In a few days, I plan to do a post on why feminism is absolutely still necessary (to silence any haters). But today, I want to recognize that sometimes, there are very real reasons to have some sense that feminism has accomplished quite a bit, even in changing deep seated attitudes.
Beefcake and I were talking one night about this blog, and he said something that was so awesome, I thought it deserved a plug here.
He said that there needed to be a better definition of consent, for the sake of both men (most of whom really don't want to be part of someone's non-consensual, horrible experience) and women (who don't deserved to be in those situations to begin with), something based more on an affirmation of desire than of a lack of no. He literally defined enthusiastic consent, having never (to my knowledge) read anything about the concept. I don't know if it's my feminist influences rubbing off on him and it's not the beginning of a revolution or anything, but it did really make me happy to see a white heterosexual male coming from a place of privilege and making that kind of statement.
Talking about the kinds of issues that women face, even if it's often dismissed as "complaining" does have an impact. It's the cheapest, easiest and most effective way to raise awareness of why feminism is still necessary: by talking about it. I hope all of you have moments like that with menfolk, as well as "I'm not a feminist, but.." womenfolk (and transfolk!).
Much love,
The Albright Sheriff
Major props to Beefcake. Plus, I completely agree. Our party/drunken hook-up culture leaves a lot of room for misunderstandings (as well as actual date rape) about consent on both sides.
ReplyDeleteLady Lola