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sebastienneI am just fucking sick of this. Everywhere I look I see a) anti-feminist backlash and b) people claiming that feminism is pointless because women have equality now.
From the Early Learning Centre (you know, the only place my mum could buy me ungendered toys when I was growing up and she was trying to keep me free from all that bullshit?) "For the little princess in the family we have great feminine outfits like Butterfly Fairy, Sleeping Beauty, Ballerina and Nurse’s uniform. Why not add a medical case for that extra touch of authenticity.
The boys are catered for too, with great Doctor, Policeman & Fireman uniforms, not to mention fantastic Pirate and Knight costumes. All these can be combined with a range of accessories so your child will really look the part."
MEN ARE DOCTORS AND WOMEN ARE NURSES. WHAT IS THIS, 1950?
From the organisers of Latitude festival: encouraging women not to get themselves raped (hugely triggering for rape culture). NO. Flist, for your reference, HERE is a list of rape-prevention tips that ACTUALLY WORK.
And in the middle of all of this, there are men and women going around believing that anyone who still calls themself a feminist is some kind of extremist, because basically, feminism's done. Oh, well done, patriarchy. That one's a masterstroke.
Lashings of Ginger Beer do important awareness-raising stuff, and I'm happy to devote my life to it. But sometimes, it feels like nothing I could ever do will ever be enough to smash this bullshit. Because it's getting worse. We're going backwards. Our Daughters Will Never Be Free.
From the Early Learning Centre (you know, the only place my mum could buy me ungendered toys when I was growing up and she was trying to keep me free from all that bullshit?) "For the little princess in the family we have great feminine outfits like Butterfly Fairy, Sleeping Beauty, Ballerina and Nurse’s uniform. Why not add a medical case for that extra touch of authenticity.
The boys are catered for too, with great Doctor, Policeman & Fireman uniforms, not to mention fantastic Pirate and Knight costumes. All these can be combined with a range of accessories so your child will really look the part."
MEN ARE DOCTORS AND WOMEN ARE NURSES. WHAT IS THIS, 1950?
From the organisers of Latitude festival: encouraging women not to get themselves raped (hugely triggering for rape culture). NO. Flist, for your reference, HERE is a list of rape-prevention tips that ACTUALLY WORK.
And in the middle of all of this, there are men and women going around believing that anyone who still calls themself a feminist is some kind of extremist, because basically, feminism's done. Oh, well done, patriarchy. That one's a masterstroke.
Lashings of Ginger Beer do important awareness-raising stuff, and I'm happy to devote my life to it. But sometimes, it feels like nothing I could ever do will ever be enough to smash this bullshit. Because it's getting worse. We're going backwards. Our Daughters Will Never Be Free.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 11:24 am (UTC)This. All of this.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 12:19 pm (UTC)Love the rape prevention tips! Those are awesome!
I'm going over to penny's saturday for a BBQ with the library students. Is it ok if I mention the July London show to her? I know she was talking about wanting to see you perform.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 12:21 pm (UTC)I remember being given a nurses's outfit, a pram, and a toy kitchen. I used the cape to be superman, the pram I tied to my waste and pretended to be a centaur, and I ignored the kitchen to turn the the large box it came in into a secret base, complete with guns and binoculars from the spyholes. I remember being very jealous when I got dolls and my brother got cars. I'm not happy to hear that this sort of thing is still a problem.
Oddly, I tend to find that the men at my workplace are fine, but it's the women who often seem to feel that they should give me 'helpful' advice about wearing make-up and high heels and talking about less geeky things because it will 'make me feel more feminine'. It seemed to confuse them when I replied that wearing a monkey suit would also make me feel more like a monkey, but that this wasn't a good argument for doing so.
