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Feminism FOR REAL: Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Complex of Feminism
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When feminism itself becomes its own form of oppression, what do we have to say about it? Western notions of polite discourse are not the norm for all of us, and just because we’ve got some new and hot language lately in equity-seeking movements like feminism — such as “intersectionality” — to use in our talk, it doesn’t necessarily make things change in our walk (i.e. actually being anti-racist).
Confronting the sometimes uncomfortable questions feminism has made us ask about what’s going on FOR REAL paved the many paths that brought the contributors of this book together to share their sometimes uncomfortable truths, not just about feminism, but about who they are and where they are coming from.
Against a backdrop exposing a 500+ year legacy of colonization and oppression, Feminism FOR REAL explores what has led us to the existence of “feminism”, who gets to decide what it is, and why. With stories that make the walls of academia come tumbling down, it deals head-on with the conflicts of what feminism means in theory as opposed to real life, the frustrations of trying to relate to definitions of feminism that never fit no matter how much you try to change yourself to fit them, and the anger of changing a system while being in the system yourself.
When feminism itself becomes its own form of oppression, what do we have to say about it? Western notions of polite discourse are not the norm for all of us, and just because we’ve got some new and hot language lately in equity-seeking movements like feminism — such as “intersectionality” — to use in our talk, it doesn’t necessarily make things change in our walk (i.e. actually being anti-racist).
Confronting the sometimes uncomfortable questions feminism has made us ask about what’s going on FOR REAL paved the many paths that brought the contributors of this book together to share their sometimes uncomfortable truths, not just about feminism, but about who they are and where they are coming from.
Against a backdrop exposing a 500+ year legacy of colonization and oppression, Feminism FOR REAL explores what has led us to the existence of “feminism”, who gets to decide what it is, and why. With stories that make the walls of academia come tumbling down, it deals head-on with the conflicts of what feminism means in theory as opposed to real life, the frustrations of trying to relate to definitions of feminism that never fit no matter how much you try to change yourself to fit them, and the anger of changing a system while being in the system yourself.
176 pages, Paperback
First published February 7, 2011
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April 23, 2015
If you’ve ever been burned out by Women’s Studies classes, confused by the feminist blogosphere’s intellectually elitist hierarchies, or rendered invisible by mainstream media depictions of What A Feminist Looks Like™, we should talk about it. For many of us, we don’t know where to start talking, or how, or even to whom we should address the issues of inequality which plague so many feminist and social justice movements: racism, sexism, ableism, classism, homophobia, ageism, cissupremacy, colonialism – a mere sampling from the makings of kyriarchy and the treacherous systems of domination and subordination which police our identities, our privileges and our oppressions. Jessica Yee’s Feminism FOR REAL: Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Complex of Feminism is an unflinching, complex look at how capital-F feminism has oppressed, silenced, and maligned people on the margins of society.
In some respects, Feminism FOR REAL is a natural extension of the conversations in Yee’s previous work, Sex Ed and Youth: Colonization, Sexuality and Communities of Colour (CCPA 2009). Many of the contributors in Feminism FOR REAL self-identify as Indigenous and offer powerful essays confronting sexism, racism, and colonialist occupation. But in other respects, the book feels like a continuation of AnaLouise Keating and Gloria Anzaldúa’s feminist dialogues in this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation (Routledge 2002). Like this bridge we call home, Yee’s book casts a wide net over a cross-dialogue from authors of diverse backgrounds: multi-gender, able-bodied and dis/abled, old and young, people of color and white. Ultimately, the multiplicity of voices and experiences in Feminism FOR REAL offers a rich tapestry of feminisms for readers to listen, learn, and engage.
There’s something to consider when comparing the curvaceous and fat, brown belly depicted on the cover of Feminism FOR REAL to 2007’s graffiti splash of Full Frontal Feminism across a white, taut belly. And if you’re curious about the book’s title, Yee defines the term academic industrial complex of feminism in her introduction as “the conflicts between what feminism means at school as opposed to at home, the frustrations of trying to relate to definitions of feminism that will never fit no matter how much you try to change yourself to fit them, and the anger and frustration of changing a system while being in the system yourself” (13-14). Yee’s editorial direction eschews traditional models of writer-audience dialogue; she doesn’t condescend to Native youth in Sex Ed and Feminism FOR REAL doesn’t talk down to academic feminists. Mixing AQSAzine’s poetry (“Muslims Speaking for Ourselves”) with incisive dialogues like the stand-out “Resistance to Indigenous Feminism,” co-authored by Krysta Williams and Erin Konsmo, Yee provides a steady pace of ideological writings in a variety of literary styles. And there’s rarely a dull moment to be found throughout.
The anthology doesn’t always get it right when it comes to inclusivity: in several essays, there is repeated use of ableist language such as “blind” and “blindsided.” RMJ at Deeply Problematic has a great post explaining how this term is often used in social justice communities to discuss privilege, but the word “blind” and its various permutations actually perpetuates oppression. Louis Esme Cruz’s “Medicine Bundle of Contradictions” did a great job of centering issues on disability (as well as indigenous rights, gender identity, and self-love/love of community). But overall, I think, my criticism of these missteps in language is a compassionate take: we each and all have privilege in some areas and face oppression in others, so our journeys of un-learning damaging ideas, practices, and language involves both concentrated effort and unintentional mistakes. And yes, I realize that my own compassion, in this instance and others, also goes hand-in-hand with my able-bodied privilege.
