“Radical feminist theorists do not seek to make gender a bit more flexible, but to eliminate it. They are gender abolitionists, and understand gender to provide the framework and rationale for male dominance. In the radical feminist approach, masculinity is the behaviour of the male ruling class and femininity is the behaviour of the subordinate […]
Tag: Feminism
Dead Wild Roses: Feminist Quote of the Day – Laurie Penny
“Adolescence, for a woman, is the slow realization that you are not considered as fully human as you hoped. You are a body first, and your body is not yours alone: whether or not you are attracted to men, men and boys will believe they have a claim on your body, and the state gets […]
Dead Wild Roses: Meghan Murphy on Ghomeshi and the Canadian Justice System
Ms.Murphy describes the radical treatment necessary in order to make our society a livable place for women: “Without the things women are expected to provide in order to “prove” abuse — pictures of injuries, hospital records, DNA — we are already not believed. In fact, “believed” is the wrong word — we are not […]
Dead Wild Roses: Rebecca Reilly-Cooper: What I believe about Sex and Gender (Part One).
Ms. Reilly-Cooper has done some fantastic foundational work describing what sex and gender is and, more importantly, how many radical feminists approach the topic. This will be a long post and a feature here at DWR as it is a resource too good not to replicate. “Sex 1. Humans, like the vast majority of species, reproduce sexually. […]
Dead Wild Roses: Talking About Gender – Debbie Cameron and Joan Scanlon – Part 2
Did you miss part 1 here? “To make sense of these ideas [conceptions of gender] and decide what you think of them, it’s helpful to understand a bit of history—the history of feminist and sexual radical ideas. There are three main questions we think it’s worth pursuing in more detail: Is it true that radical […]
Dead Wild Roses: John Stuart Mill – The Subjection of Women
John Stuart Mill wrote an essay in 1861 (published 1869) called the Subjection of Women. From this brief quote we can see the evidence that even in the 19th century there were people who understood how socialization effects people and how they behave. I’m constantly amazed that here and now in the 21st century I […]
Dead Wild Roses: Date Preparation for Females and Males
The Female Version: And then there is male date preparation: Men worry that their date won’t measure up to their aesthetic preferences. Women worry that they’re going wind up dead. The disparity is RIDICULOUS, and the fact that dudes get offended when women try to protect themselves is hard proof that way too many […]
Dead Wild Roses: Rosie Fletcher – Feminism Should be About Females.
This excerpt from an article in the New Statesman: “It’s a shame then that my enjoyment of International Women’s Day each 8th March is consistently spoiled by the United Nations’ attempt to put men at the heart of feminism with their #HeForShe campaign. Let me say this very clearly. Men-centric feminism is garbage. Feminism […]
Dead Wild Roses: Time Magazine is right: We should be sick of the word “feminist” by now
Originally posted on glosswatch:
Time magazine is running a poll on words that should be banned in 2015, of which one of those proposed is “feminist”. I think we can all get behind that. Who wouldn’t be bored of feminism by now? It’s been going on for ages – for at least as long as…
Politics, Re-Spun: Ghomeshi and Canada’s New Criminal Code
Clearly, we need an overhaul of Canada’s criminal code, with a feminist lens. Men sure get off easy, right Mr. Ghomeshi. Ghomeshi, Bill Cosby, rape culture should be helping guide us to what kind of criminal code can produce justice. 2016 and no statistic in the world will convince our justice system that the priority … Continue reading Ghomeshi and Canada’s New Criminal Code →
Dead Wild Roses: Meghan Murphy – Defining the “F” word.
Wow. Meghan Murphy simply and clearly posits what Feminism is about. Check out her blog here. “There are various ways the divide between “feminisms” is articulated: liberal vs radical, third wave vs second wave, sex-positive vs sex-negative, but none of those have ever seemed wholly accurate to me. (In particular, challenging male-centred or coercive […]
Dead Wild Roses: Radical Feminism – Sex Based Oppression – What is it?
I have to thank tumblr for occasionally putting such important concise definitions at my fingertips. So, let’s define what sex based oppression and where it comes from. “As Friedrich Engels made clear, even before feminism’s First Wave, women were historically controlled because we are “a means of production”—without women, there are no heirs, and without […]
Dead Wild Roses: The Se”X”ism Files – The Patriarchy at Work In Hollywood.
I’m not sure if talking about patriarchy while discussing a TV show based on conspiracy theories is the best plan, but what the hell. If this sort of shit is happening to Gillian Anderson, it can (and probably does) happen to you, if you happen to be female. “Anderson and Duchovny’s legendarily potent onscreen pairing—rife […]
Dead Wild Roses: Blamer Emma – On Prostitution a.k.a The Commercial Rape
I am very privileged and honoured to host thoughts on prostitution and ‘sex work’ from Emma, a recent addition to the DWR commentariat. Emma takes a hard look at the commercial rape trade and those who support it. With Emma’s permission I am reposting her comment to the main blog, as it is simply made […]
Dead Wild Roses: Radical Feminism 101 – What is Patriarchy? – A 14 Slide Primer
All slides are from the presentation by Dr. Cathy Higgins. Given that power works best from the shadows (insert creepy *mou-ah-ah-ah, here), it is always beneficial to bring the artifice of power into plain sight so can be properly evaluated and critiqued. If one doesn’t know what Patriarchy is, then how can it ever be […]
Dead Wild Roses: I Love The Smell of Equality in the Morning – Dress Codes for Women
Ahh, you can hear the faint hum of the patriarchal machinery gently whirr in the background as it gently churns out non-provocative titles such as this: “Sexy outfits for female staff may be discriminatory.” The unabashed use of the qualifier quickly raised this commentators eyebrow and raised the feminist lobes to a strong yellow alert. […]
Politics, Re-Spun: Seven Tips for Feminist Men
I know already. You’re a feminist. And a man. But I’m not going to pat you on the back for that because we need to do better. We may think we’ve already earned all the male-feminist scout badges. We may subscribe to the male-feminist version of the doctors’ maxim ‘first, do no harm.’ But that’s … Continue reading Seven Tips for Feminist Men →
Canadian Dimension: Women’s liberation, everyone’s liberation
Photo by Michael Coghlan
I’d like to start by discussing how not to talk about rape in India. We cannot talk about it as though it is a problem that happens in India and nowhere else.
I say this because gener…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Socialist Feminism in the 21st Century
Photo by Peter
In the 21st century, women of the working classes — employed in the formal economy, the informal economy, working in the countryside or doing unwaged labor — have entered the global political …
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Talking About Gender – Debbie Cameron – Part 1
There certainly seems to be a great deal of confusion about basic terminology. Let’s see if we can un-muddy the waters a bit. This is taken from Trouble and Strife. “Debbie Cameron: The purpose of today’s discussion is to try to cut through some of the theoretical and political confusion which now surrounds the […]