Grrrrrrrrl Power

From my friends at The Galloping Beaver -- no pun intended -- an awesome post on what feminism has given the world.

Feminism hasn't created socio-economic inequalities. Over the course of centuries, feminism, which didn't start with the end of WW2 or with the cancellation of Leave It To Beaver, has always benefited society. Feminism has the effect of highlighting the worst of social ills and correcting them for women, men, children and sometimes, animals. A British soldier of today would still be living the life of his 18th Century antecedent if it hadn't been for a feminist.

Feminism is responsible for a lot of things, 99.99% of them good.

It is not responsible for fascism, Islamic or otherwise. It is not responsible for the exploitation of women and children in the sex trade. It is not responsible for sharia law, the Taliban, the war in Iraq, Hitler, domestic abuse, anorexia, bare midriffs or the Spice Girls.

Feel free to fill in the blank: Feminism is not responsible for _________.

UPPITY DATE (4/1/08): Habibah Richards in the comments below takes exception to my including shariah law on this list. She writes, in part:

Though I certainly appreciate much of what you've written, unfortunately your choice of words is suggestive of some bigotry and prejudice in the form anti-islamic sentiments - ironic for a blog that is against gender discrimination to engage in religious discrimination. Fascism is unislamic, so the notion of "Islamic fascism" is an oxymoron. And the much-maligned shariah law is not what is portrayed in the media, nor is it defined by the occurrence of misinterpretations and misapplications in third world countries. Shariah refers to the legal constitution of Islam and the true Shariah is aimed at elevation of women, as seen through the voluminous quotes from the Qur'an and Prophet on the subject.

While I am prepared to accept that the media misrepresent shariah law, I highly doubt feminists had anything to do with drawing it up. Indeed, feminism is not responsible for modern patriarchal organized religion of any kind.

Comments

[pretty shaved ape]

welcome back to the blogosphere antonia! on behalf of all of us that missed you so, huzzah!

[matttbastard]

In honour of Faludi (am this close to finishing The Terror Dream):

Feminism is not responsible for 9/11.

[Dave]

Yehaw!! Glad to see you back Antonia. We need rude, obstreperous and bold.

We missed you! (And you humble me with that link so soon after hitting the pilot light).

Onto the blogroll with you! (It's going on as "Antonia"... for obvious reasons).

Cheers!

[Dave]

On second thought... I'll blogroll as Broadsides. (I'm near brain death this afternoon).

[Medbh]

Antonia, I'm still fairly new to living here in Canada, but I want to say that you are by far the best writer at the Star and it burns me up that your wonderful editorials languish in the back pages of the Living section.
Oh, and may I add that feminism never put anyone in literal or metaphoric shackles.
Feminism is the only way forward.

[stageleft]

Welcome home!! The blogroll is being adjusted even as I type and Lily has put your chair back in its' spot near the mead vat.

PS: Feminism is not responsible for global warming or sun spots... I think those are the only things Raphael missed in his post.

[sheena]

Yay! Welcome back.

[Habibah Richards]

Though I certainly appreciate much of what you've written, unfortunately your choice of words is suggestive of some bigotry and prejudice in the form anti-islamic sentiments - ironic for a blog that is against gender discrimination to engage in religious discrimination. Fascism is unislamic, so the notion of "Islamic fascism" is an oxymoron. And the much-maligned shariah law is not what is portrayed in the media, nor is it defined by the occurrence of misinterpretations and misapplications in third world countries. Shariah refers to the legal constitution of Islam and the true Shariah is aimed at elevation of women, as seen through the voluminous quotes from the Qur'an and Prophet on the subject. For the purpose of this brief post I will only quote one statement from the latter as an example: The Prophet said, "The noble man is the one who treats women in an honorable manner. And none but an ignoble treats women disgracefully' [At-Tirmidhee]
for more info please consult:
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/355/
http://muslim-canada.org/statusbadawi.html
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/458/viewall/

Hopefully you will find the links informative.

Best wishes for the new year.

[Diana Marie]

Wow, you're back, you're back, you're BACK ... drumroll ... there IS a supreme deity of the female persuasion.

Oh, and feminism is not responsible for extraordinary rendition, neoconism, PNAC, the nuclear bomb ........ eeeek, can't get away from politics...... must.do.better.

[dirk]

Welcome back Antonia you "old" "broad-side" ;)

[Simon]

OMFG. I asked Santa to bring me a Ferrari. He didn't. But this is even BETTER !!! Welcome back Antonia we missed you sooooooo much.

[Berlynn]

Feminism is not responsible for the Big Bang (so far as we know, anyway).

[Kate]

Anorexia, bulemia, Cosmopolitan Magazine...I could get to Z if I had the time.

[Frandroid Atreides]

I've just created a LiveJournal feed for this blog.

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/broadsides/profile

[Dana]

Welcome back Antonia.

So does this mean that champagne summer afternoons waiting for the grill to heat are a thing of the past? :-)

[Antonia]

No Dana. It means that I can't eat your amazing spare ribs. But I'll drink! (And then walk twice as much as I did last time. This time in fact, I can run! )

[Mark-Alan Whittle]

I certainly agree with you on the abuses of Sharia law being perpetrated around the Islamic world. Given all the flowery language that seems to mask over it's ambivilance to women, nobody should be surprised at the results. As to blogging, you go girl!

[Gibson Block]

Religion need not lend itself to fascim but in fact, any kind of religion can be a host. The reason: it's naturally authoritarian. Someone claims that he knows what God wants. A bunch of other people decide he's right so they also know what God wants. So then, anyone who doesn't agree with them -- and do as they prescribe -- is going against God. Nice, eh? Lots of room for differences of opinion. Not.

[tvgirl]

Feminism is NOT responsible for a growing number of young women who are either oblivious of or ungrateful to the women who fought so many battles for them. From the right to vote to the right to choose to....well the list over decades and decades is just too long. This should be required discussion at every family dinner table and required curriculum in schools. Feminism will be there however, when the apathy I'm seeing in so many young women comes back to bite them in the ass. Protect the hard fought rights you have, fight for those that remain elusive.

[daz]

Feminism also gave the world my mother who beat me mercilessly throughout my childhood. For all the benefits of feminism, my feminist mother has only been able to raise drug-addicted children who are unable to form relationships with others. Don't get me wrong, she raised independent, very successful men who can earn a lot of money. They just can't connect with other people. All in all, I would say that for the benefits my mother got, it was NOT worth it. She ended up being a teacher anyway, which is a stereotypical pre-feminist occupation so she didn't need to be a feminist to have the life she had. BTW, it also made HER unable to connect....the longest lasting relationship she's had is with the 40 year old son she still has living at home.

[rev.paperboy]

Feminism is not responsible for
a)Raphael losing his car keys
b)Rush Limbagh
c)the Maple Leafs sucking
d)all of the above

[JJ]

Feminism is not responsible for the personality problems/disorders/shortcomings of anyone's family.