Although it's luckily not a big problem for me, I definitely still feel that there are people who make assumptions about me or expect me to do things because I'm a woman. The fact that I feel this is true means that it *is* a problem.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 12:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 12:58 pm (UTC)I work in a toy shop right now :(
It is frequently like beating my head against a wall for me, except with none of the stress relief that I usually get from doing that
every fuckin day I am there I get shit like "is this a doctor's set or a nurse's set? I need a present for a girl" or "oh no I need something lighter, it's for a girl, this ball is for proper football she can't have that", and when I say "hey the gender binary maybe not so great!" most people just sort of ... look at me with this expression like "aw it's cute how naïve you are", although the other day when I told a lady that I wasn't keen on that sort of stuff she actually just looked right down her nose at me and sneered, "well I can see that"
Yesterday I think I made a difference for a guy who was looking to buy a scooter for his son and went from "he definitely won't be getting a pink one" to "well I guess he might prefer a pink one considering other stuff he likes, we'll see", but this happens so rarely that most of the time I just want to quit
I swear, I worked in a comic book shop for a year – you know, one of those nerdholes renowned for their inhabitants' inability to grasp the idea that anyone with tits might be even interested in coming in there – and the sexism there was more bearable than this fucking toy shop. /FLIPS A TABLE
no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 01:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 02:14 pm (UTC)Honestly, it's one of the most clever things the upholders of a status quo can do because it requires so little effort but leads to people who should be on the other side fighting your battles for you.
I have no idea what to do about it. Maybe send all the PSHE teachers to prison. Fucking PSHE.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 02:40 pm (UTC)However, I was pleased to see that there is a boy playing with toy cupcakes (http://www.elc.co.uk/Cupcake-Tea-Party/120702,default,pd.html). Also, haha, here is an amazing ‘Oh crap, this picture needs a boy in it” Photoshop fail (http://www.elc.co.uk/Step-2-Grand-Walk-In-Kitchen/123735,default,pd.html).
Um, but, derailing aside, yeah, what you said. :)
I wish I knew of a good way of getting feminism 101 percolating into forums other than feminist safe spaces. I’ve read a lot of great articles about feminist issues lately which have been mostly followed up by comments about how glad the readers are that the author wasn’t one of those terrible extremist, man-hating, hairy-legged feminists who want ‘special rights’ for women. I’ve considered pointing out that this is a pretty ill-founded and offensive attitude, but I’m not sure I really have the know-how to do it well…
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Date: 2010-07-22 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 02:54 pm (UTC)I give up.
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Date: 2010-07-22 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 03:20 pm (UTC)Though despite being born in the 50s I was remarkably lucky in that my parents bought me toys I wanted - though Dad was slightly upset that, given the choice, I demanded a steam train set instead of the Scalectrix he really wanted
meto play with.So yes. We are going backwards.
(And why a *pink* vet outfit?)
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Date: 2010-07-22 03:24 pm (UTC)All the rest is Fail.
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Date: 2010-07-22 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 03:44 pm (UTC)I'm going to accept, though, that you know more aobut this than I do. There's then a part of me that goes "then why aren't the non-sexual assaults at Latitude hitting the newsstands?". But the rest of me knows that it's because they just aren't exciting enough. Urgh I hate the world.
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Date: 2010-07-22 03:48 pm (UTC)(also, apologies if this is not too coherent, I'm all full of novocaine and consequently slightly fuzzy)
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Date: 2010-07-22 03:59 pm (UTC)And god, the Latitude link is awful and victim blaming and arrgh.
With regard to feminism "being done" one of the things that upsets me most is the way my parents talk about it. My mum only came close to agreeing with feminism as a label through feminist theology (Catholic), and my dad, who keeps on talking about "difference feminism" and how "feminists shouldn't want to be exactly the same as men"
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Date: 2010-07-22 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 05:02 pm (UTC)Can I re-blog the ELC stuff? With quotes/accreditation however you wish. It seems important.
If you think feminism's done, get the fuck off this planet.
Date: 2010-07-22 05:31 pm (UTC)It was ignorance in me, it's ignorance in everyone else. Frank_snow is right, it's a very clever way to keep people divided.
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Date: 2010-07-22 07:08 pm (UTC)That's part of it, yes. I can only speak from personal experience here but even most of the geekboys I know (including myself) are well-enough indoctrinated by the kyriarchy to suppress any mention of stuff like that because it is a Sign Of Weakness, y'know.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 07:35 pm (UTC)Re: If you think feminism's done, get the fuck off this planet.
Date: 2010-07-22 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 08:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-23 03:32 am (UTC)Feet firmly on the ground.
Thanks for linking to that rape-prevention list.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 10:01 am (UTC)