The Enviros, The Feminists and The Gays
June 17, 2010
by Amy Siskind
|Earlier this week, Jane Hamsher wrote a wonderful article over at Firedoglake: Sierra Club and Gang Green: Oil Spill Cleanup “Just Fine” . Jane details how the environmental groups have chosen not to publicly criticize the efforts (or lack thereof) of President Obama in the Gulf Coast due to party affiliation:
The Sierra Club has one of the most well-known progressive brands, and they have a membership that is both deep and broad. Their ability to advocate for environmental causes doesn’t depend on access to politicians. It appears that they have they have opted for an “inside” game, and have completely dropped the ball on pressuring elected officials from the outside — right when they could have the most impact.
Jane’s critique of the Enviros got me instantly thinking. There’s another group of advocates that have also dropped the ball on speaking out on behalf of their constituencies because of party affiliation: the “Feminists” (who knows – maybe they’ve become so engrossed in fighting for the f-word, that speaking out for women went by the wayside?).
Like the enviros, women’s organizations couldn’t get enough of then candidate Obama. And so when he became our first African American president, they instantly declared: “This is What a Feminist Looks Like.” Remember the Ms. Magazine Inaugural Issue:
The “feminists” couldn’t anoint President Obama with their title quickly enough.
Of course the old axiom: Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? quickly played out as President Obama proceeded do very little for women in his first 17 months of office. And those who voted for President Obama on the issue of abortion got a rude awakening when he signed an executive order, which, as Jane Hamsher noted:
Obama’s executive order enshrines the Hyde Amendment, which had to be re-authorized every year in the appropriations bill.
When women’s groups act as an appendage of the DNC, they give away our bargaining power – which frankly, shouldn’t and will no longer be theirs to give! As I wrote in op-ed over at The Huffington Post as the health-care reform debate was getting underway, women’s organizations must, must become non-partisan . It’s time to shed the old skin of partisan, divisiveness embodied by “feminism; ” and instead embrace the inclusive “pro-women” movement.
And here’s who both enviros and women’s advocates can model after: the LGBT community.
Major groups like HRC, Family Equality Council, GLAAD and so many more have learned to work together on their common goals. And unlike the enviros and many women’s orgs, they are not an appendage of the DNC. The LGBT orgs find common goal and purpose that represent the wishes of all their members (not half) and take those battles to both parties, and hold both parties accountable. And vocally so when necessary.
There are valuable lessons playing out right before our eyes. My only hope is that women’s orgs will find our common ground, and fight together to truly move the ball forward for all women.
Good article. Retweeting today.
But… I’m not quite sure that Gay Advocacy groups have risen above partisanship as you suggest. HRC seems too cozy with Obama, for my money.
I hope so, too, Amy, but we’ve got our work cut for us with the Ladies’ Auxiliaries. I’m a classic middle of the roader on most political issues. Personally against abortion, but don’t believe the government has any say in the matter. Willing to work hard to keep abortion safe and legal, but would like it to be rare. I think the government is the better entity to do some things, and I’m willing to pay fair taxes so that it can do those things with all the resources it needs, but there are other things the government tries to do that I think are better served by private enterprise. I’m sitting here on the 50-yard line talking to women from both sides, trying to convince them that we all need to be trying to get to the same goalpost, but they’re fighting over who has the right to carry the ball. We need a good coach, a couple of co-captains, and a first rate quarterback. I’ll bring the nachos and the beer to the after game party, but I’m getting too old to play. It’s getting harder to keep getting back up after being tackled.
SYD,
Think about the fundraisers for Sen Boxer when Pres Obama was speaking…twice, he was heckled for revoking DADT. And there have been rallies at the WH. I think the LGBT community is not afraid to speak out to the Dems…
It is good that you still have hope for the “feminists” I don’t. They never understood how to gather and use power responsibly. They acted like if you tell the Patriarchy what they are doing wrong over and over again the Patriarchy will stop doing wrong things and hand over some power to women however feminists seemed to behave as if they thought power in and of itself might be bad. Well no one hands you power, you have to take it and own it. If women don’t have power over their own lives and affairs someone else does (men and government). And feminists need to be prepared to build new institutions including media because it is a waste of valuable time to try to coerce people who are happy with the status quo (patriarchy) into doing things our way. We need to do it ourselves.
