This is my response to the feminism panel. It's more about my experiences than sourced information.
After attending the Philosophy Club's feminism panel, I've realized two things. The first is that feminism in the general sense and feminism in the activist sense are two completely different things. This may have a bit to do with the Internet turning mild opinions into extreme ones but there are major differences between the two. In everyday life and in this panel, feminism seems to focus on second wave feminism, more prominently accepted. However, the Internet's feminism is more third wave feminism, focusing on concepts such as privilege and the patriarchy. I cannot find a study that proves this so this is based on my own observation. I've actually been told several times that I am not a feminist because I do not 100% believe in third wave feminism, which is why it's difficult for me and others to call themselves feminists. This would be all well and good as a misunderstanding, but it has intense ramifications.
The second thing I realized is how the Internet's feminism is accepted by the average feminist so readily. For example, GamerGate is seen as a misogynistic movement because some feminists believe it targeted a woman unfairly. One could argue GamerGate has sexist undertones. However, people confuse this with GamerGate being ABOUT harassing women. For example, the Newsweek article claiming female voices against GamerGate get the most harassment is not especially truthful. Their stats for harassment are just users who get mentioned with the hashtag. The majority of tweets are neutral and many are positive, these individuals simply engage on Twitter more. You could argue that the article is questioning why these women have been speaking more, but "GamerGate women engage more" is less eye catching than "GamerGate harasses women."
GamerGate is just one example. However, it is a prime example of the disconnect in feminism. Most people want women to be equal but, when trying to engage on the Internet, it's about more than equality feminism. When somebody rubs an Internet feminist the wrong way, they are torn to shreds and all feminists look down on that person. There are a few articles I can cite, but I'll use this one from The Nation about feminists tearing apart a feminist movement.
"[Courtney Martin's] long believed that it’s incumbent on feminists to be open to critique—but the response was so vitriolic, so full of bad faith and stubborn misinformation, that it felt like some sort of Maoist hazing. [Mikki] Kendall, for example, compared #Femfuture to Rebecca Latimer Felton, a viciously racist Southern suffragist who supported lynching because she said it protected white women from rape. 'It was really hard to engage in processing real critique because so much of it was couched in an absolute disavowal of my intentions and my person,'"
Disagreeing with Internet feminism can lead to a ruined movement or even a ruined personal life, even when you are a feminist. I consider myself a feminist, but I've been called nasty names just because I believe in X or don't believe in Y. The reason we have so many people saying "I'm not a feminist, but…" is because of this hateful response from Internet feminists. The ideals are the same, but saying you are one either invites a chance for your life to be ruined or to be associated with life ruiners. It's no wonder why Time put "feminist" on their poll. It's just sad Internet feminism is seen as so hateful that Time felt that was necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment