Flyboy
Oh, Christ... dizfactor, I would ask that you extend Olulabelle the benefit of the doubt and assume that she is saying that there are young women who think that sending in photos of their bodies to magazines published for a heterosexual male audience is the only way to gain recognition for themselves. I do not think it is any more foolish to assume that not all of the women who do this are doing it in a way that is healthy or beneficial to them than it is to assume that all of them are - quite the contrary given that we live in a patriachal society and that not all of the forms that patriarchy takes are puritanical. I do not think it is a huge leap to think that this is the case, or that this is bad.
Of course not, but lots of people do lots of things that aren’t healthy for them, but “bad” does not equal “actionable,” nor does it mean “worse than the alternative.” We cannot fix everything, and in many cases where we attempt to fix things the proposed cure is worse than the disease. We cannot generally protect people from their own decisions, nor should we generally try.
Moreover, you’ve got a very narrow focus on a few particular aspects of a broader trend and you’re treating it as something which can be dealt with in isolation, which I think is a mistaken notion. The behavior you’re talking about is part of a broader trend towards a wider range of permissible sexual expression, wider access to information about human sexuality, the gradual replacement of mass culture with niche culture, and a general increase in the degree of socially-acceptable personal openness. The fact that it is increasingly acceptable in certain contexts for, say, young women to display naked photos of themselves, is directly related to the fact that it is also increasingly acceptable in certain contexts to be openly queer or transgendered, or that various sexual fetishes are increasingly destigmatized.
Overall, an increasingly permissive atmosphere is generally a net benefit for marginalized groups, and an increasingly repressive atmosphere generally clamps down on the most marginalized groups first and hardest. Pushing for increasing pressure (legal, social, or otherwise) to restrict sexual displays of one kind inevitably ends up causing pressure on sexual displays of every other kind outside of a very narrow range. It’s the height of egotistical folly to suggest that the ideological background makes any sort of difference whatsoever when the rubber meets the road – the net take-home on telling someone she should put on more clothes is the same whether you’re doing it for Jesus or in pursuit of gender equality, which is why the Dworkins of the world play right into the hands of the Falwells.
Also, to be totally blunt, you do not attract many allies when you look like a killjoy. Everyone’s always complaining about how the word “feminist” has become a dirty word to so many young women, and I am not about to deny the massive, organized smear campaign around that word, but it’s worth reflecting on the fact that many of the same people doing the complaining are busy telling young women they “shouldn’t” enjoy doing a lot of things they enjoy. Berate an intelligent young college student who’s having fun showing people pictures of her tits for undermining the cause, and you have lost someone who should be an ally, probably forever. A basic fact that is beyond our ability to change is the simple fact that we live in a consumerist society, and in a consumerist society you never ask someone to choose between joining you and having fun, because you will lose, every time. You need to sell to your target audience, not demand that the target audience change its behavior to suit your political beliefs. You need allies more than your potential allies believe themselves to need you. If you cannot learn to play by those rules, you will not make any sort of progress on any front.
I also do not think that it is a huge leap to think that the chances of this happening are not helped by the current social and cultural climate in which we live, or that we can try to influence that climate if we so choose - in that sense I think it can be said that "we allow" this to happen.
Pardon me for saying so, but I think you’re massively overemphasizing individual or even collective action in terms of its ability to directly influence society as a whole through conscious action. The amount of conscious influence any group of individuals can have on any society, but especially one as vast and diverse as the one we inhabit, is negligible at best.
Of course, this begs the question of why I’m so irritated by Olulabelle’s post when I don’t actually have any confidence in anyone’s ability to actually affect the sorts of changes being discussed. It’s mostly because it’s incredibly frustrating to see potential allies put so much thought and effort and outrage put into a course of action which is at best useless, and at worst counterproductive, when the same energy could be put into doing something that’s actually useful.
It’s much easier (read: it’s actually possible) to have a lot of influence on the small scale, creating niche environments where the prevailing norms are a lot closer to your ideals than perhaps they are in the broader society, and then try to lure people inside. You can’t really change existing society, but you can work on building a more attractive alternative and selling it to people, possibly by tailoring it to meet the same needs people feel are being fulfilled by the things you’d like to change. In other words, it’s worse than pointless on so many levels to shake your fist at the things you don’t like, when you could be building something you do like instead. I mean, you had a club night for a while – create the atmosphere you do want in there and try to get other people to share your vision, rather than crapping on something they’re enjoying, whether you feel they “should” be enjoying it or not.
I don't think there's anything necessarily restrictive about wanting to change that climate,
I do, insofar as we’re talking about a climate where all parties are acting under conditions of consent. If you don’t like the way things work in certain corners of the culture, work on carving out a niche for yourself and like-minded people who have similar preferences, and leave others to follow their own preferences. Encouraging an atmosphere where everyone’s free to act according to their preference insofar as it’s not directly, tangibly causing injury or comparable harm to anyone without hir consent, even if you vehemently disagree with those preferences, will do more good in the long run than trying to push your preferences on other people.
Haus
Hush up, greyface! The right of women to show me asscrack is the basic right of feminism. Without that, there is nothing.
Do you have anything to say here, Haus, or are you just going to snark? |
