06 February 2009

"Women"

I tried to make a list to see if anything on it would constitute a universally inclusive state or experience that could group together all people who see themselves or are seen as women. But I could not do it. And even if I could function on the assumption that I only have to find a 99% majority similarity, there then would have to be made yet another list that would determine why that 1% that were not originally included, but maybe wanted to be, could be included as exceptions... and then I was just back at the beginning again.

It seems that it is true that the founders of feminism felt that the factor in-common was their oppression by men. But then, as people like Spelman have pointed out, this oppression, if it existed at all, basically had only a common history with white women. So why then, once this fallacy of the movement was revealed, didn't women who were not white declare feminism an inherently exclusionary movement that could never express the history and experience of all women, and therefore could not move forward any coherent agendas? The only answer I can think of right now is because of the initial emotive pull of feminism's use of the word "women"... its claim to represent all women made those who felt their voices were not included inclined to move in and change what feminism was so that they were part of the movement. But now that they are acknowledged and included... what is "feminism", anyway? If there is no specific identity of who feminism represents, and no shared goals and platforms that feminism promotes... is it even a meaningful term any longer? Or is there still some underlying assumption on the part of all feminists that they are in fact oppressed by men? And if so, what kind of oppression is this that is universally claimable by all women? And how are we to determine and persuade that it is indeed oppression if some women reject that premise entirely?

__________________________________________________________________

Basically it seems like the only thing the feminist movement can do at this point is either 1) dismantle the embedded stereotypes (/platonic ideals) of "women" (but why and to what extent?) OR 2) create a new meaning/platonic ideal of women that will be something to live up to (but why and to what extent...) OR both. But why and to... ...yeah

No comments:

Post a Comment