I am shakinga nd crying over necessary harsh but real work being done and I have nothing to say so I am listening and it is safer to do this because to be honest this is hwo little it matters
the idiotic stupid bullshit( I'm cursing all up and through this one DEAL)
SO i am going through my technorati and see that Octa has linked me
Ooh shiny, lemme see....
WAIT CAN I UNSEE CAN I UNSEE.
Because this " furor" , this mastubatory solipsistic, journalistic neglagiance , and narcissistic blowharding that is passing for coverage of this
is exactly why this " feminist movement" is leaking water everywhere.
NO ONE LOOKS GOOD IN THIS
because no one is attempting to do anything BUT LOOK GOOD! Not to mention a bevy of slipshod journalism and reporting that seems only to try and stir up the idea of a "vibrant engaged internet discussion" where there is none cause frankly
NO ONE GIVES A DAMN
And here is where I get really mean and nasty and ornery and ageist but hey since its being used lets get it.
I am really really tired of hearing about " young feminists" who are AT LEAST 6-10 years older than I am talking about young feminists wanting blah blah and strictly talking about people responding to how they don't get presidencies, articles, and press attention. ESPECIALLY IN ORGANIZATIONS WOMEN HAVE BLED FOR FOR OVER 40 YEARS
ANd this article here....
Well doesn't that take the cake.
So I am supposed to take the word of a WHITE WOMAN m who presumes to speak for all young women., mind you she ADMITS NOT HAVING FOLLOWED ELECTIONS needing more youth led work
and here's the words I love.
" cutting edge"
I'm sorry but if DB Sweeney isn't Pamchenkoving Moira Kelley , I'm sorry I want no part of the fucking cutting edge.
And I'm sorry to burst the hard Mainstream media attention bubble but the fact that peopel aren't connecting to you online is not the end all be all of their relevance. Also if it is so important so relevant why did you use that cutting edgeness to write about it.
Meanwhile what is the cutting edge ? Name some of it . OH wait those things tend to sound more like issues and policy.( and if what you name is also part of the OPPONENTS platform as well you fail)
And as we know Young Women ( most of them now 6-15 years older than ME) are concerned with the look of things because essentially the endorsement is
" as a brown woman she looks better to young feminists"
I do not ofr a second believe that Lyles is a token ( I actually do follow now somewhat having the mistaken belief that if I am going to run my mouth on something I should know it VAGUELY)
but how are these endorsements based on WEBSITE USE ANYTHING BUT
the desire to capitalize on a mythic Obama effect to make these mythical young women feel better
because you knwo those older owmen use facebook and twitter to right so much so GRADY RAN ON IT AS WELL
Mind you none of the articles quote
YOUNG FEMINISTS OF COLOR the demographic NOW IS SCREWING UP ON.
But never let facts good discussion and ya know actually leading a dialogue get in the way of being quoted or saying " You know what I'm gonna sit this one out"
( Lets make it plain bemoaning slutty brides took up more space)
First and foremost what are the differences in the two women's positions?
Why is Latifah Lyles so " invigorating"?
Tell me when you find it cause oh right no one knows or cares to know. Even Salon is asleep wait (I Don't mean even I'm kind of going with as usual), needing a commentor to remind them s( something ) basic searching could find that LYLES IS A VICE PRESIDENT .
So now we have a tale of two women somewhat FIRMLY entrenched in NOW's power structure, making promises at which the out going leader "chuckles"at, about this time THIS TIME they will make this organization relevant again.
BE written by people who are so eager to have a " feminist wars" piece of copy the abscond with basic journalistic thoroughness ( like Google and THE WEBSITE OF THE ORG THEY ARE WRITING ABOUT well except to be assholes about site design)
even going so low as to say essentially I trust them they don't have to provide facts?!?!?
being more concerned about feminisms marketing than it's actual function.
A quick browse
Welfare rights action on now's website hasn't been updated in five years
International Rights AND Immigration IN SIX MONTHS
Domestic Violence is a n article on Chris Brown that is short and does NOT mention how for a first time offender in DV the tragedy is not JUST that he isn't in prison but that his sentence WAS ACTUALLY ABOVE THE AVERAGE . But hey pithy quote on what it tells us!
Economic justice is all about fair pay not about FINDING JOBS, PAYING LOANS ,HOUSE FORECLOSURES or any of the things that are actually being dealt with by young women ( and BOTH parties are involved with this website yes?)
And Media Justice is more involved with HALL OF SHAME THAN PRAISING FEMALE EFFORTS.
Trans Women are NOT O N IT and Gay rights is ALL PROP 8 ALL THE TIME
mind you nobody mentions that as reason why NOW MAY NOT HAVE MEMBERS
NO It's there mean to the pretty white girls!!! or the change candidate wasn't elected MUST BE PALIN!
This vapid empty nasty silencing discussion is why there aren't members. The ignorance and silent refusal ( and don't fucking dare come to me with we cover it here because when you cover it as much as rush limbaugh THEN WE CAN TALK) to be honest about the truth and history of NOW ( while started involving WOC so no Lyles is not NEW )
this false young versus old that is essentially all white all the time, to the extent of fetishizing someones blackness as an " image make over"
a myopic responsive,elitist response to the future
that has brewed an idea that better marketing is a more important than actual information and has people RESPONDING TO IT
and the continued desire to do nothing by both YOUNG AND OLD to respond to the reality of the lives of women they are trying to reach
but mean while
the things like
WOMEN RUN MEDIA JUSTICE CAMPAIGNS
MEDIA CONFERENCES
MEDIA PROJECTS
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
the amazing things being DONE WITH THE INTERNET rather than just talked about
women having to run for themselves and making decisions and having discussions so painful and SO NECESSARY that don't even show up on RADAR of these places who are so CONCERNED because they would rather worry about who has the big desk in Washington?
