This is not the wank you're looking for.
I want to say something about the F word. You know the one I mean: Feminism. Oh, has there ever been a term more misused and misunderstood than Feminism? How often do you hear things like “Feminism is where men suck and women refuse to shave their legs, right?” and most recently “Feminism means being loud and bitchy and eviscerating people for their opinions.”
Well, not my Feminism. Not the Feminism that affects my daily life, the way I approach the world and visual and written culture in general.
So first, let me dispel a few myths:
1. Feminism is not a fixed point. It is not unchangeable. It does not represent some moment of enlightenment in your life where one moment you are sexist and the next you are a perfect being void of all bias. Feminism is a marathon. But more than that, Feminism is a race where they keep moving the finish line. And no one will ever cross it.
2. There is not one Feminism. There is no right Feminism or wrong Feminism. It is a spectrum of inquiry individualized by the experiences of each unique person. It is a toolbox, not a doctrine. So my Feminism will never be your Feminism. And that’s okay. After all, I might need a spanner wrench when you have need of a Phillips screwdriver.
3. Feminism is not about name-calling. Sure, it is about calling bullshit when you see it, but when someone points out something that pings of sexism to them, it’s not about YOU, even if you are the one who committed the act. Feminism is not about saying you are a bad person or that you should be punished or tarred and feathered. Feminism is based on the idea that values and judgments and stereotypes are socially constructed, that from birth we are all programmed to approach the world in a specific manner, so much so that we usually are not even aware of them, which is what makes them so damn dangerous.
You are not to blame, your social programming is. If you can’t separate the two, you will never stop feeling persecuted. And if you never stop feeling persecuted, you will never be able to own up and be more than your assumptions.
You have the right to sit in the dark. It’s comfortable there. I get it. Feminists just reserve the right to point out that you should probably change the light bulb. Whether or not you do is up to you.
* * *
With those three myths out of the way, I’d like to turn to the big elephant in fandom’s room and take a spanner wrench to it:
Women characters are so poorly written that no one can be blamed for not finding any of them interesting. This is not sexism.
No, no, no, no. This is where the socially based values come into play. Can you be 100% certain that your reasons for not being interested in women characters stem from conscious, logical reasoning? No, you can’t. We humans are never that simple. If you ever find yourself thinking something as extreme as not liking any women characters at all, this should make you suspicious. This should make you ask if there might be something more insidious at work. And not all at the other end of production.
Take out women and add in any subset of identity (race, ethnicity, religion, hair color, disability, sexuality) and try again. Does it really sound harmless? Which of these subsets are allowed to be well written, or interesting, or ‘normal’? Which do you expect to be well written? And who exactly do you think is making these decisions? We all are. Every single one of us. Silence is acceptance. Silence is complicity.
Accepting the idea that women are just poorly written and uninteresting without question, this is born of living in a world built upon women defining themselves by the attention of men. It is status quo to see women as objects, not subjects. (And if you don’t believe me, open any magazine, flip on the TV, look at a billboard. What is being valued about these women?) We are comfortable with women in this position because that is the way it has always been and we accept this and reinforce this just as much as men. We look at ourselves as objects, often without even consciously realizing it. And how can we not, considering that we are bombarded by it a thousand different ways every day?
The world tells us that women are objects, whose sole purpose is to be attractive and desirable, not smart or witty or flawed or layered or plain or kick ass or arrogant. So why the hell would anyone be interested in women characters if they are only ever cast in one role?
Because Feminism gives us the tools to call bullshit, to question our gut reactions and assumptions, to be brave enough to find fault in ourselves and ask the really hard questions. Because maybe you don’t like women characters simply because you can’t recognize them-or relate to them-when they are no longer objects, when they step outside that role. It’s a new language that right now might sound like gibberish. We have to learn to read as well as speak this new language, because in the limited vocabulary of our world right now, three-dimensional women characters are unrecognizable, unrelatable, or even worse, are translated into our less flexible language as wannabe men. And who would be interested in a wannabe when you can have the real thing?
Next time you find yourself thinking anything as exclusionary as “I don’t like-insert subset of identity here-characters because they are so poorly written,” do me a favor. Ask yourself what really bothers you about all those female/black/gay/paralyzed/Jewish/Hispanic/transvestite characters, and consider that something beyond your conscious mind might be influencing it. Can you be honest enough to answer that question, to really consider it? Because if you can, I think you may be surprised by the answer.
