January 1, 2012

Speaking as a 2nd Waver, I think 3rd Wave, as described

is part of the backlash AGAINST feminism. I really do.

As for what's wrong with it (or wrongheaded), I just found this comment in another thread which IMO demonstrates perfectly why and how one aspect of 3rd wave feminism is dangerous to women:

thread: Research from Geena Davis's Institute on Gender in Media.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1139&pid=351

comment:

16. Just watched A League of Their Own last night.

I love Geena Davis the actress and the activist in gender equality. Women and girls are constantly being portrayed as nothing more than sex toys for men's pleasure. We are more often than not taken less seriously because of our gender and that limits our potential success in society.

Note: Because of the above comments on the girl with the dragon tattoo - I rented it and returned it the same night. Anyone who found that to be entertainment is morbid. Sexual violence is not entertainment, it is an epidemic that should be shamed and eradicated - not sold as recreation.

First, there was NEVER a prohibition by 2nd wavers on sex or enjoying sex. If anything, we invented the term "double standard" and were absolutely adamant that women could be just as promiscuous as men (if they wanted) and not be denigrated for it. We led the way in getting a woman's previous sexual history and behavior just prior to rape excluded from rape investigations and trials. And so forth and so on. Not that these are all adequately nailed down, but that we were right there on the front lines for these and other issues.

It was feminists who created COYOTE, Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics -- a rights group for prostitutes.

But 2nd wave feminists also clearly identified the nexus between the sex industry and the degradation of women in other ways. I am personally convinced that we will NEVER be equal and free while pornography and other parts of the sex industry flourish. That's not calling for them to be outlawed, but for people to be at least educated and/or shamed away from participation. (Shame in the sense of: gee, now that I understand how it hurts women, I won't support that. Just as many people have been educated/shamed away from drunk driving.) Feminists also identified the nexus between both the economic oppression of women and sexual abuse as contibuting factors to women (and also men) entering the field as workers -- both horrible human rights blights on humanity. So I concur completely with this statement from the OP:

Other critics argue that the Third Wave feminists do more damage than good by equating women’s sexuality with power. Critics argue that this kind of sexual empowerment is purely individual and does not lead to social change, and in fact promotes the sexualization of women.

Anyone who equates their sexuality as women with power have been sold a bill of goods -- and by whom? Supporters of patriarchy, of course.

Third Wave feminists are encouraged to build their own identities from the available buffet, and to not worry if the items on their plate are not served together traditionally. Women can unapologetically celebrate a plate full of entrée choices like soccer mom, career woman, lover, wife, lesbian, activist, consumer, girly girl, tomboy, sweetheart, bitch, good girl, princess, or sex symbol.

The buffet was made possible by 2nd wave feminists, and it worries us (okay, makes some of us absolutely hysterical) to see it so poorly understood and appreciated that 3rd wave women risk it all through their inattention to political realities, their complacency, and their gleeful, wrongheaded pursuit of "sexual freedom" which they believe empowers them (?????? that last doesn't even pass the common sense test).

We're not looking for thanks, but merely the political sensibilities that 3rd wavers so they can help safeguard what passes for a little equality and not lose any more ground.

Does anyone who thinks of themselves as 3rd or in between 2nd and 3rd understand what the motto, "The personal is the political" means? Have any of you ever given it any thought? I think I'm going to open a separate thread for that.

January 1, 2012

No, actually, it wasn't

a great breakdown of the different waves. I don't mean to jump on YOU -- welcome, by the way -- it's just that you offered the too perfect jumping in place.

I'm a confirmed 2nd Waver, and I did not recognize our movement in there.

And what I saw of 3rd Wave, as described, leaves me very annoyed because it makes women of that era look simply ignorant -- ignorant of the rationale, theory, HISTORY, as well as too pampered, lazy and narcissistic to bother doing any better.

And it makes me angry because some of the things ascribed to 3rd wave women are dangerous (harmful) for women as a class and I don't know how it happened, but I strongly suspect some of our foes crept into some of the universities somehow and infected the women's study curricula with anti-woman lies wrapped up and sold as "improvements" and "advances" when they're nothing of the sort. People like Christina Hoff, for example, or Camille Paglia. Blech.

