The label feminist is loaded with other beliefs, which may not be true for all people who believe in equality for all. BEFORE YOU ALL TEAR ME TO PIECES, let's see whether or not Shulie Firestone can set me straight! Thanks...
CT: You know what’s funny about what you say? You want to
liberate people—but in doing so, you’re really just restricting them to your vision of what the world should be
like and what people should want for themselves.
SF: I don’t follow your logic, kid.
CT: You say you want to eliminate gender differences? Well,
pardon me, but I am actually pretty fond of my gender… if you want me to ignore
that I’m different than my male counterparts, you’re taking away something that
is vital to my identity. And the things you say about not giving live birth…
about living in collectives instead of with your real family! The greatest
advantage I’ve had in life is the fact that I was raised well by my parents.
You can’t just decide what structure others should live in!
SF: So my opinion on how the world should be is invalid, but
now yours is right? Oh please.
CT: What?
SF: So your parents raised you well?
CT: Yeah.
SF: They didn’t favor your brothers above you? They
encouraged you to follow your ambitions in life?
CT: If anything, I was treated better than my brother, and I’m
studying to become a harpist—
SF: A harpist? Must be a hard life…
CT: Hey!
SF: Whatever. So you’ve had it pretty good, huh?
CT: I mean… I’m probably one of the luckiest people on the
planet.
SF: OH. Well then you probably have a great perspective from
which to see what is best for most of humankind. I, on the other hand, wouldn’t
have a clue? Huh?
CT: …
SF: The ones who aren’t quite so lucky—most of us—didn’t
grow up the way you did. Just because the traditional family structure worked
for you doesn’t mean it works for others. I can tell you from experience! Living
in collectives—that’s the future.
CT: Maybe I don’t have the best perspective on some of these
issues, but you once said, “I’m an intellectual—I don’t sweep floors.” If you
can’t even do the basic household tasks to be courteous to others in your
collective how could expect all us lowly, non-intellectuals to do it?
SF: Give me a break… What is this, a political ad? Do you want
to piss and moan about some stupid thing I said one time, or do you give a shit
about the fate of humankind? Look, kid. I can see you mean well. There’s a good
heart buried under all that ignorance.
CT: Oh, gee... Stop, before you make me blush.
SF: We both want the same thing don’t we? Don’t you want to
help women?
CT: Yeah, but collectives and gender elimination isn’t—
SF: Stop. You don’t know that. Obviously, the current state
of things isn’t working. We need to make some kind of change to eliminate the
problem instead of waiting for some miracle to happen! Eliminating gender will--
CT: …
SF: I won’t convince you, I can see that. Ah, well, I’m sure
you’ll pray to God that she’ll show me the light and I’ll realize how great
family and childbirth is… but until then we’re both going to have to suck it up.
CT: …
SF: Come on. Can we agree to help women… together?
CT: I don’t see why not… well I can actually but—
SF: Ha! Let’s not start again.
CT: Good plan.… Okay, it’s going to bug me if I don’t say
this— I do have to admit you’re probably right that I don’t have the best perspective to understand where less-privileged people come from. I
may have to reconsider some things...
SF: That’s not much but it’s a start.
CT: Of course.
*CT & SF shake hands*
What's that I hear? I think it's all the feminists in foundations typing comments. ;-)
Caitlin, I really enjoyed your blog post. I think it is a perfect example of winning by losing. Like you were saying in class, I don’t feel like your side was any less valid than Firestone’s. I really felt like your argument was genuine which makes it all the more awesome that you were able to win by losing to someone else. I thought you skillfully incorporated signs of a loser like silence and doubt and yet I didn’t feel like you were purposely making your side weaker. I also really liked how you made your writing informal and fun to read. It really connects Firestone’s time with ours and makes us realize that those issues are still valid today. You and Josh both establish that you are kind of between two ideas which I think really establishes that you are being honest and genuine in your argument. Both of you took the time to let readers know your specific point-of-view and I really felt like that was essential in making your argument one of intellectual curiosity and not an argument of war.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why you thought all the feminists in our class would come and type angry comments on your post. I think you hold the same issue with Firestone thar many of us do, that she is basing her entire ideology around her own personal experience, A woman shouldn't have to sacrifice natural childbirth or a traditional family life in order to be considered equal to men. I think Firestone's heart is in the right place, as she is willing to go to extremes to achieve the equality women deserve, but I also think her judgement is a bit clouded by her anger towards the men in her life.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post. I like that you talked about privilege, which is something that really warps the perspective of people (usually white, cisgender people) when it comes to issues that have varying degrees of severity.
ReplyDeletePersonally, because this is the only perspective I can offer, I think Firestone has every right to be angry and if she was satisfied with basing her ideology because of her home life (which was definitely awful, although I would say was more tame compared to gendered violence around the world, i.e. female genital mutilation, sex trafficking and child brides) then you go Firestone, use that anger.
It is, I think, not as important to understand the other person's perspective as it is to understand that they have one and that it probably is very different from your own. You did a really great job of proving this point but I'd like to take it a step further and say that while every person has a right to an opinion and an opposing opinion we should not discredit their opinion by saying that "it's only because they experienced it this way". No one can have the same experiences or even a majority of similar experiences (except for conjoined twins and often times they have as different opinions as anybody). And since gendered violence is under-reported there cannot be a base of experiences to suggest that this system is working and should not change. We just don't have the whole picture. I think we should strive to keep in mind the other person's position and where they are coming from and not dismiss their view because we may have never experienced rampant sexism and misogyny in our homes. Her voice is as valuable as the anti-feminist argument because they are built by people's experiences. Their opinions and views may change and evolve but they are built by themselves.
So who is right? Well, as if that is ever an easy answer, but maybe we should lose more often by forcing ourselves to stand in Firestone's shoes and see her world through her eyes instead of our own.