In an online interview, Latoya Peterson, owner/editor of Racialicious and author of the Feminism FOR REAL essay “The Feminist Existential Crisis (Dark Child Remix),” reflected on the completion of publishing her piece for the book. “I feel a lot more validated in other spaces where I am practicing feminism and applying it,” she wrote. Her advice for young feminists? “Do something else besides feminism. I’m serious. The feminist blogosphere is oversaturated in my opinion. Please, find something else you love and take feminist theory there. It gets lonely over here in tech and video games – I have a great crew of other feminists but we are a little island in a vast sea. We need more feminist minded business bloggers, feminist theory wielding finance bloggers. Labor organizers with a feminist lens blogging. Can you imagine whatDeadspin (the sports blog) would look like with a feminist on staff? Restructurewrites about science, tech and feminism – join her! Publish a blog doing literary criticism with a feminist lens! Take on The New York Times! Talk about class issues and feminism. Whatever it is, apply your feminism in a different space.”
Clocking in at a mere 176 pages, Feminism FOR REAL is a minor publishing miracle – a book that speaks truth to power by challenging the status quo of white supremacy, class privilege, heteronormativity, and other regrettable –isms within the scope of feminism. Editor Jessica Yee examined so much of what is loathsome about our current mainstream feminist representations and then published her anthology with a union-based independent press that aligned with her core political values. Feminism FOR REAL deserves recognition for its efforts to educate, challenge, and incite change. If we’re ever to make the jump from feminist theory to our complicated realities, I hope we can answer the book’s call to be just a little more understanding, a lot more open to our lived experiences, and yes, a little more real.
In some respects, Feminism FOR REAL is a natural extension of the conversations in Yee’s previous work, Sex Ed and Youth: Colonization, Sexuality and Communities of Colour (CCPA 2009). Many of the contributors in Feminism FOR REAL self-identify as Indigenous and offer powerful essays confronting sexism, racism, and colonialist occupation. But in other respects, the book feels like a continuation of AnaLouise Keating and Gloria Anzaldúa’s feminist dialogues in this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation (Routledge 2002). Like this bridge we call home, Yee’s book casts a wide net over a cross-dialogue from authors of diverse backgrounds: multi-gender, able-bodied and dis/abled, old and young, people of color and white. Ultimately, the multiplicity of voices and experiences in Feminism FOR REAL offers a rich tapestry of feminisms for readers to listen, learn, and engage.
There’s something to consider when comparing the curvaceous and fat, brown belly depicted on the cover of Feminism FOR REAL to 2007’s graffiti splash of Full Frontal Feminism across a white, taut belly. And if you’re curious about the book’s title, Yee defines the term academic industrial complex of feminism in her introduction as “the conflicts between what feminism means at school as opposed to at home, the frustrations of trying to relate to definitions of feminism that will never fit no matter how much you try to change yourself to fit them, and the anger and frustration of changing a system while being in the system yourself” (13-14). Yee’s editorial direction eschews traditional models of writer-audience dialogue; she doesn’t condescend to Native youth in Sex Ed and Feminism FOR REAL doesn’t talk down to academic feminists. Mixing AQSAzine’s poetry (“Muslims Speaking for Ourselves”) with incisive dialogues like the stand-out “Resistance to Indigenous Feminism,” co-authored by Krysta Williams and Erin Konsmo, Yee provides a steady pace of ideological writings in a variety of literary styles. And there’s rarely a dull moment to be found throughout.
The anthology doesn’t always get it right when it comes to inclusivity: in several essays, there is repeated use of ableist language such as “blind” and “blindsided.” RMJ at Deeply Problematic has a great post explaining how this term is often used in social justice communities to discuss privilege, but the word “blind” and its various permutations actually perpetuates oppression. Louis Esme Cruz’s “Medicine Bundle of Contradictions” did a great job of centering issues on disability (as well as indigenous rights, gender identity, and self-love/love of community). But overall, I think, my criticism of these missteps in language is a compassionate take: we each and all have privilege in some areas and face oppression in others, so our journeys of un-learning damaging ideas, practices, and language involves both concentrated effort and unintentional mistakes. And yes, I realize that my own compassion, in this instance and others, also goes hand-in-hand with my able-bodied privilege.
In an online interview, Latoya Peterson, owner/editor of Racialicious and author of the Feminism FOR REAL essay “The Feminist Existential Crisis (Dark Child Remix),” reflected on the completion of publishing her piece for the book. “I feel a lot more validated in other spaces where I am practicing feminism and applying it,” she wrote. Her advice for young feminists? “Do something else besides feminism. I’m serious. The feminist blogosphere is oversaturated in my opinion. Please, find something else you love and take feminist theory there. It gets lonely over here in tech and video games – I have a great crew of other feminists but we are a little island in a vast sea. We need more feminist minded business bloggers, feminist theory wielding finance bloggers. Labor organizers with a feminist lens blogging. Can you imagine whatDeadspin (the sports blog) would look like with a feminist on staff? Restructurewrites about science, tech and feminism – join her! Publish a blog doing literary criticism with a feminist lens! Take on The New York Times! Talk about class issues and feminism. Whatever it is, apply your feminism in a different space.”
Clocking in at a mere 176 pages, Feminism FOR REAL is a minor publishing miracle – a book that speaks truth to power by challenging the status quo of white supremacy, class privilege, heteronormativity, and other regrettable –isms within the scope of feminism. Editor Jessica Yee examined so much of what is loathsome about our current mainstream feminist representations and then published her anthology with a union-based independent press that aligned with her core political values. Feminism FOR REAL deserves recognition for its efforts to educate, challenge, and incite change. If we’re ever to make the jump from feminist theory to our complicated realities, I hope we can answer the book’s call to be just a little more understanding, a lot more open to our lived experiences, and yes, a little more real.
