So, I have not been to Feministing in some months. I got kind of repelled by certain mindsets and attitudes and decided to take a break. I still figured I was a feminist, just one who feels differently. Well, my crisis was happening then anyway, but I still felt that, deep down, I was a feminist.
Enter Feminist Theory class. Amid the "This is why this movement/point of view failed ," the wonderful black hole like-tangents, and my teacher's arbitrary references to babies as "flesh bags" (And I don't even arbitrarily like babies!), I found myself getting feeling disgusted with the whole thing.
The thing is, I used to think it didn't matter how you got to the conclusion that women are people, too, but that you got there and that you were there and now we can do something with it.
For example, I can see the value of Existentialism and how it can reveal the points of Feminism, and how it's a valuable stop on a mental journey, but I do not by any means want to stop my journey there and base all future thought on it. Unfortunatley, I'm getting the impression from my teacher and my readings that Existentialism is Feminism, and if you can't have one without the other, then maybe I shouldn't be a feminist. If it really is that essential to the feminist mind, then whatever way I've reached the conclusion that is feminist ideal is moot because my thinking is wrong.
It may sound selfish to not want to give in and take one for the team, but Existentialism really gets me down. It eats me up from the inside and kills my mind and will.
So, I'm wavering here: On the one hand, I'm ready to resign my identification as Feminist and admit the the world that I am not, in fact, a feminist, but just another one of the fallacious stupid people and that I really don't care to change that. In that case... goodbye, for whatever I am, I am not feminist.
On the other hand, I remind myself that this could just be another case of "Philosophy Ruins Everything," and that Feminism seems to be the only term around for people who think women are deserving of respect as individuals, equal pay, rights, and protections under law, so I might as well use it.
That should be all that matters, right? Right?
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There's a lot going on here. One thing I'm curious about is what attitudes or ideologies in particular put you off of feministing? I think there's quite a bit of variety in the viewpoints here.
Second, the fact that you had a bad experience in your Feminist Theory course is too bad. Not everyone is great at teaching this kind of survey course, and the intro and survey courses are often dumped off on junior faculty (like me) or a faculty member who is having trouble finding their niche (or isn't that great at teaching the other things s/he was teaching). So I urge you to not give up on the topic just because you've had a bad experience. There are some great feminist theory readers out there that touch on a whole range of theories and positions, and you might find them more helpful and stimulating. And the connection between Existentialism and feminism is only true of certain forms of feminism (like postmodern feminism), but there are many other branches of feminist theory that originate from other schools of thought. So if you don't like Existentialism (a topic which it's also very easy to fuck up when you're teaching it), maybe try reading about other branches of feminism.
Finally, as a philosophy geek, I'm not sure what you mean by "Philosophy ruins everything." As with anything else, philosophy done badly sucks. But done right, philosophy can add a lot of clarity and strength to the arguments underlying feminist positions. As a feminist, it's important to be able to really critique and strengthen your own positions because you'll inevitably find yourself in situations where you have to back your claims, and philosophy is very good for helping you sort out the pieces of your position and understand how they fit together.
Feminism is really, really, really broad. So I dunno about all this existentialism stuff--there are plenty of feminists who don't find it appealing or useful at all, and it looks like you're one of them. Your definition of feminism can be totally different from your teacher's, or Feministing bloggers, or whatever...but you defined it pretty well for yourself. It doesn't have to have a damn thing to do with existentialism. My feminism has little to do with it, anyway, so you're not alone.
Also, your teacher sounds like crap. "Flesh bags?" Really?
I have never studied feminist theory at the institutional level (at least not in a class devoted solely to it; in political science and sociology classes I learned about the different 20th century American schools of feminism, but not anything philosophy-oriented).
Could you , Rachel-in- Wy or others please explain what is the philsophical backdrop behind Existential Feminist theory? (particularly the bits you don't care for).
I would bet there's a focus on existentialism because of the intersections with early European feminism, and the fact that so many existentialist ideas underlie the theories of people like Judith Butler.
