Fanfic 'feminism': The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

[deathpixie]

A few links popped up on various friendslists recently, so I thought I'd compile them for people to read.


The Good is from Jezrana, on Insane Journal, who I found via a [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] post. Here, she brings some much needed sense to a very scary place.

The Bad: Dissenter (who seems to be the same [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] who comments first on the next link below), and her essay on slash as misogynistic. Jezrana's post is in response to this, which is the same pseudo-intellectual twaddle as the next post:

The Ugly: [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]'s post on Firefly as a propaganda vehicle for the male patriarchy, and in her comments states her belief that Joss Whedon rapes his wife, since anyone who wrote Firefly has to be the worst example of men ever.


Both Dissenter and _allecto_ have comment screening policies, in that they delete anything that contradicts their rather offensive drivel. I've always loathed this type of feminist, the sort that seems to believe the greatest sin anyone can commit is to be born male - if you have a penis, according to them, you have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. *grfs*

Comments

[doqz.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting case, because in many ways this woman is applying the same logic Joss does in his approach (http://whedonesque.com/comments/13271). But she's applying it to him and takes it to the logical absurd.

His own thesis is that: "Women’s inferiority – in fact, their malevolence -- is as ingrained in American popular culture as it is anywhere they’re sporting burkhas. I find it in movies, I hear it in the jokes of colleagues, I see it plastered on billboards, and not just the ones for horror movies. Women are weak. Women are manipulative. Women are somehow morally unfinished. (Objectification: another tangential rant avoided.) And the logical extension of this line of thinking is that women are, at the very least, expendable."

Implicitly he sees himself as fighting against that trend. This person basically goes a step farther and argues that he is intrinsically part of the mindset and he can't escape it even if he tries. (Presumably because he has the wrong plumbing)

P.S.
This is pretty much tantamount to me re-fighting old flame-wars on your dime. SO if you'd rather I nixed this and took this to my own LJ, let me know.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

_allecto_ isn't a feminist any more than a skinhead "just wants to promote white pride." From the examples she gives in her piece, she's got some really serious personal issues. Engaging her in debate would be completely pointless, and taking her seriously will only make you angry.

[nute.livejournal.com]

It's always amused me, the whole "feminists for equality" concept. If they wanted equality, they wouldn't use a single-gender term to fight for it. :) Be an equalist or something.

But to the point - anyone who gets this het up over fiction is clearly not serious about their actual convictions. If they were, they would instead be focusing on the very real issues in their community, instead of fictional issues on a cancelled TV show. "Joss Whedon is a horrible person!" - okay, sure. So what? What's he done? ... ... nothing? Okay then! Carry on being horrible!

Joss Whedon's guilty of a lot of things in his writing (namely shameless pandering to the fanbase to the detriment of actual characterization and plot) but I don't see the point in picking on his portrayal of women. The guy's responsible for one of the biggest female-empowerment shows in the history of television, for crying out loud. Sure, he comes across as so pro-woman in interviews that it's almost a transparent ploy to get chicks (really, dude. Just buy some ovaries on EBay already.) but he makes enjoyable television in the process.

The "feminist" complainer's got about as much grounds for complaint as the "BTVS was unfairly slanted aganst vampires!" crowd. I haven't seen them, but I'll bet they're out there. And just as wacko.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Fandom makes my head hurt. *hides under rock with her cherry coke and writes porn in support of the patriarchy*

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

I'm still o.0ing about not being able to think of a single actual healthy heterosexual relationship in people she's known personally. And actually, that might 'splain lots.

[azzinita.livejournal.com]

What gets my goat more than anything about the whole _alecto_ debacle is the claim that Joss rapes his wife.

Okay, I gotta climb on my soapbox here.

I like sex. I like it a whole lot. If I could have sex every single day I would. Hell, twice would be fantastic. I like sex.

Also, shockingly, I am female. I'm not sure if she subscribes to the "lie on your back and think of England" school of sexuality, or she's just one of those people that does not like sex a whole lot. I know several people like this, male and female. But the claim that a husband rapes his wife makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Believe me, there is a big BIG difference between consensual sex in a relationship and non-consensual. And to have someone dropping stuff like that just for shock value makes me want to throttle her. It's not a light matter, and it's not for usage in some dumb man-hating argument.

[diamond-dust06.livejournal.com]

You know, the slash person has a point. I find often slash to be homophobic, in that there's always such a focus on who's top and who's bottom, and what sort of characteristics people in those roles play. It's not hateful, it's just ignorant. And it's also not misogynistic, because it has nothing to do with women or femininity beyond the stereotypical reserved bottom. Which in a way is misandrystic, because it assumes that all men act one way or another, and that "another" is meant to be dominated.

But then again, the people who write like that just want to imagine hot boys fucking each other up the ass and don't know how to write anything actually engaging, so their opinions are pretty much worthless.

[dexfarkin.livejournal.com]

*shrug* It's intellectually lazy analysis, taking situations and viewing them through a rigidly predefined prism. Whether it's extreme feminism, neo-Marxist thought, radical religious extremes, any sort of code of thought which has no capacity for contextual analysis is by and large nothing but worthless pseudo-intellectual narcissism. She's an extreme wyman queer feminist, due to a self-professed rejection of men. As a result, the currency of her opinion is worthless because it is self-admittedly biased.

To use 'feminist' as a description is really not accurate, because her views are far to the extreme of mainstream feminism, like saying al-Quida represents Islam.

People driven by ideology have no capacity for context, which is by and large where truth and understanding exist. Pity them and ignore them, because you won't ever change them.

[maelie.livejournal.com]

Haven't read the links, but would like to point out that "feminist" shouldn't be the term to use. Being a feminist wanting equal rights for both women and men. Applying the term "feminist" to anything different, even as a "brand" of feminism, is what hurts the cause when winding up as misinformation (people believing you can only be a feminist if you're female, or that you can't be a feminist if you don't want superiority, etc).

[philf.livejournal.com]

I am reminded of a certain character in 'Felafel', and the Hetero-fascist sterility conspiracy...
;)

[moonandserpent.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's the 2nd time in a row today, Allecto has shown up on my LJ as a train wreck of radical feminism.

http://allecto.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/sex-positivity-leads-to-depression/

[alasdair.livejournal.com]

I was all set to laugh her off as an amusing internet mentalist, but then I sat and thought for a while, and honestly, I have a hard time rebutting her comments with regard to the women in Firefly on a purely literal, deconstructionist reading of the text, in which authorial intent is not a factor. Personally, while I wouldn't doubt that Whedon's heart is in the right place, I do think the sexual politics expressed in his work are, well, iffy.