[TW for discussion of forced sterilization and racism]
So someone on Feministing (I think) finally made the connection that trans* rights and reproductive rights/abortion are both fundamentally about bodily integrity and autonomy and therefore have many intersections, and proponents of both should be working together (something I’ve been saying since day one, along with many other trans* people before me).
Well radical feminists aren’t having it. Apparently the fact eludes them that forced sterilization and forced birth are two sides of the same antichoice coin. Which brings me to my main point. This so-called “conflict of interest” has happened before (maybe more than once?). During the second wave the interests and reproductive rights of wealthy, white feminists and WoC were going in opposite directions. White women were demanding access to abortion and to voluntary sterilization without restrictions from paternalistic doctors and simultaneously WoC were struggling to: be allowed to have children, not be demonized for having children, not be forcibly sterilized (often without their knowledge or consent), and not be tested on for development of contraception or other medications. Guess who was prioritized. Exactly. There’s a history here and a lot of tension and mistrust (rightfully) still remains because rich, white women made “reproductive rights” synonymous with what they needed access to and completely avoided the fact that the right to have children is as much of a reproductive rights issue as the right to abort/not have children.
My point is we know these radical feminists hate intersectionality because they think sex-based oppression is the only thing that matters (this is racist all on its own) and we know they hate trans* people. The fact that they don’t see how important forced sterilization is now anymore than they did back then has some serious implications considering the intersection of race and trans* status. Forced sterilization affects us all but TWoC are disproportionately the victims of violence and often have an even more precarious and tenuous relationship to the medical establishment, opening them up to all kinds of violations, particularly in regards to reproductive rights. That once again forced sterilization isn’t a priority for radical feminists and reproductive rights activists is further proof of their racism and the fact that White Feminism™ is alive and well, in case you doubted it for a split second.
I would point out it’s not just radscum. Sure, radscum are the most obvious and most extreme but mainstream/liberal feminism still doesn’t really give a shit about reproductive rights as anything but abortion and voluntary sterilisation. Oh, wait, I take it back, they will sometimes mention fistulas and women in the developing countries but it’s still self-centred and paternalistic to other people. White Feminism™ lives in the mainstream as well as the backwater sludge that is the radscum.
Oh, definitely, definitely! I was just a little hyper-focused on them because this was a direct response to some stuff I saw on radical feminist blogs, but you’re absolutely right and I do usually go after mainstream/liberal feminists just as hard on this issue as well. They’re certainly not much better.
1. It focuses on individual rights rather than collective rights. 2. It is ahistorical. It does not have a comprehensive understanding of women’s role in history nor has it any analysis for the subordination (subjugation) of women. 3. It tends to be mechanical in its support for formal equality without a concrete understanding of the condition of different sections/classes of women and their specific problems. Hence it was able to express the demands of the middle classes (white women from middle classes in the US and upper class, upper caste women in India) but not those of women from various oppressed ethnic groups, castes and the working, labouring classes. 4. It is restricted to changes in the law, educational and employment opportunities, welfare measures etc and does not question the economic and political structures of the society which give rise to patriarchal discrimination. Hence it is reformist in its orientation, both in theory and in practice. 5. It believes that the state is neutral and can be made to intervene in favour of women when in fact the bourgeois state in the capitalist countries and the semi-colonial and semi-feudal Indian state are patriarchal and will not support women’s struggle for emancipation. The State is defending the interests of the ruling classes who benefit from the subordination and devalued status of women. 6. Since it focuses on changes in the law, and state schemes for women, it has emphasised lobbying and petitioning as means to get their demands. The liberal trend most often has restricted its activity to meetings and conventions and mobilising petitions calling for changes. It has rarely mobilised the strength of the mass of women and is in fact afraid of the militant mobilisation of poor women in large numbers.”
—Anuradha Ghandy (Avanti), “Philosophical Trends in the Women’s Movement”
“Unlike the conservative model of sex as an impulse to be controlled and limited to the context of monogamous, heterosexual marriage, the left-liberal model sees sex as a good impulse to be liberated, and according to the champions of the sexual revolution discussed in Chapter 1, such liberation involves women being accessed, shared and exchanged by men. Historically, this has not been seen as harmful to women, because the liberal human subject is constructed as male –therefore pornography does not impinge on others’ freedoms, since women are not actually seen as individual subjects within this model.”
“Another aspect of liberal thinking – idealism – is also evident within debates on pornography. Idealism posits attitudes as both the source and solution for oppression; thinking as the prime mover of social life; and rational argument/education as the engine of social change (Keith, 2011b: 66). On this view, changing attitudes through education, awareness raising or the production of diverse sexual representations would be con- sidered appropriate and effective solutions to any problematic or undesirable aspects of pornography.”
Long, Julia. Anti-porn : The Resurgence of Anti-pornography Feminism. Chapter: Pornography and the Feminist Divide. 63. Zed Books, 2012.
full offense but it is unbelievably ridiculous to act as if micro-identity labels are coherent in society and act as if people have been historically oppressed because of those labels, not to mention that hardly any of them are functional at all and are way too specific/intimate for comfort like your sexuality should not include that you’re a bottom and only feel attraction on the seventh day of august
As there has been some fuss and misunderstanding concerning my last post, I’d like to clarify something:
I condem slut shaming in any manner. There is absolutely nothing wrong with losing your virginity at a young age or having a lot of sexual (or romantic) partners.
But on the other Hand, it simply cant be that 16 or even 14 year olds feel pressure to be late or in the end just sleep with anybody before they’re running out of time. This is the opposite of a self determined sexuality. And no, Im not talking about that you just should have your first time in a relationship and so on, but just that it should happen when YOU want it with somebody you feel comfortable with and not that you feel pressured to do things you arent ready to or at the Moment dont want to.
And I also contradict the idea that their is no virgin shaming or that it is like racism against whites or Skinny shaming. One of our adminas hat experiences firsthand and there is absolutely nothing glamorous about being a virgin at 28.
Also the idea that you have to be productive all the time is deep rooted in capitalism. As if it wouldnt be okay if you would be doing nothing for some, as if you had to be constantly learning, doing, producing something
This is what a woman looks like after a masectomy.
The photo shows German Radio host Anja Caspary who did it after suffering from Breast cancer and loosing her husband to cancer as well. She also wrote a book about the experience: “In meinem Herzen steckt ein Speer”.