March 3, 2015
A desperately needed collection of radical voices.You could call it less-than-polished, but it would be better to call it real, raw and urgent.
March 22, 2011
N.B.: Although I was planning to read it anyway, this book's inclusion of Indigenous perspectives made it an appropriate choice for my final assignment (a book review) in my Aboriginal Education class. As a result, I have written this with a focus on how this book furthered my understanding of Indigenous issues and applies to my teaching. I hope you find this perspective valuable even if you aren't a teacher. This is a rough draft, so comments are welcome. And be forewarned it's slightly more formal, with a lot more quotation-lifting than I usually practice in my Goodreads reviews..
The 7th of March, 2011 was the 100th International Women's Day, and The Globe and Mail commemorated the occasion by running two contrasting columns on the front page. One, by Stephanie Nolen, discusses the ongoing struggle for women's rights in the developing world. Next to it was Margaret Wente's piece, in which she argues: "The war for women's rights is over. And we won." She seems to be employing George W. Bush's definition of "mission accomplished here. I have no doubt the juxtaposition of these two articles was an intentional bit of sensationalism on the Globe's part. Yet it also emphasizes the privileged, white perspective the Globe expects to share with its readers. Nolen discusses the developing world as a far-off place, while Wente refers to "Western women" as a single, homogenous group, saying, "If you are a woman reading this newspaper today, you are singularly blessed. You belong to the freest, most educated, and most affluent group of women in all of human history." Her choice of words is stunning and only increased my incredulity at the entire article. Wente has some very interesting, very restrictive ideas about the type of women reading The Globe and Mail. And she couldn't be more wrong. The world may look very rosy from her seat at the table, but the war for women's rights—indeed, for the rights of women, Indigenous people, the poor, and ethnic and racial minorities in general—is far from over. Her claim that women have won the war echoed eerily in my mind as I read this passage from Feminism FOR REAL:
In Feminism FOR REAL, Jessica Yee has collected the thoughts and expressions of a diverse group of people, attempting to combat the idea that feminism is a movement best left in the classroom and best left to affluent, white academics.
Feminism FOR REAL challenges the received wisdom of academic feminism. It does this in form as well as in content, for it is more than just a collection of essays. It contains informal articles that at times feel intimate and confessional; it has letters, conversations and interviews, and poetry. As Erin Konsmo says, "We choose to have a conversation in spirit of deconstructing academia and challenging the forms in which knowledge is accepted" (23). I find this appealing for several reasons. Firstly, discussions of contemporary feminism have become mired in theoretical frameworks that can do as much harm as good, for they contain biases and expectations that may not be realistic. Secondly, as a future teacher I believe it is important to challenge the way we teach and explore alternative methods of teaching, which might include "Two-Eyed Seeing" approaches that teach traditional Indigenous Knowledge alongside the Western curriculum. Yet I am also learning to recognize that an eagerness to decolonize Indigenous Knowledge and employ anticolonial teaching strategies can, if done improperly, lead to further appropriation and colonial behaviour. This is something Yee and her contributors are aware of as well.
As its subtitle states, Feminism FOR REAL wants to "deconstruct the academic industrial complex of feminism." Several contributors remark upon the gulf between theory and experience. In particular, the expectations of academia when it comes to discussing feminism can also be exclusionary, as Krysta Williams observes:
This is an issue I have been encountering quite often lately as I think about feminism and also about education. Megan Lee talks about how she saw "the same token superficial analyses of racism and classism" (85) in her women's studies classes. Coming from a poor background, she was conflicted about her participation in an institution that reinforces privilege, and notes that her mother "feared that I would become like the many privileged young professionals … who claim to understand the experience of being oppressed by virtue of their education and rely on the authority of their education to silence and ignore the actual experiences of oppressed people" (87). Although I do not share Lee's background, I also have concerns about my heavily theory-based education. I love theory and abstract thought, and I majored in mathematics not just because I love it but because it is a refuge from the real world. Yet I did not choose to go into an abstract career; I am going to be a teacher. I will be interacting with real people, each one unique in background and experiences, and I will be in a position of authority. Feminism FOR REAL and other books like it remind me that, while a useful component of study, theory can only get you so far.
The idea that a movement like feminism, which is supposedly all about equality, can actually be a vehicle of oppression and exclusion is troubling, to say the least. Of course, it is exactly the perception of feminism as a homogenous, unified movement that Yee and the contributors to Feminism FOR REAL want to dispel. Many of her contributors discuss this heterogeneity in the context of Indigenous rights. Reading about how some feminists reject the inclusion of Indigenous issues under the umbrella of feminism reminds me of Leanne Simpson's experiences with journal editors: "editors have consistently removed references to colonialism from my manuscripts because it is 'too off topic'". Similarly, Theresa Lightfoot takes exception to how non-Indigenous feminists often
There seems to be remarkable resistance in the academic industrial complex to including Indigenous perspectives as a valid part of movements, fields of studies, and academic disciplines. We are content now to acknowledge that such perspectives exist, but we treat them as a separate field, as something "other." There is a latent expectation that Indigenous people will shelve their "Native issues" for the duration of discussions of women's rights, as if being Indigenous is a state one can suspend or put on hold when convenient. Referring to "2nd wave, white, middle-class feminists," anna Saini says,
and I think this is true of people in authority over movements in general. Jessica Yee labels this a form of "neo-colonialism" (96), and I would have to agree.
