Context? Because I read this post going "Yeah, yeah, hells yeah, yeah..." and then thinking "Wait, what the fuck?" I love the ideas, but pragmatically, I wonder how it works in application.
I think it's theoretically a great idea to try to root out our own cultural brainwashing and correct our behavior as much as possible. I just don't think this "actual empowerment" exists. The shit is so pervasive that I don't think anyone actually ever gets free of it, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect anyone to. To TRY to, yes.
But to me, that means a lot of thinking, and a lot of deep questioning of one's own motivations, and doing so Constantly. But wanting or needing something for a reason you know is bad doesn't stop you from wanting or needing it. It just makes you feel bad for wanting or needing it. And nobody ever wants something for Just One reason. It's messy and unavoidable that some will be bad reasons and some will be good ones and that the balance struck between resisting cultural conditioning and doing what one feels one must do is going to be deeply personal and unfathomable to anyone else.
So while I'm never going to claim that anything is a feminist act solely on the basis that it is being done by a female, I'm also not going to condemn every act that a woman does that happens to coincide with cultural conditioning. Especially since women are caught in so damn many double-binds. So no, I'm not going to condemn women for taking pole dancing classes or taking up quilting or being sexually submissive. Because sexist cultural conditioning isn't a simple proposition only pulling us in one direction that we can easily pull back against. It's us swimming in the soup. Sometimes we need to push back in one direction, and sometimes we need to push back in another.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2010-08-25 06:23 pm (UTC)I think it's theoretically a great idea to try to root out our own cultural brainwashing and correct our behavior as much as possible. I just don't think this "actual empowerment" exists. The shit is so pervasive that I don't think anyone actually ever gets free of it, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect anyone to. To TRY to, yes.
But to me, that means a lot of thinking, and a lot of deep questioning of one's own motivations, and doing so Constantly. But wanting or needing something for a reason you know is bad doesn't stop you from wanting or needing it. It just makes you feel bad for wanting or needing it. And nobody ever wants something for Just One reason. It's messy and unavoidable that some will be bad reasons and some will be good ones and that the balance struck between resisting cultural conditioning and doing what one feels one must do is going to be deeply personal and unfathomable to anyone else.
So while I'm never going to claim that anything is a feminist act solely on the basis that it is being done by a female, I'm also not going to condemn every act that a woman does that happens to coincide with cultural conditioning. Especially since women are caught in so damn many double-binds. So no, I'm not going to condemn women for taking pole dancing classes or taking up quilting or being sexually submissive. Because sexist cultural conditioning isn't a simple proposition only pulling us in one direction that we can easily pull back against. It's us swimming in the soup. Sometimes we need to push back in one direction, and sometimes we need to push back in another.