you, in the corner, SIT BACK DOWN.
4 Aug 2005 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaigouI've heard this comment before, even from a few women I've known personally, and it always puts me in the strange spot of not sure whether to laugh hysterically, smack the person, or just grab the woman's purse, snatch her wallet, tear up her driver's license, any credit cards in her own name, and her voter registration card. I'm sure you've heard the comment, at some point in your life:
I hate feminists.
Maybe we're a little unclear on the concept, people. To say, as a woman, in an industrialized society, that you hate feminists is sort of like... oh, I don't know. I can't even think of an analogy asinine enough to match it, let alone with the additional hypocrisy when spoken by a woman. Three words, and you, too, can reveal yourself as an mindless twit! Come on everyone, it's easy!
Get a grip and learn a little, because those words just demonstrate your ignorance. I say ignorance, because the popular notion bandied about at times, as implied by the explanations given by the same women speaking, usually carries a certain presumption of behaviors/values. They're all wrong, dead wrong; feminism is not a mono-culture. Feminism does not automatically mean MAN-HATING. It does not automatically mean ATHEIST. It is not equivalent to LESBIAN. It does not necessarily mean PRO-ABORTION. And no, it does not even require a belief that ALL PORN IS EVUUL.
The one element that drives all mainstream feminism, really, is simply: women are equal to men. So you know what that means, class? Men can be feminists, too. I've had the good fortune to know that every single lover I've ever had is a feminist, because every single one of them looked at me, at all women, and saw an equal.
But that's okay! You can still hate feminists, but here's what I expect you to do:
1. Throw away your credit cards. Ditch the bank account. Feminists got you that right to own property and carry debts, in your own name. You hate feminism? Lose this privilege. Do your part to show just HOW MUCH you hate feminists.
2. Burn the diploma, or just as well, drop out of school. You don't need no stinkin' mathematics class, and forget about the physics, the engineering, the medical degree, linguistics, communications. If you really hate feminists, you wouldn't want a job in those traditionally male arenas, anyway.
3. If you absolutely must work, be happy with being a nurse or a grade school teacher (but never the doctor or the principal), or you could do laundry or retail. Oh, and jump for joy when you're paid .45 cents on the dollar compared to your lesser-qualified male coworkers. Because, hey, you HATE feminists. So you certainly don't want to benefit from feminism's hard work, do you?
And finally, most importantly:
4. DON'T VOTE.
Don't vote in national elections, local elections, school elections or even at your local neighborhood association. Feminists got you those rights. Feminists were slandered, shunned, jailed, fined, beaten, and slammed to the sidewalk with firehoses to get YOU the right to vote. But you can't stand feminists, so to hell with their sacrifices!
So naturally, this means you're going to HAPPILY shut the fuck up when it comes to what someone's doing in the White House, or even in your local town. Because, hey, feminists say WE ARE EQUAL and you don't like that, right? Oh, no, you'd never want to be associated with a woman who'd stand up and shake her fist at the world and say, I WILL NOT BE DISCOUNTED. I WILL NOT BE IGNORED. No, you're not like that.
And it's a damn good thing you're in the minority, you spineless bitch, because if you weren't, I and all the brilliant women I know would be without a voice to vote, without privacy to control our own bodies, without means to get skills or the jobs to employ them. We'd be disenfranchised and spend our days hoping for handouts from our husbands, or our parents. We'd be risk being thrown out if our husbands died, because that business or that house isn't in our name, so we've lost all rights if our husband didn't leave a will specifically ALLOWING us to live or use those resources. We'd be twiddling our thumbs in our parents' houses, killing time until some bozo comes along and makes a woman of us.
Well, fuck that, and fuck you.
I have no problem if you say you can't stand feminists. That's your call. I think you're an utter moron, and a disgrace not only to your gender but to the history of this nation. And that's my call. But if you're going to proudly proclaim that you dislike anyone, across the board, who simply believes that WOMEN AND MEN ARE EQUAL, then maybe you need to step back and recognize that you're living on the fat of the land, a land tilled and sowed by a shitload of women who came before you, who fought and argued and marched and petitioned and starved and wrote and organized, all to get you a bunch of rights that you now freely use with one hand while flipping all your predecessors off with the other hand.
So.
In twenty-two days as of this post, this country will pass its eighty-five anniversary of the signing of the Nineteenth Amendment.
Eighty-five years and counting.
And a lot of the final stretch came from the western states, the territories, lands filled by women who slogged across this country alongside the men. The same women who had no legal holding on their claim if their husband died en route, or if their husband died before the settlement time period (usually five years) was up. Those women had guts. No surprise they soon led the front wave of the fight, to have the same legal recognition as the men around them. Those female settlers worked just as hard as the men, AND they raised families at the same time.
