Thursday, April 19, 2012

Why does the feminist discourse in the academy make no sense?

So, historically, women--and by extension the feminine--were marginalized.  And, eventually, we started to notice this, and it bothered us.  And, even more eventually, we started to talk about it.

And then, to my complete bafflement, we decided that everything that was marginalized could be absorbed into the feminine.  Fragmentary literature?  Well, that's not the regular kind, so it must be feminine.  Post-colonial problems?  Well, that's peripheral, so it must be feminine.  Higher melanin content in your skin?  Well, that's not northern European, so it must be feminine.

What the hell is this?  Do women somehow win by planting their flag on everything that mainstream scholarship has ignored?  Because, from here, it looks like they put themselves and the disciplines they have invented into an easily isolated ghetto.

That is not the point!  Accepting the categories of the patriarchy to structure your entire analysis is stupid! And counter-productive!

You shouldn't accept the margins and the crumbs on them.  You should take what you've got and start hacking a path to the summit.  With machetes, if necessary, but with absolutely no whining at all.

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