I'm sure there's some early seasons femmeslash out there, although I haven't sought it out. I'm actually tired of fics that are written just for two characters to have sex and that's the whole story.
Oh, there certainly is! You're right, though -- stories where you can see from the beginning that they're just for two characters to hook up... well, I have to be in the mood for that. :|a Mostly I'm sick of it for Spuffy, I think. Mostly because my disbelief has to be suspended a whole freaking lot to believe S2!Spike would in any way make a cute and fluffy partner for Buffy.
to conceive "femininity" as well as masculinity as natural, divine, as essential, as Self not Other.
Exactly! You know how I mentioned how I was in this lecture about feminism & anarchism? Someone argued that they thought this whole idea of "equality" isn't something they want to emphasize that much anymore, with the reasoning that it mostly means putting women in men's positions, when really, what also needs to be done is put more value on feminine work and values. Which I think is really important because whoa am I over femmephobia, but I also think... I go into the comic store and am happy when I see a female author name on a cover. I go into a bookstore's non-fiction section and am greeted by 99% male author names, even on books about women. Hell, the whole reason anarchism needs feminism is because anarchist circles seem to also often have men taking the lead? And I'm like, this can't be it. It can't be that most of the writing that shapes our perception of reality is still dominated by male voices to such an extreme extent. And if we want to tear down the walls of oppression, the oppressed's voices need to be heard, to be present. So I think the idea of "equality", of bringing women to a place where men are, is not exactly obsolete yet.
But that doesn't change the way that young women's explorations of feminist spirituality is dismissed. In a season in which the "little bad" - Maggie is the one female college professor and scientist we see, and she's a villain. That wouldn't be a problem by itself if there were other positive depictions of women in sciences and academia.
Too true. :( We have the Watcher Lydia, but half of what she does is... fangirl Spike. She does earn my brownie points later on when she respectfully points out her concerns about Buffy's approach to slaying to Buffy. She was being the classiest out of Travers' little troupe there. And, well, AtS does have Fred! I haven't seen S5 yet, but though she has a serious "dark" streak, she seems to be mostly a positive portrayal! Things-that-happen-in-S5 notwithstanding.
You've seen the slogan that goes back to the '70's or '80's? "What if our schools well-funded and the Army had to hold a bake sale?" "Bake sale" is definitely gendered to begin with.
I'm not sure? Maybe I have. But yeah, agreeing very much. "Baking" is gendered. So is education, in... actually two very contradictory ways, because in Ye Olde Victorian Times (which it seems to me we owe a lot of today's sexism issues to) on the one hand, higher education was mostly closed off to women, but OTOH teaching was one of the few "respectable" employment options a woman could have (there is, of course, a whole lot of classism wrapped up in this too). And even today, it seems like elementary schools are mostly a female domain; whereas, the higher up you go, the more sparse the women get.
Absolutely. It's not unlike how people who are activists are called "extremists" (Queer Nation for instance) and told to sit down, be quiet, be patient, work within the system, when the system is inherently fucked-up.
So much this. Hell, even in our little women's department here at my uni, we got into some fights because we posted articles pointing out the sexism of some posters hanging in uni buildings. There was also an election poster by a conservative group that was... pretty much baiting us.
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branchandroot
Re: 2/2
Date: 2013-07-12 10:18 pm (UTC)Oh, there certainly is! You're right, though -- stories where you can see from the beginning that they're just for two characters to hook up... well, I have to be in the mood for that. :|a Mostly I'm sick of it for Spuffy, I think. Mostly because my disbelief has to be suspended a whole freaking lot to believe S2!Spike would in any way make a cute and fluffy partner for Buffy.
to conceive "femininity" as well as masculinity as natural, divine, as essential, as Self not Other.
Exactly! You know how I mentioned how I was in this lecture about feminism & anarchism? Someone argued that they thought this whole idea of "equality" isn't something they want to emphasize that much anymore, with the reasoning that it mostly means putting women in men's positions, when really, what also needs to be done is put more value on feminine work and values. Which I think is really important because whoa am I over femmephobia, but I also think... I go into the comic store and am happy when I see a female author name on a cover. I go into a bookstore's non-fiction section and am greeted by 99% male author names, even on books about women. Hell, the whole reason anarchism needs feminism is because anarchist circles seem to also often have men taking the lead? And I'm like, this can't be it. It can't be that most of the writing that shapes our perception of reality is still dominated by male voices to such an extreme extent. And if we want to tear down the walls of oppression, the oppressed's voices need to be heard, to be present. So I think the idea of "equality", of bringing women to a place where men are, is not exactly obsolete yet.
But that doesn't change the way that young women's explorations of feminist spirituality is dismissed. In a season in which the "little bad" - Maggie is the one female college professor and scientist we see, and she's a villain. That wouldn't be a problem by itself if there were other positive depictions of women in sciences and academia.
Too true. :( We have the Watcher Lydia, but half of what she does is... fangirl Spike. She does earn my brownie points later on when she respectfully points out her concerns about Buffy's approach to slaying to Buffy. She was being the classiest out of Travers' little troupe there. And, well, AtS does have Fred! I haven't seen S5 yet, but though she has a serious "dark" streak, she seems to be mostly a positive portrayal! Things-that-happen-in-S5 notwithstanding.
You've seen the slogan that goes back to the '70's or '80's? "What if our schools well-funded and the Army had to hold a bake sale?" "Bake sale" is definitely gendered to begin with.
I'm not sure? Maybe I have. But yeah, agreeing very much. "Baking" is gendered. So is education, in... actually two very contradictory ways, because in Ye Olde Victorian Times (which it seems to me we owe a lot of today's sexism issues to) on the one hand, higher education was mostly closed off to women, but OTOH teaching was one of the few "respectable" employment options a woman could have (there is, of course, a whole lot of classism wrapped up in this too). And even today, it seems like elementary schools are mostly a female domain; whereas, the higher up you go, the more sparse the women get.
Absolutely. It's not unlike how people who are activists are called "extremists" (Queer Nation for instance) and told to sit down, be quiet, be patient, work within the system, when the system is inherently fucked-up.
So much this. Hell, even in our little women's department here at my uni, we got into some fights because we posted articles pointing out the sexism of some posters hanging in uni buildings. There was also an election poster by a conservative group that was... pretty much baiting us.