Feminism FOR REAL emphasizes that colonization, appropriation, and exploitation are not obscure phenomena relegated to our past. They are ongoing. Equality does not mean we treat everyone as "the same," especially when "the same" is all too often a code phrase for "everyone is white." Even when society acknowledges the Indigenous perspective (or any non-white perspective), it makes few attempts to accommodate that perspective, something that Golshan Abdmoulaie captures well in her poem about Muslim women when she says, "None of your dreams fit me" (71). It is with this awareness that I consider how I will confront these issues, especially as a teacher. I consider myself a feminist in the sense of Latoya Peterson: "(If) I think (about gender, access, and equality), therefore I am (by definition, a feminist)" (43). However, I am also a white male. In challenging racial and gender inequality, my goal is to be what Krysta Williams and Ashling Ligate call "an Indigenous ally (someone who supports you, and also challenges their own complicity in the system that produce [sic] harm)" (155). Hence, coming from this perspective, for me the strongest message of this book is that discomfort will be a natural part of the struggle to be an ally. It will not be abstract, theoretical discomfort: it will be real. It will be a part of my life and of my teaching.
As an example of how discomfort appears in teaching, consider the controversy in the United States over a new edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that replaces the N-word with "slave." The publisher argues that the former word makes modern readers uncomfortable with the book. I think such censorship absurd. Can you imagine if we skipped sections of Canadian history because the way European colonists treated Indigenous peoples makes us uncomfortable today? Challenging inequality in any form and learning to be an ally "is not easy, nor should it be. It is uncomfortable, and sometimes it hurts" (156). This is the most pragmatic and important lesson that Feminism FOR REAL has for me. Depending on your background and your experiences, you may find different lessons in this book—but I can guarantee you will find lessons. Like some of the contributors have confessed, I am not well-read when it comes to the canon of popular academic feminists, so I am not qualified to label this book "refreshing" or "revolutionary." But it is eye-opening, thought-provoking, and it does what it says on the cover: it is real, as in authentic, and that makes it worth your attention.
The 7th of March, 2011 was the 100th International Women's Day, and The Globe and Mail commemorated the occasion by running two contrasting columns on the front page. One, by Stephanie Nolen, discusses the ongoing struggle for women's rights in the developing world. Next to it was Margaret Wente's piece, in which she argues: "The war for women's rights is over. And we won." She seems to be employing George W. Bush's definition of "mission accomplished here. I have no doubt the juxtaposition of these two articles was an intentional bit of sensationalism on the Globe's part. Yet it also emphasizes the privileged, white perspective the Globe expects to share with its readers. Nolen discusses the developing world as a far-off place, while Wente refers to "Western women" as a single, homogenous group, saying, "If you are a woman reading this newspaper today, you are singularly blessed. You belong to the freest, most educated, and most affluent group of women in all of human history." Her choice of words is stunning and only increased my incredulity at the entire article. Wente has some very interesting, very restrictive ideas about the type of women reading The Globe and Mail. And she couldn't be more wrong. The world may look very rosy from her seat at the table, but the war for women's rights—indeed, for the rights of women, Indigenous people, the poor, and ethnic and racial minorities in general—is far from over. Her claim that women have won the war echoed eerily in my mind as I read this passage from Feminism FOR REAL:
We're not really equal when we're STILL supposed to uncritically and obediently cheer when white women are praised for winning 'women's rights,' and to painfully forget the Indigenous women and women of colour who were hurt in that same process. (12)
In Feminism FOR REAL, Jessica Yee has collected the thoughts and expressions of a diverse group of people, attempting to combat the idea that feminism is a movement best left in the classroom and best left to affluent, white academics.
Feminism FOR REAL challenges the received wisdom of academic feminism. It does this in form as well as in content, for it is more than just a collection of essays. It contains informal articles that at times feel intimate and confessional; it has letters, conversations and interviews, and poetry. As Erin Konsmo says, "We choose to have a conversation in spirit of deconstructing academia and challenging the forms in which knowledge is accepted" (23). I find this appealing for several reasons. Firstly, discussions of contemporary feminism have become mired in theoretical frameworks that can do as much harm as good, for they contain biases and expectations that may not be realistic. Secondly, as a future teacher I believe it is important to challenge the way we teach and explore alternative methods of teaching, which might include "Two-Eyed Seeing" approaches that teach traditional Indigenous Knowledge alongside the Western curriculum. Yet I am also learning to recognize that an eagerness to decolonize Indigenous Knowledge and employ anticolonial teaching strategies can, if done improperly, lead to further appropriation and colonial behaviour. This is something Yee and her contributors are aware of as well.
As its subtitle states, Feminism FOR REAL wants to "deconstruct the academic industrial complex of feminism." Several contributors remark upon the gulf between theory and experience. In particular, the expectations of academia when it comes to discussing feminism can also be exclusionary, as Krysta Williams observes:
If so called 'radical' or 'progressive' people don't hear enough 'buzz' words (like feminist, anti-oppression, anti-racist, social justice, etc.) in your introduction, then you are deemed unworthy and not knowledgeable enough to speak with authority on issues that you have lived experience with. (30)
This is an issue I have been encountering quite often lately as I think about feminism and also about education. Megan Lee talks about how she saw "the same token superficial analyses of racism and classism" (85) in her women's studies classes. Coming from a poor background, she was conflicted about her participation in an institution that reinforces privilege, and notes that her mother "feared that I would become like the many privileged young professionals … who claim to understand the experience of being oppressed by virtue of their education and rely on the authority of their education to silence and ignore the actual experiences of oppressed people" (87). Although I do not share Lee's background, I also have concerns about my heavily theory-based education. I love theory and abstract thought, and I majored in mathematics not just because I love it but because it is a refuge from the real world. Yet I did not choose to go into an abstract career; I am going to be a teacher. I will be interacting with real people, each one unique in background and experiences, and I will be in a position of authority. Feminism FOR REAL and other books like it remind me that, while a useful component of study, theory can only get you so far.
