti-racism to lessen or eliminate problematic or evil stances and biases. (Likewise, I would advocate working within the anti-racist movment to lessen or elimatine problematic stances and baises like anti-feminism).
I’d still eliminate people like Wendy McElroy from feminism, for the record: my basic definition of feminism is the belief that women and men should be societally equal, and the acknowledgement that within contemporary society there are significant structural biases that place the class women at a significant systemic disadvantage to the class men. (I don’t know if that’s the best phrasing ever, or that I’d never modify that, but it’s basically what I believe.)
Personally, I’d rather say “Hugo, you are really, violently, dangerously wrong here,” than “Hugo, I don’t care what else you do or believe — this stance makes you not a feminist.”
Awesome collection of links, thanks.
I was just looking for “Whipping Girl” in the library today. apparently it’s out, and four people have it on hold. meh.
An MRA has linked this post with the accusation that fathers are not included.
This is blatantly untrue, as both “homosexual couples raising children” and “parents of the disabled” are links to sites run by men who are fathers. Does parent =/= father? Does gay man =/= father? Do disabled children =/= children? I assume the complaint was made from ignorance & failure to check evidence, not the rankest heterosexism and ableism.
However, I could make the father aspect more explicit, so I will.
Off the top of my head, I’m planning to link “Feminism is for fathers: gay, straight, partnered, and unparterned. Feminism is for fathers of boys and girls. Feminism is for stay at home dads.”
I’m going to add the text now with a few provisional links — as I’m quite busy right now. Anyone who wants to suggest their favorite feminist fathers, please do.
By the by, for anyone else assuming that links that contain non-gendered terms are links to women — I hasten to correct you. Many of these links are links to men’s writing.
An interesting response to this post.
Added: father’s section, a line linking a feminist SAHM and a feminist mother who works outside the home and a feminist mother who homeschools, and a link to Bean’s blog as “attacking domestic violence.”
Dear MRAs who are reading this thread,
Hello? I’m a father. So is Myca, I believe. And though I haven’t spent tons of time tracking it down, I suspect there are a variety of fathers elsewhere in the links (hint: find the male bloggers, and you’re more likely to find the fathers.)
Of course, in the particular link above I’m not wearing my “father hat.” But only an idiot–excuse the implication–would suggest that I’m not a father, which is what you mean by “no fathers in the thread.”
Unless, that is, you plan to suggest suggest that “father” should be equivalent to “MRA,” or some other dreck. In which case, off with you–shoo, go away.
Sincerely,
Sailorman.
I love reading Shrub. Tekanji recently got accepted to a very prestigious game development school in Japan!
There’s a whole directory of feminist gaming sites and blogs, not to mention Cerise, an mag.
As we share a blog, Donna and I, I would kindly appreciate that THIS BLOG in PARTICULAR NEVER EVER links to our shared blog again.
I know Donna likes Barry’s blog – but I can assure you – I couldn’t care less for it, or the ‘review software’ it operates on.
Thank you!
-AD
Out of respect and consideration – I would appreciate that my comment is released.
[Like many wordpress blogs, “Alas” automatically put first-time posters into moderation. It’s not personal. –Amp]
I’m not sure what you think is going to happen because we link to you. It doesn’t, like, up our ranking or anything — it ups yours. You’re welcome not to link to us, but I don’t really feel like giving you control over my content.
If the problem is trackbacks, please feel free to delete them.
As regards this current link — if Donna would prefer me to alter it, she’s welcome to ask, and then I will. (Alternately, if y’all would rather I link to something she write rather than to your whole blog — thus making sure to specify that I’m mentioning her and not y’all — that would be fine, too.)
—
By the by, I just noticed you link to your blog in your comments… would you like me to remove the link for you?
Oh, AD doesn’t like the porn hosting of this blog.
I’m okay with it and the link but out of respect for her I can’t have any more links and will not leave my url (I am forgetful where I cut and paste my url and where I don’t). I appreciate the link very much. Thanks.
Feminism is for lawyers (lots and lots of lawyers), writers (lots and lots of them too), scientists, engineers, recording artists, professors, students, stay at home parents, veterans, ballerinas, and veterans who are also ballerinas. Feminists live on government assistance. They are poor, and middle class, and the kind of people who know the difference between OKOP and NOKOP.
If we’re talking about work…
Feminism is for sex workers.