“They never understood how to gather and use power responsibly. They acted like if you tell the Patriarchy what they are doing wrong over and over again the Patriarchy will stop doing wrong things and hand over some power to women however feminists seemed to behave as if they thought power in and of itself might be bad. Well no one hands you power, you have to take it and own it. If women don’t have power over their own lives and affairs someone else does (men and government)”
Bes, you are exactly right!!!!!!!
“If women don’t have power over their own lives and affairs someone else does (men and government)”
Perfect, Bes.
Bes and yttik, the unfortunate flip side of that argument is that if women DO have power over our lives, then that means “that bitch I hate” also has power over her life, and that’s something that the women on the left will never stand for. Their attitude is, “I want equal rights, but I don’t want that bitch to get them!” It’s as if they make a conscious choice to stay in a pile of shit because at least they get to see “that bitch” in the pile up to her neck, too. They won’t fight for women’s rights across the board, because then “that bitch” might get rights that I fought for, who does she think she is?
Their own suffering under sexism has become a price they are willing to pay for the fun and enjoyment of watching “that bitch” suffer.
If women DO have power over our lives, then even that slut we hate has power over her life. If women don’t have power over our lives, then men do. Left-wing feminism has demonstrated to me that that’s a bargain they are more than willing to cut.
You nailed it, Janis.
That’s one reason why I am enjoying watching conservative women discover their feminism. Equal rights for women really does mean for all women. Some of those systems that I consider oppressive, can only be improved by adding the talents and contributions of half the human race.
People are forever “accusing” me of being a Republican. Well, what does Republicanism in the hands of women look like? It’s quite possible that infused with more women, it could become a political ideology that I want to be a part of. I don’t know, I’ve never seen what it looks like when it’s not almost exclusively in the hands of men.
Congress is another entity with a 22% approval rating, good for comedic fodder. I don’t know what congress would look like with 50% women in it, but I sure want to find out. It’s possible that congress could become something I don’t have the urge to mock and ridicule anymore. And so it goes with just about every institution, infuse it with women, because it can only get better.
Janis. Interesting comment, I’ve never been able to understand what motivates liberal women Democrats party loyalty after the last election. Liberal Feminists do seem to have more faith in the Benevolent State solving problems and they are dedicated to the Benevolent Democrat Party more than they are dedicated to their own best interest. Personally I want government out of my life as much as possible. Power just IS. It isn’t good or bad but you HAVE to grab it and form it to your own best interest because if you don’t someone else will.
Bes, yttik, and Janis,
You all have explained exactly why feminism has failed!
I agree with Bes. Women need to empower themselves and stop waiting for what’s never going to come from the majority of men. Acceptance that we should have equal power and opportunity. If they haven’t seen the wisdom of this by now, they aren’t going to without a lot of persuasion from the women.
Until then, I think it’s great that Sarah Palin has been kicking butt on woman empowerment, and showing that you don’t have to give up having a family, if you want a career. Granted, she’s lucky to have a husband that supports this decision, but on the other hand, she’s supports him in whatever he wants to do as well.
I don’t care if it’s conservative women who lead the way for empowerment for women. Somebody’s got to pick up the feminist mantle, because the patriarchy surely isn’t going to!
protesting is also good. It is about visibility, and though a group may actually be small in number, a large protest makes it appear differently and leaves a lasting impression on the minds of viewers, making minority groups appear more general, and thus getting their needs and views taken seriously.
Women need to be marching and protesting and gathering and discussing. But not fighting, not debating. Fighting is the enemy of Feminism. I think if we could get rid of “right and wrong”, the schemes of debating, logic, and fighting, I think that would be worth calling progressive in a state of dynamics, where there is actually no progressing.
“I’ve never been able to understand what motivates liberal women Democrats party loyalty after the last election.”
