Saturday, February 12, 2005

About Feminism And Privilege

I recently read on the internet somewhere, the following opinion.  "Feminism has become about privilege only.  It is no longer about rights, because all the "rights" have been taken care of.  Also, feminism only works for rich women.  It does not work for poor women.  Because while rich women are busy being liberated, the poor women are stuck doing all the work that the rich women got liberated from."  Paraphrased, but that is the gist of it.

Sigh.  After all these years of stealth and covert ops, I guess the secret is out.

To be completely honest, at its core, at its essence, yes feminism is about privilege.  It is about giving women a break from physical labor, as well as giving women a break from changing poopy diapers as their only options in life.  It offered women the chance to escape the prison that was marriage at the time, as well as the prison that was degrading, demeaning work of prst as well as begging.

Why the hell not?  Men had that privilege already.  If there were men that were in possession of the natural talents as well as the means, they could pursue comfy cushy jobs such as law, professorship, medicine.  So why not extend the same courtesy to the other half of the human race?  If women had the innate skills as well as the means, then what possible arbitrary reason is there for not allowing women to enter professional educated jobs?

And to address the more unpleasant facet of the seedy underbelly of feminism. 
also, yup.  Feminism is also in many ways about having it easy.___  I guess the skeleton is out of the bag.

Well now, I agree with you there... to an extent.  That is bad.  Feminism should not be about encouraging women to dump their responsibilities and duties onto some other less fortunate woman.  A woman who is unfortunate enough not to have been born into a family of relative wealth and privilege apparently is stuck doing all the cooking, cleaning, raising the kids, changing poopy diapers, blowing noses.  And washing, laundry, scrubbing, ironing, unclogging toilets, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, mopping.  Freeing up the "feminist's" time to get manicures and pedicures and spa massages.

What they were probably thinking was also that men already could use this arrangement to their advantage, so heck, why not have the privilege extended towards women.  Their rationalization process was the following.  Men had it easy by relying on women to raise the kids and do housework.  They could dump onto their wives all the work of cooking, cleaning, raising the kids, changing poopy diapers, blowing noses.  And washing, laundry, scrubbing, ironing, unclogging toilets, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, mopping.  This freed up men to pursue those cushy comfy jobs such as law, professorship, medicine.  You know, so the menfolk could seek their fortunes.

So why shouldn't women rely on other women to do all that icky work while the first group of women went to seek their fortunes?

Like I said, I approve of the first part, that of women taking a break from grueling housework and chores and raising kids.  But I don't like the second part, wherein they get to have all the life milestones of family and children but with none of the responsibility.  It is not nice to dump all that work onto women the same way men do.

I am getting the impression that many females hear "feminism" and they immediately think this exempts them from doing any work around the house.

This is why I made it a point to mention this anywhere I could -- at work, in school essays, in conversation with people, in my articles.  I always made it a point to mention that I do in fact do household chores.

They have this weird spoiled princess entitlement mentality.  Which they somehow link to centuries of abuse and oppression imposed upon other women in eras gone by.
They think that for some reason, all of that somehow absolves modern-day women from knowing how to take care of themselves in the practical sense.  I see that too many modern-day women in the western world use the excuse of women forced to do housework -- as an excuse not to contribute to their own damn households here and now in the modern era.

These females think that because men supposedly made women do cooking and cleaning in the past, this somehow means women should not have to take care of themselves in the present.

These little girls seriously seem to think that centuries of oppression means it is somehow a marker of "empowerment" to live in a pigsty.

Well, you could go work out in the fields and do construction work.  [[[LLISt several different types of skilled labor work.  You could learn a trade such as automotive work,____  Go to vocational school and learn a skilled labor trade that would make you very employable.

But you refuse to do that also.  Like most middle-class white kids, you think you are too good to do any kind of backbreaking labor that draws sweat to dripping on your brow at regular intervals.  Middle-class white kids, males and females, think themselves too good to do___

So what does that leave you?  Indoor labor, i.e., chores such as cleaning and cooking.

They do not want to do any cooking or cleaning around the house.  But hang on a second -- who are you doing all that for?  A man?  Uh, no, not if you live by yourself and have your own place.

You are telling me that you do not think it is a priority to clean up after yourself and take care of yourself?  Erm, why the hell not?  You seriously think you are too good to pick up after yourself.  Well, then who the hell is supposed to do that for you?  I got your answer right here -- no one.  It is no one's job but your own to clean up after your own mess. 

If you are very young and live with your parents, then same question.  And the correct answer is similar.  Guess what -- if you live in the household, then you have to contribute to it.  It is not your parents' job to clean up your mess.  You are a human being, of this household, of this society, and you have to help maintain it.

This is not feminism.  This is simply laziness.

"Feminism only works for rich, privileged women."
Actually, yes you are correct -- with a minor twist.

Feminism only works for smart women.  I say this because, as I read it, I realized this is true in Bangladesh.  That is probably too much of an extreme example, but it is a cross-section of sorts.  Only the upper-class and very-upper-class women have educational opportunities and realistic chances at professional white-collar jobs such as doctor, professor, teacher, engineer.   It does not sound nice, it does not sound pleasant or happy, or equal with daisies and bunnies and rainbows for everyone.  But it is the unfortunate truth.  Feminism is not for everybody.

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