Thanks, Hexy! I do have a sex worker link up in the sex-pos bit, but I can always use more. I’ll add them to the post.
I did notice that you’d linked to a worker… I personally don’t like the idea some seem to have that the only sex working feminist is a sex-positive feminist.
But thanks for the inclusion. I like the post.
“I personally don’t like the idea some seem to have that the only sex working feminist is a sex-positive feminist. ”
That’s a fair objection.
My original outline for the post had a place for sex workers in the occupational section, but then I was really tired so I thought the one space would do. This is definitely better; thanks again.
I like that it’s a work in progress! I hope this manifesto-quilt-record of sorts is enshrined somehow :D although since it’s composed of links, it’s bound to get a little tattered eventually.
As for posts… hmm if you like this one, maybe it might be good to use for “trans women” link?
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2007/07/09/who-deserves-health-care/
It’s about the health-care-related cases of two different trans women (an incarcerated white woman found guilty of murder, who is very unpopular, and a young Latina in NYC who’s suing the city) and as an extra bonus, was written by a trans woman (me again!)
men of color
NA women
My my my…
what can I say that hasn’t already been said…
this is quite a post and what small link in the chain I love most is the
Feminism is a constellation.
That is perhaps the most accurate depiction I have ever read to describe what exactly this femstuff is all about. How else could you explain the candy pop feminism co-existing alongside academics along side sexpos fems among the atheists, asians, and assholes all in the bunch?
Standing applause for that comment alone.
(For not terribly relevant reasons, I initially posted this elsewhere, not noticing that the party’s over here. Apologies for the slightly-updated duplicate.)
This isn’t the first post I’ve seen assuring the reader that feminism isn’t about excluding people, and that You Too May Be A Feminist. And yet a significant proportion of the positions listed are decried as Not Actually Feminist by significant portions of the feminist blogosphere. (As a random example, the Punkassblog post is followed by a rather heavy pile-on.) You’ve alluded to this by pointing out some extremes of opinion, but… well, why isn’t Wendy McElroy on this list? Or Jill Stanek? I’m sure both of them consider themselves Real True Feminists, and would label themselves as such. (Someone, somewhere, cited Larry Flynt as a self-described feminist, which seems not entirely impossible to me.)
Twisty Faster and Cheryl Lindsay Seelhoff draw the line between feminist and not-feminist at one point. You’re drawing it at another. What makes your line more valid than theirs, and more valid than McElroy’s and Stanek’s? I see the rather ecumenical definition of [paraphrasing] “anything that advances women’s equality is feminist; anything that doesn’t isn’t”, but that’s just slightly abstracting the question. Twisty and Heart would doubtless argue that that’s precisely what their criteria are.
You might well change the end of the post to “Feminism is Feminisms, many and varied. Feminism is the One True Feminism; anything short of it plays into the hands of the patriarchy.”
“Also, I spent a while googling for a feminist defense of Gor, but I couldn’t find one. Perhaps it doesn’t exist on the internet!”
Mandolin, you have linked to some great blogs, and that is a good thing, but it is confusing to me that you included the above comment. Are you saying you think a feminist defense of sci-fi rape propaganda is possible? Or would it have been one of the links (had you found one) that you featured as an example of folks failing?
Whatever your answer, I’m not bringing it up to attack you for it. I’m honestly just baffled.
Thanks.
Hi Joan,
I understand the baffle. My position in a nutshell:
Do I think such a defense is advisable? No.
Do I think it would be legitimate or hold water? Almost certainly not (although I confess that my inability to imagine it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible someone could come up with a legitimate defense; I’ve heard anti-racists and women of color defend Raymond Chandler Harris with interesting arguments, even if the arguments don’t seem plausible to me).
Do I think it’s possible that someone — someone who would fit my definition of feminist — would have tried to defend Gor on feminist grounds? I find it almost inconceivable that no one has. People are weird.
Hi Grendel,
You raise good points, and I’ll get back to you with a fuller response later.
Where is Canada?!
Your list is… spectacular however. Awe inspiring in fact!
feminism is for catholics too (even though they try to pretend it’s not)
This is excellent. I only wanted to mention that bell hooks chooses not to capitalize her name.
As someone who likes BDSM and is a feminist, I think Gor is yucky. Sorry I couldn’t help with that one.
Is feminism not for people who like looking at women? Because that would make me sad.
