Thursday, April 22, 2010

"Can Feminists Wear Aprons?" Can feminists find better things to worry about?

http://jezebel.com/5522007/can-feminists-wear-aprons

Everyday, when I have time, I like to check a bunch of websites. I start with DListed, and work on to Gawker, Gizmodo, ArsTechnica, then move on to the newspapers. I also stop at Jezebel, the ladyblog division of Gawker media. I enjoy Jezebel for the most part, because its writers tend to be politically and socially aware women. I have become, however, increasingly impatient with some of its posts, like the one above.

Why? Well, because, seriously? You're having a feminist identity crisis over wearing an apron? I get that she's unhappy about the article that, she argues, uses the cute apron trend to reinforce a stereotype of female domesticity. I'd be pissed at that too. But seriously? You question your feminist cred over an apron? Is that what feminism is about? About how YOU feel about YOURSELF when YOU wear an apron? What's your wearing an apron got to do with the fact that most working women don't have access to adequate and affordable childcare, or that stay at home mothers aren't recognized for their labor?

I think I have a problem with "third wave feminism" in general, which the author of this Jezebel article defines via Wikipedia: "The third wave embraces contradictions and conflict, and accommodates diversity and change." Yeah, great. It's more like, I have enough opportunity and liberty to question whether these opportunities and liberties are really serving my own personal interests, and to bemoan how difficulty my life is, now that I have all these choices to make. Oh man, choices!

You know what, I'm not interested in your identity crises, or the difficult kitchen attire decisions you have to make. A lot of women don't have choices to make and, increasingly, the choices we have are being taken away, or denigrated. So I'd really rather have a feminism that is about improving the welfare of women and less about helping you find an identity that you can deal with.

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad feminists are asking themselves the hard-hitting questions these days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know, right? I hate all this navel-gazing shit. All this "self-expression" when there's nothing really to express. But I think this is really more a manifestation of a generational attitude (that applies across the sexes) rather than something peculiar to 3rd wave feminists.

    ReplyDelete