Whew...I Think It's Finally Over...

This, according to Google, is what feminism looks like apparently.

So over here at The Disco, we believe in women helping women. I personally like to think of this blog as a way for women to interact and commune with other women in a positive and uplifting manner. Even if that is just talking about bowling in three-inch heels. But still, I like to think that somehow, in some way, I'm bringing women who may never ever speak to each other, together to chat and relate to each other. I hope.

Honestly, I'm sure I'm a feminist. In the most modern sense, I guess. I believe women are smarter than society gives us credit for, and that women deserve to be independent of stereotypes and labels that old-world culture continue to give us. Women who sleep around are not sluts, and women who may strip to pay for bills and school are not necessarily whores. Men can turn to a life of crime and be glorified in some gangster movie while a woman chooses to take her clothes off in a safe setting with very tangible limits on what can and can't be done, to pay for her daughter's medical bills, perhaps, but she is a whore. Personally, I don't really know enough about the past, or the present for that matter, to make snap judgments about other women and their decisions or actions, based on some strict and concrete vision of what women should do or think, rather I like to try to understand all points of view and not necessarily judge someone because of what I believe is right. Because my standards are not another woman's standards. I don't think that just because I would rather watch Project Runway than CNN that I'm setting women back. I watch Headline News, btw, but I just think that the whole "setting women back" is an excuse to preach what you believe and refuse to accept the fact that women are not all about being cultured, well-educated presidents-in-training. Although, they can be if they so choose. See feminism, to me, is all about choice. But we seem to forget that.

Anyway, all of that prose was just to sort of lead into what I really have to talk about. Almost a month ago, Tracie Egan (Oh yes, the revered Slut Machine!) and her Jezebel compatriot Moe Tkacik appeared on Lizz Winstead's talk show, "Thinking and Drinking." Beforehand, and during the show, Tracie and Moe got a little drunk...well it sort of sounded like Moe got more than a little drunk, but that's just me, and proceeded to answer Winstead's really heavy queshes about feminism and date rape. Which, by the way, are really hard things to talk about while you're inebriated. Cause dudes, I can't even get through a sentence without cackling obnoxiously when I'm under the influence.

So after that there was a bit of a terrible backlash of comments and statements and really evil words on Slut Machine's blog, One D At A Time. I pretty much watched the whole thing pan out and was really disappointed with how women were literally spewing bile at Tracie while refusing to even talk about the issues raised during Lizz's show. It was sort of sad. Because you would think, hope, that while women would disagree with what was said on the show, they could at least discuss it in a very mature, progressive way. Really, women on women violence is the last thing we need in a world where women are still viewed as less than men. I watch episodes of Maury where women are controlled by the boyfriends and husbands, who in turn call them their "property." So the last thing we need right now is to tear each other down.

But today Tracie posted a final hurrah, if you will, saying her final piece about the, I don't know, incident. Here's a small excerpt:

Before my time at Jezebel, I worked at a feminist publication for several years. I think about this shit—feminism, sexism, etc.—constantly. So a couple of weeks ago, when I was pretty much lambasted for some (albeit drunken) public statements I made, the main thing that pissed me off was that people were trying to like revoke my Feminist Club membership or something. (And honestly, I don't want to even talk to about that shit anymore, but I'm not allowed to do so on the site I work for, as absolutely fucking retarded as that is, and I need to get this one last thing off my chest.) In the wake of all that hullabaloo, I realized that maybe this is a good thing, a jumping-off point to open up a discourse about how feminism is not monolithic. It's kind of like Christianity, in that there's this one core belief—that women are people, too—but there are all these different sects and theories as to what's the best way to practice that belief.

Here's the whole post.

And now she can get back to talking about fucking. Hooray! Because that's what I like to read!

Deuces,
Erika