As I mentioned in my last post Feminism - Needs a make over I have quite a few friends and acquaintances who are quite shocked to learn I'm a feminist.
Remarking with absolute horror "Oh lord, you're not one of those are you?!"
Remarking with absolute horror "Oh lord, you're not one of those are you?!"
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| Because that's what we should aspire to! |
This puzzles me as I try not to be friends with complete idiots who would have such a stereo-typical views on any other subject.... so why does this only happen when it comes to feminism?
Why do the public at large mock and trivialise being a feminist?
The thing is I'm not a militant or scary feminist either, I'm like a user friendly feminist I don't hate all men and want to chop their knobs off and can chat for hours about Joe Malone candles. But I still get the OMG! response from both women and me, which baffles me...
In following and participating in women's issues online I have been amazed by the amount of bile and vitriol flung at feminist or just generally women's way.
This may sound naive to the more experienced and I always knew that criticism of feminism and women's rights existed. However, I foolishly believed it existed in some unenlightened-by gone era and all that was left was an ageing minority who were nearing expiry. It seems they're not though, the anti-feminist army are alive and kicking with renewed venom and vigour.
There's seems to be a mixed-bag of often bright, educated, socially mobile, often liberal young men and women, who seem to feel a disproportionate amount of anger towards women and any attempts at modern female equality.
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| Neither can I! |
When I've asked male and female friends why feminism doesn't appeal to them they often say it's because feminist are 'militant' and 'angry' which is a common feminist stereotype.
However, ironically it seems to me that the mainstream anger and venom out there doesn't come from the mythical 'angry feminists' at all, it actually comes from angry non-feminists.
Follow any women issues in the mainstream press like Huff post, DM, or the Guardian (don't even look at some Reddit threads they're heinous) and notice the tone of comments that any article tackling women's issue and/or equality generate.
In particular, recent campaigns such as Lucy-Ann Holmes No More Page 3 or Laura Bates's Every Day Sexism, the Assainge 'rape' semantics or in the Anita Sarkeesin case. The writers of these article's and founders of the groups are harangued by the most awful, irrational, illogical, sexist discourse that simply makes me despair at humanity.
Laura Bates was getting hundreds of hate emails a day and even death threats for setting up the Everyday Sexism project. With comments such as "It's your choice to say No, it's my choice to Rape you"....now many will scoff and say "Oh that's just trolls take no notice" but I think that's sweeping the issue under the carpet.
The recent uproar over the sale of the vile "Keep Clam and Rape Her" and other female only hate T-shirts on Amazon is yet another example of this. Lee Chambers writes a good article about this in the Huff and again read the comments left by users actually blaming 'the feminists' for this!
A recent article in the Guardian by Kira Cochrane, covered a report looking at sexism in the media proved this further. The report named Just the Women (the name is a reference to the now famous comment from Newsnight editor Peter Rippon that the show's Jimmy Savile investigation needed more work, as the sources were "just the women") is by four women groups Eaves, End Violence Against Women (Evaw), Equality Now and Object. The report was an extensive study of female representation in the media.
The Guardian article states that;
"Some of the findings were that when reporting crimes against women, there was a tendency to trivialise the event, and to empathise with the perpetrator, "by eulogising their achievements, and highlighting their careers, their celebrity, and their supposed respectability". In coverage of female politicians, there was a tendency to mock them. And, of course, there are all those images highlighted by the Page 3 protest."
Now, if anyone ever wants evidence that the report is true and the sexism is still rife in our society, they need only read the comments left in response to the article and this is from the readership of a supposedly liberal publication.
I am constantly astonished by the hate filled comments that any article about female equality unearth.
That the Just the Women report picked up on the coverage of crimes against women and female politics is interesting as I've noticed this too. I've been observing the whole Louise Mensch episode play out in the press with a hawk eye.
Now whether you agree with her politically or not is beside the point, it seems to me Louise gets more than the average abuse directed towards MP's and I don't think it's solely down to her political opinions or competency as a MP. Again, agree with her or not she's no doubt an intelligent, impassioned debater and articulate speaker. So why before she resigned did she cause such a tsunami of hatred?? So much so her life and the lives of her children where threatened?!
Louise Mensch, didn't deserve the type and amount of abuse flung at her and threats to murder her children, seriously it's just insane. I can't think of a male MP having similar happen to them, no wonder she's quit politics for a quiet life in New York to be with her family who can blame her.
