A few days ago I recommended the book Cunt by Inga Muscio. I'd like to unrecommend it, if possible - this was not only by far the worst book on feminism that I've ever read, but I actually found it to be a disservice to humanity. This book wasn't feminist at all; it was the complete opposite of what feminism is to me. We complain that people misunderstand feminism, but if at this day an age, if we allow this misanthropic crap to be represented as feminism, then all the stereotypes are our own fault.
I don't even know where to begin bitching about this book, so I'll just summarize it chapter by chapter:
She advocates that all women should talk to the moon and worship the goddess, as if all feminists are into wishy-washy Wicca rituals (from what I've noticed every 4th word on this book is goddess). She also recommends only reading books written by women and only talking to women and only watching women-made films and only using women-invented appliances for at least one year of your life.
She is against abortion (even though she's had 3) AND contraception. She believes that things like the pill and the diaphragm are evil because they were made by men and not by women or the goddess. She believes that when you're in tune with your body, with the moon, and with the goddess, you won't get pregnant if you don't want to, and if you do get pregnant you can have a goddess-induced abortion, taking herbs made by the goddess, getting massages by your goddess-worshipping friends, and thinking really hard about the goddess and your body, so your fetus will miraculously plop out of your body. And if you take the pill (which messes up with your holy goddess hormones) and get "vacuum cleaner" abortions, you're a powerless woman who is under control of men. However, she's ok with condoms, because they were designed by men for men. Huh?
She says that women will never have any power or respect in society until we treat whores with the respect that they deserve, because they are the priestesses of the goddess and they have the most important job in the world. That being said, she also thinks that Aileen Wuornos didn't deserve to be in jail.
She thinks that women's cunts are the most important part of their bodies. Not only their bodies, but their entire lives. Women's lives should be cunt-centred, all the time, and everything you do should revolve around your cunt - because women's power comes from the cunt and the cunt only, and if we don't use them, we are powerless wimps. So, a woman who is, say, a mathematician, whose life doesn't revolve around sexuality, isn't really empowered. (and apparently she wrote a song after getting very inspired by a man who was asked for a quarter by her friend and he responded, "you don't need a quarter, you got a goldmine between your legs")
So, women's lives should revolve around their sexuality. And that's because, she says, women's sexuality is superior to men's sexuality (and no, I'm not misquoting). Because the male sex organ is limited in size, men's sexuality is also limited, and incomparable to the powerful, intricate, goddess-made vulva-vagina-clitoris-uterus-and-everything-else combo. Men's orgasms are consequently inferior to women's orgasms.
The above statement is the one and only reason for patriarchy in the world. Men are scared of women's sexuality because it's the most powerful goddess-like thing in the world, and they're so scared they try to dominate it, underplay it, and teach little girls to hate their cunts.
She complains that Valerie Solana's SCUM Manifesto is exactly what Aristotle thought about women centuries ago, but Aristotle is admired in society today, while Solanas died homeless... completely disregarding, of course, that Aristotle is from B.C. and we happen to admire people from back then who brought ideas to the world that brought good changes to society, even though they believed in things that are proven to be very silly today. Valerie Solanas lived in the 20th century AD and brought nothing other than SCUM to the world. Needless to say, Inga Muscio admires Valerie Solanas.
Once a woman rocker was murdered in Seattle and nobody mentioned she was raped. One year later, Inga found out that the woman was indeed raped. Therefore, every time a woman is murdered now, she will assume that she was also raped, unless she sees the coroner's report herself. Her logic here is precious.
She believes it's wrong to make movies about rape that have rape scenes in them, because we don't need to see it. She says that we should cause a ruckus if we want to be heard, so if there's a movie with a rape scene in it, you should buy the ticket with 10 female friends, then start screaming when the rape scene starts, storm out of the theatre, scream some more, and demand your money back.
She thinks that men shouldn't be allowed to participate in feminist demonstrations, and they have to understand that. She says that only women can understand the horrors of rape, and if a man acts indignant about a rape, it's only because he's trying to show women what a good non-rapist he is.
I could go on, but that's more than enough. In the 2nd edition afterword she acknowledges that transgender and transsexuals deserve respect too, because someone wrote her a letter reminding her that not all women have cunts - which was pretty positive, after recent news of a trans guy being refused entry into a rape crisis counselling centre. Other than that the book was no more than the crap listed above.
Reading this book helped me understand something about myself though. I've thought about why I have more guy friends than girl friends, and I've realized that I don't like to feel gendered. There is a greater number of women in the world that make me feel that way, like the most important aspect of my being is the fact that I'm a woman. When I'm around most women, it seems to just scream at me, gender, gender, GENDER. Everything about you is related to your gender! And that, to me, is utterly annoying. I like to be around people who make me feel like I am a human being, rather than a woman. I like to think that we are all human beings and that gender differences are superfluous, societal constructs. I don't need to feel superior or more powerful than an entire group of human beings just to affirm my identity. Shouldn't this be what feminism is about? Equality, not superiority. Until we collectively admit that this book is pure garbage, feminists will still be seen as man-hating lesbians. I don't want that. Do you?
A few days ago I recommended the book Cunt by Inga Muscio. I'd like to unrecommend it, if possible - this was not only by far the worst book on feminism that I've ever read, but I actually found it to be a disservice to humanity. This book wasn't feminist at all; it was the complete opposite of what feminism is to me. We complain that people misunderstand feminism, but if at this day an age, if we allow this misanthropic crap to be represented as feminism, then all the stereotypes are our own fault.
Reading this book helped me understand something about myself though. I've thought about why I have more guy friends than girl friends, and I've realized that I don't like to feel gendered. There is a greater number of women in the world that make me feel that way, like the most important aspect of my being is the fact that I'm a woman. When I'm around most women, it seems to just scream at me, gender, gender, GENDER. Everything about you is related to your gender! And that, to me, is utterly annoying. I like to be around people who make me feel like I am a human being, rather than a woman. I like to think that we are all human beings and that gender differences are superfluous, societal constructs. I don't need to feel superior or more powerful than an entire group of human beings just to affirm my identity. Shouldn't this be what feminism is about? Equality, not superiority. Until we collectively admit that this book is pure garbage, feminists will still be seen as man-hating lesbians. I don't want that. Do you?
