[Saya]

Originally Posted by Valhalla

Wait, do we equate feminine with death, destruction, waste, etc, because of the words used to describe menstruation?

No, I mean we speak of female bodies in a way that we have for a long time. Medicine didn't invent those attitudes, its just that medicine isn't completely free from those attitudes.

The part I bolded is one of the issues I find to be the most interesting. The way the gender norms that were enforced to confine women to the motherly role ended up confining men as well. I never thought about if women 'claiming them well' was a bigger factor than the enforcement of those traits. It's something to research. Off topic but related, there's hardly any research done specifically on eating disorders in men. I assume since being focused on being thin is seen as primarily a female phenomena people don't think about men wanting to be thin. I tried to do a paper relating to it a couple years ago but couldn't find enough research.

Patriarchal women have a tendency to uphold gender essentialism (the notion that biology is destiny, if you will, we are this way because we were born with these genitals women and no one can change it.) There are anti-feminist women who claim it is our destiny and our duty to be feminine, to be heterosexual and to be mothers. And it doesn't even have to be quite that extreme or conscious, I know mothers who feel so invested in being a mother that they are overprotective of their children, even against their partners, because men naturally aren't as nurturing as women are. A lot of non-feminist friends of mine also like to say negative things about men as if all men are like it (pigs, distant, lazy, jealous, etc). Now the stay at home mom in a patriarchal society is still at a disadvantage, she has no income of her own, and it'll be harder for her to get a job if she returns to the workforce after years of absense, or if there is a divorce. Economically she depends on the good graces of her husband. If a woman chooses to be a housewife and mother because she feels obligated to and not because it was a free, conscious choice, she can become bitter against her husband without really knowing why and become controlling over children and the house.

I've realized what my biggest problem is when it comes to the course. I've always thought of myself somewhat as a feminist, or I guess a humanist. Whatever you want to call a person who'll rage at others for their sexism, and homophobia, and general close minded asshole opinions. But I'm having a hard time getting behind how the book is lifting up rocks to find misogyny when there's SO MUCH OF IT elsewhere. It's important to identify every trace of misogyny, but I find things like the wage disparity between minority women and the rest of the world more important to get informed about than the implications of calling the old tissue of uterine lining waste.

Oh, I agree, no one is going to march against medical language, and this is my huge misgiving over mainstream, white feminism (Women CEOs aren't paid as much as men CEOs! Meanwhile, Native women are missing and murdered and no one cares.) I just viewed that chapter as a thought exercise, the book gets more interesting and intense as it goes along, like I do believe its that book that talks about Our Bodies, Ourselves, which is a book all about female health and bodies written by American women, and its a good book, but it also talks about Egyptian feminists writing their own version because white Western woman language isn't appropriate for them.

I actually want to research so much of this. There was a line in the chapter about how eunuchs comprised a third gender, I had no idea about that. I think there's a reading on it coming up.

Gender fluidity and trans* issues are a beloved topic of mine, that book doesn't talk about it enough IMO. Lemme know if you want any internet resources about it!