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Original poster

Does anyone feel the need to reclaim femnism.....?

257 replies

BertrandRussell · 29/12/2017 11:40

So many important issues just seem to be falling by the wayside. When did we last have any sort of discussion about reproductive rights in US? The Million Woman March-remember that? Weinstein and the follow up? FGM? The abortion debate in Ireland?

OP posts:
YetAnotherSpartacus · 29/12/2017 13:16

They are important for me too. What worries me is that (along with trans) they are tending to dominate radical feminism and I have been to a few (feminist) gatherings where right wing Christian women are front and centre and there has not been a lot of critical thinking about how we might differ in our responses to prostitution and porn and I've mentioned the importance of access to abortion and been met by a deafening silence ... So my original point was in agreement with you re the need to reclaim a more 'pure' (for want of a better word) feminism.

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 29/12/2017 13:01

Sorry-I didn't mean to suggest you did. But I understood you to say that they were "smoke screening" other issues which are more important. They are really high up the list for me-and I don't think I've been suborned by either right or left wing misogynists!

OP posts:
YetAnotherSpartacus · 29/12/2017 12:36

I never said they were not important issues.

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 29/12/2017 12:35

"I feel some of us have been co opted by the misogynistic left and others by the misogynistic right."

I think that prostitution and pornography are incredibly important issues-up there with the others. Not in terms of morality, but in terms of the way women in general are perceived and the was sex workers are treated.

OP posts:
YetAnotherSpartacus · 29/12/2017 12:12

Yes Bertrand. However I also feel the urge to reclaim it from so many rad fems who are getting into bed with the Christian conservatives (Margaret Atwood's original fear behind Handmaid) and prioritising 'sex' issues (prostitution and porn) over other ones, whilst no longer thinking critically about marriage, domestic labour, etc. and keeping somewhat quieter about birth control and abortion. I feel some of us have been co opted by the misogynistic left and others by the misogynistic right.

MadamMinacious · 29/12/2017 11:50

It does feel like feminism has been derailed somewhat in the last year. Although rad fem groups I belong to do discuss and are active in other areas (like those mentioned above).

IrkThePurist · 29/12/2017 11:47

Yes. The recent attacks on the very foundation of women's rights - you aren't women any more - has pushed everything else aside.

How did the vote on funding DV refuges go? Does anyone know?
Why are we still paying tampon tax?
Whats happening with abortion rights in Northern Ireland?

Is there a fund to pay Helen Steel's court costs for her case against the Met, and why is she having to pay anything at all?
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/28/woman-deceived-by-police-spy-refuses-to-pay-met-legal-bill