Quote:
Originally Posted by Saya
Specific examples? I like that they're no bullshit about transphobia and queerphobia and appropriation. They're just as bad as sexism if not worse.
Even if they're not totally successful, I like that they take femininity, blur any definition of it so its very personal and subjective, and turn it against the patriarchy. What liberal feminism fails to do is reclaim lets say housewife/motherhood in any subversive way when you're in a hetero marriage, when you're white, when there's no push for universal childcare, there's no discussion at all on who stays home, and you're entirely at the financial mercy of your spouse. Maybe a fuckyeahsubversivehousewives is possible, I just haven't seen an example yet (in a private white heterosexual couple way). it assumes the institution of motherhood is completely fine the way it is as long as you choose it freely.
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I know it got lost in my confusing ranting before but I did really like the creative femininity-questioning. I was lamenting that the
often very well intentioned but often inevitably failing projects undertaken by liberal feminists often fail. But you were right before. Who cares if it fails? People are finding it cathartic and that's what a lot of women need right now.
Sorry to veer off topic but I really want to talk to someone about some issues surrounding transphobia. What do you think about the inclusion/exclusion of transwomen in women-born-women spaces (shelters, festivals, pharmacies)?
I fully recognise that exclusion is a powerful tool to oppress. Many underclasses have experienced exclusion from spaces that are traditionally white-male only. But the rejection of one underclass from another
underclass's space is not usually considered an oppressive action (eg. Straight people from mardi gras parades, white people from black rights meetings, both exclusions I agree with wholeheartedly).
Questions like the ones I've listed have seen many radical feminists labeled transphobic by trans-activists recently and I was frightened at how silencing that seemed. When women stop being able to discuss what is or is not misogyny and where women born women are different from trans women then feminism is not a movement that allows women to express themselves.
I guess I'm just a little shocked at how the "transphobic" label seems to be being slung at a lot of women at the moment. Especially when trans people experience massive prejudice at the hands of white men (who are far more deserving of the label) every day.
As a side note, I hope you don't think that I'm for or against the inclusion/exclusion of trans women in woman born woman spaces by what I've said here. Honestly, I have a lot more research to do before I know what I think.