Comments on: Laundromat Feminism http://www.studlife.com/forum/2009/11/11/laundromat-feminism/ The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:42:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: jacob http://www.studlife.com/forum/2009/11/11/laundromat-feminism/#comment-4451 jacob Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:42:31 +0000 http://www.studlife.com/?p=7120#comment-4451 while i admire your attempt to transcend simple dialectics with your metaphysical theory of "gaps," in the end it seems you too are bogged down in the distinction between realism and idealism (perhaps authentic/constructed as well) with which you grant supremacy to practice over theory. what i mean is, Why should we never watch phallogocentric and heterosexist television shows (your example) "BEFORE taking another class on feminism, or criticizing someone for using the wrong pronouns..."? (my boldness). inadvertently your model incorporates the liberal reformist notion that oppression can be dealt with on a case by case basis, gradually improving our social condition until the problem as a whole has been fixed and everyone is finally "won over by this whole equality thing" (which thing is that?) . what Rubin is saying is nothing utopian: we need to change the way the very categories of sex and gender and probably desire function is our society, even to the point that they become irrelevant as she says, specifically because of the way they currently function, that is, in ways that normalize compulsory heterosexuality and male supremacy. this is in fact the opposite of a utopian sentiment, which would seek a starting point outside of the system. not watching "America's Next Top Model" is a good idea. being aware of how gendered language works to maintain and reproduce our positions as subjects within existing power relations is also a good idea. why shouldn't the two live in harmony within the conscious feminist? while i admire your attempt to transcend simple dialectics with your metaphysical theory of “gaps,” in the end it seems you too are bogged down in the distinction between realism and idealism (perhaps authentic/constructed as well) with which you grant supremacy to practice over theory. what i mean is, Why should we never watch phallogocentric and heterosexist television shows (your example) “BEFORE taking another class on feminism, or criticizing someone for using the wrong pronouns…”? (my boldness). inadvertently your model incorporates the liberal reformist notion that oppression can be dealt with on a case by case basis, gradually improving our social condition until the problem as a whole has been fixed and everyone is finally “won over by this whole equality thing” (which thing is that?) . what Rubin is saying is nothing utopian: we need to change the way the very categories of sex and gender and probably desire function is our society, even to the point that they become irrelevant as she says, specifically because of the way they currently function, that is, in ways that normalize compulsory heterosexuality and male supremacy. this is in fact the opposite of a utopian sentiment, which would seek a starting point outside of the system. not watching “America’s Next Top Model” is a good idea. being aware of how gendered language works to maintain and reproduce our positions as subjects within existing power relations is also a good idea. why shouldn’t the two live in harmony within the conscious feminist?

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