Am I still materialist if the proceeds of this purchase
helped marine life? Yes. I am.
Too often this space is used to write masturbatory music criticism and chicken soup for the geek soul. This happens because it's fun to do that. This post will probably even include a little of both.
But let's get real, fam.
RADICAL
The following sort of thinking was probably bound to happen after talking about all the wrongs in the world over dinner and then staying in to read for History Of Feminist Theory instead of partying. I'm just feeling totally helpless and totally empowered at the same time.
After a positively-charged and exciting class discussion (led by none other than myself and my group) about the politics of experience, feminism to me feels more critical than ever. So I still can't understand why my friends widely champion and embrace vegetarian and green lifestyles, but mostly dismiss (my) feminism. It's not as hurtful as it is perplexing. I'm no stranger to having my identities challenged - I tend to get off on it - and getting behind feminism is no burden. It's a joy.
Blame it on my ego. After proudly brandishing both Catholicism and flaming geekiness through high school, I'm perhaps well-readied to defend feminism. Then again, I've kept it to myself more than I'd like. Wary of being obnoxiously vocal about or even defined by views I don't fully understand, I tend not to bring up the subject. Even so, it seems impossible for me to unlearn the humbling realities of patriarchal sexist oppression in contemporary society, or to remain silent about them. If I hear you say something "problematic," you'll probably hear me say something "obnoxious."
Self-righteous, right? I'm in that kind of mood. Really though, I'm not that hard to eat lunch with.
What do I do?
Trending right now on Twitter is #notetofemales. Seriously, fam? This is what I'm talking about (by the way, the #tagged tweets are decidedly not feminist).
In our world of so-called New Media, it seems both all-too-possible and entirely impossible to subvert heteronormativity. What is one voice shouting in a void against a million voices shouting in a void? None of it is really audible anyway, right?
I was discussing the feasibility of campus activism with a good friend (set up a table outside Ballantine? distribute t-shirts? viral pamphleting?), and got pretty bummed out. Even if I biked around in a dress while shouting cryptic revolutionary speech, I don't think I'd make it to the front page of the student newspaper. I just want to spread the word. Or make G101 required for graduation. The idea of a feminist political coalition seems so crucial, and yet I can't realistically envision something like that emerging on our campus. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places.
This isn't 21st-Century Kid as apathetic, it's 21st-Century Kid as down and out.
Even so, I think there's hope (for me: because I'm a selfish blogger).
A Dream
I just thought about a future for myself as a high school English teacher (that all-powerful of positions) who holds Gender Studies Club every Wednesday after school. Or infuses all sorts of subliminal and subversive feminist theory into his syllabus. Or empowers the oppressed voices in his classroom. Just thinking about it is putting a smile on my face. In fact, it's the first time in a while that I've felt at all excited about my seemingly inevitable career as an educator.
I can create a space for constructive (and deconstructive) discussion. A real community! A classroom as great as this blog! O gosh.
What's your dream?
Barnooks
I didn't want to do this here, but it's really hard for me not to mention how totally head-over-heels in love I am with Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's a borderline obsession at this point. How had I not heard about it until a month ago?
It's a cartoon about big robots and busty babes. Sounds pretty juvenile and pretty problematic. But the sort of ridiculous balance it strikes between awkward sexual humor and incredible characterization is a part of the show's charm. And obviously, NGE is about much, much more than that. The show has the wisdom and confidence to balance shameless spectacle with an existential narrative. I've never seen anything quite like it. I've never seen a show so willing to empower its female characters and then reduce them to sexual objects. I've never seen a show so willing to aestheticize violence and then examine the psychological trauma behind the destruction. I've never seen a show so able to alter its tone and structure and focus without compromising its thematic and narrative strength. It's simply revelatory.
Even the dang re-cap episode paused for an expressionist poem and then revealed an entirely new level of the plot. It's Perfect.
Well. Maybe it's time to go to bed.
Conclusions
Staying in on a Friday night isn't the worst thing that's happened to me. In fact, it's accounted for a 180 in my mood (even if the initial 180 was caused by staying in on a Friday). Anyway, March wasn't a big blogging month for #METASWAG, and I plan on making up for it in April. I have a lot of concerts, a lot of records, a lot of stresses, and a lot of events to ramble on about.
Take your time and do whatever you want, fam.
This song got me through a hellish week.
As long as the core of your "radical feminist views" are based on having respect and compassion for other people, I have no issues with you. I would however like to note that "radical" can be connotative of both "deviating by extremes" and "fundamental, existing inherently."
ReplyDelete^I think this comment is hella interesting in that "radical" feminism as most contemporary Gender Studies university classes would teach it has to do with deconstructing naturalized ideas of fundamentals, universals, and essentialisms. But, not feminist theorists would agree, of course. Not tryna homogenize shit :7)
ReplyDeleteI like waffelhaus's reminder that what is radical, or deviating by extremes, is totally relative and transient. And I like the idea of a Metaswag Classroom with a goal of perpetuating this notion. And maybe some class pets (axolotls?).
In other gender news, Alicia says she would buy a lady-version of the AnCo shoes.
Remember a couple of years ago in Mrs. Shelton's class when I wrote that awful speech about mothers' rights? Well, ever since I tasted my first spoonful of that bitter patriarchal mess, I've been itching to get involved in some real activism instead of just talking about how much it pisses me off. I wanted to do something at IU but my fellow females were uninterested in their gendered futures and the guys could care less... Talk about feeling hopeless. But I'm dying to do something at IU. So when you set up that table outside of Ballantine, let me know.
ReplyDeleteEmily, I'm trying to organize a feminist activist group on campus with some classmates. I will let you know once things get rolling.
ReplyDeletePatrick, I must admit that I take issue with your statement that "[your] friends widely champion and embrace vegetarian and green lifestyles, but mostly dismiss (my) feminism." I take issue with this for two reasons, the first being rather basic. I don't know all of your friends, but of those I know, who of them "champions" veganism and sustainable living besides me? If anything, I feel somewhat like you, that the core philosophy that drives my very being is simply tolerated. Veganism and deep ecology is just as radical in nature as your feminism. Just as radical feminism challenges one to deconstruct perceptions of gender and sexuality, veganism and deep ecology challenge one to deconstruct what it means to be an eater, a consumer, a producer; basically, what it means to be a living organism that happens to have a developed brain. So, we're kind of in the same boat, you and I.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, (correct me if I'm wrong), but have I ever dismissed your radical feminism? Have you ever spoken to me about it directly? I feel like I've only ever heard about it from other people who had read your blog or something. And though it may seem that I dislike any conversation that deals with philosophical or ideological issues ... well, I don't. I just steer clear of those who are douchers and don't actually want to have a conversation. It's always necessary to consistently challenge and question what you believe with what may seem like radical, crazy arguments and counter-arguments. I can seem challenging, but that's because I like to enter into actual conversations with people about these issues, not get lectured.
Also, there are a ton of connections between ecology and feminism, again, questioning what it means to be a human being.