I feel as though people who throw out the "victim" card (i.e. Sarah Palin does not act like a victim! Yay Feminism! Our work is done here!) are approaching the concept quite narrowly.
There is an important distinction that needs to be made - between succumbing to the culture of victimhood and the act of pointing out the myriad ways in which people who fall outside of the dominant white, male, heteronormative paradigm are victimized every day.
"I'm not a victim!" is a very naive, insulated way to approach being a woman (or being black, or being gay, etc...). Ultimately, it feeds right back into the dominant culture, perpetuating a perverted cycle of patriarchy and power.
I've never understood feminism - in any of its manifestations - to be about "never acting like the victim." I've always understood it to be about exposing the ways in which people can be, and indeed are, victimized on a daily basis. There is nothing ignoble about that.
(Oh, and Abe Lincoln was a hick from the backwoods who could stand up and talk about domestic policy for an hour straight without repeating himself.)
There is an important distinction that needs to be made - between succumbing to the culture of victimhood and the act of pointing out the myriad ways in which people who fall outside of the dominant white, male, heteronormative paradigm are victimized every day.
"I'm not a victim!" is a very naive, insulated way to approach being a woman (or being black, or being gay, etc...). Ultimately, it feeds right back into the dominant culture, perpetuating a perverted cycle of patriarchy and power.
I've never understood feminism - in any of its manifestations - to be about "never acting like the victim." I've always understood it to be about exposing the ways in which people can be, and indeed are, victimized on a daily basis. There is nothing ignoble about that.
(Oh, and Abe Lincoln was a hick from the backwoods who could stand up and talk about domestic policy for an hour straight without repeating himself.)
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