Interview with a Feminist

[Akivah]

What do you think of pornography and the sex trade business? I've read where women themselves are split on these issues. The against crowd says it all exploits women, the for crowd says they can do what they want with their own bodies. What do you think?

 

[Akivah]

Roughly the same that I think of large fraternal organizations where women are not allowed.

Private establishments? It's their business. See how successful it is and how the market and masses respond. Public institutions? Not cool.

I'm not clear on your answer. Are you saying private businesses which restrict their business to just one sex should be allowed to operate?

As an aside, do you think businesses which restrict their business to just one race should be allowed to operate?

 

[MysticSang'ha]

What do you think of pornography and the sex trade business? I've read where women themselves are split on these issues. The against crowd says it all exploits women, the for crowd says they can do what they want with their own bodies. What do you think?

I don't believe pornography itself is inherently objectifying. What I think is problematic is the objectification that already exists in our culture. The ways in which women are already objectified presents the various means of how the porn industry itself exacerbates the objectification already in place.

I see pornography as art. It isn't porn itself that is the problem. The problem is us.

 

[Akivah]

I don't believe pornography itself is inherently objectifying. What I think is problematic is the objectification that already exists in our culture. The ways in which women are already objectified presents the various means of how the porn industry itself exacerbates the objectification already in place.

I see pornography as art. It isn't porn itself that is the problem. The problem is us.

I don't understand what you mean by "objectifying". The underlined sentence is circular to me. Can you explain further?

 

[Smart_Guy]

Warning to readers: this post does not directly attack anyone, but it could sound seriously offensive. Please don't read if you're not open minded and ready to discuss serious issues.

Do you think serious offenders to humanity deserve to be executed at some point and as a possible punishment? Like for example a stalker of an underage girl that rapes her then murders her?

(Sorry for that inhuman example. I wanted to give a real bad case scenario)

 

[MysticSang'ha]

I'm not clear on your answer. Are you saying private businesses which restrict their business to just one sex should be allowed to operate?

As an aside, do you think businesses which restrict their business to just one race should be allowed to operate?

Depends. I don't think any of these answers are dualistic. If a business operates as an intended white-only establishment (we have one down the street from my business), they can do so. Non whites and whites who don't support their mindset just go by word of mouth.

But when we get into advertising and propaganda, this is when we begin to enter hate speech being a possibility. Private establishments I think have the default of freedom, but I don't believe a business or private institution trump an individual's freedoms. That's where the buck stops IMO.

So let's say that there is a largely matriarchal culture dominated in commerce, family, education, and government by women...having women-only establishments present something problematic that ought to be addressed. It leaves men having little to nothing for the social sphere.

This is how much of patriarchy has functioned with little to nothing for women in the social sphere. It may be legal, but ethics might be a problem. Public discourse is beneficial for these situations.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

I don't understand what you mean by "objectifying". The underlined sentence is circular to me. Can you explain further?

Yes.

I see the male gaze as the default assumption of how humanity is defined. Women are mostly considered "other" in religious doctrine and in constitutional determinations.

Because of the "other" status, dehumanization becomes more likely. Women are seen as the sum of specific parts that are seen pleasing or displeasing to the men at the helm, in patriarchal culture.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Warning to readers: this post does not directly attack anyone, but it could sound seriously offensive. Please don't read if you're not open minded and ready to discuss serious issues.

Do you think serious offenders to humanity deserve to be executed at some point and as a possible punishment? Like for example a stalker of an underage girl that rapes her then murders her?

(Sorry for that inhuman example. I wanted to give a real bad case scenario)

I don't see capital punishment as an effective use of resources and/or an example of justice. I do not support capital punishment, even though I understand people have individual desires for vengeance.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

If you could identify a single issue that is most divisive within the feminist community, what would it be (in your estimation)?
Would also be interested on your take on this issue, if you're willing to provide it.

 

[dust1n]

Best looking dictator throughout history?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Best looking dictator throughout history?

Ooooh...great question. Why didn't I think of something interesting like that???

 

[MysticSang'ha]

If you could identify a single issue that is most divisive within the feminist community, what would it be (in your estimation)?
Would also be interested on your take on this issue, if you're willing to provide it.

Racism. By a LONG shot.

The major fronts of feminism tend to be dominated by white college educated cis women. The feminists that tend to be drowned out the most, and who feel the most pushed aside and marginalized, are black women both cis and trans gendered. It became a huge problem with our group when the meetings for Feminists for Racial Justice were inhabited by all white women. We all looked around and said, "This is a BIG problem, y'all."

