[lbo-talk] RE: diversity of Gender expression

That*&%#*#RogersWoman debburz at yahoo.com
Thu Apr 1 19:41:51 PST 2004


--- joanna bujes <jbujes at covad.net> wrote:


> Unfortunately, that "perspective" is insufficient to tell her that
> she's involved in a crappy scene.

Holy moly! Who said it was a crappy scene? By whose standards and what makes those standards the "correct" standards by which all "crappiness" is measured?

That type of broad sweep of judgment that dismisses all expressions of gender identity outside of a narrow definition of what is or isn't "crappy" as damaged or unacceptable is exactly the thing that bell and others have railed against ever since and that the younger generations of women coming up now dismiss as limiting and colored by interpretations that do not have the same significance to them as they once did for others or those who assign those labels now.

The broad judgment school of feminism is what motivates someone like Paglia circa about 15 years ago to argue that while rape is never acceptable, any woman who goes to a frat party full of frat brats and deliberately gets drunk or doped up has to shoulder some of the responsibility, however minute, because she put herself at risk by losing control and assuming that no one else would lose theirs. Ironically, we teach defensive driving to kids learning how to drive a car, but defensive living gets thrown out a window when it comes to the sanctity of white middle-class feminism that seeks to further isolate and "protect" the female by someone removing all perceived forms of objectification, damage or harm.

I know that "diversity" is a holy
> word these days, but... I mean it's like saying "creating jobs" is
> ipso facto good and forgetting that prisons create jobs, wars
> create jobs, concentration camps create jobs.

Huh?

Diversity can't be that holy, because the social conservatives are still raising enough dust and dander to make "diversity" a joke in corporate board rooms where the board members like to check off "diversity training" as a solution to real diversity and integration of people in their company. From what I've seen, true "diversity" has become a joke.

- Deborah R.



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