If that's not equal, maybe we've got different definitions of the word, because that sure reads to me like women who'd proved that they could put in the work of any man, and deserved the pay and the recognition and the legal rights, damn it. It was a dangerous, risky thing, to emigrate into the territories, and only more so if you weren't recognized in the eyes of the law except as someone else's dependent.
But if you hate feminism, don't want/like being equal, then this is the question that pops into my head at your words:
Is that what you are: someone else's child? Someone's wife? Is that all you are? Do you honestly believe that someone who says A MAN AND A WOMAN ARE EQUAL is wrong?
Fine. So be it. But don't let me see you trying to buy a car, or a house, or even co-signing on either of the above. Don't waste time on learning anything that isn't directly related to cooking, cleaning, or raising children, because you're not good for anything else, so don't bother. And don't let me hear you even breathe a word of politics, because as a dependent you've got no place excercising that right -- and if you're giving up the right, you sure as hell don't get to complain about what the rest of us do with what you've walked away from.
And while you're at it, don't forget to get down on your knees and praise the male politicians who invade your privacy, tell you what you can do with your body, your education, your career, your children, your house, your marriage, your mind and your soul, because hey, if you're not equal, and you're just a dependent, go be HAPPY that someone is going to treat you like a child.
You can have it. I'm a feminist. I'll be over here with all the other feminists, who believe that we've made a lot of progress but we're not there yet, but it's worth it to keep fighting. On August 26th, I'll be raising a toast to my mother, my grandmothers, my aunts, my cousins, my great-grandmothers, all the women in my family and this nation who sweated and fought and marched and petitioned and made themselves into holy terrors so that some day, their daughters could vote, could own property, could be educated, could make a livable salary...
They did it so they, and the women to come, could hold their heads high and say: I WILL NOT BE DISCOUNTED, AND I WILL NOT BE IGNORED. I AM YOUR EQUAL.
So, back to you feminist-haters. If you want to get back into a shoebox where women are possessions, fine. Move to Saudi Arabia, and get the fuck out of my country. That, like a few other countries I can think of, is one place where your antiquated notions would be fully embraced, and they're welcome to you.
Eh, but never let it be said I'm a total bastard for ranting like this.
To demonstrate my magnanimity, I'll even help you pack.
I hate feminists.
Maybe we're a little unclear on the concept, people. To say, as a woman, in an industrialized society, that you hate feminists is sort of like... oh, I don't know. I can't even think of an analogy asinine enough to match it, let alone with the additional hypocrisy when spoken by a woman. Three words, and you, too, can reveal yourself as an mindless twit! Come on everyone, it's easy!
Get a grip and learn a little, because those words just demonstrate your ignorance. I say ignorance, because the popular notion bandied about at times, as implied by the explanations given by the same women speaking, usually carries a certain presumption of behaviors/values. They're all wrong, dead wrong; feminism is not a mono-culture. Feminism does not automatically mean MAN-HATING. It does not automatically mean ATHEIST. It is not equivalent to LESBIAN. It does not necessarily mean PRO-ABORTION. And no, it does not even require a belief that ALL PORN IS EVUUL.
The one element that drives all mainstream feminism, really, is simply: women are equal to men. So you know what that means, class? Men can be feminists, too. I've had the good fortune to know that every single lover I've ever had is a feminist, because every single one of them looked at me, at all women, and saw an equal.
But that's okay! You can still hate feminists, but here's what I expect you to do:
1. Throw away your credit cards. Ditch the bank account. Feminists got you that right to own property and carry debts, in your own name. You hate feminism? Lose this privilege. Do your part to show just HOW MUCH you hate feminists.
2. Burn the diploma, or just as well, drop out of school. You don't need no stinkin' mathematics class, and forget about the physics, the engineering, the medical degree, linguistics, communications. If you really hate feminists, you wouldn't want a job in those traditionally male arenas, anyway.
3. If you absolutely must work, be happy with being a nurse or a grade school teacher (but never the doctor or the principal), or you could do laundry or retail. Oh, and jump for joy when you're paid .45 cents on the dollar compared to your lesser-qualified male coworkers. Because, hey, you HATE feminists. So you certainly don't want to benefit from feminism's hard work, do you?
And finally, most importantly:
4. DON'T VOTE.
Don't vote in national elections, local elections, school elections or even at your local neighborhood association. Feminists got you those rights. Feminists were slandered, shunned, jailed, fined, beaten, and slammed to the sidewalk with firehoses to get YOU the right to vote. But you can't stand feminists, so to hell with their sacrifices!
