The failings of ‘choice Feminism’
There are two reasons why choice Feminism doesn’t work as a philosophy for anyone whose goal is improving the lives of women; all choices are not equal and all choices are made within larger contexts (contexts in which endless choice is impossible). The first story I came across that illustrated this point was the story of a former ‘playboy bunny’ who publicly shamed her former employer for their degrading practices. The second was an actress who plead with her current employers to lessen the number of nude scenes she was obliged to participate in. Read more.
Toxic masculinity, well -what’d you expect?
But once we as a society take on the feminist assertion that chivalry is sexist, what exactly do we expect will follow? If men are asked not to treat women with any deference because they should treat them the same why are women fighting for things like sexual modesty, honor, and respect? These things can never be given in a vacuum. Men have been convinced -as have women, to believe that men and women are the same -so why are men simultaneously being asked to hold women to a higher standard than themselves? Read more.
Can Feminism solve our problems?
While Feminists have always painted themselves as a women’s movement they have in reality always represented a small segment of the population. They believe in and advocate a particular ideology that some women feel empowered by and other women feel oppressed by. It has always been a movement that represents some women and not all. This may seem like an obvious and even unproblematic statement to make and it would be if Feminists themselves did not purport to be a movement for all women. Feminism gives a history of the world not as conjecture but as fact and proposes their movement and its goals as a way forward… Read more.
Matriarchy is not the solution
Despite having grown up in a decent black neighborhood, many of my peers lived in female-led households. That absence wasn’t born out of the woman’s choice to lead but a set of unfortunate circumstances that left them in that predicament. While doing research on housewives I was saddened but not shocked that only 8% of black women are stay-at-home moms (1) — there are almost twice as many black “stay-at-home moms” without working husbands (presumably not working because they can’t rather than choosing not to)… Read more.
Economic and emotional pressures in women’s ‘choice’ to work
One of the most popular posts on this blog is ‘But, Khadija worked’, which examined -in part, the fallacy that Khadija ‘working’ should diminish men’s financial responsibility to their wives. In the post, I used the term “wage-slave” to describe women who were forced to work outside the home. That term is harsh but valuable for its accuracy. It is not implying that all women who work, are ‘wage slaves’, in fact, I’ve never been anti-women working but rather ‘anti-women being forced to work’. A “wage slave” is essentially anyone who is forced to work in a job they otherwise wouldn’t in exchange for money… Read more.
The Representation of Black women in Black Panther
Because the image of black women (and black people in general) is so limited in the media, every image takes on crucial importance and is forced to be taken a lot more seriously than entertainment ever should be. Black Panther is one of the first movies of its kind, scale and reaches to feature all black women. The entire movie was filled mostly with black people except for two white men who played minor roles, and a few scenes that took place in America. The fictional African country of Wakanda is supposed to be a representation of black people free of the effects of slavery and colonization… Read more.
How men’s silence hurts women
With the advent of condoms, birth control, and abortion we as a society believed we’d finally removed the ‘high stakes’ from sex, with no pregnancy or disease to worry about sex could finally become casual. But this is more so true for men than for women. Sex, no matter what we attempt to convince ourselves, means something to women… Read more.
What’s the alternative to becoming an angry feminist?
So whether it’s the livelihood or the actual lives of women at stake it seems there’s a reaction among men that women just ought to deal with it and to even raise any concern is akin to apostasy. Without getting on the angry Feminist bandwagon how do we deal with these issues within the parameters of Islam? Read more.
Women’s Conflicting Relationship with equality (1)
Women have a conflicting relationship with equality. On one end we want to be equal to men. We want the same opportunities, even splitting of household chores and an equal share of childcare, or so we claim. Women have had, since the beginning of the ‘equality project’ one foot towards equality and one foot towards differential gendered treatment. In the following three posts (including this one) we’ll explore women’s conflicting relationship and tepid dedication to the ‘equality project’… Read more.
Women’s conflicting relationship with equality (2)
Maria Belsky is the co-writer of ‘Handmaid’s Tale: The Musical’ but she is probably best known for her Twitter thread (and Twitter handle) on ‘Headless women’ in Hollywood. The thread lines up the worst examples of movie posters that use women’s bodies while ‘cutting off’ their heads. The images are perturbing but what does a Feminist like is Belsky’s who presumably believes in women’s free choice find problematic about these images? Read more.
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