tuesdays

yesterday was pancake tuesday, which i celebrated with pancakes. it also happened to be international women's day, which i didn't celebrate at all. i did however, find an old email in which i was accused of not being enough of a feminist for sending a chauvinistic video of women who can't drive. i think it's fitting to make the same argument again.

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You are supposed to be a feminist! Don't ponder to a chauvinist who compiled (and titled) this video (funny as it may be).

i do not see how acknowledging even 'stereotypical' female faults (such as the inability to drive, or at least drive properly) inhibits me from being a feminist. on the contrary, one can only truly criticize and explore the female in the social hegemony after accepting and moving beyond their differences from the male, be they biological (a truism) or psychological differences. the conclusions based on such findings, however, cannot be accepted as normative. that's the problem of reconciling freud and lacan with feminist theory. feminism requires a rational critique that demasks the false claims of patriarchism, however, that is not all. on the contrary, it requires that we take these claims - be their true or not, such as the claim that women are bad drivers or that blonds are stupid - and cast the critical light upon them. second wave feminism in the states and simone de beauvoir accomplished exactly this. then we can proceed onwards. it ought to be noted however, that stereotypes exists precisely because they are generalities - they hold to some, perhaps even most, but not all. a single woman cannot fall prey to a stereotype because she is just a single woman. likewise goes for race, culture, age and so on. mind you though, often dispelling one stereotype only leads to its replacement by another. think about the term feminist - even that in itself carries certain stereotypes and presumptions, does it not?

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i find women's day to be another one of those annoying 'feminist' ventures, whereby they try to gain equality by creating inequality. there should, justifiably i think, be an international men's day - straight men, gay men - if you have a cock (or wish you had one), celebrate it. yet surely, this would cause an uproar.

but in all honesty, i'm not sure how i feel about women's day, or feminism in general. i've held a vehement stance on both sides of the argument depending on who i was arguing with -- if it was my father, it was massively pro-feminist (pro-choice, pro-pill, pro-freedom), if it was to a boyfriend or in class, i'd make the case for redundancy or the self-congratulatory nature of an endeavor that no longer serves the purpose it once did - women's suffrage.

the problem is that women want the best of both worlds. we want all the beatification and exaltation of chivalry - having doors opened, our coats removed, always being on the inside of the sidewalk, being priased for being dainty & pretty & fair... and most especially, being chased & coveted after.

at the same time, we want to fix our own bicycles, drive our own cars, have our own salaries, be noticed for a our brains not our boobs, and especially allowed the same sexual freedom without being burdened with either the negative labels of promiscuity or a child.

somehow, these two things seem to be exclusive of each other - but i don't see how they are. we can be both feminists & non-feminists; one doesn't make you a harley-riding leather-wearing hardcore dyke any more than the other makes you a proper victorian lady in a corset with her face powdered.

i'm going to stick to both sides of the coin.