December 24, 2011

Yet another reason to avoid Facebook

Exclusive: Leaked Details of How Facebook Plans To Sell Your Timeline to Advertisers
http://www.betabeat.com/2011/12/23/exclusive-leaked-details-of-how-facebook-plans-to-sell-your-timeline-to-advertisers/

In what seemed like an unrelated move, in September, Facebook announced a brand new type of profile called Timeline, where your whole personal history is laid out by month-by-month, all the way back to your birth. At the time, Facebook described it to consumers as a chance to: “Share and highlight your most memorable posts, photos and life events on your timeline. This is where you can tell your story from beginning, to middle, to now.” By the end of this year all 800 million plus Facebook profiles will have been converted to this new interface.

What most users don’t know is that the new features being introduced are all centered around increasing the value of Facebook to advertisers, to the point where Facebook representatives have been selling the idea that Timeline is actually about re-conceptualizing users around their consumer preferences, or as they put it, “brands are now an essential part of people’s identities.”

The name itself is cleverly designed to conceal the fact that your profile no longer arranges information chronologically. Yes, things are laid out by year and by month. But, when it comes to what’s displayed to your social circle at any given time, other metrics, including direct payments to Facebook itself, will now influence the ranking and placement of stories. This payola will be a crucial part of the graph rank, the new metric for placement that the social network uses to determine what appears on your profile.

December 22, 2011

avaaz.org

Have you ever heard of it?

Very cool worldwide organization: http://www.avaaz.org/en/about.php

Joining costs nothing, requires nothing. Add your voice, and then spread it around.

December 22, 2011

My Alert turned into a "duisruptive" alert even tho I chose Off-Topic

And of course all the jurors said Leave it. I would have too.

But I'm not at all happy with that result, esp. since our alert history will show at some point or may already, and it seems to me it must be a glitch, unless it defaulted somewhere in the process and I didn't notice -- ??

Anyone experience anything like this?

December 22, 2011

From my email today -- Bring light into the world

And it's also on Saxon Knight's website along with the videos (which I haven't watched yet): http://www.listenbeloved.com/

I'm hoping that since it was from my email, that it won't be considered a copyright violation to post it here, with full attribution (consider if I'd forwarded it). It's a wonderful message, I thought, one which fits nicely with other information that's been posted here recently. PLUS, I love the practical advice included in it.

Bring light into the world

Brighten each place, wherever you stand, wherever you speak, wherever you think, be a light.

Bring joy to sadness, calm to terror, peace to aggression and love to sadness. This is the way to live in your world, not dwelling in pain and suffering, anger and resentment or lack but on beauty, happiness, enjoyment and embracing each one whoever they are.

It does not matter if their opinions differ to yours, if they looks strange to you in appearance or manner. If you are willing to accept the diversity of plant and animal on Earth why is the great and wonderful differences of each human so difficult to embrace?

If you focus only on differences, if you focus on anger, suffering and pain you can never benefit those you seek to help.

Can you see Beloved if you understand solely from the viewpoint of sympathy, anger, outrage and injustice your choices are limited and your actions clouded by fear. But if you are able to feel love, strong powerful love towards those you wish to aid and leave behind the lesser emotions of fear and helplessness you bring empathy, courage, strength and power to your thoughts and actions.

This is how you can light your world.

It is not about feeling forgiveness for the transgressor. It is not about allowing reprisal or revenge. It is about focusing all your efforts in feeling love for those you view as oppressed, unloved and in need of your support, whoever or wherever they are in your world.

This act of pure love is the greatest gift you can give to yourself as well as others.

Just love Beloved nothing else is needed.

Allow this season of love to be the way you live your life every day. Bring joy to your family, to your friends and those you meet.

Add your light to the light of the world.

----------------------------------

Add your light to the light of the world.

To continue the theme of Christmas I would like to share with you some short videos on the Seraphim Angels Guide to Christmas

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Please take the time to share with me your experiences and insights of how the teachings of the Seraphim Angels has helped you, email me at [email protected].

Love and blessings, Saxon

Rev. Saxon Knight, Angel Minister, author and translator of the teachings of the Seraphim Angels

December 13, 2011

Irt's not about being offended

Read Gormy Cuss's excellent response, to which I'll add that language both reveals how a culture (and the individuals in it) sees, understand and thinks about things and also shapes and molds how a culture sees, understand and thinks about things.

That's why language is so important. In the early days of 2nd Wave Feminism, women were adamant about changing some of the language to be more inclusive so that it would force people to think more inclusively about women and our place in the world.

For example, if the only word used for the head of a committee is chairMAN, people don't EVER think about a woman being the chair. If "man invented this" and "mankind invented that," women's contributions -- which have been enormous -- are never even considered a possibility. If HUMANkind did this or that, it's gender neutral and automatically implies the work done and advancements achieved were at least due to both sexes' involvement.

