Obsession with transwomen fetishises sex difference

[spannablue]

Just read on Twitter:

'The problem with patriarchy is not due to men having penises, it's due to the lie that this random feature of birth confers & signifies rank, power & domination. We must not collude in that by fetishising sex difference & aggrandizing genitals that happen to be on the outside.'

What do you think?

I'm forced to conclude that they're actively trying to undermine feminism, that being the more generous interpretation of the whole "sex positive" movement.

What has me in despair, though, is that this seems now to be mainstream feminism in academia.

I also have ungenerous thoughts about geeky people overvaluing sexual attention because of unfortunate "nobody pays any attention to me" experiences as teenagers who may have taken a rather, to use a word they're fond of, unexamined response to that into their adult professional lives.

Those three vampires obviously took Foucault's advice of 'womaning right', while Mina is stuck in Simone de Beauvoirs flawed vision of a liberated woman, a vision that Foucault, thankfully, fixed.

Absolutely.

I mean, the me who was the age I was when the film came out would have bitten Keanu too, but that was because I was randy, not because I was "liberated".

why is liberation always around sex?

why can't I be liberated by being unafraid to state my opinions even if they go against the prevailing wisdom?

or by not shaving my legs and dialing down my beauty regime (really, try it, you get a lot of time back)?

Or by being unafraid to unequivocally defend my boundaries, because they're mine?

these seem to me to be much more personally valuable ways of being liberated than by sitting in a plastic chair with my tits out (looking at you Munroe).

Eat Peanuts

we shouldn't totalise meaning by refusing to acknowledge difference

I can see the argument you are making. However Foucault said we shouldn't attach ourselves to any discourse, including his. So we shouldn't refuse to acknowledge difference, nor should we always acknowledge difference. We should recognise the technologies of power and play the game strategically- so I come back to Butler's strategic categorisation.

I don't think there is a specific TRA manifesto, and if there was, I don't sign up to manifestos. Think of the flaws in all three major party manifestos- it's impossible to sign up to any of them really. We end up voting for best fit. So in this case, I am trying to take a nuanced, thoughtful approach which neither disadvantages women nor disadvantages trans people.

Materialist

what exactly has postmodernism accomplished, politically speaking?

Postmodernism’s exposes the hidden values and assumptions underlying much political thought. Because of this it be used as a methodology for interrogating 'taken as read', 'status quo', 'accepted wisdom' values and assumptions. Because of this, it has value both to critical analysts and to members of disempowered social groups.

Any gain made by challenging women's 'natural' 'need' or 'desire' to stay at home popping out babies is a win underpinned by postmodernism's ability to question accepted wisdom, often couched in biology.

And can I just say I really appreciate both of your openness to discussion. We can disagree and still converse.

I can see the argument you are making. However Foucault said we shouldn't attach ourselves to any discourse, including his. So we shouldn't refuse to acknowledge difference, nor should we always acknowledge difference. We should recognise the technologies of power and play the game strategically...

To what end is the game played?

Any gain made by challenging women's 'natural' 'need' or 'desire' to stay at home popping out babies is a win underpinned by postmodernism's ability to question accepted wisdom, often couched in biology.

To reiterate it, this was questioned long before Postmodernism.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Presumably postmodernism would put the tomato in the fruit salad and call everyone philistines for not enjoying it

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit And that pineapples don't grow on trees .

Postmodernism’s exposes the hidden values and assumptions underlying much political thought. Because of this it be used as a methodology for interrogating 'taken as read', 'status quo', 'accepted wisdom' values and assumptions. Because of this, it has value both to critical analysts and to members of disempowered social groups

What fucks me off about this is that I remember a time before postmodernism when second wave feminism and 'the left' did this anyway. Now we all have to pretend that we walked in some kind of blinded conservative functionalist lock-step before the French waved their magic wands. Bollox.

Feminists like Firesmith and de Beauvoir are key contributors to the roots of postmodernism. I've never said any different.

The consciousness/unconscious idea is part of it, yes (see The Matrix), but postmodernism is a group of ideas, not just one idea

I remember too.

Same here.

Firestone

And I'm really sorry but I simply don't get the connection between Shulamith Firestone and PM! Really!

I know I am repeating myself, I know, but the only contribution of postmodernism that I can think of is taking up the idea of women's liberation and trying to expand it along the line of 'well, if not even the legal subjugation of women is written in stone, then the legal protection of children from being fucked by adults should also be up for grabs.'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Vindication_of_the_Rights_of_Woman

Published in 1792.

And Nietzsche. God is dead and truth is a woman remember? And that has something to do with lies running round the discworld before truth has got her boots on, but I forget what.

OP is reminding me of the American fundamentalists whose answer to every question is "God did it", except in her case it's "Foucault did it".

All this tooling about is in defence of a legal concept that lets Karen White have access to prey and gives away the consent of every single women and girl in the country because there are nice men spanna doesn't want to upset.

The problem with spannas is they don't realise is that all the words they speak or write don't ever count as my consent. They never will. You can't transfer my consent to you.

Indeed, "I don't really do materialism" is an excellent way of dodging responsibility for the more horrifying results of the ideology some people support.