So naturally, this means you're going to HAPPILY shut the fuck up when it comes to what someone's doing in the White House, or even in your local town. Because, hey, feminists say WE ARE EQUAL and you don't like that, right? Oh, no, you'd never want to be associated with a woman who'd stand up and shake her fist at the world and say, I WILL NOT BE DISCOUNTED. I WILL NOT BE IGNORED. No, you're not like that.
And it's a damn good thing you're in the minority, you spineless bitch, because if you weren't, I and all the brilliant women I know would be without a voice to vote, without privacy to control our own bodies, without means to get skills or the jobs to employ them. We'd be disenfranchised and spend our days hoping for handouts from our husbands, or our parents. We'd be risk being thrown out if our husbands died, because that business or that house isn't in our name, so we've lost all rights if our husband didn't leave a will specifically ALLOWING us to live or use those resources. We'd be twiddling our thumbs in our parents' houses, killing time until some bozo comes along and makes a woman of us.
Well, fuck that, and fuck you.
I have no problem if you say you can't stand feminists. That's your call. I think you're an utter moron, and a disgrace not only to your gender but to the history of this nation. And that's my call. But if you're going to proudly proclaim that you dislike anyone, across the board, who simply believes that WOMEN AND MEN ARE EQUAL, then maybe you need to step back and recognize that you're living on the fat of the land, a land tilled and sowed by a shitload of women who came before you, who fought and argued and marched and petitioned and starved and wrote and organized, all to get you a bunch of rights that you now freely use with one hand while flipping all your predecessors off with the other hand.
So.
In twenty-two days as of this post, this country will pass its eighty-five anniversary of the signing of the Nineteenth Amendment.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.In the 1770's, men could vote only if they owned property and were white (and in some states if they were a certain religion). It took sixty years for the property and religion restrictions to be abolished. It took another thirty years for non-white males to get to vote; in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment struck all restrictions on the basis of race, color, or previous servitude/slavery. And another fifty years passed before the 19th Amendment was ratified, and women could finally vote.
Eighty-five years and counting.
And a lot of the final stretch came from the western states, the territories, lands filled by women who slogged across this country alongside the men. The same women who had no legal holding on their claim if their husband died en route, or if their husband died before the settlement time period (usually five years) was up. Those women had guts. No surprise they soon led the front wave of the fight, to have the same legal recognition as the men around them. Those female settlers worked just as hard as the men, AND they raised families at the same time.
If that's not equal, maybe we've got different definitions of the word, because that sure reads to me like women who'd proved that they could put in the work of any man, and deserved the pay and the recognition and the legal rights, damn it. It was a dangerous, risky thing, to emigrate into the territories, and only more so if you weren't recognized in the eyes of the law except as someone else's dependent.
But if you hate feminism, don't want/like being equal, then this is the question that pops into my head at your words:
Is that what you are: someone else's child? Someone's wife? Is that all you are? Do you honestly believe that someone who says A MAN AND A WOMAN ARE EQUAL is wrong?
Fine. So be it. But don't let me see you trying to buy a car, or a house, or even co-signing on either of the above. Don't waste time on learning anything that isn't directly related to cooking, cleaning, or raising children, because you're not good for anything else, so don't bother. And don't let me hear you even breathe a word of politics, because as a dependent you've got no place excercising that right -- and if you're giving up the right, you sure as hell don't get to complain about what the rest of us do with what you've walked away from.
And while you're at it, don't forget to get down on your knees and praise the male politicians who invade your privacy, tell you what you can do with your body, your education, your career, your children, your house, your marriage, your mind and your soul, because hey, if you're not equal, and you're just a dependent, go be HAPPY that someone is going to treat you like a child.
You can have it. I'm a feminist. I'll be over here with all the other feminists, who believe that we've made a lot of progress but we're not there yet, but it's worth it to keep fighting. On August 26th, I'll be raising a toast to my mother, my grandmothers, my aunts, my cousins, my great-grandmothers, all the women in my family and this nation who sweated and fought and marched and petitioned and made themselves into holy terrors so that some day, their daughters could vote, could own property, could be educated, could make a livable salary...
They did it so they, and the women to come, could hold their heads high and say: I WILL NOT BE DISCOUNTED, AND I WILL NOT BE IGNORED. I AM YOUR EQUAL.
So, back to you feminist-haters. If you want to get back into a shoebox where women are possessions, fine. Move to Saudi Arabia, and get the fuck out of my country. That, like a few other countries I can think of, is one place where your antiquated notions would be fully embraced, and they're welcome to you.
Eh, but never let it be said I'm a total bastard for ranting like this.
To demonstrate my magnanimity, I'll even help you pack.
no subject
Date: 19 Dec 2010 02:09 pm (UTC)Oh, I like this game. Which ones would those be?
I can hardly wait till somebody brings up Andrea Dworkin or Valerie Solanas.