Us, narcissistic?
Amanda at Pandagon has already done a great job dissecting Jonah Goldberg’s article on the sins of feminism, so I’m not going to go into the whole thing.
However, Samhita and I wanted to address the claim in Goldberg’s headline that the “problem with feminism” is narcissism. Our response is after the jump.
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Wait, are we feminists all butch butch man hating dykes or are we naricisstic supermodels? I'm confused again...
Ssssssssmokin'!
Yeah, I have no shame. You should see the rest of the shots from that night! Sami and I partied on New Year's Eve like the feminist rockstars we are.
Goldberg didn't mean narcissistic that way (superficial, self-absorbed, etc.) he meant that feminism is a universalizing discourse: it purports to speak to the oppression of all women.
For instance, there was bell hooks' criticism of mainstream feminism in _From Margin to Center_. Lesbians stepped forward in the 80s, sicked of being shoved out of the way, of having their experiences denied and ignored. Working class women stepped forth to point out that that their experience of oppression wasn't one of having been kept out of the labor market.
Elizabeth Spellman wrote, in the early 90s IRRC, "The Ampersand Problem in Feminist Thought." By far the best talk about the problem I've ever heard was Linda Alcoff's critique of essentializing discourses in some variants of feminist thought. (199- or 1992, can't recall. I have the paper that was published as a result of that fruitful conference, though. So I'll scan it.)
Patricial Hill Collins also criticized similar problems with mainstream white feminist thought that tried to define "woman" and "woman's oppression" in a too simplistic manner.
In response to those criticisms, there was also works like that of Diana Fuss in _Essentially Speaking_.
I do think he's right insofar as, far too often, I read condescending claims about the women who "dont' get it" or who are "complicit with patriarchy." This is a problem since we aren't likely to win allies by pointing out how dumb others are for not embracing feminism.
Bitch,
Yeah I know. I was just making a joke. Any excuse to put a picture up...
Jessica,
:) Well, don't get me wrong, I love to see beauty. At the time, Pandagon was down, so that might have helped put it in context. I still can't get Pandagon's site. At any rate, it's always struck me that you were quite aware of the history of feminist thought and internal controversies, so I was a little surprised -- though it easy to dismiss Goldberg and want to just mock him instead of take him seriously. We all have a lot of work to do and limited time. It beomes a matter of prioritizing. Me, I tend to blow of proofreading. LOL.
narcissism is actually a virtue of feminism. That is where goldberg goes wrong.
Wait, are we feminists all butch butch man hating dykes or are we naricisstic supermodels? I'm confused again...
Posted by: SarahS [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 11, 2006 04:26 PM
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This warrants a mention, you are in fact a mixture of BOTH groups, there are a few exceptions though of which you should be aware...
The Lipstick Dyke - You know the kind;
"I want all the prissy things in life, my costly hairstyle, expensive preppy clothing, I wanna look like Reece Witherspoon, but I wanna pork woman-ass like Ellen or Rosie, ooooohhh"
The Pussified Mangina - Not a woman per se, but may as well be, he is the nice guy who secretly is in love with shit-crazy girls like you,(and you despise him for it) but does not have the balls to tell you, so he hangs around and listens to your incessant drivel like the sap he is - think of him as a feminist who will never quite be part of the team (for obvious reasons)
Hope this clears this up!