Liz's Bits

brainpicker:

lookoutsideyourself:

inthemess:

The Tipsiest Toad of All: It is with great regret that I write to inform you all that I have decided to distance myself from the feminist…

thetipsytoad:

This is not to say that I won’t continue to work until everyone, from every walk of life, is able to enjoy all the rights and privileges that a human being deserves. This is also not to say that I will be identifying myself with any anti-feminist movements. I am simply going to strive to be a compassionate person. It’s funny, actually. It seems that there needn’t be a movement for that at all, rather it should simply be the way things are.

Lately, I have noticed that the feminist movement has really diverged from my initial understanding of it. Many feminists are arguing back and forth, or with potential assets, over what is politically correct and what is offensive. Feminists claim to fight for sympathy, compassion, understanding and equality, but I’ve noticed that a large amount of discrimination and accusation actually comes from a lot of feminists. This place should be an outlet for discussion, but it’s really just a battlefield disguised as one!

Do you see what you are doing? You have one of the greatest tools in the history of the world at your fingertips. You have the power to reach out to thousands of people with your words in less than 24 hours! Lucretia Mott and Emma Goldman would have lunged at the opportunity to spread awareness through such an incredible tool as the internet. Do you think they would have used their words as hateful artillery toward people who only wanted to help, or even to those who disagreed? I doubt it.

One thing I would like to address, as I have previously, is the use of the word “privilege” as an argumentative strategy. I think it is important to make you all understand how that turns a person off to your movement, and how not only is it a fallacious argument — it is completely antithetical to the principle of understanding, which is so important if you want to spread your ideas to others. You can’t really begin to understand a person’s privileges until you understand them as a person.

Someone being a white male does not automatically make them “privileged”. Someone having a job does not make them “privileged” by default. Until you have asked about a person’s struggles, you cannot accuse them of being “privileged” based solely on the fact that they are able-bodied.

I have discussed this in detail before, but a lot of people have accused my boyfriend of being “privileged”, and yet he does still identify with the feminist movement. People have used this term without asking him about his life. Did they know he was homeless for a time? Did they know that he suffers from an anxiety disorder? Did they know he experienced some abuse in the home when he was a child? Or do these things not matter, simply because he is a white male who now has a home, with food on the table?

Some people are discriminating against some very valuable assets, and I for one consider it a miracle that these assets have chosen to remain with the movement.

What is the point of trying to convince us to join your movement if we are not allowed to speak because we are somehow “privileged”? What is the point of a movement at all if you cannot allow discussion?

I seriously doubt that this letter of renouncement will have much effect on the feminist community. But, I do feel that I am representing a large group of voices who have gone silent because of the staggering amount of in-fighting in the movement.

Goodbye, feminism.

Sincerely,
Noelle 

These are very real issues.  Being a feminist doesn’t mean you can’t be a prejudiced shit head sometimes.  Worth the read.

Sad, but I understand. I still call myself a feminist (well, sometimes) despite these issues, but it does bother me a lot.

I disagree with the OP’s definition of privilege (though I do agree that the ‘privilege card’ is overused and derails a lot of discussions), but otherwise this is spot-on. It’s good to know I’m not the only one who feels this way.

One of my main problems with feminism. The obsession with labeling others as privileged (as opposed to focusing on those discriminated against/ oppressed) and the political correctness dominating the feminist discourse.