I have long been uncomfortable with the construction of Caitlin Moran as Britain's Number One Feminist for a while now; especially after her dismissal of beauty practises and housework as feminist issues. Whilst I agree with this sentiment:
‘What? You don’t want to vote? Do you want to be owned by your husband? Do you want your money from your job to go into his bank account? If you were raped, do you still want that to be a crime? Congratulations: you are a feminist.’It's not enough to just proclaim oneself a feminist. You actually have to live as a feminist and, yes, it is hard to live as a feminist in a society which punishes women for critiquing Patriarchal structures. None of us are perfect and we all fail from time to time. We live in a Patriarchal society which is inherently racist, homophobic, disablist and misogynist. We have all internalised these structures since birth. We can strive to live outwith the endemic violence against The Other but sometimes, a lot of the time, we need to be pulled up on a thought or an action which causes pain to others. Part of being an adult with critical thinking skills is to not get defensive when someone calls us on our privilege; no matter how difficult or humiliating it is.
The problem with Moran's construction of Feminism is that it is of the "I'm alright so the rest of you must be moaning about shit because you're whiny" school. She has no self-reflection and seems incapable of seeing outwith her privilege. It involves victim-blaming as much as it involves a construction of Moran's feminism being the only feminism.
Many of us watch American television. We all know that racism is endemic within it [and British TV for that matter]. We all know that shows like Friends are racist because of the total failure to include any PofC. The fact that mainstream culture is so steeped in racism that a program based in New York, like Sex and the City, manages to be completely "white" without any real criticism is the problem. It's one of the reasons that Law & Order was so different from other TV programs: it had African-American characters within the police and judiciary as permanent cast members. Yes, it got stuck in serious racial stereotyping in many other ways but it was a start. This is why Lena Dunham's Girls is such a disappointment. You simply can not have a cast which is all "white" and pretend they live in New York city. It's unbelievably stupid and racist. But, for Caitlin Moran to dismiss the concerns of others by stating that she "literally couldn't give a shit" about the representation of PofC in TV; well, that's just taking the piss. And, it isn't Feminism. It will never be Feminism.
Feminism is the political theory which is concerned with the liberation of ALL women from male violence; not just ones who happen to be white.
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