Has Germaine Greer lost the plot?

[WeLoveFlowers]

Her recent remarks that ‘unconsiderate sex’ can be worse than getting raped by a stranger are completely baffling. Has she lost the plot? I can’t get behind her on this one and wish she was no longer treated as as a spokesperson for feminism.

I find GG very useful as a determinate of whether I spend a lot of time talking feminism with someone - if they write her off without using their brains to dig into what she is saying then I’m pretty certain I’m not going to have a productive conversation.

GG is a heavy-weight intellectual and shouldn’t be underestimated. Do I always agree with her? No. But that doesn’t make her crazy, old, out-of-touch or any of the other crap recently thrown at her.

I'm not going to pretend the kind of feminists here would welcome me as one of them. I'm a women and people who know me think I have 'feminist' ideas. But that doesn't go far enough for the posters on these boards. So I'm speaking to you as someone who isn't one of you.

You don't allow things to be complicated that you want to be simple. You don't allow nuance and complexity from your adversaries. You hold a party line and allow for no grey areas, no deviation. Then Germaine makes statements you'd accept from no one else and only a true feminist would be prepared to dig into the nuance. Because that's apparently now part of feminism.

You should be prepared to challenge yourselves about this. Not in front of the public, obviously. But in some feminist enclave where it's safe to admit you're not perfect.

What on Earth are you on about youlethergo?

I've literally just said something along the lines of what you said.

Who are these people who can't stand complexity and nuance?

Not me and I'm a regular (ish) on these boards.

No, wewant, I didn't replicate what you had said. I made a different point. Which is interesting, considering you're all about nuance.

Where did I use the word replicate?

"something along the lines of what you said" does not mean replicate.

What is your point? Why are you accusing regular posters here of not understanding nuance and complexity when the FWR board is one of the only places on the internet where you'll get nuance and complexity?

Yes, she's lost the plot on this - or if she hasn't, she's not expressing her views well.

Rape is about four times more likely to result in diagnosable PTSD than combat. I.E. Being raped is four times more psychologically disturbing than going off to a war and being shot at and blown up.

The problem is the attitudes of many men and some women refuse to believe that and no amount of evidence changes their stance. So different ways have to be found for prosecuting this crime - which is where I think GG is coming from. But the way she conveys it is so victim-blaming imo.

She's very fortunate her rape was just "bad sex" and didn't result in PTSD....It irritates the fuck out of me that those who haven't experienced PTSD always minimise its impact which can be analogous to paraplegia- would they do that to road accident victims?

something along the lines of what you said" does not mean replicate.

And again you miss the point. I didn't say what you had said, yet you thought I did. I made a different point. Which, no I'm not going to make again.