Now, if you can call any woman a bitch and other dehumanizing words like chick and far worse, if you can disrespect women or a specific woman so much as to denigrate her on the basis of her gender, then she isn't as good as any man, which means she must be slightly less than human -- because men are the default humans, you see -- if you can do that, you can do much worse to her. The LEAST bad language does is promote disrespect for women as a class and individually.

And where does that disrespect lead? Well, you'll probably see me say this again and again: sexism kills; racism kills; homophobia kills. Sexism kills quickly (e.g., violence against women), and it kills slowly (e.g., less access to heatlhcare, medical studies not including women at all, etc.).

So - whether you know it or not, whether you can see or recognize it or not, YOUR life is much less than it could be and should be because of sexism in our society. One of its most visible -- and challengeable -- manifestations is sexist language. As a society we are getting away from using racial slurs and homophobic slurs, it's time to get away from gender slurs as well.

December 12, 2011

Please understand that

this comment, which you did qualify with "sometimes" is only ONE scenario:

and then they loan it (sometimes) to people who are in bad financial situations

Remember that there were several other and more common scenarios:

* Loans people COULD afford at the time but they were adjustable (ARM) and got out of hand. With the bad economy their own incomes didn't match what they expected in signing for an adjustable mortgage.

* Loans people COULD afford but then the bad economy happened and one or both incomes ended.

* Loans people COULD afford but then they ran into a financial problem for one or more months (say with some emergency extra expenses), and with fees and penalties got set permanently back -- or bad enough that they couldn't recoup. Remember that the banks are being absolutely UNFORGIVING on these things.

* Loans people COULD afford but then housing bubble burst and suddenly they were underwater -- owed more on their houses than the current market value. Continue paying these exorbitant prices, or -- ?? OR, WORSE, needing to sell for some reason (job moving?) but can't under those circumstances.

One of the most important things to remember is how inflexible and intractable and corrupt the banks have been. The HAMP program -- federal money given to the banks to use to help homeowners who COULD continue to keep their homes -- have simply not been used to any extent. Why? If there was much equity, the banks WANTED those homes.

There've been cases where the banks have foreclosed on houses they didn't hold the mortgage on in the first place (and I'm not just talking about missing paperwork), houses that were fully paid off, and houses on which the owner had never missed or been late on a payment. IOW, they have been gleefully STEALING people's homes, and I see no end in sight.

The "homes they couldn't afford" meme is the 1% explanation, designed to blame the victims and obfuscate their criminality.

December 11, 2011

And I've been shocked to see, right here at DU, how many men think they ARE entitled to

the affections of women, if not sex itself. ENTITLED. It's subtle -- they'll complain somewhat bitterly about what good guys they are but can't get any pretty women, and that has to mean that women are just interested in the jerks and don't want NICE men like them. Or that women just go after the guys with money or a fancy car.

So it's women's fault that they can't find someone to share their lives with.

They don't seem to think it even a possibility that personality, character, values, intelligence, sense of humor and chemistry and yes, appearance, might be involved and that they might work on their own sets of those characteristics.

It worries me sometimes because that kind of resentment toward women isn't healthy and can sometimes result in some pretty unhappy outcomes.

December 11, 2011

Bullies

... a bully is a bully whether he’s on the playground trying to take your lunch money or in a three piece suit trying to take away your rights. Bullies of any sort need to be stood up to or they’ll continue to take advantage every time they get a chance. And the most effective way to fight off bullies is strength in numbers: Solidarity.

I found that in an interview in this odd place, which was posted in another thread: http://www.workerspower.net/an-injury-to-one-is-an-injury-to-all-an-interview-with-a-rank-and-file-member-of-the-ilwu

It's absolutely true. Further, you give them an inch, they'll take a mile.

It's true of sexual harassment -- the questionable or off-color comment turns into something a little moreso next time, and then even worse after that; it's true of child sexual abuse where the perp "grooms" the child in much the same way by introducing not-that-objectionable activity early and increasing it; it's true in government and industry where those who commit crimes and are NOT held accountable just pave the way for more of their own and others' criminal pursuits; and it's true of everyday bullying.

Let's all promise to see and hear what we see and hear (i.e., not go into denial, not give the benefit of the doubt) and speak up to confront bullies of all stripes in all places and make them STOP. We must also make them stop lying to us.

And oh, just in case it's necessary, I think this thread belongs here because it applies to people in government and corporations.