Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: Can't We All Just Fucking Get Along?

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  • giovanni tiso,

    For the benefit of those of us who hear about a crazy and terrible blog post and then just to go and find it for ourselves, I assume the post in question is A Rapist's View of the World: Joss Whedon and Firefly.

    Well, thank you, that was... diverse. I loved this from the author in the comments:

    "The feminist community is not one that I consider to be feminist. I moved to wordpress because that is where the radical feminists are."

    Along similar lines, I try to use sans-serif fonts because that's what real socialists use.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • 3410,

    Joss Whedon's a guy?!

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • richard,

    The feminist community is not one that I consider to be feminist. I moved to wordpress because that is where the radical feminists are

    People's Front of Judea. Splitters!

    Not looking for New Engla… • Since Nov 2006 • 268 posts Report

  • Jolisa,

    Along similar lines, I try to use sans-serif fonts because that's what real socialists use.

    Wot, like comic sans? Respect!

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    "Sorry I'm standing in the way of your minimalist Bauhaus-esque fascist snoozefest." Awesome.

    Also: "I'm gonna go get hammered with Papyrus." Doubly awesome.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Jolisa,

    Comic sans, fighting fascists since... 1994. Thanks, Microsoft.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Thanks Russell. That needed doing, because it's rude to talk about how bad something is without letting people decide for themselves

    Well, I've got to take my share of that spank, and it's an excellent general principle but there's some crap so vile that if you really can't take my word for it Google is your friend. (For example, I'm sure Russell didn't mind that I didn't turn PA into a way station to Clint Heine's *cough* little Photoshop mash-up of Helen Clark's face and she-male porn. It needed to be called out, but I wasn't going to circulate it any further.)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Emma Hart,

    Well, I've got to take my share of that spank, and it's an excellent general principle but there's some crap so vile that if you really can't take my word for it Google is your friend.

    The spanking was mostly for me, though [third time today I have edited a comment for just being too sleazy]

    And yeah, I was pretty much torn between "Don't read this, Danielle, it's bad for your head" and "Please read this Danielle, because I want to see your reaction".

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    And yeah, I was pretty much torn between "Don't read this, Danielle, it's bad for your head" and "Please read this Danielle, because I want to see your reaction".

    Got to say my head didn't feel good after that toxic brew of ideological slut-shaming, concern-trolling, never letting the goalposts stand still, and the kind incoherent bad faith vitriol you usually see only in far-right evangelical fag-bashing. OTBS, the weekend has got to be better than that.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    For example, I'm sure Russell didn't mind that I didn't turn PA into a way station to Clint Heine's *cough* little Photoshop mash-up of Helen Clark's face and she-male porn. It needed to be called out, but I wasn't going to circulate it any further.

    Oh, of course. There is a difference between a crazy and offensive argument and ... that piece of filth.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Rich Lock,

    haven't seen it, don't intend to, because I'm not interested in spending $40 on babysitting in order to see it.

    I am sure a truly pro-feminist husband would put the kids to bed while you went out and enjoyed this epic on your own :-)

    Well, that's what I did. What do I win?

    I'll stay out of the rest of the debate for fear of, um, man-splaining ("what you feminist women should do is....")

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    And yeah, I was pretty much torn between "Don't read this, Danielle, it's bad for your head" and "Please read this Danielle, because I want to see your reaction"

    I showed it to my darling. The polite description of her response would be "indignant". I'm going for the way she speculated about Whedon's wife as if she were a blow-up doll as the most demeaning passage, but we'll all have our favourites.

    I'm finding it hard to stay away from reading the comments.

    This is choice:

    greektoomey:
    I would very much like to see you deconstruct Veronica Mars.

    allecto_: I haven't heard of that. Is it a movie?

    No, it's a well-written TV drama with a working-class female lead ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • B Jones,

    You know what almost passes the Bechdel rule of thumb? Jane Austen. Except for rule 3, half the time, especially towards the end, and the beginning, and... damn. Well, arguably, given the times, they are talking about their employment options, which is also very important.

    But, the more-than-two-women-and-they-talk-to-each-other bit might explain the popularity of the movie versions.

    There's no opposite to the Bechdel test, as far as I know, but if there were, Austen would fail that. I think I read somewhere she never has two male characters talking in a scene where there isn't a lady present, because she didn't have any experience on how they behave in such circumstances. Movie versions often sidestep that.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report

  • Rich Lock,

    Strange Days was a pretty shining example of feminist cinema I thought.

    Ah! Now you are clearly being sarcastic! Right....?

