[quote OvaHere]This is an older article but offers up some background on this high profile, cis-gender, feminist lady.
thewalrus.ca/why-i-dont-read-rebecca-solnit/[/quote]
On Rebecca Solnit
That identity also stems from the way social media has transformed the feminist movement, reducing a complex body of work to a series of memes, hashtags, and Instagrammable pics. There is now a certain type of female solidarity—call it “pop feminism”—that addresses only topics we can safely agree on. Gendered violence is typically bad. Marriage equality, on the other hand, is good. Sexual assault: bad. Property rights for all: good. In this way, pop feminism taps into a largely acknowledged collective experience online (#EverydaySexism, #RapeCultureIsWhen, #WhyIStayed). It recognizes that awful things happen to women and contends that they shouldn’t. It believes in empowerment and tells women that “breaking the silence” will effect large-scale change. Pop feminism is the thinking behind certain publications asking women to “share” in the comments section or “contribute to the conversation,” without ever explaining what that conversation will actually produce once it’s over. It makes feminism more accessible than ever, while simultaneously trivializing the cause
On a gifted feminist writer eg Jia Tolentino
In the hands of a gifted feminist writer, however, the essay form can force readers to question their assumptions and also their lives. Consequently, such writing doesn’t often win the easy praise that Solnit’s work does. Take, for example, Jia Tolentino’s 2016 piece for Jezebel about Thomas Sayers Ellis. Last year, Ellis, a poet and a visiting professor at the Iowa Writing Workshop, was caught up in a series of grievances regarding his violent, abusive treatment of women, some of whom were his students. Alleged victims posted anonymously on the VIDA: Women in Literary Arts website, accusing him of various kinds of misconduct. Disgraced, Ellis left his teaching position—one of the most prominent examples of what Tolentino calls the takedown of an “important, inappropriate literary man.”
In her essay, Tolentino explores the various sides of the Sayers Ellis controversy—legal, social, personal, emotional. She speaks to witnesses and to victims, and while she believes them, she doesn’t stop there. “Believing a woman, anyway,” she writes, “isn’t the same as supporting her.”
Tolentino’s essay raised the level of conversation around sexual assault by asking uncomfortable questions that deserve answers.
Ouch!
Ooh this is great. Someone tweet it at Emma.
I’d say Emma is a pop feminist, and I’d guess she won’t read beyond a 140 characters.