The idea that a movement like feminism, which is supposedly all about equality, can actually be a vehicle of oppression and exclusion is troubling, to say the least. Of course, it is exactly the perception of feminism as a homogenous, unified movement that Yee and the contributors to Feminism FOR REAL want to dispel. Many of her contributors discuss this heterogeneity in the context of Indigenous rights. Reading about how some feminists reject the inclusion of Indigenous issues under the umbrella of feminism reminds me of Leanne Simpson's experiences with journal editors: "editors have consistently removed references to colonialism from my manuscripts because it is 'too off topic'". Similarly, Theresa Lightfoot takes exception to how non-Indigenous feminists often
treat being Indigenous as an "add-on".… Native women get the typical "oh those are Native issues" response, or we hear things like, "colonialism and its hang ups are too vast and broad for our scope and thus don't warrant inclusion." (106)
There seems to be remarkable resistance in the academic industrial complex to including Indigenous perspectives as a valid part of movements, fields of studies, and academic disciplines. We are content now to acknowledge that such perspectives exist, but we treat them as a separate field, as something "other." There is a latent expectation that Indigenous people will shelve their "Native issues" for the duration of discussions of women's rights, as if being Indigenous is a state one can suspend or put on hold when convenient. Referring to "2nd wave, white, middle-class feminists," anna Saini says,
What they cannot understand they discount, instead of ceding their control and leadership of the movement to play a supporting role empowering us to fight for our own self-determination (96)
and I think this is true of people in authority over movements in general. Jessica Yee labels this a form of "neo-colonialism" (96), and I would have to agree.
Feminism FOR REAL emphasizes that colonization, appropriation, and exploitation are not obscure phenomena relegated to our past. They are ongoing. Equality does not mean we treat everyone as "the same," especially when "the same" is all too often a code phrase for "everyone is white." Even when society acknowledges the Indigenous perspective (or any non-white perspective), it makes few attempts to accommodate that perspective, something that Golshan Abdmoulaie captures well in her poem about Muslim women when she says, "None of your dreams fit me" (71). It is with this awareness that I consider how I will confront these issues, especially as a teacher. I consider myself a feminist in the sense of Latoya Peterson: "(If) I think (about gender, access, and equality), therefore I am (by definition, a feminist)" (43). However, I am also a white male. In challenging racial and gender inequality, my goal is to be what Krysta Williams and Ashling Ligate call "an Indigenous ally (someone who supports you, and also challenges their own complicity in the system that produce [sic] harm)" (155). Hence, coming from this perspective, for me the strongest message of this book is that discomfort will be a natural part of the struggle to be an ally. It will not be abstract, theoretical discomfort: it will be real. It will be a part of my life and of my teaching.
As an example of how discomfort appears in teaching, consider the controversy in the United States over a new edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that replaces the N-word with "slave." The publisher argues that the former word makes modern readers uncomfortable with the book. I think such censorship absurd. Can you imagine if we skipped sections of Canadian history because the way European colonists treated Indigenous peoples makes us uncomfortable today? Challenging inequality in any form and learning to be an ally "is not easy, nor should it be. It is uncomfortable, and sometimes it hurts" (156). This is the most pragmatic and important lesson that Feminism FOR REAL has for me. Depending on your background and your experiences, you may find different lessons in this book—but I can guarantee you will find lessons. Like some of the contributors have confessed, I am not well-read when it comes to the canon of popular academic feminists, so I am not qualified to label this book "refreshing" or "revolutionary." But it is eye-opening, thought-provoking, and it does what it says on the cover: it is real, as in authentic, and that makes it worth your attention.
May 4, 2011
Jessica Yee and I have a lot in common, personally and politically. For one, last year we were both curating collective published works that simultaneously construct and deconstruct contemporary feminist theory while broadening the scope of who is seen as legitimate enough to be a theory-maker. I wasn't aware of her work, and so far as I know, she wasn't aware of mine either. Despite being topically similar, the results of both projects are strikingly different. And I have a few theories about why.
Feminism FOR REAL brings together twenty written works, both poetry and prose, penned by a variety of radical activists. While the authors are diverse in their backgrounds, they converge on one belief: academia, boo! This is a pretty common refrain among activists, one I've sung over and over myself. But it's also one that now feels a little off key to me for its wholesale exclusivity and apparent lack of understanding of the ways activism and and academic are necessarily interdependent. For that reason, I found myself having to put forth some effort to read many of these pieces where they're at, instead of with condescension.
I want to be clear about a couple of things: 1) although it is a frequent accusation tossed my way, I am not an academic and 2) I claim the sentiment in the paragraph above as a part of my own personal struggle and processing, not a failing of this anthology. Too many times we patronizingly press our lips together, just waiting to inform the young'ins that they'll see things differently one day. And even though they might, that's no excuse for bolstering one's sense of superiority at another's expense, nor choosing not to interrogate the things that contribute to our own self-righteous point of view. In fact, it's just this kind of ageist trope that Yee and crew (rightfully!) rail against in Feminism FOR REAL.
So every piece in this book didn't speak to me—so what?! The ones that did were exciting to read and filled me with validation. Megan Lee's "Maybe I'm Not Class-Mobile; Maybe I'm Class Queer" is an excellent examination of the complex conflicts held by those of us who have been able to 'escape' our families' poverty while maintaining the desire to embrace our working class identity and advocate for us and for them. Andrea Plaid discusses the unintentional delegitimizing of Ann Marie Rios, and therefore all nontraditionally educated sex workers, by professional (read: degreed) sexologist Bianca Laureano in "No, I Would Follow the Porn Star's Advice." And ending with Kate Klein's "On Learning How Not to Be An Asshole Academic Feminist" (re)assured me that Yee and I are probably on the same page with our personal and political intentionality.