That the real revolution is HERE
Lisa is so amazing I copied it VERBATIMwouldn't it be revolutionary if someone acknowledged that the future of feminism should look invisible because the work for justice and peace has been taken up by everyone? and the "future of feminism" is more than just NOW and the latest books or curriculum from some academic theorist?
When every one is as concerned as making our lives better and listening to us and actually working with us as whose in charge maybe I'll take this seriously till then.
The only remotely good thing about this hailstorm of stupid is the desire to see a good 90's film.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
I need the swing
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6 comments:
Hi BA! Next time, I promise, the link will lead to something shinier!
There’s been some respectable coverage of the NOW elections. But yeah, the Herald, Salon and Jezebel pieces (and the quotes that we both discuss within them) are remarkable for their superficiality and posturing, as well as condescension to those they are allegedly attempting to “include.”
Your comments about NOW’s website are good ones. Nice to have some of that actual analysis in our young friends’ discussion of the cutting edge, wouldn’t it be?
Instead, the use of buzzwords and applying “super-” frequently to adjectives (or maybe I'm just too ancient to get why this is kool) substitutes for actually following political organizations in the field in which one is a “prominent” go-to quote. Until, that is, they feature someone of the right age and hip demographic.
In my view, “intersectionality” isn’t making feel-good claims about how you’re sick of old white women, coupled with patronizingly boasting of a preference for young black woman whose many qualifications you’re too busy to discuss with substance beyond “cutting edge,” “youth-led.” It’s the day to day, not the photo op.
And in fairness, maybe the former is happening too. But it would have been preferable to see some effort going into what was said by the various young-like feminists who wrote or were quoted in the articles, to show that the point being made is worthy of some substance and research, rather than: "see? I'm with it."
I am really really tired of hearing about " young feminists" who are AT LEAST 6-10 years older than I am talking about young feminists wanting blah blah
I KNOW, RIGHT? and then accusing other people of being "out of touch" with young feminists and it's like, HI, YOUNG FEMINISTS CAN MAKE THAT COMPLAINT FOR THEMSELVES AND IF THEY ARE NOT MAKING IT, MAYBE YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF WHY. (hint: maybe because some young feminists, yes even ones younger than you, are interested in conversing across generational lines and hearing what older feminists have to say FROM THEM instead of relying on media-constructed "generation gaps" like seriously, i thought one of the "pros" of "young feminists" was our ability to RESIST superimposed media narratives of our lives, what with our media savvy and whatnot?)
i mean seriously, i am 21, once you hit 30 you're really not any more my generational representative than a 40-year-old, so if you want to make a case for your relevance it damn well better not be "younger is better!"
but, yes, this whole post is so, so true, thank you. and this quote:
NO ONE LOOKS GOOD IN THIS
because no one is attempting to do anything BUT LOOK GOOD!
STITCHED. ON. A PILLOW. PLZ.
& Octogalore:
Instead, the use of buzzwords and applying “super-” frequently to adjectives (or maybe I'm just too ancient to get why this is kool)
erm....guilty as charged (some might even say... super-guilty. OH HO HO, i crack me up). i didn't know it was a cool kids thing though, i thought it was just a weird tic i had picked up from somewhere. whoops!
Octa- It's the yeah it's whte and middle class and
NONE OF THE THE ARTICLES HAD A QUOTE FORM LYLES HERSELF
An article a bout the need for diversity quoted a white women over THE BLACK WOMAN RUNNING
and taht's what gets me ab out many of teh critiques
NOW IS OUT OF TOUCH IT IS DYING AND IS PLODDING and CONCRETE EVIDENCE
not hard to find
but thats not the issue the issue is the photop
and beetween intersectionality and radical love I keep waiting for waht other half century old WOC pioneered id will get stolen for " cutting edgeness" by soemone who cnat even master the fucking bibliography right ( that's nast y but if you're gonan mkake your bread and butter on stealinga t least be respectful enough to acknowlege their fucking existance)
Isabel
Well you know young feminists are so hip we can choose a leader usually olde rthan us to speak for us
even if many groups are protesting taht one!
And you knwo what i think at 24 I am In NWO WAY QUALIFIED to speak to teh concerns of someon 18 right now
so how do these women get to tell me SHIT!??!
not to mention why is it no ISSUES come up with this crap
I am seriously curious what Jessica Valenti is going to do with herself once she's forty years old. Will she start thinking of herself (and her politics) as outdated and irrelevant, or will she consider herself the exception to the rule? Will she resign from Feministing because she isn't a young feminist anymore? Every time I read this stuff about young feminists, I have to wonder if she realizes that we are all aging.
Late amazon is late but
melissa I'm not sure
nor quite honestly do I thik it will affect me in the slightest
It will be what Jong and Steinem and the rest are up to
Reaaching a certain age full of vim and vigor that teh "work" is important
and turning around and realizing yet again that not only does much of the generation they claimed to represent barely think of them because frankly it was about moving forth a very small section of goals that only made them feel good or with it
and wondering why more women aren't in teh sisterhood
it's not even a thing that is being worked on .
Put it bluntly they don't really care and aren't really thinking of it.
bEcause how it is right nwo for all the bluster works for them
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