(no subject)
May. 23rd, 2006 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
d_aulnoyLast night I found a cowrie shell wedged tightly into a sidewalk crack, just before I had yet another fight about feminism with my best friend.
I used to post about feminism a lot on this journal. Over the course of the last couple of months I've stopped, though. Not because I've stopped thinking about feminism, mind you - but because I've spent so much time talking about it, and fighting about it, that writing my thoughts out has become peculiarly exhausting. It reminds me of how my writer friends say that they never discuss stories before they're finished; it sucks the spirit right out of them when the time comes to put pen to paper.
This last week, my life has been a) talking and fighting about feminism, and b) writing a paper about witches as inadvertant role models in their roles as testers.
Witches are, generally speaking, not positive figures in fairy tales. When they're positive figures, we call them fairy godmothers, or white enchantresses, or sorceresses. "Witch" means villain. "Witch" means, kind of selfish. "Witch" means, disrupting the social order.
But "witch" can also mean helper or tester. "Witch" can also mean inadvertant role model.
The witch in a fairy tale has always been a fascinating figure to me when she's a recurring character, because, hey, picture being Baba Yaga. You're out there in your forest with this neverending stream of children and heroes coming to your door, asking for the foal of the Mare of the North Wind, or advice on how to get to the sea that houses the salmon who ate the rabbit who holds the heart of Koschei the Deathless between his teeth, or just for a way to relight the fire that a wicked stepmother put out. And, once in a while, you get a little frustrated and you bite someone's head off, and all of a sudden everybody's calling you wicked.
It feels a lot like being a feminist, frankly.
Because I get so damned tired of having to be the one to explain that, actually, women do not take being catcalled as a compliment, even if it would be a godsend for a guy. I get so damned tired of being called oversensitive or humorless because I don't just see the joke, but also the social context that allows for the joke, which, when you think about it, isn't all that funny. I get tired of being an apologist for my movement, because, hey, while I might not agree with every little tiny bit of feminist thought out there, I think that the basic cause is still worth identifying with, and fighting for.
I get so damned tired, and I've only been doing this for a little while, comparatively speaking.
But I'm writing a paper about witches, and I found a cowrie shell wedged into a crack on the sidewalk, and it is still worth it.
I've never set up a girlie filter before, because, well, I don't tend to have all that many barriers, but I think I'm going to set one up for feminism. You wanna visit me in my little hut in the forest to hear me rant about feminism, comment below.
I used to post about feminism a lot on this journal. Over the course of the last couple of months I've stopped, though. Not because I've stopped thinking about feminism, mind you - but because I've spent so much time talking about it, and fighting about it, that writing my thoughts out has become peculiarly exhausting. It reminds me of how my writer friends say that they never discuss stories before they're finished; it sucks the spirit right out of them when the time comes to put pen to paper.
This last week, my life has been a) talking and fighting about feminism, and b) writing a paper about witches as inadvertant role models in their roles as testers.
Witches are, generally speaking, not positive figures in fairy tales. When they're positive figures, we call them fairy godmothers, or white enchantresses, or sorceresses. "Witch" means villain. "Witch" means, kind of selfish. "Witch" means, disrupting the social order.
But "witch" can also mean helper or tester. "Witch" can also mean inadvertant role model.
The witch in a fairy tale has always been a fascinating figure to me when she's a recurring character, because, hey, picture being Baba Yaga. You're out there in your forest with this neverending stream of children and heroes coming to your door, asking for the foal of the Mare of the North Wind, or advice on how to get to the sea that houses the salmon who ate the rabbit who holds the heart of Koschei the Deathless between his teeth, or just for a way to relight the fire that a wicked stepmother put out. And, once in a while, you get a little frustrated and you bite someone's head off, and all of a sudden everybody's calling you wicked.
It feels a lot like being a feminist, frankly.
Because I get so damned tired of having to be the one to explain that, actually, women do not take being catcalled as a compliment, even if it would be a godsend for a guy. I get so damned tired of being called oversensitive or humorless because I don't just see the joke, but also the social context that allows for the joke, which, when you think about it, isn't all that funny. I get tired of being an apologist for my movement, because, hey, while I might not agree with every little tiny bit of feminist thought out there, I think that the basic cause is still worth identifying with, and fighting for.
I get so damned tired, and I've only been doing this for a little while, comparatively speaking.
But I'm writing a paper about witches, and I found a cowrie shell wedged into a crack on the sidewalk, and it is still worth it.
I've never set up a girlie filter before, because, well, I don't tend to have all that many barriers, but I think I'm going to set one up for feminism. You wanna visit me in my little hut in the forest to hear me rant about feminism, comment below.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 07:31 pm (UTC)On the 'humour': One of the repeated conversations I have with people (friends, father, students) has to do with humour as a form of power. Someone says something offensive, I take offense, said someone tells me to 'get a sense of humour. Jeez, it's only a joke.' And that comment, right there, is an attempt to make me feel in the wrong, to silence me; no one wants to be seen as humourless, after all.
On feminist exhaustion: I work hard to make my classes inclusive, to examine constructions of masculinity, to approach texts from many different points of view. But I do occasionally discuss my interest in the female hero, and I don't let students get away with sexist language (like the default to the masculine pronoun). If someone asks, I happily admit to being a feminist, and I don't make the usual 'not really a feminist, but' excuses. And apparently that is more than enough for my evaluations to consistently read 'a radical feminist' who 'can't stop talking about feminism' in class. For some people (guys and gals) talking about it at all is overdoing it.