Pick up Feminism FOR REAL if you're looking to gain an worthwhile education, and perhaps a bit of critical self-awareness too.
Written by: Mandy Van Deven
Feminism FOR REAL brings together twenty written works, both poetry and prose, penned by a variety of radical activists. While the authors are diverse in their backgrounds, they converge on one belief: academia, boo! This is a pretty common refrain among activists, one I've sung over and over myself. But it's also one that now feels a little off key to me for its wholesale exclusivity and apparent lack of understanding of the ways activism and and academic are necessarily interdependent. For that reason, I found myself having to put forth some effort to read many of these pieces where they're at, instead of with condescension.
I want to be clear about a couple of things: 1) although it is a frequent accusation tossed my way, I am not an academic and 2) I claim the sentiment in the paragraph above as a part of my own personal struggle and processing, not a failing of this anthology. Too many times we patronizingly press our lips together, just waiting to inform the young'ins that they'll see things differently one day. And even though they might, that's no excuse for bolstering one's sense of superiority at another's expense, nor choosing not to interrogate the things that contribute to our own self-righteous point of view. In fact, it's just this kind of ageist trope that Yee and crew (rightfully!) rail against in Feminism FOR REAL.
So every piece in this book didn't speak to me—so what?! The ones that did were exciting to read and filled me with validation. Megan Lee's "Maybe I'm Not Class-Mobile; Maybe I'm Class Queer" is an excellent examination of the complex conflicts held by those of us who have been able to 'escape' our families' poverty while maintaining the desire to embrace our working class identity and advocate for us and for them. Andrea Plaid discusses the unintentional delegitimizing of Ann Marie Rios, and therefore all nontraditionally educated sex workers, by professional (read: degreed) sexologist Bianca Laureano in "No, I Would Follow the Porn Star's Advice." And ending with Kate Klein's "On Learning How Not to Be An Asshole Academic Feminist" (re)assured me that Yee and I are probably on the same page with our personal and political intentionality.
Pick up Feminism FOR REAL if you're looking to gain an worthwhile education, and perhaps a bit of critical self-awareness too.
Written by: Mandy Van Deven
reference
July 9, 2013You can read a bunch of excerpts here: http://www.racialicious.com/2011/03/0...
May 14, 2012
i agree this kind of reads more like a zine, it's made up of personal reflections that vary quite widely in their perspectives and experiences, in that sense it feels a bit disparate. i was kinda hoping for a more systematic or in-depth critique of the 'academic industrial complex of feminism' - at the end of this book i'm not sure i know what that is really...
'this shit is real' by krysta williams and ashling ligate has some really important 'tips' for engaging in anti-oppressive activism/academia that i agree need to be constantly checked when you're doing that work from a position of relative privilege. i also liked reading robyn maynard's piece because it was grounded in a specific community project and the challenges they faced. latoya peterson's and louis esme cruz's contributions were also really enjoyable to read as personal narratives.
'this shit is real' by krysta williams and ashling ligate has some really important 'tips' for engaging in anti-oppressive activism/academia that i agree need to be constantly checked when you're doing that work from a position of relative privilege. i also liked reading robyn maynard's piece because it was grounded in a specific community project and the challenges they faced. latoya peterson's and louis esme cruz's contributions were also really enjoyable to read as personal narratives.
January 13, 2014
The best book on feminism I've ever read. Accessible, engaging, and most importantly, incredibly moving and eye-opening!
June 9, 2011
As with many anthologies, there is a problem with inconsistency. To my mind, LaToya Peterson, Andrea Plaid, and Louis Esme Cruz contributed the best essays. I had trouble with Megan Lee's conceptualization of a class-queer identity, but would gladly sit on it or encourage others to run with the idea. It sounds like Krysta Williams and Erin Konsmo are doing *amazing* work for indigenous rights and brought up some of the more salient criticisms against academic feminism, and in general I hope this book challenges feminist thinking on indigenous women and national identity (this book really opened my eyes as far as Canadian indigenous feminist/womanist rights are concerned, and to my mind this isn't being addressed within the academy at all).
I'm fine with the anthology's collective effort to criticize and in some sense dismantle the academy. As someone who is entering into the academy as a feminist media scholar, I think this is pretty necessary. To that end, poet Shaunga Tagore might have offered the most succinct and powerful missive. However, what ultimately frustrated me about Feminism FOR REAL is that some pieces didn't read as a systemic critique of the academy so much as personal (is political) attacks. Shabiki Crane does a decent job of balancing the two in her brief essay on her rump and black cis-female sexuality, where she calls bullshit on the embedded racism of poststructuralist feminist thought that claims it's empowering for Britney Spears to foreground her sexuality but not Beyoncé (aside: a smart commenter challenged a similar argument I made in a post about the "Telephone" video). But Diandra Jurkic-Walls' piece about the resentment she felt for her program not wanting her to turn in a 'zine for her thesis just read like a white girl trying to enter into the Oppression Olympics. She made a few good arguments, but they were buried under a lot of whining. If I were her thesis adviser, there'd be a big "So What?" written on the first page of this essay.
That said, I have a lot of good will for this book and hope it gets recognition in the academy and blogosphere.