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| Louise Mensch and Frank Zimmerman who threatened to kill her children |
What I found interesting with Mensch is the affect the dynamic of her being 'attractive' created to the usual criticism of female MP's.
If one compares it to the shouting down of Claire Short when she tried to end page 3 in the 80's she was ridiculed and told that it was because she was 'unattractive' herself that she had a problem with page 3.
This attitude still holds today, I argued in favour of No More Page 3 on the Huff and got people telling me I must be 'ugly and jealous' or 'have rubbish tits' or why else would I be against page 3.It's a sexist tactic used to shut women down.
What I noticed about the Mensch case was the flip side, people would use her being attractive to try and shut her down, by commenting only on how she looked rather than the content of what she was saying. "Don't care she's hot" for example or "When she going to do a shoot in lads mags" or "I'd do her".
It seems you can't win - being attractive or deemed unattractive as a woman in politics your looks will always be used against you and it's not happening to the men. Articles about David Cameron don't have a barrage of comments about how shagable or not he is, they focus on his actions and words.
And people wonder why more women aren't attracted to a career in politics.
It's not just female politicians either it's women in the public sphere the same with Mary Beard every time she voices an opinion she gets trolled for being old and ugly. She's an academic historian for god's sake what bearing have her looks got on that fact!
It's not just female politicians either it's women in the public sphere the same with Mary Beard every time she voices an opinion she gets trolled for being old and ugly. She's an academic historian for god's sake what bearing have her looks got on that fact!
Men are noticing and weighing in on this subject to, thank goodness and making efforts to support feminist campaigns.
"For instance, on crazy political message board FreeRepublic.com, posters referred to the girl in the above-referenced story (Sandra Fluke) as a "Nasty, disease-ridden plodding uterus, an utter skank crack-ho filthy whore, a prostitute slutbag juice-receptacle" and a "Sperm-burpin' gutter slut," and said she "... is so encrusted and used, that I had to throw out my flat-panel TV because her appearance on my TV infected it with AIDS, gonorrhea and syphilis." There are many, many more worse comments collected here and here and here.
Now go to the front page of any mostly male discussion site like Reddit.com and see how many inches you can browse before finding several thousand men bemoaning how all women are gold-digging whores (7,500 upvotes) and how crazy and irrational women are (9,659 upvotes) and how horrible and gross and fat women are (4,000 upvotes). Or browse the "Men's Rights" section and see weird fantasies about alpha males defeating all the hot women who try to control them with their vaginas. "I was even more shocked to find a book entitled Feminsim: The Ugly Truth by some delusional hack named Mike Buchanan, in Amazon. Just look at the cover and he claims 'the Feminists' demonise men?!
I've not linked to it directly because I don't want improve it's search results on Google.
I can't believe Barnes & Noble would published it. Again it's not the criticism of feminism that bothers me as there are many valid academic books genuinely challenging feminism, but this is just a hate manual.
The book claims it "provides long-awaited answers to over 50 of the most challenging questions in the modern era including:
2. What is feminism in the modern era?
3. How do radical feminists view the world?
4. Why do men have nipples?
5. Why are fat women fat?
6. Are feminists less intelligent than normal women?
7. Are feminists less attractive than normal women?
8. Do feminists suffer more than normal women with PPS (Permanent Premenstrual Syndrome)?
9. Who - or what - are manginas?
10. Why do feminists deny the different natures of men and women?
11. Why must taxpayers stop financing Women's Studies and Gender Studies courses?
12. What are the big fat feminist fantasies, lies, delusions and myths? "
Seriously, his critique of feminism and what he sates are 'the most challenging questions in the modern era' include - Why are fat women fat? Are feminists less intelligent than normal women? Are feminists less attractive than normal women? Do feminist have worst periods?!!!!!!!!
Now just imagine for a second if a woman had written a book like that about men, the angry anti-feminist army would form a twitter mob and lynch her. And when I complain about this book I'm sure I'll be told I have 'no sense of humour.'
What totally scares the shit out of me is the thought that these people are not some niche group of nutters, trolls, strangers and people we don't know. They are everywhere and could well be our family, friends, colleagues and peers, who are secretly harbouring all this closet hatred against feminists and women.
And here I am trying to break stereotypes and aiming to provide a moderate and more friendly face to feminism, afraid of being thought of as an 'angry feminist' in case people think I'm militant!
When such prolific mainstream misogyny is going on daily it actually makes me want to become angry and militant...
*matches off to shave head and dig out the Doc martins*.
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