Many black women do not feel at all represented by white feminism, and so tend to form their own groups by calling them Black Feminism or Womanism. I've attended a few of their meetings, and discovered that my best efforts come from sitting next to them, standing next to them or behind them when their concerns are brought to the major institutions, and to listen intently.

As much as they feel represented with such names, I understand. Much as I feel the "fem" in "feminism" represents gender equality. I support them and do what I can to be a staunch ally.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Best looking dictator throughout history?

You know, I'm just going to have to go with Chiang Kei-Shek.

 

[dust1n]

You know, I'm just going to have to go with Chiang Kei-Shek.

Interesting choice.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Interesting choice.

Is it weird that I have spent a few minutes considering this, and come up with the conclusion that most dictators are butt ugly?
My choice would be a young Gaddafi, for what it's worth. If anyone can come up with a list of hot female dictators, I'll happily consider it.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Racism. By a LONG shot.

The major fronts of feminism tend to be dominated by white college educated cis women. The feminists that tend to be drowned out the most, and who feel the most pushed aside and marginalized, are black women both cis and trans gendered. It became a huge problem with our group when the meetings for Feminists for Racial Justice were inhabited by all white women. We all looked around and said, "This is a BIG problem, y'all."

Right. Makes a lot of sense, since a key component of feminism appears to me based around perspective, bias, etc.
So for feminism to be relevant and applicable to non-cis, or minority ethnicities, you need representation.

Many black women do not feel at all represented by white feminism, and so tend to form their own groups by calling them Black Feminism or Womanism. I've attended a few of their meetings, and discovered that my best efforts come from sitting next to them, standing next to them or behind them when their concerns are brought to the major institutions, and to listen intently.

As much as they feel represented with such names, I understand. Much as I feel the "fem" in "feminism" represents gender equality. I support them and do what I can to be a staunch ally.

Yeah...almost impossible to walk a mile in their shoes, really. But out of interest if you could summarise one or two of their key differences, are they socio-economic in nature, or more cultural?

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Right. Makes a lot of sense, since a key component of feminism appears to me based around perspective, bias, etc.
So for feminism to be relevant and applicable to non-cis, or minority ethnicities, you need representation.



Yeah...almost impossible to walk a mile in their shoes, really. But out of interest if you could summarise one or two of their key differences, are they socio-economic in nature, or more cultural?

Hmmm...

Police brutality is a big one from what I have heard. As well as cultural appropriation and hyper-sexualization of black women's bodies and physical features.

 

[Nietzsche]

There was something I wanted to ask here a while ago but I kept forgetting. If this has been asked already I apologize, I've not been keeping recent with the thread(I've had rights to wrong and such).

How much misogyny/anti-feminism today, do you think, is less active "keep women down" and is more just cultural inertia? I personally think that a good chunk of the problems right now are less because of active resistance and more just that change happens slowly, albeit with a good push or two along the way. At least, I hope that's what the problem is. I don't know if it's because I'm, you know, the dominant type of individual on the planet(mostly straight, sickeningly white albeit remarkably feminine-looking guy) and that means it's just harder for me to see all the problems, or if(fingers crossed) it is just that some things take time and that cultural inertia is a very powerful force. We're creatures of habit, after all.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

There was something I wanted to ask here a while ago but I kept forgetting. If this has been asked already I apologize, I've not been keeping recent with the thread(I've had rights to wrong and such).

How much misogyny/anti-feminism today, do you think, is less active "keep women down" and is more just cultural inertia? I personally think that a good chunk of the problems right now are less because of active resistance and more just that change happens slowly, albeit with a good push or two along the way. At least, I hope that's what the problem is. I don't know if it's because I'm, you know, the dominant type of individual on the planet(mostly straight, sickeningly white albeit remarkably feminine-looking guy) and that means it's just harder for me to see all the problems, or if(fingers crossed) it is just that some things take time and that cultural inertia is a very powerful force. We're creatures of habit, after all.

Oh I see it the same way. At our meetings, it's good to keep checking our own internalized misogyny because feminists aren't immune to cultural conditioning either. We still apologize when we start to speak, and we will correct each other that apologizing JUST because we want to say something is not necessary.

It's funny when it happens, but it's also a good indicator of how powerful patriarchal culture is.

The hundredth monkey, so to speak, hasn't quite occurred yet with post-modernist feminism. Voting rights and the workplace are no-brainers for women's presence. Rape culture and micro aggressions are still seen as the rhetoric of man-hating lesbian separatists according to mainstream thought.

It will take time. Things like this always do.

 

[Debater Slayer]

What is your opinion on the niqab and burqa from a feminist perspective? Do you view them as signs of oppression, or do you think it depends on whether women choose to wear them on their own?

Also, what do you think of the bans on both outfits in certain countries?