Insecurity. They really do fear that making money, having careers, and speaking up means that boys won’t think they’re cute. And given that the vast majority of men on the left are porn-addicted slackers (not backing down from that one), they look around and see the losers from whom they expect to pick a husband, and feel like if they don’t give in on their quest for equality, they’ll never get married or have kids.
OTOH, on the right side, you end up with men who think they’re doing you a favor by not “letting” you work for a living. Somehow I don’t think Todd Palin agrees.
That would be great Kiuku, if we could stop framing everything as if there can be only one dominant idea. The top dog, you’re with us or you’re against us approach, is a very male defined concept and it’s created a really partisan government, as well as feminists drawing lines in the sand and pretending that feminism is some sort of club. Nothing is ever cut and dry, black and white, might makes right. Issues, politics, everything contains shades of gray, and it would certainly help if we could stop viewing every thing as a contest for superiority.
Yea Yttik! It’s this pervasive framework in our society appearing to be largely driven by men. I saw a post on here I really liked but I cannot find it now. It’s monkey behavior for sure. For sure it’s natural; status, dominance, elitism, class. Our culture is all framed around fighting and winning. The concept of winning, something I’m working on now, is something people base on rationality, when it doesn’t actually exist. So it’s a conundrum for rationalists. You can’t actually win. There is no actual right or no actual wrong, but if you look at society and our culture it’s all fighting physically first, and then sanctified fighting secondly.
The justice system is possibly the only thing that should be based on the presumption of a right and wrong, of things that can be proven. We don’t need to accept that things can be proven in reality, but that there is something called doubt and there is something called beyond doubt.
But look at our society since Ancient Greece. Did not ancient greece sanctify warfare, physical, in the form of logical debate? I’d imagine that the same good feeling that people get, the same visceral response is played out in sanctified fighting, in debates, in politics, the same desire for victory, as in the battlefield, the concept of winning. In the human mind, it is still the same, and that’s why people enjoy it.
People also enjoy gaming. Games are a way of you know enjoying the pleasure of fighting without hurting anyone, but its still such a base monkey pleasure.
There are better ones. We could have a society centered around love and art and discussion, without fighting. People’s status could be based on doing the things they love.
I don’t think that people are going to give up status anytime soon, which is first violently fought over, then culturally sanctioned in the form of paper or metal currency. Status is something you can even see in childhood with popularity. Wealth is a way of gaining status. People like having clean spaces, servants, and in the mind world “fine things”. People also like laboring for the things they love. I don’t think people really enjoy middle class in its complacency, boredom, and love-killing state, so I’m not surprised that the middle class keeps psychiatrists well fed.
I respect the culture of the conservative women now, more so as I mature, over the culture of the liberal women who allows and even embraces sexploitation and misogyny that is rampid in liberal dominated pop culture.
Isn’t it always the liberal left that exploits black people and women in films. Look what they did to music lately, if you can even call it music. I don’t hear any of this radical misogyny comingout of the mouths of conservatives. Our ultra liberal culture is creating a dangerous enviroment for women. I had to explain to one of my die hard liberal friends that what we got the AAP to do was a good thing not a bad thing. They have gone completely savage and have no self respect. I don’t understand the self loathing of women on the left (Obama supporters.)
I will support the conservative women. They out class the democrat women like Pelosi, Boxer and my Senator Alyson Schwartz by miles. I like their husbands as well. They always have their back and seem to be much more trust worthy.
I don’t think any man naturally has any woman’s back, ever. I remember being in college in the 80s when conservatives were in their heights of ascendency. The Pub males were horrific toward women, just as bad as the libdoodz are now that they are feeling their power on the rise. Hating, threatening, and abusing women is what men do on both sides of the political fence as they see their star rise. It’s like when their sports team wins and they start lighting things on fire and overturning cars. The celebratory vandalizing of property. And when their power wanes, they start waxing eloquent about women to get us to bind their wounds. That’s all it is. That’s why it’s women or nothing for me from now on. That is the ONLY way forward.
