Submit Thyself! Because…rats?

Recently an article written by two men was posted to Psychology Today titled- – and I swear that I’m copy/pasting exactly, no editing, no paraphrasing: Why Feminism Is the Anti-Viagra.

I’ll just give you a moment to recover.

You good? Alright, so let’s talk about submission and why as a woman you’ll never have another orgasm in your life if you don’t find a good enough caveman to cover you with his hulking body, press you to a hard surface, and spear you repeatedly with his manhood!

According to this article (written by two Ph.D. holders, because ‘smart’ people can be really stupid), “gender equality inhibits arousal” because the “majority of women have submission fantasies”; they go on to claim that the popularity of erotica and Twilight supports this and even include “BDSM fanfiction” in the pile too (okay, two problems here and we’re not even past the beginning of the article: one, they seem to assume that in BDSM scenes, all the submissives are female and two, I resent this as a member of fandom too used to others coming in to observe our curious culture before leaving to go make assumptions about why we participate in fandom). Continuing on their journey to pacify the male ego, they posit their own interpretations of rats, I shit you not, and the positions they take in coitus as proof that the female tends naturally toward submission.

My problems with this article? They are many, they are legion, but here are some highlights:

1) The title doesn’t even give the article a passing chance.

I feel like if you are going to write an article arguing fallacies already proven, well… false, you should at least allow me to get past your title before I can point out the fail. Basic academic writing formula is: pick a title that fits your topic. These guys are writing on female sexuality and all they could come up with was feminism as the “anti-Viagra”; Viagra was made for men and is primarily concerned with men’s arousal so…alright fine, argue that Viagra isn’t really about men, and that it’s more a buzzword for general sexual arousal, the title is still wrong because it…

2) Misrepresents feminism and perpetuates stereotypes about feminists.

This article is a blatant perpetuation of the myth that feminism is about women overreaching their biology to strive for what is rightfully male. Because all the male gods forbid we should ever rise above our biology, it’s not like we have complex consciousnesses, or anything. The overall implication is that feminism is really encroaching on male territory and because we dare challenge this notion, we suffer for it.

Not quite a non sequitur: I invite you to observe this particular trope in your lives, and in the media you consume. How many so-presented “strong female characters” have you watched get punished (killed, raped, violated, shamed, etc.) for not conforming to the stereotypical female roles or for exacting their agency and power? How many times has it been for the perpetuation of a male character’s development?

2) Wins all the heterosexist awards in the world

Not once in this article have they considered a sexual practice that doesn’t involve a cisgendered man sticking his penis in a cisgendered woman’s vagina. Not once.  There’s no room for LGBTQIA conversation here. I guess LGBTQIA identifiants aren’t having sex! Add that to the obsession with penetrative sex and you’ve got a full cisheterosexism bingo card.

3) Misrepresents BDSM culture and BDSM practitioners

Their arguments rely on D/s sexual interactions being a zero sum game instead of an equal exchange of power framed in explicit expressions of consent. A healthy D/s sexual scene (because not all D/s interaction is sexual) requires that participants have an understanding that the power is shared, just in significantly different ways- the Dominant in a scene can only be as dominating as the submissive in the scene consents to. They also make the argument that women are inherently wired for submission which erases all the women who aren’t, and it’s not an insignificant population, as they imply. Furthermore, just because subs submit doesn’t mean we can’t participate in a dominating role within a scene, but yet again, complexities to be ignored we continue to be.

By the way fellas, BDSM is so much more than D/s sex- oops sorry, I’m creating complexity again.

4) Same old, same old.

These men aren’t putting anything new out there (and they knew that, notice the whole “we’re not being misogynistic it’s just science” argument hidden in the depths of the fail). These are the same norms we dare to buck against perpetuated with the backing of “Great Science” and the myth that biology is the be all, end all, of human existence. Once again it’s really about heterosexual men pacifying themselves for not being able to, as Jill at the Feministe put it, “find a clitoris with GPS and GoogleMaps” all the while erasing identities, my identity among them.

Related:
You should read the great (and wonderfully funny) article at Feministe I quoted from. Seriously, go.

Ashley Judd vs. Hip-Hop

Ashley Judd has been catching heat for recent comments on hip-hop and its enabling relationship to rape culture:

“As far as I’m concerned, most rap and hip-hop music – with its rape culture and insanely abusive lyrics and depictions of girls and women as ‘ho’s’ – is the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny.”

I happen to disagree, but with bits and parts.

To begin with, it is problematic in and of itself, to have a white woman comment on a culture so closely associated with minorities with such blanket criticism. I’m with The Root here (though I want to point out that they seem to misunderstand what rape culture means), can a sister get some citations?

On that same note, I’d argue that for as much flack hip-hop takes for its tendency towards sexism, it’s not, as she says, “the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny”. This is not the only genre with flagrant misogyny, it’s just always been the scapegoat for misogyny in music; I also consider the mixing and matching music genres have experienced recently- pop, hip-hop, r&b, rock, etc. aren’t valid methods of delineation anymore.

Even though my knee-jerk reaction is to defend hip-hop (too much of hip-hop’s stereotypes are transferred to Black people), I will agree that the majority of hip-hop culture is sexist, and by that I mean that the majority of ‘mainstream hip-hop’ (what you hear day in, day out), and let’s just face it- Lauryn Hill and her ilk, don’t feature on our radios and music charts as much as we say we’d like, and that’s partly our fault. I say ‘partly’ here because to ignore the concept of ‘buying power’ in a capitalist system (which we can all admit, the mainstream music business exists in) would be ridiculous. I’ll give you three guesses what demographic has the most ‘buying power’.

TV In Review: Camelot (Starz)

Fair warning. I’ve referenced Merlin quite a bit here which might get a bit confusing because there is also a Merlin in Camelot and a Camelot in both shows. Italics are really quite lovely, aren’t they?

Spoilers for Camelot’s Episode 1 & 2

Incorporate My Uterus!

In Florida, state House members are forbidden from using the word “uterus” on the floor. This came about as a result of [D] Rep. Scott Randolph’s argument against reproductive rights restricting measures (including the requirement that doctors detail a description of a mandatory ultrasound before an abortion is performed) that included the words “incorporate her uterus”. This did not go over well with the GOP members of the House who forbade Rep. Randolph from naming any body parts on the state House floor.

.if the debate is going to contain language that would be considered inappropriate for children and other guests, the Speaker will make an announcement in advance, asking children and others who may be uncomfortable with the subject matter to leave the floor and gallery.

To be exempt from the ultrasound, a woman would have to be suffering from a medical condition putting her at “risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” or otherwise provide documentation in the form of a “restraining order, police report, medical record, or other court order” to prove that they are exempted as a result of “rape, incest, domestic violence, or human trafficking”.

In protest, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida created IncorporateMyUterus.com arguing that “businesses get special treatment these days. If lawmakers and other politicians see your uterus and your body as a business, maybe they’ll work to get government out of the uterus regulation business as they do for every other company”, highlighting the GOP’s faux-small government rhetoric. The website notes that “you can’t legally Incorporate Your Uterus, but you can online. And by doing so, you can send a message to the Florida Legislature that less regulation and government intrusion begins with a woman’s uterus. ”

So spread the word and incorporate your uterus!

ETA: Always informative and relative to my interests, The Rachel Maddow Show spoke with Rep. Scott Randolph: