Just to be clear, I know this is only one of many other images, most of them very inspirational. Take a look at them at the links below.
I’ve done a few videos about feminism, (and some of the posts on my old blog were about it), but I’m no expert. What’s puzzling me right now is that at no point did it seem to me that Feminism was either a 12-step program or about denying agency to anyone. The few times it HAS been presented me as such, well, it resembles more an attempt to assert power over someone emotionally rather than empower them to stop hurting themselves.
So look at this sign from the Who Needs Feminism campaign over at Facebook by students at Duke University (a campaign I like, because we really do need it). Image initially found by Abbynormal0ne on Buzzfeed.
So what’s the problem with this? In a culture where the prospect of showing an exposed crotch on TV sends people to their fainting couches, but the screams of someone being raped in the next room are considered disturbing at most (and what’s really disturbing, by some considered titillating), how is this not a good sign?
Because at its heart, Feminism is about three things: the value of a person, people having agency, and people having the power to use the latter to defend the former. Let me break it down.
- All people are of equal inherent worth.
- Each person needs the mental freedom to make their own choices in order to thrive, including the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them.
- As much as possible, we need the physical freedom to act upon these choices without acting upon others (though acting with them or upon them with their informed and free consent is a grey area that people fight over, and which I don’t want to get into right now).
I feel like the sign above puts someone in the position of feeling like they are accused of something they didn’t know they were doing without giving them even a glimpse of a way to correct it. Not only that, but the average person who hears “rape culture” is going to react the way anyone does when you turn the jargon up to 11; they’re going to tune you out and assume you’re yet another extremist, and position themselves in the “reasonable center” and feel smug about how fair their being (when in essence they will remain the center of the problem).
An alternative might be: “I need feminism because it makes me question my assumptions about men & women (and the assumptions of my culture).” You could snip it up and turn it around like so: “I need feminism because it makes me question my culture, and my place in it.”
Now THAT is empowering.
Thoughts?
Feminism is like any other group or movement, it has been made unpalatable by handful of extremists that contribute to the stereotype. Once an unappealing stereotype has grown large enough the general public stops paying any real attention. They stop caring and have no interest in learning anything about it. I think that may be part of the problem with this campaign at Duke, the students involved don’t have an incredibly clear idea of what they are talking about and their you are right, signage like the one you have shown is probably going to be misunderstood more often than not so will contribute more to the problem.
Yep. My own pet peeve is when people rage on what they feel internally rather than trying to figure out what’s actually happening.
Welcome, and thanks for stopping by! ^.^
I think part of the problem is still that Feminism, in many respects, is a victim of it’s own success. Feminism, after dealing with much of the institutional oppression of women in law, public policy, and other aspects of government enforced discrimination, is dealing with an identity crisis for the last two or three decades. One result of that is it’s now meandering in the swamp of The Culture Wars. This whole thing about ‘rape culture’ is a symptom of it. While I still consider women’s issues important, such as defending reproductive rights, I have decided to abandon the term ‘Feminist’ as a descriptor of my politics. It’s just too damn confusing and with all the confusion, incredibly ill defined. Whose Feminism am extolling when I use the term? Also, because I’m not interested in the fruitless task of ‘winning hearts and minds’ in the wilds of social mores, such as portrayal of women in media (objectification) or that fact that private individual’s gleefully decide to be misogynistic assholes. In both those case those are individuals using their freedoms for good or ill. I’m interested in actual public policy, government, and the law. None of those things in said ‘Culture Wars’ are the appropriate or proper tools to win those hears and minds
I don’t agree that institutional oppression in government has been dealt with. At higher levels of government and military rank, things are much as they ever were, just with a modified set of taboos regarding what you can and can’t say. I suspect the video I linked you in Skype is a larger part of the problem: “Hyperpluralism is Destroying America”
But YES: “which Feminism are we talking about” is a big deal.
Well, I did say ‘for the most part’. Much like the Civil Rights Movement didn’t remove all discrimination either. With the problems women may still have, a think a lot of people forgot or never experienced the bullshit that was common even 30 years ago
Point taken.
I look at the graphic and see “I need feminism because…” and I’m immediately on guard because I’m 99% certain the concept of feminism is going to be filtered through some badly thought-out, pseudo-crusader agenda.
Sure enough, the next line is a set up: “I contribute to RAPE CULTURE [poorly understood hotbutton issue]…WITHOUT KNOWING IT.”
[feel sorry for that nice young asian man, he's a victim too]
In one short graphic, I’m told this pleasant looking fellow, forced to carry a big scarlet letter-style message, is just a misguided schlub in need of party-approved indoctrination. It isn’t his fault he was raised by rape-happy misogynists.
To break it down further. This graphic suggests:
1) men are children, (and you can’t blame a child for being ignorant)
2) the Women’s Movement bears an agenda surprisingly similar to the Ministry of Love.
3) When in doubt, scream rape. Global Warming? Rape. Lindsey Lohan’s horrible extensions? Rape. Insider trading scandals? Rape. The Deficit? Definitely rape.
Because really, what ammo do the feminists have if they give up rape?
I’m a girl and even I’m thinking, STFU, no thank you, no feminism for me today.
If the point is to alienate their target audience, I’d say Duke did an excellent job by insulting men and women, undermining the very group they’re trying to promote, and generally missing a golden opportunity to educate because they just didn’t bother to find out what they were talking about.
Feh.
To be fair, this is only one of a LOT of images, just the problematic one that jumped out at me. Going to add that to the top of the post.
But yeah. It’s like “if you’re going for cognitive dissonance, great – but you may have overdone it.”