I'm fine with the anthology's collective effort to criticize and in some sense dismantle the academy. As someone who is entering into the academy as a feminist media scholar, I think this is pretty necessary. To that end, poet Shaunga Tagore might have offered the most succinct and powerful missive. However, what ultimately frustrated me about Feminism FOR REAL is that some pieces didn't read as a systemic critique of the academy so much as personal (is political) attacks. Shabiki Crane does a decent job of balancing the two in her brief essay on her rump and black cis-female sexuality, where she calls bullshit on the embedded racism of poststructuralist feminist thought that claims it's empowering for Britney Spears to foreground her sexuality but not Beyoncé (aside: a smart commenter challenged a similar argument I made in a post about the "Telephone" video). But Diandra Jurkic-Walls' piece about the resentment she felt for her program not wanting her to turn in a 'zine for her thesis just read like a white girl trying to enter into the Oppression Olympics. She made a few good arguments, but they were buried under a lot of whining. If I were her thesis adviser, there'd be a big "So What?" written on the first page of this essay.
That said, I have a lot of good will for this book and hope it gets recognition in the academy and blogosphere.
March 10, 2012
I actually read this book in one sitting. A lot of it appealed to me. It was about the academia of feminism and the difference between white, middle class academic feminism and the feminism practiced by others. It was about how people of colour might feel out of place in academic women's studies programs.
This book had a lot of energy and a lot of anger. It was edited by one woman, and there were numerous essays in it. Some of them were much better than others. It had a zine-like feel to it. I really enjoyed a lot of the pieces in it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has ever felt out of place in an academic setting or in a discussion of feminism. I really appreciated the First Nations perspective and the discussion of "indigenous feminism", which makes sense to me.
This book had a lot of energy and a lot of anger. It was edited by one woman, and there were numerous essays in it. Some of them were much better than others. It had a zine-like feel to it. I really enjoyed a lot of the pieces in it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has ever felt out of place in an academic setting or in a discussion of feminism. I really appreciated the First Nations perspective and the discussion of "indigenous feminism", which makes sense to me.
April 19, 2018
Originally read: 2011 (Original rating: 5 stars)
I recently re-read Feminism FOR REAL for a book club that I am in. It was a rather interesting experience returning to this book after six years. When I first read it, the book spoke to me in a powerful way. I was an angry young woman struggling to find my place in law school, and the rage and criticism in the book were a mirror of a lot of the things that I was feeling at the time. I am older now, still in academia, and while I don't want to suggest that the academy is all hugs and fairy dust, my feelings have changed with time and experience. Many of my criticisms, as well as those from the book, are too simplistic. There was often a lack of differentiation between undergrad classes which come with their own difficulties given their size and the large array of people that they must target, and graduate courses which are much more a part of the academy itself. Some of the authors' negative experiences arose from the fact that they were at smaller institutions with fewer resources (and smaller feminist faculties) rather than the academy itself. The article that criticized an institution's refusal to allow a student to write a zine-based thesis lacked a critical look at why that might be or how others have succeeded in writing very atypical theses in an academic setting (yes, this is a fairly academic complaint, but wide reaching criticisms require a bit more than personal anecdote imo).
I do not want to suggest that I don't sympathise with the feelings of all the authors. As I said, I was once an angry, young academic as well. I think a lot of these struggles are a very common part of navigating the academy, and there are certainly many criticisms with foundations in very real problems of discrimination. But... this book is an essay collection about personal feelings and experiences and should be understood in this light.
I would like to add that the essay about classism in university is still the story of my life, and it remains something I hold dear to my heart as an example of writing that proves that my experiences aren't all just in my head. If the book does that for other people, it's a valuable read.
I recently re-read Feminism FOR REAL for a book club that I am in. It was a rather interesting experience returning to this book after six years. When I first read it, the book spoke to me in a powerful way. I was an angry young woman struggling to find my place in law school, and the rage and criticism in the book were a mirror of a lot of the things that I was feeling at the time. I am older now, still in academia, and while I don't want to suggest that the academy is all hugs and fairy dust, my feelings have changed with time and experience. Many of my criticisms, as well as those from the book, are too simplistic. There was often a lack of differentiation between undergrad classes which come with their own difficulties given their size and the large array of people that they must target, and graduate courses which are much more a part of the academy itself. Some of the authors' negative experiences arose from the fact that they were at smaller institutions with fewer resources (and smaller feminist faculties) rather than the academy itself. The article that criticized an institution's refusal to allow a student to write a zine-based thesis lacked a critical look at why that might be or how others have succeeded in writing very atypical theses in an academic setting (yes, this is a fairly academic complaint, but wide reaching criticisms require a bit more than personal anecdote imo).
I do not want to suggest that I don't sympathise with the feelings of all the authors. As I said, I was once an angry, young academic as well. I think a lot of these struggles are a very common part of navigating the academy, and there are certainly many criticisms with foundations in very real problems of discrimination. But... this book is an essay collection about personal feelings and experiences and should be understood in this light.
I would like to add that the essay about classism in university is still the story of my life, and it remains something I hold dear to my heart as an example of writing that proves that my experiences aren't all just in my head. If the book does that for other people, it's a valuable read.
January 1, 2015
All of this resonated with me on so many levels, particularly as a WOC who's become increasingly frustrated with academic feminism while still being afforded the privilege of even being in academia in the first place. Some of the narratives towards the middle of the book strayed away from the idea of academic feminism, I think, but it quickly regained itself towards the end.
I really felt "Resistance to Indigenous Feminism" because of how much I can identity with feminism coming from a place of love rather than that whitewashed argument of "fuck love, let's have a revolution" as if a person of color's daily survival isn't a revolutionary act in the first place. "A Slam on Feminism in Academia" also holds a special place in my heart. Lastly, I'm glad the book ended with "On Learning How Not to be an Asshole Academic Feminist," because not only did it tie the theme of the book together nicely, but I was definitely saying, "Yes!" out loud to almost every sentence while reading it.