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    And yeah, I was pretty much torn between "Don't read this, Danielle, it's bad for your head" and "Please read this Danielle, because I want to see your reaction"

    And there I was, distracted by changing nappies and washing window-frames (feministly, natch) and generally failing to read the piece at all. To the interwebs! To (no doubt) splutter with incoherent rage!

    I think I read somewhere she never has two male characters talking in a scene where there isn't a lady present, because she didn't have any experience on how they behave in such circumstances.

    "The little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush as produces little effect after much labour." I love her so.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    Ah! Now you are clearly being sarcastic! Right....?

    Nope. Loved Strange Days, me.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I think I read somewhere she never has two male characters talking in a scene where there isn't a lady present, because she didn't have any experience on how they behave in such circumstances.

    Or it could be that Miss Austen thought other writers did the masculine world perfectly well and/or she just didn't give a rat's rare end what went on in the exclusive company of men. Not really much first hand intel on the subject.

    And if you really want to apply the Bechdel Test to Jane Austen, it's rather interesting to note how much of her work is taken up by two women talking other other women, and often with a current of sharp-eyed malice or melancholy clarity about the status of women that doesn't quite come across in the "nice frock and chasing cock" school of adaptation. Charlotte Lucas, and the way she rationally entombs herself in marriage to an arse-licking fool she neither loves nor respects, is tragic. A tragedy made worse, sad to say, by Elizabeth being a bit of a bitch, all pride and prejudice, when she hears the news.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Islander,

    I was born in 1947, into - what i realised *much* later was actually a matriarchy.
    O yes! Males ruled everywhere - but-
    in our homes, females ruled (I come from Murihiku Maori & Orkney stock: my father, who fortunately* died in 1958, was a 1st generation ANZer from Lancashire. Where women's 'might 'n clout' is not unknown.)

    I was born female: I am physicologically female.
    But I am not a female in any way that our - or almost any other - society understands as female. I am an asexual female.

    Almost all social paths that females can ordinarily pursue within our societies are irrelevant as far as I am concerned.

    I make my own way.

    And, believe you me, I am a committed feminist - and have been, since the mid-1970s.

    Males, within my whanau - and friend group -are feminist in their attitudes and politics.

    I've never watched SATC.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    I'm back. With a resounding 'what the... whut?' And some 'huh?' There was also a bit of 'seriously? Are you nuts?' and a passable amount of 'GRAR'. The paragraph about interracial relationships was particularly noxious.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    And there I was, distracted by changing nappies and washing window-frames (feministly, natch) and generally failing to read the piece at all. To the interwebs! To (no doubt) splutter with incoherent rage!

    I can't believe you were doing all that while someone was wrong on the internet.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Cecelia,

    Wow! Back home after a rare day's relieving (maths so I had time to think about feminism - I was a mere babysitter) - and all these lovely posts. I liked the Bechdel test and the Joss Whedon speech, Emma. Fantastic.

    I was thinking about films - Jane Campion: Bright Star. I love the way Fanny's sewing skills are treated. She makes a virtue of necessity and throws her intelligence and creativity into sewing and fashion. There are lines of dialogue about this woman's work. How rare is that?

    The Piano? Hmmm. One of the few films I found truly erotic FWIW.

    And Giovanni - you wrote about Rosie the Riveter in your blog. I loved that film and still think about the woman who just wanted to make a beautiful wrought iron gate. She was thwarted by the end of the war and the return of women to the 'home'.

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    I loved that film and still think about the woman who just wanted to make a beautiful wrought iron gate.

    'Was that so much to want?' Breaks my heart every time.

    That has to be one of my favourite films of all time. I love Weixel's last line: 'We were a really smart-looking group of ladies, and we all loved one another. I hope for that feeling in this country again - but not for a war.'

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    OTOH, let's be careful about even risking being seen to have conflated self-proclaimed "radical" feminism such as that rather odd blog post (and our friend Ms Bindel of the Fuardian) with feminism itself. It's more like a hashtag for denigrating other women.

    Did that even make sense?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    I wouldn't dream of conflating radical feminism with that blog post, let alone feminism in its broader sense.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    It's more like a hashtag for denigrating other women.

    Did that even make sense?

    Sadly, yes. But remember, to a certain type of mind the apostate is always more contemptible than the infidel.

    That has to be one of my favourite films of all time. I love Weixel's last line: 'We were a really smart-looking group of ladies, and we all loved one another. I hope for that feeling in this country again - but not for a war.'

    Well, thanks to the wonderful literary archaeology of Persephone Books (http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/ ), there's a wonderful body of book by women who lived through both World Wars and relished the freedoms that transformed their lives without being in any doubt about their terrible price.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

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