Links, stupid stuff, commercials
I was going to do a bullshit post about how I'm not really a feminist, but I couldn't take the bullshit longer than two paragraphs. It was actively painful. I just watched a Best Buy commercial where a Father-Knows-Best dad tell his wife and kids that they can open their Best Buy presents once they come home from Grandma's. He makes the decision for the family, and then they park in front of Grandma's for a second and speed off. Moral of the story: Dad tells the family what to do. I'm sure the MRAs would approve.

This is a total change of subject but I just have to have one of these, even if it stays on Morgie's head just as long as it takes to take a picture. drewbeartx showed me these awful things this morning and I just have to say they are utterly appalling and totally hysterical.

I've been thinking what it means to be a feminist and why there's this recent uprising swell of thought that you have to support and applaud any damn fool thing any woman wants, or support other women that aren't even feminists. That's always bugged me about these women who reject feminism but still enjoy the products of its victories, or even reject it with strawfeminists while cooing at the patriarchy. While I might in fact support such women should they need it, they can't reasonably demand it, much less feminist approval or silence. What gets me is the idea that feminists are obligated to either approve of or adjust our opinions so other women can make their decisions without being examined. That whole 'own your decisions' thing from yesterday was simply the simultaneous refusal of some women to tolerate any feminist analysis of their decisions. They wanted validation from feminists or they wanted to shut them up. It reminds me of the abortion debate, where the pro-choice side merely wants to preserve the choice, and the anti-choice side wants to make the decision for everybody. I really don't care what the fuck you do, but I get to have an opinion on it and express that opinion. That this attitude that feminists should just shut up or approve of stupid decisions came from women who have previously either abused feminists or attacked them just made it especially rich with irony. Feminism does not mean I have to tolerate bullshit from other women. It's that simple. You can call feminism bullshit, but you can't demand my silence just because you have a vagina, especially if you're actively colluding with the patriarchy to justify the abuse and coercion of women. Of course, somewhere along the way, a prostitute-using man accused me of killing Muslims and calling women sluts and whores---a particularly ripe strawfeminist that came from the pornstitution-justifying crowd that makes money off the pornstitution biz----which is like being criticized by a politician for having loose morals.

It's especially ironic, these whines of discontent, coming from women who wouldn't support a feminist if she were dying. That's pretty much what it comes down. I'll defend Ann Coulter from sexism if I have to, but I get the feeling from the sex poxes that they wouldn't help a feminist no matter what. They sure haven't done so in the past; in fact, they've taken the opposite route. The radical sex poxes have attacked feminists using the same deceptive terms and tactics that the anti-abortion movement routinely uses. This is just one of their flaws, but it's glaring. They demand what they won't give in return. In fact, they want everything for free, while actively attacking. They might support the easy positions of feminism lite---you know, the things that make life easier for them but their analysis of womens' lives is marked by the single, simple flaw I noted above. They give nothing back. They help no one but themselves, but of course in the process they might accidentally do some good for somebody else. If they can actively hurt somebody, I think they would. And they have. That's the primary difference between them and feminists. Feminists give; sex poxes and anti-feminists take. This is a movement that Camille Paglia describes and approves of when she uses much the same language to bash feminists and justify and glorify rape. It's no coincidence that she describes feminists as weak and ineffective. Until she started bashing them, she was an unknown. Bashing feminists and feminism made her popular, especially with men's magazines. If Playboy Magazine approves of you, it's a sure sign you're doing something wrong.

It's notable that feminists posed no threats to tit jobs and crap like that. And, yes, I love using that language for a practice I think is stupid, dangerous, and actively harmful. Go ahead, cut up your body and while you're at it, don't think about it, either. But don't demand or imply that I have to be silent, or give you my blessing or even express a gushing approval. Getting breast augmentation is a surgical procedure that serves no good purpose. There's nothing wrong with female breasts except when they don't meet patriarchal desires. Some augmentation techniques reduce or end the ability to breast feed.

In fact, breast augmentation is all about keeping women insecure and inward, criticizing themselves instead of the standards by which they are judged. Damned right I'm going to have problems with that, and with any man who supports the process. I feel sorry for women who feel it's necessary to prop up their self esteem; increasing their actual, you know, self esteem would seem to be the best bet instead of catering to the very thing that reduces it. I know some feminists say women who passively or actively go along with the patriarchy shouldn't be regarded as enemies, but hell yes, I have problems with women who promote fake facts and outright lies about abused women and children just so they can turn a profit with their consciences salved. There's that attitude that they get to do what they want no matter who it hurts, isn't it? Women who have boob jobs because they feel wretched are a different animal entirely from women who do it in a cynical ploy to make money off enabling mens' sexist fantasies. Oh, and let me just say that I shouldn't have to say that 'a different animal' is a common phrase, and that I hardly need mention that reconstructive surgery is theoretically out of the discussion? (The sex poxes would seize on those things literally if they could.) Of course, what's the matter with a woman with cancer refusing to undergo surgery just so other people aren't uncomfortable? Again, what is so wrong about the natural female body? Admittedly, men might not pay to use and abuse it, but I happen to think that's a good thing. Of course, I don't think male fantasies about rape and coercion should be the basis of a multi-billion dollar industry in the first place. You'll know we're really post feminist when men don't get off on the idea of forcing a woman to do things just to survive. You'll know that's arrived when women can get paid big bucks for something other than stripping, playing out mens' fantasies of demeaning women, or otherwise catering to men. No woman who has to do that just to survive is going to hear a word from me. Women who boast about their rebellion and their subversion, however, will hear plenty. Christ only knows they haven't been shy about bitching about radfems, no matter how dishonest they actually are. While feminists fought for womens' rights, the sex poxes fought to turn a profit off of glorifying the patriarchy and its demands on women. I don't see any commonality there at all, and I'll be damned if I'll be browbeaten to say so.