Thorns

It's very good, and very readable too, I've had real trouble concentrating on non fiction (or anything much) for the last few years but found this fairly easy to get into.

Russ makes SOME attempt at intersectionality, but there are some glaring omissions. She's also almost entirely focussed on American/British English Literature, apart from one or two examples. But regardless I think the silencing techniques she talks about are pretty universal and this book would be useful to anyone thinking about how marginalised group voices are suppressed.

The cover contains a summary of her argument:

“She didn’t write it. But if it’s clear she did the deed… She wrote it, bit she shouldn’t have. (It’s political, sexual, masculine, feminist.) She wrote it, but look what she wrote about. (The bedroom, the kitchen, her family. Other women!) She wrote it, but she wrote only one of it. (“Jane Eyre. Poor dear. That’s all she ever…”) She wrote it, but she isn’t really an artist, and it isn’t really art. (It’s a thriller, a romance, a children’s book. It’s sci fi!) She wrote it, but she had help. (Robert Browning. Branwell Brontë. Her own “masculine side”.) She wrote it, but she’s an anomaly. (Woolf. With Leonard’s help…) She wrote it BUT…”

( She wrote it BUT… )

Screw you, Amanda Palmer

That is all.

I had a bit of an epiphany last night. I've seen a lot of complaints from WOC, disabled people etc about being treated as "add ons" to feminism, which has as a default the needs and experiences of white middle class western women. I'm sympathetic to these claims but always felt I was missing something.
( And then I got it. At least a bit )

This is a very pondery post, I tried writing something considered for January Down Under Feminists Carnival but got this instead. Disclaimer 3b applies, and it's written in the context of my other posts about feminism and gender. Also please keep in mind that the point of this post is "How to make feminism better" not "How does feminism suck". There are LOTS of places on the internet where non-feminists rant about how much feminists suck, but not so many where feminists get together and constructively criticise the movement, please don't derail the conversation.

Something I've been pondering for a while is my uncomfortableness with the more extreme anti-man edges of feminism. The problem with of course is that 99.9% of people who complain about feminism being "anti-man" actually mean "pro-equality": consciously or unconsciously they think men deserve more than women (more power, more authority, more leeway etc) and so any time someone challenges that it feels "unfair". See also Q: Since When Is Being Criticized Like Having Your Limbs Blown Off by a Landmine? A: Since That Criticism Came from Someone with Less Privilege Than You. And let me make it clear: I'm not talking about the particular goals etc a feminist might be fighting for, or the "tone" with which she pursues them, or a justifiable anger and shirtiness, I'm talking about a completely dismissive and unsympathetic attitude towards all men under all circumstances on principle for being men(*). This attitude can extend to any woman (or person of more complicated gender) who is seen as being too much in cahoots with the patriarchy. Also this is a pattern of behaviour some feminists exhibit at some times, I'm not trying to paint all or certain feminists as Bad People.
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This is an intermittently edited collection of ideas for a panel on "Feminism and Race" I ran at femmeconne. As such it's aimed at feminists/women, though anyone else is welcome to read it. I put all the links I found (and there's some really good stuff) in a separate post, since it's important that my argument can stand on its own (I can't give people links in person!)

My plan is was to briefly cover the basic ideas and then get into a moderated discussion where all I'll do is keep things on topic and inject the odd new idea or possible sub-topic, since I'm pretty sure people will have as much to explain to me as vice versa.

EDIT: I discussed what happened at this panel here. Overall it went ok.
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Recently I've felt in need of something to read, and to that end reserved some books at the library. Today they all came in at once. So now I have to read:
-Pride of Baghdad, about a pride of lions who escaped from Baghdad prison at the beginning of the Iraq war. Sad parable.
-"In our time", a memoir of feminism. Longish nonfiction, likely to be emotionally intense
-"The parable of the Talents", confronting sff about slavery and the collapse of civilisation. (Sequel to The Parable of the Sower)

..in two or so weeks. (I read pretty quickly, but am a sook about emotional intensity. That's why I already reserved and read all the happy stories I wanted to read ages ago)

I just read "Pride of Baghdad", it was very good but so sad! *sniffles again*

Also, added a few books to Library Thing last night to see if I liked the book recommender (it looks promising) and was reminded of how many cool books I already own and haven't read in a while. It never rains but it pours!

I think I'll go watch some "Angelic Layer" now.

EDIT: Have read maybe an 8th of "In Our Time", it's certainly very readable and interesting but is definitely a memoir rather than an unbiased account. Also, having recently heard a bunch of complaints about the erasure and dismissal of non-white feminism and feminist history I have to say I was a bit skeeved by her "feminism was entirely an invention of white women from the civil rights movement" and the way she (to me) portrays the exclusionary radicalism of civil rights groups as scary and mean while from feminists it's brave and necessary (part of an overall bias towards any group she was part of) Still, whatever her tone may imply about their merit, she does try to get across all the different POVs, and the necessity of a little against-the-grain reading aside, so far it's a fascinating portrait of the complex history of the movement, and the conflicts both internal and external.

So, this is something that's been bugging me about feminism as a movement for a while, and I was hoping some of you more educated and involved feminist types could educate me. I've been prodded into asking by a few annoyed posts about racism amongst feminist bloggers at debunkingwhite which helped me crystalise the issue in my head.

EDIT: The answer, it appears, is "Yes" :) Kind of. See strangedave's very interesting comment on the subject.
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