I thought this post was a good one on that topic:
http://www.thechaff.com/2007/03/08/can-i-look-at-your-ass-nowor-i-dont-want-to-be-sexist-but-damn-women-are-hot/
First of all, thank you for the wonderful post. I really agree with you that feminism wears many faces. I find it it really oppressive when someone claims to speak for all women and have the only “twue” form of feminism. Feminism is, to me, listening to all the narratives of women’s lives and trying to makes sure all of those different women have the right to live those lives as they see fit, even if we don’t agree with their choices (and as long as their rights don’t trample someone else’s, of course). But that is probably a really idealistic way to look at it.
And I just have to make this one little comment about the whole Gor-feminism issue… I am SO writing Feminists of Gor! lol That would be a book and a half. Seriously, I don’t think a book series like that could be redeemed, but hearing about all the kajiras and free women rising up against their male oppressors, burning their dancing veils , and holding the homestones ransom untill the Priest-Kings give them equal rights would be awesome. lol John Norman would bust an artery.
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I haven’t been able to read all the comments yet, but I just wanted to say that I think I have a feminist blog in my top three xD
Re: Feminism is for asexuals.
Seeing that even acknowledged in writing made my heart skip a beat and I nearly started crying from the shock – so someone does know we exist- Thankyou! But I’m a bit confused about the link… Now I didn’t read through the whole blog but it seemed mostly about being transexual… Forgive me if I’m jumping to conclusions.
Hi tcupnewt,
The blog is by a trans woman who is also asexual. She doesn’t talk about the latter as much on the blog, but I know it’s part of her identity, and part of how she feels her interactions with others are shaped.
Some of the links are to people I know personally and am linking about their attriutes, not necessarily the content. I’d be happy to add another blog or two if you have suggestions.
Ampersand of this blog has also written about having an alternate sexuality which I think he’s sometimes defined as asexual (although he’s not completely asexual, as I understand it).
This is TRULY fantastic. Thank You
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Mandolin- Okay, that’s great to know. The problem with us asexuals is that we kind of, by definition, keep it to ourselves and it’s not something on our radar. Which I don’t mind apart from the fact that it’s nice when you’re acknowledged to exist. So no, I’m not aware of any specific feminist blog that talks about asexuality. You’ve done really well with this list anyway- it’s amazing!
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Feminism is definitely for Catholics – http://www.catholicsforchoice.org
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Feminism is for expats, exiles, and those who stay behind.
Feminism is as much about putting food on the table as it is about putting an argument on the table, as much about the hierarchy of needs as the hierarchies in society.
Wow! This is quite the spark… So many ideas are flowing from this…
Syrian Feminism is alive and well and just turned 27, by the way: http://ya-ashrafe-nnas.blogspot.com/
“Feminism is even for white men”, but is it also for those old, white men in the seats of power? Maybe someday…let’s hope.
I am linking to your post from my blog. Hope that’s ok.
Thanks again for a great post. Salaam, y’all.
Very awesome post. Actually, I am putting together a project with this as a goal for a women’s studies course:
http://face.of.feminism.googlepages.com/thechangingfaceoffeminism
I invite everyone to go there and participate in the ongoing definition of feminism, much as this blog does. I am trying to create a forum in which all people can define feminism as it relates to them.
I stumbled on this blog and I think I’m here to stay!
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Hey, no dislove, no disunity but… Well, bell hooks doesn’t capitalize her name.
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thanks for the post!
it makes my blood boil when people say “feminism is for man-haters” or “feminism is for lesbians.” feminism is for anyone and everyone.
http://feministreaction.blogspot.com/
Feminism is for everyone! Including non-feminists, clearly. . . ;-)
“Including non-feminists, clearly. . . ;-)”
Yawn.
I love this post. I wish I was included, though (women who have no interest in children at all, their own OR others’)
when I say I love this post, I actually do mean I really love this post.
Yes! Feminism is for all and I am proud to be a feminist!
I really liked MOST of this post. There was one little bit that I didn’t like- the part that said you could be anti-choice and still a feminist. To me, that’s like saying that a person who believes that women shouldn’t have the right to vote can still be a feminist. It’s just a big “WTF” to me, because the right to vote and the right to my own body are both VERY important rights that should never be taken away.
“I love this post. I wish I was included, though (women who have no interest in children at all, their own OR othersâ��)”
Actually, it did mention that feminism is for the child-free.
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