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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Writer in the London Review says feminists must stop focusing on women

11 replies

thunderboltsandlightning · 08/12/2011 17:05

It's narcissistic self-absorbtion doncha know?

www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n24/jenny-turner/as-many-pairs-of-shoes-as-she-likes

Part 64 of the backlash.

When is one of these women going to write and tell men to stop being sexist pigs.

OP posts:
MMMarmite · 08/12/2011 18:40

The writing is rubbish. It jumps from one idea to another without pausing long enough to develop anything or make a point. I waded through 6 paragraphs and gave up.

Greythorne · 08/12/2011 18:54

It is drivel, makes no sense. The opening few paragraphs are unconnected to what follows.

TheCrackFox · 08/12/2011 19:13

Sorry, I actually couldn't finish reading it as it was so badly written. Seriously, the writer should really consider retraining in another field.

If Feminists are not supposed to focus on women (although the clue is in the name) what are we supposed to focus on?

ballroompink · 08/12/2011 19:31

Urgh - I spent time reading this earlier today and kind of wish I hadn't. Way too long and seriously lost it towards the end, all so she could say that the movement needs more intersectionality? So unnecessary and yet again, taking the media's portrayal of 'the new feminism' as monolithic.

The problem is, it's not a case of 'feminists today' not caring about race and class and politics at all. Part of the problem is that the 'feminist resurgence' in the UK, whether you agree with their opinions or not, has been defined by the media as being all about Object, UK Feminista, LFN, etc. The media also only gives coverage to protests about strip clubs, Playboy, anything related to sex or something 'provocative', or anything it can mock. The wider concerns of the movement get far less coverage and so we then have the comments on CiF and on other sites saying 'Why don't these silly, privileged, prissy women care about more important issues?!'

I didn't appreciate the tone Turner took when describing the activists. Of course analysis of race and class is important. Mocking women who choose to focus on porn, or prostitution, for example, just came across as nasty. IMO, groups like Object have recently become an easy target for people criticising feminism today, people who don't actually look deeper into the things feminists are doing.

thunderboltsandlightning · 08/12/2011 19:42

What she said about Andrea Dworkin was awful. Such an insult to all the women who told Dworkin their stories too - which they did in large numbers, because she understood.

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TheBrandyButterflyEffect · 08/12/2011 22:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KRITIQ · 08/12/2011 22:36

What a ramble. I couldn't bring myself to read every word without being angry at wasting 20 good minutes of my life. I seriously didn't get what the author was getting at - what the call to action genuinely was.

It wasn't just Dworkin she misinterpreted, but most of the writers she name checked. She must have been relying only on the Cliff Notes or something. Object is at least 10 years old (if I've got my mental arithmetic right.) Then there was CAP, which preceded it and there was some overlap of folks involved, so I don't know if it really qualifies as a "young" organisation.

Yep, quite a ramble, a pretty pointless ramble.

MooncupGoddess · 08/12/2011 22:38

Weird article. Looks like she was given a load of feminist-related books to review in the same piece but couldn't bring it all together coherently. Shame as the LRB is usually excellent and .

ballroompink · 09/12/2011 09:21

TBBE

'I think it's more that consumers of, and apologists for porn and rape through prostitution have polished arguments and the support of so many academics.'

That's why I think Object are an easy target. Easy to 'go for' because of the nature of their work - even among other feminists, if the mixed reactions to their talk at FEM 11 were anything to go by. The apologist mindset is so pervasive and seems to be incresingly seen as the 'reasonable' opinion to hold.

TheBrandyButterflyEffect · 09/12/2011 11:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ballroompink · 09/12/2011 12:15

So true. These groups aren't invisible to most of us, yet as far as the media's concerned they're not worth bothering with.

I wasn't in the Object talk although I kind of wish I had been. I was reading the tweets about it as they were coming through and feeling there was a lot of conflict in the room!

I prefer to make my position on it all clear as well. It's not something I spend a lot of time discussing compared to some other feminist issues but I still feel strongly about it and find it tedious when those of us who do object inevitably get labeled as prudish, or 'prim', or told that they're only rich white women's concerns.

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