Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Crass Feminism?

So I'm up late at night thinking things, because things keep me up at night.  I was reading an article on jezebel.com earlier this evening.  I have not really engaged with this website before.  I'm interested in feminism and the types of ideas generated by such female-centered webzines, although I have perhaps been too intimidated to take outright classes on feminism in the past (at the time I felt like I would be seen as a bad element or something).  My views have changed on this.  Sometimes when I do come across feminist webzines like jezebel.com I am kind of disheartened since while I consider myself a feminist in the sense that I believe men and women are equal, I think that feminism should serve the cause of bringing both women and men to a higher level of self and mutual understanding.  Feminism to me does not mean replacing patriarchy with matriarchy.

So I'll get to the point, there was an article in jezebel.com about a Duke University woman who created a "fuck list" http://jezebel.com/5652114/college-girls-power-point-fuck-list-goes-viral-gallery.  Now apparently fraternities do this all the time (I wouldn't know), but the gist is that this student had sex with numerous guys throughout the course of her time at Duke and "rated" them on various levels: performance, aggressiveness, penis size etc.  Apparently she did not mean for this list to actually "get out" but she sent it to a few friends on Facebook (how anyone can really believe that something like this won't get out when Facebook is involved is beyond me).  The thing is that she used the guys' actual names and this has gone viral.  Jezebel.com and many commenters on the article seem to think that this is an example of a "liberated" woman....is it?  Is behaving on the same level as the ones you criticize really liberating?

I can see one redeeming quality of jezebel.com and "raunch-girl" magazines in general.  The fact that many men get angry and indignant when reading about the exploits of someone like the Duke student may get them to re-evaluate their own behavior.  This could expose the double-standard that many men have when the tables are turned.  In general though, I think it is wrong to elevate the type of behavior that is villainous for men to the level of virtue for women.  In the end I don't think this advances the cause of gender equality.  At least, it doesn't convince men to want to take classes on feminism.

2 comments:

  1. My feminist beliefs do allow for women to be douche-bags as well as men, doesn't mean you have to like them. - from the man himself.

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  2. I agree. Some feminists believe that behaving like men - men who don't give women the respect they deserve are how they should treat men in order to be considered feminist. I think that men deserve the same amount of respect we as women deserve - that is a true feminist. Man and woman are equals.

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