The nice thing about lesbian separatist radical feminism is that it requires nothing from me.

[xiphias]

So, a bunch of people on my friends list have been linking to a post that someone wrote last year about the misogyny in Firefly/Serenity. And, y'know, there's actually a lot of interesting stuff you can do with that, but this post was written from a radical feminist point of view, by a lesbian separatist.

And I was just thinking about how EASY radfem is for me to deal with.

See, I'm a man. And so, by lesbian separatist radical feminist logic, I can never understand a woman's point of view. And THAT means that I have no obligation to try.

Now, the way I was raised, I can look at how society is set up, I can see in what ways the deck is stacked to give men more power for being men, I can see how society promotes some sorts of interactions, and values some types of personality traits more than others. In the forms of feminism in which I was raised, I can look at those things, and see if I can find ways to work around them, to change how I think about them, to work to change society to be more equatable, to allow people to be who they are, to respect the contributions of all sorts of people, to value cooperative and consensus-building interactions . . .

But, from a radical feminist point of view, the differences are not cultural, they're inherent, and, as a man, no matter what I do, I won't change.

And that's so cool. That lets me entirely off the hook. By the feminism with which I was raised, I have a responsibility to work toward a more fair and more just world. But by lesbian separatist radical feminism, I can do whatever I want, because, as I have no ability to be different than I am, I have no responsibility to try.

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Hier, bitte

[mr-clarinet.livejournal.com]

aaaahahahahgxzhgfhjgfaj that article is the funniest thing I've read all week.

i also kind of get a kick out of the idea that there can be multiple strands of lesbian separatist radical feminism. at this rate, we'll have a different kind of feminism for every person that exists...

[ailbhe]

"at this rate, we'll have a different kind of feminism for every person that exists..."

I think that's a pretty good idea, actually.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

I think we already do, actually.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I don't know that it's even an idea. I think that's just the way it is.

[ailbhe]

Western Civilisation.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Civilization.

[ailbhe]

Oh, I'm sure there's some *somewhere*.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I've encountered isolated pockets of it. Even isolated pockets of Western Civilization.

[(Anonymous)]

What, just one per person? Sounds oppressive to me. Better for everyone to have five or six strands of their own.

[sethg]

I have too much respect for radical feminism, even the separatist varieties of it, to consider that a fair representative of radical feminist analysis.

For an antidote, I recommend Wanderground.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Good Lord.

Particularly the concept of all heterosexual sex is rape. Yeesh.

And as far as I can tell, the author would only have been happy had Zoe been captain. Sheesh.

[mightydoll.livejournal.com]

silly, happy women don't exist, they CAN'T exist. The concept is merely a construction of the partriarchy designed to promote complacency in women.

Remember: If you are woman, your life is nothing but the misery of being considered second class.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

i'm still boggling. Though there've been some interesting responses in the journal over there.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

I did love this exchange, though.

[mightydoll.livejournal.com]

Well then, she should write it.

And sell it. :)

[mightydoll.livejournal.com]

which incidentally, is a lot more productive than bitching on the internets. ;)