Although this was written tongue firmly in cheek, but gleefully labeling yourself a "bad feminist " because you indulge in certain problematic behaviors -- without really examining why they're considered problematic -- annoys me to no end. But using feminism as something to lord over other women annoys me too.
I do believe in feminism as an ideology, but it's impossible to be ideologically perfect. Does that mean we're all bad feminists? I don't know. I'm not sure I even know what that word means anymore. Supporting anti-choice legislation is bad for women, but the kind of cheeky "I shave my legs and wear makeup" gender essentialism only makes one a bad feminist if you think those things are of lesser value than watching football and playing video games.
Lately I just feel like I'm too old for the brand of feminism advertised by the ladyblogs. I've said this before, but that there now seems to be two different camps at war with each other -- liberal, sex-pozzie feminists, and their older, more radical counterparts -- makes me want to eschew the label altogether The younger, progressive feminists are incapable of looking at their actions within a larger social context, and the older radfems are out-of-touch and inherently transphobic? Can I get some nuance here?
Not only is it impossible to be ideologically perfect, ideologies in and of themselves are rife with imperfection (in spite of their name). I get irritated when people say that feminism has failed (or that it has suceeded, so yay no sexism) because it's like "Hey! Work in Progress!"
ReplyDeleteI too would like to see a happy medium between the "You have no agency and any desire to partake in 'traditionally' feminine pursuits are a result of being brainwashed by the patriarchy" crowd and the "I CHOOSE MY CHOICE" crowd.
Yeah, you can choose your choice, but your choices are informed to some extent by society, and no one is immune to this. However, we can all practice some agency by being aware of how our decisions *may* be influenced by outside factors.
In other news, that article you linked to really bugged me, in many ways.
I feel exactly the same at the moment. :(
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