General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why "fun feminism" should be consigned to the rubbish bin [View all]Alcibiades
(5,061 posts)There was this wrong turn that feminism took, and it seemed to happen in the 1980s and 1990s. At that time, many leading feminists retreated to women's study departments and began writing theory, which began to take on an esoteric character that seemed alien to the actual lives of most women, garbage about whether consensual sex between men and women was even possible under the existing patriarchal system, which to my mind demeaned and trivialized actual violence aganst women.
The one example the author cites of the "slutwalk" I think actually disproves her point. As we saw recently with Limbaugh, there are some folks out there, yes, mainly men, who still use the concept and slur of the "slut" as a hammer against the rights of women. These slutwalkers, whoever they are, are showing more of a knowledge of the "theory and practice" of feminism than the author credits them with: they are engaging in an ironic form of political theater that makes a point. Sadly, it's the mark of a zealot, left or right, that they don't do irony well.