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Monday, June 10, 2013

Feminism's Divisions

Just a quick thought. I was posed an interesting question recently...do I disagree with any parts of feminism?

The reason I find this so interesting is because feminism is so far from unified, that it's hard to say what I agree/disagree with something that has no defined rules, shape, or scope. It much more comes down to: do I disagree with individual feminists or feminist theories, to which the answer is unequivocally YES.

Specifically, I disagree with any feminist who thinks that gender issues are THE top priority of social justice movements and those who think you can separate out other intersecting privileges like race, trans* identity, sexuality, poverty, etc. I disagree when white feminists think that their perspective is the one true feminist perspective and silence women of color and make sweeping "all women statements." I disagree with feminists who are anti-choice. I disagree with feminists who are anti-pornography/anti-sex work and/or shame sexuality. I disagree with male identified feminists who dominate conversations and bulldoze over female perspectives. I disagree with feminists who frame arguments about "having it all" while ignoring that this discussion is only relevant to people with certain economic status. I disagree with feminists think that being a woman means having a vagina. I disagree with feminists who think that all people experience body shaming in the same way.

But I don't say that I disagree with anything of feminism itself, because feminism is what each individual feminist makes of it. I can't and won't tell any of the above people that they cannot identify as feminist (because what dangerous territory that is) but I will tell them that I find their views flawed.

That has always made being a part of this movement tricky. It does align me with people who don't share my values, but all I can do is explain where I'm coming from and stand by those views.

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