Glamour UK published a startling piece of garbage by Juno Dawson, who was called James Dawson until a year ago. The title, calculated to annoy (indeed, to insult) is “Call yourself a feminist?” I don’t much want newly-minted women telling me I’m not a feminist, thanks.
The subhead is equally calculated to annoy and insult:
Our transgender columnist Juno Dawson’s here to see if you really pass the test
No thank you. It’s not up to Juno Dawson to decide that.
And then the column itself is pure shite.
One of things I love about GLAMOUR Magazine is how it supports women’s choices. Indeed there is a whole section called Hey, It’s OK…because, when things are your choice, and if they’re not hurting anyone else, it is OK. Women are sometimes made to feel guilty about their choices in a way that men are not – you shouldn’t eat that, wear that, think that, do that, say that.
I’m getting beyond tired of having brand new women lecturing me about women and feminism. I also don’t like shit writing, and that is shit writing.
What I also love about GLAMOUR is that, since 2001, it has encouraged women to feel confident about their choices while rarely using the word ‘feminism’. That was because, back then, feminism was something of a dirty word. It was a word that felt militant, angry, unconstructive and, frankly, unglamorous.
A steeply downward path, here. One, feminism is not about “feeling confident about choices.” Two, avoiding the word “feminism” is not a plus, especially for a putative “women’s” magazine. Three…oh dear what a shame that feminism sounded militant and angry. It should have sounded fluffy and seductive! And as for being unglamorous – what was feminism thinking?!
It’s interesting and non-random that Dawson doesn’t seem to notice that there could possibly be reasons for the fact that the word feminism “felt militant, angry, unconstructive and, frankly, unglamorous” to one James Dawson, reasons other than a simple equation of that “feeling” with a fact about the world. Maybe James Dawson had that feeling because feminism wasn’t all about James Dawson. Lots of men do feel that way.
Fifteen years later, thanks to a rebranding – although by no means a retooling – feminism is mercifully ‘in’ again. Caitlin Moran; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Beyoncé, Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer and many, many more stars are proudly reclaiming the label. The goals of feminism are the same as they always were: social, political and economic equality between genders.
Jesus god. No, the goal of feminism has never been “equality between genders.” It’s about ending the system that makes men as a class dominant over the subordinate class that is women. And rebranding and being “in” again is just fatuous garbage. Juno Dawson has no business instructing anyone about feminism.
When I visit high schools with my novels, I always encourage teenage girls to call themselves feminists because I believe all girls need feminism. They need it to safeguard the rights they already have and those inequalities still not fought.
Oops. Can’t write. No editor, apparently. Can’t remember the beginning of the sentence all the way to its end.
Greer is not the first, nor will she be the last, TERF: a trans-exclusionary radical feminist. A subgroup of feminists who steadfastly believe me – and other trans women – are not women.
Who believe me are not women. This is a professional writer! We can assume Glamour paid actual money for this crap.
It’s all this bad; I need to jump ahead to spare us all boredom.
It’s frustrating that trans women, including myself, constantly have to defend ourselves. I feel perpetually on the back-foot, constantly grovelling, almost apologetic for my inclusion in womanhood. I can only speak for myself, but by being a woman, I don’t feel I’m holding back cisgender (not-trans) women or taking anything away from them. I don’t think my choice to initiate a medical transition impacts on the choices of any other women.
True enough, but writing this column? That’s another story, innit.
Comments
11 responses to “Poking the hornets’ nest”
Yeah, you wish, Juno.
*I* was a feminist before (according to Juno) it was cool.
I wonder if that had anything to do with me being a biological member of the oppressed class?
What the fuck does ‘retooling’ even mean here? Yes, vapid writing.
Retooling feminism would mean… oh, maybe making it about granting males access to female spaces. You know, turning it into something it wasn’t meant for originally.
Yeah, retooling to make it more friendly and glamorous and hip and not at all militant or angry. You know, like Everyday Feminism, and Jezebel, and Glamour.
Retooling it means only the women who look like Wonder Woman, and can do bullets and bracelets, will be allowed to speak for women…oh, and of course, trans women (and men, of course. They are always allowed to speak for women)
“Old” feminists must be thrown under the bus. After all, no one wants to look at us anymore, and we can’t have babies any more, so…under the bus we go.
Is everyone being polite, or am I the only one to make the connection between “re-tool-ing” feminism to have it be controlled by people with penises?
And sorry, Juno, feminism is not glamorous. Specific feminists might choose to be glamorous, but insofar as glamour is about being attractive to the opposite sex, it seems to be rather at odds with the idea of having women valued based on their inherent worth as persons.
Heh. I did overlook the pun, I admit.
And what self-appointed ‘expert’ class has decided that Juno REALLY qualifies as trans, or female, or anything else they happen to feel like blathering on a particular day?
Oh that’s not how it works any more. Now all that’s required to “be” a woman is to “identify” as such.
And what self-appointed ‘expert’ class has decided that Juno REALLY qualifies as trans, or female, or anything else they happen to feel like blathering on a particular day?
Yes.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/transgender-woman-says-montreal-restaurant-tried-to-bar-her-from-using-women-s-washroom-1.3838313