Meghan Murphy – Defining the “F” word.

@VW

I re-read the article. I did not see where she said that other people cannot define it (feminism).

This from earlier in the Vice article –

“Whereas, in the past, our fight against male supremacy and towards women’s liberation meant something radical — and therefore frightening — to those who preferred the status quo, recent decades have brought a distinctly “feel-good” approach.

“Feminism hasn’t escaped a neoliberal, consumerist culture that offers self-help books and positive mantras as a solution to social problems and presents individual “choice” as the epitome of freedom. What was once a class struggle – a fight for women’s collective rights and towards an end to the oppressive system of patriarchy – and certainly a political one, became a hashtag, a selfie, a backdrop, a selling-point, a buzzword. Anyone could say, “Yes! I’m a feminist!” and be applauded, without really understanding what that should mean.

It’s no coincidence that a term directly associated with women has become depoliticised, coopted, and associated with personal empowerment. Women have always been the target of the self-help industry and “empowerment” is a vague enough term that it could be (and has) been embraced by industries that couldn’t care less about fighting systemic oppression, in part because they profit directly from said oppression.

There isn’t any wringing of hands, or half truths being presented in her words. This is an analysis of what’s happened to the feminism movement that once affected change in society and the current state that is denatured, sectarian, and not challenging the status quo.

VW: “This is the problem: accepting poorly constructed opinion like this as theory set in stone”

Meghan Murphy’s words:

“A feminist is someone who supports and/or is active in the fight to end patriarchy.

The feminist movement is a political movement that fights towards women’s collective liberation and towards an end to male violence against women.

That is to say, if you don’t support those goals, what you are doing is not feminism, no matter how many times you claim otherwise.”

Seems rather coherent to me.

“but now I know the subtext, it’s all rather creepy.”

You are most certainly entitled to that opinion. The idea that it important to prioritize the fight for the collective liberation women and ending male violence against women is not for everyone. It (radical feminism) is unpopular, and doesn’t lend itself to making nice with the status-quo.

Meghan Murphy again on what feminism is:

“And there is simply no way we can, as feminists, concern ourselves both with being widely-liked and popular with men, while also focusing on destroying male supremacy.

Of course I want all women to feel good about themselves, to enjoy sex, and to celebrate their bodies, but the goals of the feminist movement are about much more than that.

And the stakes are much higher.

In a culture that is seeing ever more women and girls trafficked, both globally and domestically, ever more violent, degrading pornography widely-available to anyone and everyone, a corporatisation of culture that turns us into consumers instead of empathetic beings that care about the society we live in, and a growing gap between the rich and poor, all of which disappears marginalised women into the most vulnerable positions and sees them suffer the worst consequences, we simply can’t afford such an irresponsible and glossy version of “feminism.”

So it comes around and back down to this:

1. Feminism is a movement that centers on the needs of women.

2. It is a class struggle – a fight for women’s collective rights and towards an end to the oppressive system of patriarchy

We’re so very far apart, even on base definitions (patriarchy,gender,socialization,class analysis etc.), that resolution seems at best, a faint hope. Maybe we can try a discussion again later, but I doubt that will work as positions are set, and undoubtedly opinion has calcified on both sides.

I’m sorry this impasse has to be state of things, but how we prioritize the issues makes it necessarily so.

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