So I’ve been re-watching Buffy:
The Vampire Slayer for about the 2nd Billionth time recently,
and it doesn’t seem to get old. In fact, now it has bonus 90’s nostalgia, so
that gets better.
And Joss Whedon writes cool, likeable characters (debates
over Tara notwithstanding), which is why the show has so much rewatchability.
In fact, I’d say Joss’ best skill is his ability to make you care about his
characters. His second important skill is to then kill those characters right
when everything is going well for them, but that’s another story.
But recently Joss came out with a speech about his dislike
for the word Feminist. It’s an entertaining speech, so rather than put words in
Joss’ mouth, I recommend you watch this for yourself:
Now as much as I love the man’s work, I have to disagree on
a few different levels.
I want to have a look, first of all, at the notion of a “natural”
state. The “natural” state is a highly problematic notion that seems to carry
with some pre Garden of Eden utopic ideal, from which we are removed. And the
battle ground over what is or is not considered natural is one of the more fiercely
contested fields of ideology; it is the field in which homophobes, racists and
sexists have all attempted to plant their collective banners.
This idea, that there is a blank, neutral, pure self upon which
negative structures are overlayed, is inherently fraught and problematic. I’d
argue that the mind, whatever it is, is the emergence of structure, and that
emerging as feminist is no different, operationally, than emerging as a sexist,
or racist, or whatever degree of those various positions you inhabit. The mind
has no pre-formation state – if you understand that there are men, women, and
states in between, then you have some notion of what those things mean. The
nature of the signifiers you attach to those words can be anything, but if you
have those words, you understand there to be some difference between those
things.
The next issue goes to that issue of degree. Joss makes the
argument that the term “racist” allows you to put the context of it in the
past. To that extent, I agree. The problem is, that in putting something in the
past, in renders you unable to address it in the present.
I can’t address the roman practice of crucifixion, because
it’s in the past. No one is literally crucified for crimes against the state
anymore. And, to an extent, I don’t need to; because it’s long gone, and buried,
and the Roman Empire is a distant shade of memory.
But race is not the same. Issues of race continue to afflict
and damage people. Structural racism, subtle and not so subtle forms of
influence that create barriers to some people, and open doors to others,
pervade our society.
And here is where the issue with the binary nature of the
word “Racism” exists. If I term something racist, I immediately categorise it in
the same box as the Holocaust, the KKK, transatlantic slavery, and every other
historical horror story. And people will react accordingly. And whilst many people
may not consider structural issues that bedevil our society as being a problem
they have to concern themselves with, they also don’t see themselves as being
comparable to these monsters of history. Thus, calling such things “racism” seems
hyperbolic, an overreaction. It is the very extremity of the word “Racist” that
leads people to preface statements with the qualifier “I’m not racist, but…”
before launching into a predictably racist diatribe.
Confining racism to those things that are “behind us” is a
tool for preventing discussion of the world we live in now. It is a tool for
silence, for the perpetuation and extension of privilege, for the maintenance
of an unacceptable status quo.
So this is where I’ll start to look at what purpose the word
“Feminist” serves, and why, unlike Joss, I think we need it and should defend
it.
Here’s a part, where I will admit culpability to some
terrible traits; traits I should not possess and that are a blight on my
character. I am, to some extent, a racist, and a sexist. I judge people
unfairly on attributes they have no control over and are in no way reflective
of their true character. I have unkind, nasty thoughts that have no basis in
fact and are instead the result of absorbed prejudices and ideas. I am a beneficiary
of many kinds of racial and sexual privilege and would not have the faintest
idea of where to begin divesting myself of that.
I say these things, not as form of self-flagellating castigation
but instead in recognition that I, like probably everyone else, am not a
complete human project. I catch myself thinking terrible things, and acknowledge
those thoughts as what they are, and try to do better. I try not to give these
thoughts any currency as being legitimate or meaningful, and instead think my
way to the bottom of them where their untruthy tendrils begin.
In respect to one of these questions, I have a word for that
ongoing project. I am a feminist, and whatever sexism lurks within me is contested
by notion that I have not done enough.
Feminist is an active word. It sees a world that needs to be
changed. It challenges the status quo. It tries to improve. When Katy Perry
says “I am not a feminist” this is what she means. She does not want to be seen
to be challenging the world as it is. My active feminism is pretty small, and
meek. I challenge myself. If someone says something grossly misogynistic in my
earshot, I will endeavour to correct them. But it’s there, whatever it is, an
active movement within me.
There’s no equivalent word when it comes to issues of race.
There’s no descriptor for trying to lessen the inequality brought about by
centuries of colonial rule, or for actively trying to recognise the prejudices
that you contain within your multitudes. And I am less well armed without this
word.
So I don’t think we need “Genderism”. We don’t need the idea
that equality is something that can be achieved passively, that we can comfort
ourselves that we aren't “genderist” and move on with our lives, ignoring the
many examples of imbalances in power that surround us. We instead need more
feminists, and we need to ask others to consider why they aren't feminists too.
So sorry, Joss, but you’re wrong.
(Also, fuck you for killing Wash.)
