This would be great to share with my daughter (if you don’t mind) even if I think she’s going to resist; she’s so into this ‘cult’; firmly believing she’s not a girl and acting on it in many ways, sadly…
Fantastic! Thank you. We need to proactively teach girls to love, accept, and respect their bodies, as you've done here. I would add #11 about rejecting sex-role stereotypes and not trying to fit one or the other. I'm too sleepy to continue this thought but will come back to it. Thank you! Great idea you have here, thus list!
Short and to the point. Regarding item 3, alienation means that your body can be your ally or your foe, but in fact your body is you. There is no distinction between you and your body, unless 'you' is a (gendered) soul which exists independently. Duality is part of the problem.
Yes, I appreciate your writing about that, about contempt for nature.
The entire topic of medicalization takes me right back to the book, "Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her," by Susan Griffin. The first feminist book I read, in 1980. I wish it were taught in every junior high, to prevent this scam and scandal from stealing kid's minds. It would teach them about patriarchy's many millenia of fear and contempt for nature, its wish to control it, and women, because patriarchy conceptualized women as closer to nature than men: therefore men's need and right to control women and our bodies.
Ecofeminism was countered from within postmodern academic feminism: "In order to prevent the absolute authority of nature, we must do away with its unity" - Kelly Oliver, Hypatia, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 137-148.
As a radical feminist I do not believe in the need for an academic take on feminism . My experience of those who are into that is more like what one friend said "the central committee of women's liberation" ! Or as was said about Freudian &/or Marxist variations - using male derived theory to invalidate the lived experience of women . I wasn't the only woman to give up on 19C/ early 20C male derived "validations" .
You have to wonder how certain feminist academics get their tenure in male-dominated universities. If male privilege exists, it must include shaping the acceptable version of feminism to serve male interests. For example Judith Butler gets media support out of all proportion to her actual contribution, why is that?
Hmm. I see another side to it though: changing your body will not change you, because you are more than your body. You are not defined by it. The parts you are unhappy with don't change who you are as a person, and changing them will not change who you are, either.
Girls and women are defined by their looks far too often. I think it's dangerous to tell them that they ARE their bodies, because bodies are too easily modified/damaged and the temptation to substitute cosmetic procedures and aesthetic for personality and personal growth is too great.
That's a good point, you can't change you (your mind) just by changing your body. I talked to a transgender person who said their body had forced them to go through puberty against their wishes, which sounded like alienation to me.
But you are not LESS than your body ! Some variations within Christianity in particular despise physicality . I have met women who hate their bodies because their menfolk or their religion are against physicality as such .
This would be great to share with my daughter (if you don’t mind) even if I think she’s going to resist; she’s so into this ‘cult’; firmly believing she’s not a girl and acting on it in many ways, sadly…
I pray and I hope; in God’s time.
Thank you.
Feel free to share.
Great advice to live by. This, rather than a “gender Unicorn,” should be taught in school.
Fantastic! Thank you. We need to proactively teach girls to love, accept, and respect their bodies, as you've done here. I would add #11 about rejecting sex-role stereotypes and not trying to fit one or the other. I'm too sleepy to continue this thought but will come back to it. Thank you! Great idea you have here, thus list!
Yes !
This is terrific and covers all aspects of being female including ALL the possibilities ie even the non conforming ones !
Amen, Lisa.
Perfect
Short and to the point. Regarding item 3, alienation means that your body can be your ally or your foe, but in fact your body is you. There is no distinction between you and your body, unless 'you' is a (gendered) soul which exists independently. Duality is part of the problem.
Yes. Gender ID is qll about body disassociation and contempt for nature, for ones body.
I'm glad others are starting to get that and not celebrate body and nature contempt!
Yes, I appreciate your writing about that, about contempt for nature.
The entire topic of medicalization takes me right back to the book, "Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her," by Susan Griffin. The first feminist book I read, in 1980. I wish it were taught in every junior high, to prevent this scam and scandal from stealing kid's minds. It would teach them about patriarchy's many millenia of fear and contempt for nature, its wish to control it, and women, because patriarchy conceptualized women as closer to nature than men: therefore men's need and right to control women and our bodies.
Ecofeminism was countered from within postmodern academic feminism: "In order to prevent the absolute authority of nature, we must do away with its unity" - Kelly Oliver, Hypatia, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 137-148.
As a radical feminist I do not believe in the need for an academic take on feminism . My experience of those who are into that is more like what one friend said "the central committee of women's liberation" ! Or as was said about Freudian &/or Marxist variations - using male derived theory to invalidate the lived experience of women . I wasn't the only woman to give up on 19C/ early 20C male derived "validations" .
You have to wonder how certain feminist academics get their tenure in male-dominated universities. If male privilege exists, it must include shaping the acceptable version of feminism to serve male interests. For example Judith Butler gets media support out of all proportion to her actual contribution, why is that?
Well insofar as I can understand what she says she is just antifeminist !
Thank you. Scary.
It's available to download from https://www.academia.edu/4022160/Evelyn_Fox_Kellers_Gender_Science_System
Hmm. I see another side to it though: changing your body will not change you, because you are more than your body. You are not defined by it. The parts you are unhappy with don't change who you are as a person, and changing them will not change who you are, either.
Girls and women are defined by their looks far too often. I think it's dangerous to tell them that they ARE their bodies, because bodies are too easily modified/damaged and the temptation to substitute cosmetic procedures and aesthetic for personality and personal growth is too great.
That's a good point, you can't change you (your mind) just by changing your body. I talked to a transgender person who said their body had forced them to go through puberty against their wishes, which sounded like alienation to me.
The power truly is in the mind
Right, perhaps we could say "your body is yours, but you are more than just a body".
But you are not LESS than your body ! Some variations within Christianity in particular despise physicality . I have met women who hate their bodies because their menfolk or their religion are against physicality as such .
Yes , absolutely !