There actually are a lot of concepts in mainstream feminism that originated w/ existentialist thinkers. For instance, poststructuralism, where we get the idea that there is no fixed, precultural subject moving through the world as an entirely independent, objective, rational being (in the Enlightenment sense), but rather beings who are constructed by the social context they're embedded in. So if you're anti-essentialist, and the concept of social constructions makes a lot of sense to you, you're embracing at least one aspect of existentialism. Antifoundationalism and poststructuralism were both originally tied to existentialism in some ways, and these inform the postmodern outlook, which in turn deeply informs modern day mainstream feminism. This is one way that mainstream feminism is kind of contradictory, since we also tend to retain the liberal and humanitarian ideals of the Enlightenment, which existentialism was reacting against, in large part.
That's probably not very clear at all. It's hard to explain this in a nutshell, and I usually spend 3-4 weeks on these themes in my Feminist Theory course (although I never equate feminism with existentialism, as that's really inaccurate). Also, I actually really like existentialism, and I teach a summer course on it. But it's like a lot of other things. You have to read the right existentialist thinkers in the right order to get a big picture sense of what's going on, and you have to understand the philosophical ideas that they were rebelling against in order for it to make sense. And you have to take a lot of it with a grain of salt and remember that most of them had giant egos and took themselves too seriously. But I do think there's still a lot to be learned from them, and their work made many feminist claims possible. After all, Simone De Beauvoir was a philosopher and existentialist before she was a feminist.
I think the best thing to remember is that existentialism is one school of thought that has been very influential and useful for feminists, but there are many others. The influences behind modern day feminism are as varied as the resulting feminisms themselves, and a good theory class should try to trace as many of the influential theories as possible, and outline as many of the modern feminisms as possible.
On a side note, I prefer the term "person pod" for "fetus," and (jokingly) referred to my daughter that way until she was born. (See Judith Jarvis Thomson)
Well, I myself am most certainly a feminist, if still only a baby one. I am also a firm believer in Christ, and I'm still trying to figure out how the two fit together, so I kinda know how you feel. However, I refuse to give up on either feminism or Christianity, because they are both so much a part of who I am. Keep on searching, because feminism is about as broad a subject as is possible. Obviously, your prof has some very specific ideas about what feminism is, but that doesn't mean you have to agree to be a feminist.
And I agree with Naama - your teacher does sound like a creep.
Existentialism can be pretty wonky.
Why don't you write up something (either for yourself, for discussion here, or whatever) about what Feminism really means to you. Ignore what your teacher said and what we have to say on feministing, and figure out what definition of feminism you could embrace without discomfort. I have a feeling that whatever definition you come by is perfectly valid.
You don't have to call yourself a feminist to believe in things such as equal pay, equal rights, respect and protection under the law. It is just a label. Personally, I find a lot of strength and power in calling myself a feminist because it places me as part of a movement, but if calling yourself a feminist isn't empowering to you right now, maybe it is better for you to reject the label for the time being.
I would encourage you to stay involved in the issues. Pay attention to world events and speak up for what you believe in. That is what is really important. Embracing the term "Feminist" is one way to be active in women's issues, but it is not the only way.
I totally agree, don't give up just because your Feminist Theory class sucks. I hate existentialism, I love babies, and I am kind of religious, but I completely and utterly believe in feminism. It's such a broad category that if you look for it you WILL find people with similar opinions to you. Don't give up!
On a given day I may only agree with 35-60% of the posts I see on Feministing (lurking/commenting here is the extent of my feminist involvement) but I still believe in equality for women, so I guess I am still a feminist. Unfortunately though I don't know much about existentialism and never took feminist theory in college, so all I can say is that feminist beliefs are highly varied and even if you do not identify with the loudest (usually the minority) it does not mean you are not a feminist.
I don't think any of here agree 100% with anything. The point is for Feministing to represent as many viewpoints as possible without veering off the point of its existence, and I like it that way. I may bash my head against a wall for getting into a comment war with someone defending some viewpoint I find deplorable, but hey, that's the nature of any movement whose followers are not sheeple.