The Mary Beard Appreciation Society

[ArcheryAnnie]

Professor Mary Beard was one of about 130+ people who signed a letter to the Guardian this weekend, saying broadly that universities should be a place of discussion and debate, and the current habit of "no-platforming" women (it's almost always women) some students disagree with was inimical to the very purpose of education.

Out of these 130+ signatories, Mary Beard was the one the usual suspects piled on to, and she dealt with the barrage with such grace. The attacks were mostly divided between the "OMG transphobe" type" and the "very sad to see this nice old dear who didn't understand what she was signing" type, which is breathtakingly patronising when referring to one of the most brilliant academics we have. Most of the other signatories weren't attacked at all in the same way or in the same volume, although some signatories who are PoC were labelled "tokens" by the usual suspects, which is also amazingly patronising and dismissive of their choices and their expertise.

When I grow up, I want to be Professor Mary Beard. (But I would probably have to grow an extra couple of brains to do it.)

Well StillLost perhaps suggest an alternative for the academics to use so that you're not offended?

How about 'conforming to femininity' rather than 'performing'?

I always read these sorts of phrases as a commentary on our society, rather than a judgement on any individual within it. And as many of us have said up-thread, a lot of us conform/perform to some degree or another in daily life because of socialisation.

X-posts sigh

you're misreading this completely. i don't think anyone here would disagree that we are all "performing" in some way

Exactly Petula. It is not us The True Feminists on FWR who are trying in any way to dictate what anyone wears. We're just aware of the historic reasons why some particular styles of dressing are seen as 'feminine' and some are not, and how most of us (NA!!) conform to that style.

how about 'conforming to femininity' rather than 'performing'?

How about the deciding to dress the way I like ,which is pretty dresses and skirts rather than dull boring jeans and work shirts which look equally dull and boring no matter who wears them, of my own free will , without being talked down to by patronising "feminists" who assume I'm doing it to please a man"

Anyway, for the love of god could someone drag this back to the wonderful Mary Beard

StillLost I and anyone else on this thread do not give one flying fuck how you dress. It is entirely up to you and all of us to wear beautiful dresses or jeans or whatever. It does not make us more or less a feminist. It does not necessarily mean we want to attract a man. It's just what we want for ourselves.

As usual, Still, you've jumped to something that no one said. No one, except you, said wearing dresses was to please a man. Dresses are socially perceived as more feminine articles of clothing than jeans and boots. Therefore wearing dresses is more in line with cultural ideas of femininity than jeans and boots.

Are you also going to disagree rudely with that?

Anyway, could you all get back to the interesting academic discussion I was reading as a lurker please?

without being talked down to by patronising "feminists" who assume I'm doing it to please a man"

That's exactly what people have been trying to explain they're not saying. At times, even on the internet, there's a case for not demanding an argument that nobody wants to have based on a misinterpretation of something someone said that wasn't even directed at you.

So "conforming to femininity" isn't the least bit loaded? Yeah right.

I find "performing" rather liberating. It's about what I do in different context, as a multi-faceted endlessly fascinating personality. We all perform on different stages at different times. Says she who has just been to the Globe theatre.

"Conforming", on the other hand, is a subset of performing. When you perform you choose to conform or not conform. When you conform you conform.

And you always complain that people are sneering and being rude to you but give no thought to your own style.

Whether or not you want to become a personality, you are one. And one I'm not going to engage with going forwards, as it's too soul destroying.

I don't really understand your problem with the language still - dresses are feminine, jeans aren't (well, some are, some aren't) - if you wear the stuff that is traditionally feminine, then you are conforming to a feminine style of dress.

Like conforming to black-tie, or uniform standard - there's no judgement, it's just a word saying that you're following some particular set of rules.

I like performing though, because I feel that's what it is when I sit down, pick an outfit, do my warpaint, and put on a presentation as 'professional woman' or 'presentable partner' rather than wearing the first thing out of the wardrobe and saying the first thing that comes into my mind.

you always get people who feel that the very act of analysis of this is a criticism of their own choices

I agree that stilllost has got the definition of performing being "putting on an act" when the academics on here don't mean it that way

It's been explained in very simple terms so that even I understand it a number if times so if stilllost isn't getting it I think it's because she doesn't want to

Agree that 'perform' doesn't just mean 'acting' in this context: it also means to actively do something but in a more neutral way, eg. like 'to perform an action'. It does have connotations of stage performance too, but it is closer to meaning that gender is performed in the sense that it is actively carried out - it is something that keeps repeatedly being done, just as I am constantly performing actions in the world, I'm also performing gender in that it's a dynamic process that I don't just do once, but keep on doing through my actions all the time.

I think this article sums up how I feel about this

That was a wonderful, incredibly brave piece, Hakluyt. I just posted about it on another thread. Of course, the very brave woman writing it has been denounced (by stavvers, to her 14 thousand followers) for "thinking like a rapist" when writing honestly about her own rape. I am just in despair. I don't know what we need to do.

I don't understand what that thinking like a rapist remark means. Personally, I thought the article was very brave and personal.

Neither do I, Apocalypse. But then I don't understand much of what stavvers tweets, except that it's disgusting and misogynistic.