Valenti faces constant harassment for her position: A study by the Guardian of 1.4 million comments blocked by moderators since 1999, revealed Valenti to be the most harassed contributor to their site. Discussions on intersectionality, the connected roots of sexism with forms of race and class discrimination have found a home at Feministing, helping to construct a feminism that is not simply revived but also inclusive. Feministing, the online community she founded in 2004, describes itself as “the gateway to the feminist movement for young people” devoted to “elevating the work of emerging feminist thinkers.” It has done just that, providing a venue for discussions that highlight not only the problems the movement faces from without, but also from within. Her 2007 book Full Frontal Feminism took to task young women who disavow the “feminist” label. The author of six books and a columnist for the Guardian, Valenti’s writing has been a tentpole of feminist debate for the last ten years. Survival feminism preaches hyper-awareness and constant risk-assessment. Treated as objects, women begin to treat themselves as objects. And as Valenti points out, self and identity are only partially created by ourselves. To make being objectified more palatable, being a sex object is edified into an affirmation of attractiveness, something to covet and court, even if its price is being reduced to a thing. At the same time, it substantiates (albeit unintentionally) the premise that men will be men, groping and exposing, raping and molesting, and women must modify, rationalize, forget.
This sort of survival feminism preaches hyper-awareness and constant risk-assessment. The assumption is that women in public spaces must necessarily play defense, putting aside their expectations of equal treatment and safety, when confronted by an unsafe, male-dominated reality.
It’s a familiar message, repeated often by aunts and mothers and friends and sisters around the world.
0 kommentar(er)
