Once more, with feeling.

[starstealingirl]

Okay, folks. It's been a long damn time since I've written any kind of rant/polemic on this here LJ-- particularly in response to an online conflict-- but at this point, I feel compelled to speak up. "I won't be silent anymore" is a bit of a cliché, but in this case, it's kinda true

Comments

[fierceawakening]

Great post (I'm about to link it on sm-f actually), but my one niggle is I'm leery, at this stage, of feminist critique in the first place

[starstealingirl]

*nods

[fierceawakening]

The thing is, for me, I've become really suspicious of the suspicion of "but I chose it." I've been around feminism long enough that I feel I get what it means: that we don't always make wise choices, and furthermore that part of why we don't is being raised in a patriarchy

[starstealingirl]

See, I don't necessarily interpret "but I chose it" that way. I tend to interpret it one of two ways.

First, that we don't live in a cultural vacuum, so what we "choose" is very much informed, even curtailed by our social positioning. This has nothing, or nothing much, to do with "wisdom", in my opinion; it is simply an acknowledgment that some people are more privileged in their "choice"-making than others.

For example, when I protested the "Anti-Feminist Bake Sale" on my school campus, the "anti-feminists" proclaimed that they were protesting feminism because feminists didn't want women to choose to opt out of the public workplace and stay at home. Certain of the "feminists" responded that, no, feminism is about choices, and women should be able to choose to stay at home if they wanted to.

Of course, the problem with framing the debate in these terms is that making domestic work vs. paid work (a problematic binary in and of itself) a matter of choice, ignores the fact that many women do not have the option of choosing in the

[fierceawakening]

Of course, the problem with framing the debate in these terms is that making domestic work vs. paid work (a problematic binary in and of itself) a matter of choice, ignores the fact that many women do not have the option of choosing in the first place. Does this make the women who can, and do, choose to be homemakers non-feminist? Of course not. But I am wary of the "but I chose it" argument here, because it narrows the terms of discussion, and marginalizes a whole number of people for whom, in this context, "choice" is not meaningful.This is of course true, but I think to some degree it misses the point. As I understand what "but I chose it" means, "but I chose it" is a *response* to a claim posed by someone else. That claim looks something like "When you do that, you do it only because you are either ignorant, or have false consciousness." The response is a protestation that the chooser deserves to be treated as someone who possesses some relevant level of autonomy, and is not being so treated. It's not any kind of claim about who

[starstealingirl]

OMG JAY YOU ARE SUCH A HEGEMONIC FASCIST

SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR GENDER EUPHORIA

IRONY, HYPERBOLE, AND PUNS ARE INHERENTLY OPPRESSIVE

Seriously, though. I think you've actually said what I wanted to say, better than I've said it. I think one of the biggest problems I have with so-called "choice feminism" is its resemblance to mainstream capitalist discourse which equates consumerist "choice" with empowerment, while conveniently bypassing the limiting and even oppressive context within which those "choices" (and, indeed, that definition of choice) takes place.

Also: yay for BDSM on a budget. Or Punk Rawk DIY BDSM. Or something.

[starstealingirl]

I always rather liked "gender euphoric." But I know what you mean about a name having had its time. I'm kinda getting sick of "starstealingirl," as-- for reasons relating to my age and my gender identity-- I don't want an online name that refers to me as a "girl" anymore.

Maybe you can change your name to "punsareoppressive," and when they clear out the old name, I can change my journal name to "gender_euphoric." THEN WE CAN CONFUSE AND OPPRESS EVERYBODY.

[starstealingirl]

The made up community that doesn't exist. Which, it pleases me to say, is now a line on my CV.

I feel your pain. I don't want my LJ name anymore, but I also don't want to give this damned website any more money.