Posts by Emma Hart
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I am deeply ambivalent about this. My partner and I were in Whitcoulls once, talking to one of their staff, and afterwards I said to Karl, "You know, that guy should really be working in a bookshop."
Borders, on the other hand, has the best sci-fi selection in Christchurch. Yes, way better than Scorpio Books, unfortunately. While I love me some independent bookshops in theory, my chances of finding what I'm after in Scorpio are vanishingly small now. If I want to do serious meat-space book-shopping, I go to Borders.
But on the other hand, the thing I want WILL be available at The Book Depository, it'll be cheaper than I'd pay for it in a bookshop here, it'll ship for free by Royal Mail in less than a week... my love for bookshops is seriously tested.
Also, Whitcoulls' "an e-book copy of this will cost you more than a print one" policy was... well, self-evident, I think.
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Up Front: Say When, in reply to Lilith __,
Lilith: I know I said I'd been in a wet t-shirt competition. I have. Sally claims I said I had lots of fun. Possibly I also giggled, and tossed my hair. I deliberately didn't give my reasons or describe my experience, but left it blank for people to fill in for themselves.
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Emma if it wasn't you who who said you entered a WTC and had lots of fun, my apologies. Megan? I haven't got the energy to go that far back in the thread. But I didn't assume fun was had, the person said they had fun.
I have been back over the thread, and I will give a pony (sparkles optional) to anyone, ANYONE who can find this comment.
'Lifestyle feminist' is Greer's term poached here to describe people who call themselves feminists (when it suits?) but seem to focus their anger and 'politics' against, well, feminists, all the while advocating women's and girls' right to show plenty cleavage at the pub, lots of leg at high school, wet tits in t-shirts - for the purposes of a competition! and expecting no-one to be concerned.
I am going to assume there is some way in which Sally hasn't been focusing her anger on, well, feminists right here. Because that's bad, apparently. But, as she hasn't answered 'was the offence deliberate ' question, or the 'do you think that term adequately describes ME' question, I have to assume, given the number of opportunities to back away, that the answers are both yes. Which is interesting.
Obviously Sally and I disagree. People can make up their own minds. Possibly on the basis of this, but then, that's just words on the internet, right? Not important, like a thesis. I'm not sure where my Honours essay on JS Mill fits into that continuum.
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When a screening starts fifteen minutes late, and the first half hour is out of focus
This reminds me of something, the bitching about which slipped my mind. Can't think how that happened. Went to see The King's Speech at Hoyts Moorhouse. Loved it, kept thinking how much my mother would have loved it, heard ALL of The Green Lantern through the wall from the theatre next door.
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It would be easier to have the discussion with hand waving and wine.
Well, Megan and I just got given free wine with lunch (and any assumptions about why that was arrived at without asking us would be Just Plain Wrong, possibly with a sprinkling of 'insulting') so... yeah.
I've talked about labelling before, and while my label use has changed (and without sex-positive blogs and events never would have) my views on labelling have not: labels are good and bad. They simplify, but on the other hand, they also simplify. It's a mixed bag. For me I find the solution is to not get too hung up on them.
That said, "baywatch feminist" is a label I'm going to assume is meant to be insulting, therefore I'm not happy to have it applied.
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My position is that I think they have a point, and I think it's a better point than yours: I took part in a WTC and had a lot of fun.
Where did I say that? Oh, that's right, I didn't. What I was commenting on was people attributing motivations to women who'd entered wet t-shirt competitions and talking about that experience - one they hadn't had - without showing any interest in the views of those women who had. Which is, by the way, exactly what you've just done. Without asking me, you know I enjoyed it, and that it was a cheap and tacky stunt.
All I am actually asking is that you accept that a) my personal experience is that the vast majority of negative reaction to my appearance and behaviour has come from women, and that b) I have reached my personal philosophy as a result of experience and thought.
Oh, and also? That you respond to this:
And before we get into any further difficulties over semantics, I'm going to ask some more questions, not as snark, but for clarification. Your comment seems to suggest that "educated useful" feminism is exclusive of "lifestyle feminism" and that "lifestyle feminism" is, you feel, an adequate label for my beliefs. Is this the case?
Was the offence deliberate or accidental?
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It seemed like the intention was similar to "chardonnay socialist" - in the same vein as farmers sneering at "lifestyle blocks" which aren't "real" farming. But I'm not really sure that sally meant that.
Yeah, that's why I asked. Cause there are a bunch of labels which are used to describe "third wave/sex-positive" feminists which are often, but not nearly always, used in a denigrating fashion. And they get my hackles up, but I'd like to give benefit of the doubt. Lipstick feminist, choice feminist, lifestyle feminist, and my personal favourite, sparkle-pony.
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I think I should just mention that, going by the last time we had this conversation, the next step is arguing about Joss Whedon...
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I can't see the labeling process as very productive generally
Wordy Mc-Fucking-Word. I do understand that the label disputes are really important to some people. But... yeah. I just wrote:
my feminism is interested in what you think, say and do. It is not interested in whether you call yourself a feminist (or a socialist, or an environmentalist) or not.
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I suspect Germaine would not have described me as feminist either, back in the day.
That's okay, I didn't agree with Greer when she said, quite recently:
Well, if he thinks that women are not interested in genital encounters with total strangers then he is absolutely right... What women yearn for is intimacy.
Now, this'd probably be an example of a use of "women" like Megan was talking about above, but if you're one of the individual women who never seem to be included when people are talking about "women"... it all gets a bit depressing.