Charliegrrl: Censoring pro-porn feminism (94)

This post is on the BDSM Activism web board.

6 Apr 07, 1:59 PM
verte
UK(E), 6 yrs

blueelf wrote:
It is a fact, though, that extremists like charliegrrrl are scaring lots of people away from calling themselves feminists. People hear about about closed-minded fanatics calling themselves feminists, and they think "I am not like that. If that is feminism, then I am not a feminist." Ok, I admit that I don't know for sure if that is the case in the UK, but it certainly is here in Norway, where I am. There are lots of people who support women's rights (of course!), but few who call themselves feminists. The extremists aren't exactly helping the cause of women's rights.
It's sadly true. The thing is, they do make up a large proportion of activist feminist groups, even though there are not all that many of them. As a teenager I was very much involved in radical feminist politics (a "radical feminist, not a fun one" - some Dworkinisms are just too funny not to quote once in a while), but felt so isolated by their stance on sexuality and censorship that I took myself out of the loop for aaaaages - until Rosalee told me about FAC. Many feminists are not activist, so it's important more liberal activist feminists are included in events like Ladyfest and Fightback, promoting feminist activism. I think groups like Object do some great work, but they are not inclusive and they do scare people away.

6 Apr 07, 9:13 PM
vergingontheabyss
3 yrs Thanks for pointing out this blog. I couldn't resist and posted just now. I deem it very unfeasible they will ever post our opinions...
Also doesn't a blog that screens comments smell like censorship????
--------
sombernesssunlit Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation. April 6th, 2007 at 8:08 pm Dear all
You have mentioned many times 'women's freedom'. Fine. All of us want that, this is all BDSM is about. What you seem not to see though is that EVERY SINGLE woman has the right to be herself e.g. to follow her own instinct and sexual fantasies. There may be women who love to clip magazine vouchers, iron shirts, etc. Fine with that. And then there may be women who love to submit, willingly and with full understanding of the undergoing and consequences, to another person, be it man or woman (yes, there are even women who submit to other women). To decide to give control of yourself to someone you love, deem worth of your affection, trust etc. is a sign of strenght, not the other way round. Get to grips with this. For women's sake.
Only because most of you are opposed to 'violence' (which in the BDSM case it's a well-planned, safe, CONSENSUAL power exchange) does not mean all the rest of women are thinking the same. Finally your line of thought makes women look like victims even more so. Women, especially within BDSM, are stronger than what you think.
Thanks.
A.

6 Apr 07, 9:16 PM
Heliax
UK(W), 4 yrs I just realised that no one has mentioned Samois.

Samois was a lesbian-feminist BDSM organization based in San Francisco and existing from 1978 to 1983. It took its name from the fictional estate of Anne-Marie, a lesbian dominatrix character in Story of O, who pierces and brands O. Well-known members of the group included the writer Pat Califia and feminist academic Gayle Rubin.
Hard to believe they existed way back then.

6 Apr 07, 9:51 PM
Miss_Lizzie
UK, 3 yrs I just found an interesting article [link="http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/..."]here[/link].
Quote: An important difference exists between a desired forceful sexual fantasy and an undesired actual rape. Beyond the obvious difference that, in the former, no actual violation of body and will is experienced, the fantasist also has complete control, while a lack of control characterizes rape. Moreover, rape is fraught with the possibility of bodily harm or death of the victim. Research corroborates that women engage in these fantasies for the purpose of sexual arousal and pleasure, not out of desire for an actual rape or force experience (Bond & Mosher, 1986; Kanin, 1982). For example, Zurbriggen and Yost (2004) argued that there appears to be no relationship between submission fantasy and real-world behavior (e.g., desiring to be raped), given their findings that there was no connection between women's submission fantasies and various attitudinal measures assessing rape acceptance, negativity toward women, and belief in hostility between men and women. */Quote
No point in posting it til charliegrrl's blog, though, since she won't publish it, but I thought some other people here might like it.


	©1997-2010 Informed Consent