Buffet Feminist

By: Liberate Zealot

The Patriarchy/Kyriarchy is pervasive, it is entrenched, and sometimes it feels absolute.  It's in the schools, the courts, in politics, in doctor's offices, in media, in pricing and advertising, in religions and atheist organizations, sex and dating advice, cultural standards and stereotypes.  The Patriarchy/Kyriarchy is in economics and banks, it's in psychology, and promotions and pay raises, nerd/geek culture, it's in grocery stores and the price of food, in personal interactions.  The Patriarchy/Kyriarchy is in every person, our selves included.

No person can hope to overcome the Patriarchy/Kyriarchy on their own.  And similarly no Feminist theory, or social justice group/movement, can address every aspect of the Kyriarchy. None of us can hope to understand, focus on, and fight against every aspect of the entrenched Kyriarchy.  And similarly, our relative privileges make us blind to many of the causes, branches, and results of the Kyriarchy.

Just as the Kyriarchy has many voices and arms (and heads) so must we who fight against it. We need Radical Feminism, and Liberal Feminism, and Communist/Socialist feminism, and Sex-Positive Feminism, and Womanism, and PostColonial Feminism, and all the branches of Feminism to combat the many permutations of the Patriarchy/Kyriarchy.  Similarly we need people and movements to address the areas that Feminism fails to address (while working to make ourselves better allies).

We need all the Feminist voices to shout out against the incessant drone of the Kyriarchy.  And we need to work to support new voices, and make sure our own voices don't silence the voices of other people who are unheard in the Kyriarchy.

And because I believe most deeply in this need, because I think Feminism is doomed without its many and ever expanding voices and branches, I am a Buffet Feminist.

Babe, is this Sexist? Masterpost

Babe, is this Sexist? is a semi-regular series dedicated to high-lighting sexism within popular culture.  We examine media (with a focus on advertising), clothing and other consumer products, music, and popular stereotypes and tropes related to gender and women to shine a light on the everyday sexism  that is all around us. The purpose of Babe, is this Sexist? is not in depth analysis of these everyday examples of sexism, but to name this (often ignored) sexism for what it is, and hopefully to provide some amusement in the telling. 

• 2/16/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Children's Toy
• 2/22/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - BMW Ad
• 2/29/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - The Hormone Guide
• 3/8/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Sweatshirt
• 3/14/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Cleaning Instructions
• 3/21/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Fiat Superbowl Ad
• 3/28/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Telling Women to Smile
• 4/12/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Reebok Ad
• 4/19/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Pink Floyd Poster
• 4/25/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - "Boys Will Be Boys"
• 5/2/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Tide Ad
• 5/9/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - "All Women Are Crazy"
• 6/17/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Father's Day Edition
• 7/13/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - "Ze Does It Because Ze Loves Me"
• 8/2/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Taylor Swift's "You Belong To Me"
• 8/29/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Cleaning Commercials
• 11/8/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - William Murai's "Rosie the Riveter" Remake 
• 12/12/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Virgin Mobile Advent Calender
• 12/17/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Stress Relief Dolls
• 12/13/12 Babe, is this Sexist? - Babe Magnets and Remote Controls 
• 2/9/13 - Babe, is this Sexist? - Superbowl Ad Edition - Audi "Prom"
• 3/2/13 - Babe, is this Sexist? - Oscar/MacFarlane Edition
• 4/23/13 - Babe, is this Sexist? - Disney Marvel Heroes shirts
• 6/1/13 - Babe, is this Sexist? - Swiffer's Remake of Rosie the Riveter

Please leave suggestions for the next installment of Babe, is this Sexist? in the comments of this post, or the most recent Babe, is this Sexist?  Alternatively, you can message us on Tumblr or leave a comment on our Facebook page. Also check out the F.A.R. Facebook page for polls about future installments. 

Babe is this Sexist?

This week's Babe, Is this Sexist? examines the artist's William Murai's re-make of the famous feminist symbol "Rosie the Riveter".

And yeah, sorry people who are digging on this "Rosie" redo.  This picture is sexist, for two very good reasons.

1. THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF THIS PICTURE IS ANTI-FEMINISM! The artist created this image for the Brazilian Alfa Magazine to accompany an article about the End of Feminism. "The idea was to remake the famous feminism symbol "Rosie the Riveter" a lady who is giving up on her duties and trying to look sexy again." So purpose is sexist, ideas about women and feminism also sexist.
2. "But what if we divorce it from artist intent?"  It's still sexist. It's dismantling a famous feminist picture.  Even if you want a new feminist icon that is "more sexy and feminine" (which agree to disagree about "Rosie" as sexy and feminine) that doesn't make it acceptable to co-opt an already feminist image for the very purpose to dismantling it (not to be confused with the "Rosie's" of color).  Find a "sexy" and "feminine" feminist image that isn't about a serious and hard working outside the home women stopping those things.  It creates a false dichotomy of sexy and feminine vs serious and physical labor/working outside the home, that only exists in the Patriarchy. 

Go to the "Babe, is this Sexist? Masterpost

Nothing But the Bargain

By: Liberate Zealot
Content Warning: Discussions of homophobia/heterosexism, sexism, racism, classism.

Recently between politics, family dynamics, and my relationship with my boyfriend I've been thinking a lot about my personality and ways of dealing with things.  Specifically the extreme changes they've undergone over the past 20 years and the reasons these changes happened. Two days ago Melissa McEwan reposted The Terrible Bargain We Have Regretfully Struck and it reminded me of my own Terrible Bargain, and how this bargain has changed me through the years.