It also shortcircuits the opposite female tendency — when our power is on the wane, we shit on other women to make sure that bitch has it worse. So women get it no matter what — from both men and women. It’s got to fucking stop.
All this fluff talk about conservative women is making me qweezy! The truth is that women on the left and right are trained to, and DO, attack other women.
I too was in college in the 1980s when conservative men abused women during their hight of power, just as so called liberal men are doing now.
The problem with left leaning feminists is that they hitched their wagon to the democratic party, who only marginally supported some civil liberties for women, and never supported equality. But let’s be clear, the republicans were worse and were very open about their conservative beliefs of women’s roles and places. They too oppose equality. They faught against title nine, reproductive rights including access to basic birth control, the ERA, pay equity and almost every basic human right afforded women in the last 80 years. This is presicely what prompted the feminists to hitch their wagon to the democratic party. And for all the talk about the LGBT community, they too are overwelmingly democrats with their wagon hitched to the dems as well.
The issue is the free milk!!! Why buy the cow? The lesser of the evils, blah, blah, blah. The truth is that its patriarchy, not right or left. Patriarchy dominates both parties and idiologies. Women continue to put themselves last on the priority list. Women from both sides of the isle continue to fight mens battles instead of stending together.
I think this has been Amy’s point! Party affiliation is not getting us where we need to go. The democrats now in power, showed us how sexist they really are during the 2008 misogyny fest. The misogyny displayed by them this last election cycle was outragous and raised more than a few eye brows. Now that they are in power they are doing little to nothing for women. A matter of fact, they continue to push the same sexist policies as the republicans did. The republicans who also abuse women, saw an opening in their time of weakness and have filled a vacum of leadership and fresh idias with several knew women candidates. Don’t think for a minute that they have not been trying to seize the discontent of women voters who watched the misogyny fest of 2008. Its been their strategy since McCain picked Palin as his VP running mate.
So lets not fall into the trap of bashing liberal women. This is precisely what feeds the divisions between us. Let’s not do exactly what we are accusing other women of doing and attacking each other. The answer is to focus on advancing ALL women through creating an agenda of common ground that moves us forward together.
All this fluff talk about conservative women is making me qweezy! The truth is that women on the left and right are trained to, and DO, attack other women.
I too was in college in the 1980s when conservative men abused women during their hight of power, just as so called liberal men are doing now.
The problem with left leaning feminists is that they hitched their wagon to the democratic party, who only marginally supported some civil liberties for women, and never supported equality. But let’s be clear, the republicans were worse and were very open about their conservative beliefs of women’s roles and places. They too oppose equality. They faught against title nine, reproductive rights including access to basic birth control, the ERA, pay equity and almost every basic human right afforded women in the last 80 years. This is presicely what prompted the feminists to hitch their wagon to the democratic party. And for all the talk about the LGBT community, they too are overwelmingly democrats with their wagon hitched to the dems as well.
The issue is the free milk!!! Why buy the cow? The lesser of the evils, blah, blah, blah. The truth is that its patriarchy, not right or left. Patriarchy dominates both parties and idiologies. Women continue to put themselves last on the priority list. Women from both sides of the isle continue to fight mens battles instead of stending together.
I think this has been Amy’s point! Party affiliation is not getting us where we need to go. The democrats now in power, showed us how sexist they really are during the 2008 misogyny fest. The misogyny displayed by them this last election cycle was outragous and raised more than a few eye brows. Now that they are in power they are doing little to nothing for women. A matter of fact, they continue to push the same sexist policies as the republicans did. The republicans who also abuse women, saw an opening in their time of weakness and have filled a vacum of leadership and fresh idias with several new women candidates. Don’t think for a minute that they have not been trying to seize the discontent of women voters who watched the misogyny fest of 2008. Its been their strategy since McCain picked Palin as his VP running mate.
So lets not fall into the trap of bashing liberal women. This is precisely what feeds the divisions between us. Let’s not do exactly what we are accusing other women of doing and attacking each other. The answer is to focus on advancing ALL women through creating an agenda of common ground that moves us forward together.
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