Well, not my Feminism. Not the Feminism that affects my daily life, the way I approach the world and visual and written culture in general.
So first, let me dispel a few myths:
1. Feminism is not a fixed point. It is not unchangeable. It does not represent some moment of enlightenment in your life where one moment you are sexist and the next you are a perfect being void of all bias. Feminism is a marathon. But more than that, Feminism is a race where they keep moving the finish line. And no one will ever cross it.
2. There is not one Feminism. There is no right Feminism or wrong Feminism. It is a spectrum of inquiry individualized by the experiences of each unique person. It is a toolbox, not a doctrine. So my Feminism will never be your Feminism. And that’s okay. After all, I might need a spanner wrench when you have need of a Phillips screwdriver.
3. Feminism is not about name-calling. Sure, it is about calling bullshit when you see it, but when someone points out something that pings of sexism to them, it’s not about YOU, even if you are the one who committed the act. Feminism is not about saying you are a bad person or that you should be punished or tarred and feathered. Feminism is based on the idea that values and judgments and stereotypes are socially constructed, that from birth we are all programmed to approach the world in a specific manner, so much so that we usually are not even aware of them, which is what makes them so damn dangerous.
You are not to blame, your social programming is. If you can’t separate the two, you will never stop feeling persecuted. And if you never stop feeling persecuted, you will never be able to own up and be more than your assumptions.
You have the right to sit in the dark. It’s comfortable there. I get it. Feminists just reserve the right to point out that you should probably change the light bulb. Whether or not you do is up to you.
* * *
With those three myths out of the way, I’d like to turn to the big elephant in fandom’s room and take a spanner wrench to it:
Women characters are so poorly written that no one can be blamed for not finding any of them interesting. This is not sexism.
No, no, no, no. This is where the socially based values come into play. Can you be 100% certain that your reasons for not being interested in women characters stem from conscious, logical reasoning? No, you can’t. We humans are never that simple. If you ever find yourself thinking something as extreme as not liking any women characters at all, this should make you suspicious. This should make you ask if there might be something more insidious at work. And not all at the other end of production.
Take out women and add in any subset of identity (race, ethnicity, religion, hair color, disability, sexuality) and try again. Does it really sound harmless? Which of these subsets are allowed to be well written, or interesting, or ‘normal’? Which do you expect to be well written? And who exactly do you think is making these decisions? We all are. Every single one of us. Silence is acceptance. Silence is complicity.
Accepting the idea that women are just poorly written and uninteresting without question, this is born of living in a world built upon women defining themselves by the attention of men. It is status quo to see women as objects, not subjects. (And if you don’t believe me, open any magazine, flip on the TV, look at a billboard. What is being valued about these women?) We are comfortable with women in this position because that is the way it has always been and we accept this and reinforce this just as much as men. We look at ourselves as objects, often without even consciously realizing it. And how can we not, considering that we are bombarded by it a thousand different ways every day?
The world tells us that women are objects, whose sole purpose is to be attractive and desirable, not smart or witty or flawed or layered or plain or kick ass or arrogant. So why the hell would anyone be interested in women characters if they are only ever cast in one role?
Because Feminism gives us the tools to call bullshit, to question our gut reactions and assumptions, to be brave enough to find fault in ourselves and ask the really hard questions. Because maybe you don’t like women characters simply because you can’t recognize them-or relate to them-when they are no longer objects, when they step outside that role. It’s a new language that right now might sound like gibberish. We have to learn to read as well as speak this new language, because in the limited vocabulary of our world right now, three-dimensional women characters are unrecognizable, unrelatable, or even worse, are translated into our less flexible language as wannabe men. And who would be interested in a wannabe when you can have the real thing?
Next time you find yourself thinking anything as exclusionary as “I don’t like-insert subset of identity here-characters because they are so poorly written,” do me a favor. Ask yourself what really bothers you about all those female/black/gay/paralyzed/Jewish/Hispanic/transvestite characters, and consider that something beyond your conscious mind might be influencing it. Can you be honest enough to answer that question, to really consider it? Because if you can, I think you may be surprised by the answer.