Wednesday 17 December 2008

Feminism: ur doing it rong

Dammit Janet and Jeeze Louise. What the hell is so difficult about feminism?

There are two stupid snits going on right now in the Canadian blogosphere both demonstrating that, as Barbie would say, 'feminism is hard!'

Snit One: the annual clusterf*ck over a feminist category at the Canadian Blog Awards. First, the nominations were freeped. Then, an 'outside expert' with cred in 'Women's Studies' was called on to cull them, during which Noted Feminist Blogger and Vicious Abortion Crusader, JJ at Unrepentant Old Hippie, got booted.

Luckily -- and it must have been sheer luck -- the winner, Shameless, is not only a good read but is also actually Feminist.

If your head hasn't met your desk in a while, go read the discussion here in which we feminazis are being given a lesson in 'inclusive' feminism that apparently should include people who say 'I am not a feminist'.

Snit Two: SUZY ALLCAPS gave the world a dazzling display of her pre-xmas Xian charity in a five-part rant about evul feminazism that JJ, the Insufficiently Feminazi, blogged about here, which in turn inspired our deBeauxOs to respond.

One of ALLCAPS's biggest boogeywomen is Status of Women Canada, or as SHE dubs it, SOW, complete with a logo sporting a lipsticked pig. Again, the Sadly Lacking in Feminist Cred, JJ, took HER on here.

Then, Canadian Cynic got into it. There's a link to the idiocy going on in HER comments here.

All I can say is: Oy.

BONUS (USian) SNIT: Go read matttbastard on a Merkin so-called progressive who demonstrates a narsty streak of bitchiness.

11 comments:

Dr.Dawg said...

The second place in the category was won by someone (Choice in Childcare) who doesn't appear all that feminist to me, but heck, who am I to decide who is or is not a feminist? I don't have a women's studies degree. I'm the wrong gender too. Please delete this comment. :)

deBeauxOs said...

And if this were CC's blogging kingdom, we'd offer you a towel snap to the 'nads with that.

;)

But since we're evul feminazis with the occasional soft spot in our hearts for the menz who really, really 'get it', you can go in peace. Besides, it's my favourite late December religious festival of pagan∕judeo∕christian origins.

JJ said...

LOL - I don't care about not making the cut, I still think it's funny, but I am quickly becoming NOT amused by what's happened to the feminist category.

It pisses me off that someone who plainly says and I quote, "I'm no feminist", would even be included in the category. She's no feminist? Fine. I'm no vlogger, which is why my blog wasn't nominated in that category (let alone win 2nd).

Let's be honest about what's happened here: CforC was one of the non-feminist blogs the conservatives voted in to compromise the category, along with big blue wave and a lot of other anti-feminist blogs. Unfortunately, it was the only one not culled by the expert because the childcare is considered a feminist issue. If the expert had looked a little deeper, she would have found that CforC advocates against daycare, not exactly a feminist position.

Look, this has nothing to do with me, I wouldn't have made the cut whether CforC was there or not, that's cool. But it pisses me off that there are lots of good feminist blogs whose writers don't maintain that "I'm no feminist", and have never taken part in the Blogging Tories' "Anti-Sow blogburst" 2 years ago. Any of those blogs could have been voted up there if Choice for Childcare wasn't wasting 2nd place.

Boom. That's it.

Anonymous said...

I haven't read the CforC blog, but I think this can easily be turned on its head for the simple reason that women who advocate for choice for childcare are operating on a feminist analysis (i.e. the analysis of the shadow economy) whether they know it or not.
Thanks fern for posting the link to Shameless, it looks like a well-written and interesting blog.
In a stoopid but predictable development at BBW, SHE has suggested that I am a lesbian - not sure what that was about. I am growing tired of gracing her unworthy blog comments with my gentle and thoughtful presence. :-)

fern hill said...

Lesbian, eh? Some of my best friends. . . ;)

By the way, JJ herownself has just weighed in to the discussion in the first link up there.

Beijing York said...

You could sniff a conservative rat with just her blog's title, Choice for Childcare. Give me a freaking break. That was "borrowed" directly from Harper's 2008 election campaign/propaganda material.

Anonymous said...

Who the hell was this so-called judge?
Choice for childcare is not feminist in any form - liberal? radical? socialist feminism? NOPE!

Seriously, there are too many morons "running things" in the blogosphere...that is why I participate less as it makes me want to bang my head on a wall.

deBeauxOs said...

One gracious response to Blob Blogging Wingnut's pathetic attempt to discredit you, brebis noire, on the basis of what SHE perceives to be your sexual orientation is the following: "Your comment is an error of fact, not the insult you intended it to be."

Anonymous said...

Yes - that would have been a more concise way of putting it.
SHE is also incredibly long-winded - completely unreadable 90% of the time. So many words...so little to say.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your post and these links. I'm totally pissed off about this and about the suggestions that it's unimportant because it's "just a little contest run by volunteers" so who cares? We're part of some kind of community and if someone, volunteer or otherwise, is going to the trouble to run the contest, it would be nice to see it run properly.

Maybe the feminist blogs should come together and run our own contest.

fern hill said...

Hi, alterwords.

This brouhaha has long roots. Last year, the CBA declined to have a feminist category at all, because it was 'objectionable to some' (or was it 'offensive'? I can't remember.) So we feminist bloggers grrrlcotted the awards and the awesome gals at ACR hosted and ran an excellent contest.

The winners were announced here.

There are rumours that the Second Annual F-Word Awards are being cooked up as we speak. ;)

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