Author: Ray Filar (Page 2 of 2)

An Angry, Militant Feminist

It seems like we’ve all become apologists for a brand of feminism that stands for anything as long as it also stands in opposition to such contentious issues as anger, militancy, bra-burning, hairy legs, lesbianism, etc etc. In this game, any expression of aggression or force is immediately put in a box marked ‘crazy militant feminist, run for your life’. When what I say can be seen as ‘in that box’, my opinion is necessarily invalid. It seems to me that people in the small ‘l’ liberal, middle-class circles that I inhabit believe vaguely in the equality of men and women, but any real attempt to address said equality in a feminist rather than broadly egalitarian framework is somehow identified with crazy militant feminism. It is therefore ignored.  Continue reading

Conversations With My Brother

Amongst other vital pursuits such as pottering around aimlessly and reading other feminist blogs, one of the tasks I set myself for this holiday was awakening in my teenage brother a glimmer of feminist consciousness. My younger sister cottoned onto feminism a few years ago, and delights in telling me about arguments she has with her philosophy class and general peer group on such contentious propositions as ‘it’s harder to be a woman than a man in today’s society, isn’t it?’ and ‘how feminism would be an appropriate topic for an assembly in an all-girls school.’ Apparently one girl literally opposed the latter idea (‘and got a verbal smack in the face for it’, says my sister). In any case, I’ve been discoursing away about the sex/gender distinction and the representation of women within popular culture for the last few weeks, and I think I’m beginning to have an effect. My brother has now agreed to read some feminist literature (a great step forward, his original responses were ‘why?! What will it say?’ and ‘what’s the point?! I’ll only disagree with all of it!’)

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