And I noticed the title of your paper when I was cruising the WisCon program (one of these years I won't have to teach in Spring term and will be able to go myself) and thought it sounded fascinating. I'd love to read a copy, if you feel comfortable with that.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:28 pm (UTC)And, of course you're welcome to a copy of the paper! Now all I have to do is finish the bloody thing .... :)
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Date: 2006-05-23 07:49 pm (UTC)And a copy of your paper would be really nice. See you at Wiscon, I am sure.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:32 pm (UTC)And, will look forward to it - p.s., have we met in RL? If not, I'll look forward to it this year!
(no subject)
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Date: 2006-05-23 07:57 pm (UTC)WisCon. Maybe we could make a little time for a little whisky and some chat, if ya wanna. (I'll be easy to find, I'm running the Green Room, but feel free to phone if you'd rather.)
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:00 pm (UTC)And, I understand the tired. But what choice do we have? There is none, really.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-05-23 08:01 pm (UTC)I've only recently begun to think about feminism myself and already there are fights with friends about misunderstandings and do all feminists hate men and all sorts of crap. It's fascinating, but I'm sure will also get tiring.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:02 pm (UTC)I like your feminist rants, though. I was on the feminist rage community over a year ago, and ended up ducking out after two particularly moronic fights (one in which I ended defending men as a race from the accusation of all being dirty public masturbators, the other in which tampon-users were accused of being bad feminists), and I know you've said it's cool now and god knows communities go through phases, but I always fear I'll peek back in right before a downswing. That has nothing to do with feminism and everything to do with the intarweb, though, so I digress.
I get tired of being an apologist for my movement, because, hey, while I might not agree with every little tiny bit of feminist thought out there, I think that the basic cause is still worth identifying with, and fighting for.
that's a point so many people miss. There's room for some intellectual debate, of course, but when you fight about details, you want to grab some people and shake them and scream at them for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I know I run into the same thing as the virulent screaming pro-choice (negative population growth) activist I am. Details are a problem for so many left-ish movements in the US at this point - so much dawdling, and no clarity. Do you believe women should be treated as equals (not that they're the *same*, because that's a point of debate)? Bam, you're a feminist. Abortion on demand, even if only in the first trimester? Voila, you're pro-choice.
wow, I got sort of ranty on your page. it's been a rough day at work.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:26 pm (UTC)what
the
fuck
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Date: 2006-05-23 08:03 pm (UTC)Me for the Baba Yaga filter please.
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Date: 2006-05-23 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:20 pm (UTC)i'm a feminist. i don't argue about it with people, though; maybe because i don't like to argue, or maybe because it never comes up.
sdn
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Date: 2006-05-23 08:39 pm (UTC)Maybe I need to start keeping a definitive scorecard ....
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Date: 2006-05-23 08:35 pm (UTC)i'd love to be on your filter.
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Date: 2006-05-23 08:39 pm (UTC)P.S. - I owe you an e-mail, post-WisCon. :)
count me in
Date: 2006-05-23 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 10:30 pm (UTC)There are two things that came immediately to mind when I got about two paragraphs into what you wrote.
The first was "I hope she keeps me in the Femminst Thought Filter, cuz I really respect Helen's POV about stuff"
The second was the line from Sondheim's Into The Woods that goes "Witches can be right, Giants can be good - You decide what's right, You decide what's good..."
No need for apologies, I want to read it all, Helen.
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Date: 2006-05-23 10:33 pm (UTC)That being said, I think a lot of people forget that Witch is also Crone - and just because she isn't pretty and isn't nurturing doesn't mean she has no idea of what's going on. In fact, its because she's not pretty / fertile and not Motherly/nurturing that she DOES know EVERYTHING that's going on.
I'll be your token guy in the hut, if you'll have me.
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Date: 2006-05-23 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 11:12 pm (UTC)your take on feminism sounds much like mine -- i'm always having to explain that i'm a feminist, but... and I am so tired of that.
good luck with your arguments, and the paper -- it's been my favorite acadamia field (but as a recent grad in polsci and french i could never really explore it thoroughly...)
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 11:20 pm (UTC)Not. About. You.
Not about any one person. (As the anonymous post could come from any number of people.)
GAH.
(no subject)
From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2006-05-24 05:52 am (UTC) - Expand(no subject)
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Date: 2006-05-23 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-24 12:50 am (UTC)Oh, and I'd also be interested in reading your witch paper if you ever would like to send it my way. In return, I'll be happy to send you my fairy godmother paper, which I need to revise to send to Marvels & Tales in August because they've accepted and reviewed it... :)
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Date: 2006-05-24 01:01 am (UTC)And this sounds like an excellent trade to me. :)
sign me up too
Date: 2006-05-24 01:32 am (UTC)Re: sign me up too
Date: 2006-05-24 05:41 pm (UTC)...ok, i admit, i can't wait to see some interesting stories about dad... :)
freddie mac
Re: sign me up too
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Date: 2006-05-24 01:37 am (UTC)/CHip
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Date: 2006-05-24 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-24 02:05 am (UTC)But ... just to clarify, mind - off the filter, then?
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Date: 2006-05-24 01:44 am (UTC)I'm a witch, and not necessarily in the pagan sense. But if life is a fairy tale, I'm the witch. In many of the ways that they appear in the tales, she is me.