The idea to start basic lessons in feminism has been floating around in my head for some time now, and I came up with this. Feminism 101 will (hopefully) be a recurring bit.
Also known as the gender binary hierarchy, the gender binary is extremely prevalent in mainstream society. Its purpose is to maintain gender roles, which ultimately plays a role in upholding the Patriarchy. It does this by limiting women and men to specific roles and behaviours. In particular, men are assigned what are regarded as the dominant and wanted characteristics while women are constrained to the less favoured traits. Also keep in mind the gender binary completely excludes transsexuals. Here’s a list to provide some examples of the gender binary at work:
Male / Female
Dominant / Submissive
Rational / Emotional
Mind / Body
Strong / Weak
Other binaries may also be applied to more specific examples of life as well. For example, in medicine:
Doctor / Patient
Skilled / Unskilled (Professional / Unprofessional)
Normal / Pathological
These are only a few examples and, of course, there will be exceptions, but these hold as general rules. I leave it to you to find everyday examples. Leave them in the comments if you like.
Before I leave this first lesson in Feminism 101, though, I’d like to remind you that the binary is easy to challenge, but women - and men - who choose to oppose it face consequences. Nevertheless, it is necessary for us to challenge the norms so that we can bring the Patriarchy down and end oppression.
Many of you may not know that I’m dead in the middle of exams right now. I have two more to write and will be done Thursday. This weekend I’ll also be taking off to the Alberta Public Interest Research Group retreat as I’ve recently been elected to a board position, and that will be a lot of fun. So, long story short: Posts are a bit scarce for a reason right now, but I’ll be on track as soon as I’m free. I’m also looking desperately for a summer job, which doesn’t help.
Anyway, for those of you on Facebook, I encourage you to add the Doing Feminism page to your profile! That would be pretty great.
That’s really it for now. Thanks so much for reading, everyone.
Some time ago, I wrote about Steak and a Blowjob Day. Well, I’m a bit behind the ball on this one, but there is now a (WARNING: LINK IS NOT WORK SAFE) Cake and Cunnilingus Day. Scheduled a month behind Steak and a Blowjob Day, those who knew about it would have celebrated it April 14.
According to the site, Cake and Cunnilingus Day “is about celebrating female pleasure.” Now, that’s something I can certainly get behind.
Valentine’s Day is for lovers, no matter what their gender. It’s about emotion, about committment, about relationships.
Cake and Cunnilingus Day is a little more carnally obsessed. Forget the roses! This day puts the focus on women, their sexuality… and their tastebuds!
Now, some of you may be wondering how I could possibly support a day like Cake and Cunnilingus Day, yet condemn Steak and a Blowjob Day. The reason is, quite simply, women’s sexuality is often ignored, and this day challenges that. Furthermore, as I stated earlier, every day is a man’s day. I say what’s wrong with something like this? (Ignoring the pornography aspect of the site, but that’s a topic for another post.) Of course this day is treated as a joke (as is Steak and a Blowjob Day, to a certain, but certainly lesser extent), but it will be a great day indeed when people come to understand the absurd idea that women actually have sexual desires. Shocking, isn’t it?
If you’re a woman but you missed this holiday, hell, celebrate it late anyway! Just remember: Be safe, everyone!
On that note, here’s a bit of fun, courtesy of Monty Python:
I don’t take credit for this idea at all. Rather, I got it from the fantastic Mikhaela Reid, who opens up her book (which I highly recommend, by the way) with a comic detailing how she became so political. So, following her footsteps, I thought it would be a bit of a fun post detailing how I grew up to become a feminist despite being raised in embarrassingly conservative rural Alberta. I suspect there will be more posts like this in the future, but for now, I’ll stick with one focus at a time.
I can say with relative confidence that the most important figure in my life not only for my feminism, but for who I am as a person, was my cousin, Nathan. Nathan was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on November 14, 1982. Nearly five years later I was born, and for as long as I can remember, we’d always been close, despite the age difference.
Soon before my fifth birthday, I moved to where I spent most of my life: Athabasca, Alberta. Nevertheless, we stayed close, and I doubt I’ll ever forget the excitement I’d feel on the six-hour trip between Athabasca and Saskatoon, in anticipation of seeing my favourite person in the world.
I wouldn’t say anything politically significant came out of our relationship until we both became older, but during those younger years he became more than my cousin: he was my best friend and mentor. Ultimately, our relationship was characterised in such a way that I probably would have believed anything he said. I recall one afternoon in a bookstore, McNally Robinson, if I remember correctly, when I told him I was thinking about studying to be a psychiatrist when I got out of high school (I don’t know what I was thinking!). I don’t remember ever being talked out of something so fast. He said something along the lines of how they don’t solve people’s problems, they just prescribe them pills that often makes matters worse. I realise I was in a potentially dangerous situation, taking everything Nathan said for granted, but he really was one of the greatest people I know. Hell, probably the greatest.
This past Friday, I attended a lecture by Dr. Rebecca Stringer, a professor from the University of Otago in New Zealand, who presented, “Fact, Fiction, and the Foetus: Violence Against Pregnant Women and the Politics of Abortion.” It was, primarily, an academic approach to the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA) in America.
America previously used the “born alive” rule when dealing with harm inflicted on the foetus, which held that matters such as homicide or assault only applied to children outside the womb, so that a foetus in utero, if harmed, would result in no charge against the person who had harmed it. UVVA overturned this.
As you may or may not have noticed, I’m trying to make some changes around the site. I’ve added some links (more will be added later), and I’m going to work on making the site look a little nicer, too. It’s just so… plain.
Now, you may have also noticed a significant change: Doing Feminism now has its own domain! It’s pretty exciting stuff. Anyway, keep an eye out for new changes, and, if you feel so inclined, maybe offer some pointers as to what you’d like to see changed. I’m not very experienced with designing websites!
Oh, Men’s Rights Activists: Where would we be without you? Well, on numerous occasions, my blog stats would have been a lot lower (and they’ll probably be much higher after I post this). I’m afraid the benefits - for me, at least - don’t extend beyond that. MRAs are, ultimately, harmful to many goals for equality, and, perhaps worse, are harmful to their own cause: No one wants to grant more “freedoms” (I hear that’s what they call them) to assholes. Of course, I don’t want to discount the good intentions of many men who are combating injustices committed against them, such as violence against men, or, at times the unfair treatment they receive in court systems, especially regarding custody battles - these are, I feel, legitimate concerns when dealt with properly (i.e. by not distorting statistics). To avoid confusion, these men may be referred to as feminists, or pro-feminists, or, to ensure maximum comfort, feminist-friendly men. These men are not assholes. MRAs are assholes. So, to avoid being a terribly misguided, misogynist, MRA douchebag, here’s an easy guide to help you find out if you already are one:
Posted by Derek
Posted by Derek
Posted by Derek