I really felt "Resistance to Indigenous Feminism" because of how much I can identity with feminism coming from a place of love rather than that whitewashed argument of "fuck love, let's have a revolution" as if a person of color's daily survival isn't a revolutionary act in the first place. "A Slam on Feminism in Academia" also holds a special place in my heart. Lastly, I'm glad the book ended with "On Learning How Not to be an Asshole Academic Feminist," because not only did it tie the theme of the book together nicely, but I was definitely saying, "Yes!" out loud to almost every sentence while reading it.
Read
June 17, 2011really important, challenging, visionary book. essays vary - i liked some better than others - but overall this book really changed the way i look at feminism, my own and as a movement, and broadened my sense of what activism and justice and empowerment and alliances can mean and be.
November 29, 2011
A whole lot of stuff to chew on mentally with this one. Very challenging topics handled well by a broad range of writers. Gave me a lot of food for thought on privilege and oppression, and opened me up to many new perspectives.
Well worth the read.
Well worth the read.
March 22, 2017
Like many anthologies, this book is hit-and-miss, but I'm still so glad I read it. It was required for my feminist theory class, which is cool; I think self-critique is such an important part of feminism, and this book is very pertinent to those of us who are studying feminism academically.
March 1, 2017
If you're a person of color who has ever struggled to explore your feminist beliefs due to how entrenched the movement has become in academia and white feminism, then this is a great collection of essays for you!
August 20, 2011
Read my review of this book at Global Comment: http://globalcomment.com/2011/deconst...
October 10, 2011
Some really good critiques of the academic/mainstream white version of feminism in here
September 22, 2011
A truly amazing, and challenging book, while all of the essays did not strike me personally each was engaging and challenging.
Want to read
October 18, 2011Previews at http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publ...
April 15, 2015
I feel like some of these essays made me examine perspectives that I haven't given much thought to. I liked everything except the poetry.
February 20, 2014
My opinion on this book is thus: everyone who considers themselves a feminist should pick this book up and read it!
Read
December 2, 2012Reviewed here.
January 2, 2014
Illuminating AND insightful.
October 29, 2014
This was a very comprehensive read. It covered a diverse range of authors and also had some art and poetry. I had been reading some of the essays here and there throughout the year.
June 28, 2015
This book provided me with many perspectives I hadn't considered before and it has definitely been a valuable resource for me.
March 14, 2015
If you think feminism is important in any aspect you should 100% read this. It's really eye opening.
November 26, 2018
This has been on my radar for a while, so when it popped up in our library, I took it as a sign. I read it, I thought about it, and now I'm writing this. I've read a lot of feminist literature, and have found myself agreeing with a lot of it, comfortable in the knowledge that I already knew. This book made me uncomfortable. And as uncomfortable as it was, that means it's good. It means it's addressing topics that I haven't personally addressed yet.
This book poses many answers and offers discussions in response. As with most things, there isn't any good answer to entirely deconstructing the academic industrial complex, there isn't any good answer to help people understand the harms of popular feminism in regard to radical and indigenous feminism, nor is there any good answer to how we can decolonize our own minds and our feminisms.
This book also does a really great job of discussing the popular lingo, and how using it doesn't necessarily mean you're pro-feminism, anti-racist, anti-misogyny, anti-colorism, and so on and so forth. Words such as "inclusivity" and "intersectionality" do not automatically make someone more, as we would say it now, "woke."
I would love for Yee and co. to come back and create a part two to this, especially given that even so much more has happened in the past 7 years. Their insight is valuable, and their insight has helped me understand just how deep colonization goes. As it would turn out, what you think you know is only the tip of the iceberg. Is there a bottom of the iceberg? I don't know, but Feminism FOR REAL is helpful in burrowing down deeper and deeper.
Review cross-listed here!
This book poses many answers and offers discussions in response. As with most things, there isn't any good answer to entirely deconstructing the academic industrial complex, there isn't any good answer to help people understand the harms of popular feminism in regard to radical and indigenous feminism, nor is there any good answer to how we can decolonize our own minds and our feminisms.
This book also does a really great job of discussing the popular lingo, and how using it doesn't necessarily mean you're pro-feminism, anti-racist, anti-misogyny, anti-colorism, and so on and so forth. Words such as "inclusivity" and "intersectionality" do not automatically make someone more, as we would say it now, "woke."
I would love for Yee and co. to come back and create a part two to this, especially given that even so much more has happened in the past 7 years. Their insight is valuable, and their insight has helped me understand just how deep colonization goes. As it would turn out, what you think you know is only the tip of the iceberg. Is there a bottom of the iceberg? I don't know, but Feminism FOR REAL is helpful in burrowing down deeper and deeper.
Review cross-listed here!
June 4, 2018
This book was an utter mess. It gets two stars because of the occasional contribution that formed a coherent argument and the poetry.
"The reason I'm focusing so much on the fact that there are people benefiting from perpetuating the dire situation faced by women in Canada and worldwide is first to dispel the notion that not holding racist and sexist stereotypes is proof of having eliminated racism and having achieved gender equality."
"The reason I'm focusing so much on the fact that there are people benefiting from perpetuating the dire situation faced by women in Canada and worldwide is first to dispel the notion that not holding racist and sexist stereotypes is proof of having eliminated racism and having achieved gender equality."
Read
April 29, 2011exactly the kind of book I've been looking for...
Currently reading
June 11, 2011Oh boy, this book looks FANTASTIC! Too bad it's unavailable from Ingram.
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