Where I retract my statement: Louise Mensch isn't a Complete Nincompoop

Literally 4 days ago, I declared Louise Mensch a nincompoop for her stance on depression and her article on intersectionality in the Guardian. I am still cross about both of her stances as it demonstrates a complete refusal to engage in the reality of the lives of women who aren't white and middle class.  As with Maria Miller's new pamphlet to fix the lack of "aspiration" in girls, Mensch is blinded by her privilege. They both make me very cranky.

However, the fact that their politics and their privilege make me cranky does not mean I discount them completely as Mensch's latest blog on child rape demonstrates. I may disagree with them fundamentally on some, very important, issues but equally I agree with Mensch's position that child porn does not exist; it is a term used to deflect male responsibility for the harm caused by the sexual abuse, rape and torture of children. 

I also firmly believe that feminists must listen to the voices of all women. It doesn't mean we have to agree but just that we cannot silence the voices of other women. The Capitatlist-Patriarchy already does this to women. Feminists must be different. 

We need to listen to one another and learn from one another. We also need to apologise when we are wrong. Being wrong isn't a weakness. Apologising isn't a weakness. 

Feminism is a journey and we are all at different places on that journey. We need to share our journeys with one another. We need to share our experiences with one another. 

I may disagree with Louise Mensch [and think she's frequently a nincompoop] but the idea that I should discount everything she says because I disagree with some is ridiculous. And anti-feminist. I don't read Mensch's blog on a daily basis because it's a fashion blog and I am not interested in fashion. I will read pieces of her blog which are retweeted into my timeline that sound interesting. This is how I came across the incredible blogs of Spectra Speaks and Gradient Lair. 

I know I've said this before but my feminism is about privileging women's voices. I started this blog to take a stand against cultural femicide. 

I will also not be told who I can and cannot speak to or whose work I must ignore because they do not meet some arbitrary definition of feminism. I am so privileged to have friends who cross the whole spectrum of feminism. I feel so privileged to have these women in my life and I will not dismiss them because others don't believe they are "good enough feminists".

We are all "good enough feminists": mistakes, warts and all.