So, as I have decided to start using this blog more regularly and to write longer things, I figured I should write about what I know so most of what I write about will be film as that's my favorite thing to discuss. However, being a Women and Gender Studies major with a minor in Sexuality Studies, I can't resist the chance to talk about many different theories and ideas that relate to feminist and queer theory. Specifically, my idea is to talk about different concepts or theories and theorists that might not be known by people who are not in these types of classes or are heavily involved in reading feminist literature. As I'll discuss today, I believe that what feminism is to me has been lost in everyday conversation and the media discussions of feminism. I also see that academia is seen as boring, off-putting and elitist. While that can often be true, I feel like I should use the knowledge I've gained through reading much better writers and thinkers should be shared with as many people as possible and am hoping to do that. First off, I'm going to use this post to explain my call for everybody who wishes to truly participate in feminism and overall, be a decent human being. That doesn't mean that you must identify as a feminist to be a decent human being but that some of these feminist concepts will really demonstrate the ways in which human decency can easily be lost. So take this as my introduction to what feminism means to me in my ridiculously privileged position.
My positionality in relation to feminism is not the typical voice you'd see discussing these ideas. I am an upper-class, white, able bodied, Canadian queer male which gives me far too many privileges. My ability to write this post is a privilege because many people whose voices deserve to be heard cannot be due to the societal limits their lack of privilege places upon them. My goal is only to simplify and combine many other theorists ideas and my own observations and analysis of different medias and events to spread some of these ideas through the limited audience I have. I'll try to point you in the right direction to many important theorists, articles and books in case something I talk about really resonates and to give credit to those whose ideas are fundamental to my own understanding of the world.
So...feminism. It's a loaded word that has a million definitions. But it's one of those words that everybody thinks they know what it means. I certainly don't have a definitive idea of the term but I do know what it's meant to me. However, to truly express that, I must draw on the use of some other terms.
In the same way that we all understand feminism, we all know what racism means, right? Sexism? Homophobia? Maybe patriarchy? If we've been to university, we probably know whiteness and heteronormativity? Oh and if we're evil followers of Edward Said as the shockingly popular documentary about Obama that dominated theatres this summer suggests, we probably have heard of orientalism. These terms are all revelations in a way that touch on issues of social inequality that affects our world in ways that has been discussed both by academics and everyday people with intensity. However, the issue that I have found is that while people may have these terms in their back pockets and can easily notice when something seems unequal, they often seem to have the same issue, very often in the very next sentence.
For example, I was listening to this highly pretentious podcast where they analyze art using way too many university terms but it can often be interesting so I've been listening to it. In one episode, they discussed the anniversary of the children's album, Free To Be You and Me. One of the hosts noted that one of the songs had a heteronormative ending which is wonderful, of course. Clearly, this heterosexual woman has read about heteronormativity and has internalized the concept which allows her to use it in a casual analysis of this song. However, in a later segment, the same woman agrees to the argument that a website that discusses the gender politics of texting is fine because it's normal for women to go to their girlfriends to talk about the texts that men have sent them. Personally, I would view this statement as heteronormative and deeply problematic. In similar ways, you could have a wonderful discussion about the need for religious tolerance and in the next sentence have a dismissal of "Muslim countries" and the supposed values of that religion. Another example could be the acceptance of people with developmental delays or that exist on the autism spectrum by an able bodied person who then laughs at Ben Stiller's portrayal of these same disabilities in Tropic Thunder which is always justified as laughing at Hollywood and the Oscar race but of course, gives this person the ability to use the term "full retard" without giving in their human decency card.
Now, it's obvious that nobody is perfect and of course, the process of unlearning is a complicated process especially when it's attitudes that seemingly don't affect you due to your privilege and in this way are harder to internalize. However, my call is that it doesn't matter if you know the terms, if you have a gay best friend, don't support the colonization of the Middle East, don't dress as an "Indian" for Halloween or other forms of common decency and knowledge. These concepts are important because they affect the way people in various oppressed groups are seen in the wider culture and directly determine the way they are treated.
Personally, the greatest example as I can give as somebody who identified as gay for many years is those who are allies to gay people. Cool, great, human decency is always wonderful. However, if you are going to fight for gay marriage and the removal of Don't Ask Don't Tell and then participate in hetoronormativity and tell me there is nothing wrong with that because that's how the majority of people are, I don't really want you as an ally. It's not enough to tolerate other people and to accept them for who they are. What is necessary is self-reflexion and unlearning of the values that come along with heteronormativity and various other terms. Heteronormativity is based heavily in patriarchy, so we must also erradicate sexist attitudes to truly support equality of sexual difference. Heteronormativity tells us that society depicts it as less than normal and not part of the norm. This means that it must be treated as something as natural as heterosexuality and that we must challenge our points of view.
The process of unlearning and constantly trying to create new knowledge that allows for oppressed groups to become less oppressed is a requirement for getting your human decency card in my book. So, for me, feminism is about social change and the process of unlearning and accepting other's difference. Through accepting other's difference, we can often learn a lot about the attitudes we have ourselves and reach new understandings of ourselves which is necessary for social change. We must recognize the privilege these terms denote to us and then work through our own attitudes to try to remove the effects of this privilege.
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