Food For Thought, #1
Nov. 1st, 2011 03:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornflakeI'm the kind of person who thinks, rethinks and over thinks things, to the point that I sometimes can't get on with other activities cos I'm too caught up in an idea I got from something totally random. So I've decided to post these random little snippets of thoughts, things I'm thinking about, so I'll be able to write them down and then go on to other things. Plus, I'll then feel like I have done something productive with these ideas, rather than just letting them spin round and round like washing in a dryer.
--
I'd like to point out that I am a literature student and analysing and over-analysing is what I do. I don't think that any of this has occured consciously. I don't even know if I am correct in what I'm about to say; in fact, it's very likely that in a lot of places I'm not. I mean no offence to anybody who comes across this - if anybody does. These are simply notes, and thoughts.
Part 1: I consider myself a feminist. I have done since I was about 17. Feminism is a very important part of my life - in fact, I don't think I could stop it being one now, even if I wanted it to be. I will always notice things that don't sit well with my feminism, etc., even if I sometimes wish I could just forget for a while and enjoy the stupid music on the radio, the bad shows on the TV.
For me, feminism does not only mean women's rights, although of course that is a large part of it and, for me as a woman, probably one of the parts that affects me most personally. But for me, feminism also means equality for all genders, all sexualities; the noticing of inequalities or issues that come out of social attitudes towards gender, sexuality, etc.; the attempting to right these wrongs. The struggle of any person or group of people who have been trodden on by patriarchy - which I would define not as "men" per se, but of society's construct of ideal humankind, which is male, but also white, hetrosexual, wealthy, attractive, politically centre-to-right-wing, with a background of Christian morality and ideas - or, more generally, Western.
Part 2: I love music. It is very important to me. I love lots of different genres of music and all the different genres I like give me different things. One of the genres I have a liked for a long time is rock and metal music. This can create a difficulty. How do I, as a feminist, reconcile my beliefs with a musical tradition and world that is not only male dominated but also, often, at the best of times unintentionally reinforcing of negative attitudes towards women and at the worst of times, downright misogynist?
Part 3 (linking part 1 and part 2): one band that I especially love very much is German. Their music is... difficult to describe; it has something of metal, something of classic rock, something of industrial, and other things too. But they are definitely considered to be, and accepted as, part of the music world I just described above - the one that, as a feminist, I fairly frequently find problematic.
I am fully prepared to say that there have been occasions where I have found this band's presentation of women, if not insulting, then definitely uncomfortable and/or potentially distasteful. However, there are also ways that I find them to be incredibly progressive, at least in my personal definition of feminism (which I put in part 1): the main example of this is their treatment of homosexuality. In a music scene that is frequently both macho and homophobic, this band has written, performed, and continues to perform, not only songs about homosexual sex (not treating this any differently to the ways they treat hetrosexual sex in their songs), but songs supportive of gay rights and critically of prejudice against gay people from society in general, and, even more interestingly, from straight men in particular. They have also repeatedly portrayed themselves in homoerotic, or even obviously homosexual, situations - on stage, with each other, and also in their music videos. This has never, in my opinion, been done in a pornographic way, or a way suggesting it is only done to arouse female fans, or any way that is degrading to gay people; it is always done respectfully, and because in the particular song, homosexuality was the subject, or at least a large part of it.
Publicly, at least, as far as I know, all of them are hetrosexual themselves. But in a way I find this makes it more interesting: hetrosexual men quite obviously making it clear that not only do they have no discomforts with other men in general being gay, but also that they have no discomfort with the idea of themselves, or their close friends and companions, being gay. I think it shows a very modern, progressive attitude towards sexuality that still isn't as normal as it should be. (And bear in mind, these men are all in their mid- to late-forties, so they were not raised in a generation where this stuff was automatically acceptable.) An acceptance, and also a suggestion of sexual fluidity that most people, men and women, aren't really comfortable with.
That is one point directly addressing this band themselves. (Love and respect to them.) Here is another thing that I thought today, which prompted this "thought" post, as I was walking to class. I mentioned that this band is German. This made me wonder something: is it acceptable to a member of the patriarchy - as I defined it in part 1 - if you are not from one of the traditionally "acceptable" countries? If the patriarchy is male, white, hetrosexual, wealthy, attractive, politically centre-to-right-wing, from a Christian perspective, and Western - would men from all over Europe fit into that? There's that old quote that history is written by the victorious; I think the patriarchy is a part of this. It is a part of history; it is the conquering part of society (those outside the partiarchy being those that get conquered, dominated, etc). There are a lot of countries, even European countries, that are historically "unacceptable", and I don't mean any offense to anyone who has stumbled on this by saying that. I base it purely on my own experiences. I have known many people, for example, say that they automatically associate German accents with "evil" - a purely historical association, but one that still exists today.
A further twist in this particular story - these musicians are men who grew up in what used to be East Germany. And surely, if any of what I just said is in any way correct, those from the old Communist parts of Germany (and of course, also other former Soviet countries, but I was thinking about Germany) are even more historically unacceptable than those who were in West Germany, because they are not "Western"; again they are not the victors, after the collapse of communism; they are not, historically, capitalist or historically wealthy. They are, in a sense, outside of the patriarchy.
And, in a sense, I, in spite of the fact that I am female, am more acceptable to the patriarchy than they, because I am "Western", born in a historically capitalist and wealthy country, a country that fits in with today's Americanised values - one of "the conquerors". And where does that leave any of us?
Hattie Samuel
--
I'd like to point out that I am a literature student and analysing and over-analysing is what I do. I don't think that any of this has occured consciously. I don't even know if I am correct in what I'm about to say; in fact, it's very likely that in a lot of places I'm not. I mean no offence to anybody who comes across this - if anybody does. These are simply notes, and thoughts.
Part 1: I consider myself a feminist. I have done since I was about 17. Feminism is a very important part of my life - in fact, I don't think I could stop it being one now, even if I wanted it to be. I will always notice things that don't sit well with my feminism, etc., even if I sometimes wish I could just forget for a while and enjoy the stupid music on the radio, the bad shows on the TV.
For me, feminism does not only mean women's rights, although of course that is a large part of it and, for me as a woman, probably one of the parts that affects me most personally. But for me, feminism also means equality for all genders, all sexualities; the noticing of inequalities or issues that come out of social attitudes towards gender, sexuality, etc.; the attempting to right these wrongs. The struggle of any person or group of people who have been trodden on by patriarchy - which I would define not as "men" per se, but of society's construct of ideal humankind, which is male, but also white, hetrosexual, wealthy, attractive, politically centre-to-right-wing, with a background of Christian morality and ideas - or, more generally, Western.
Part 2: I love music. It is very important to me. I love lots of different genres of music and all the different genres I like give me different things. One of the genres I have a liked for a long time is rock and metal music. This can create a difficulty. How do I, as a feminist, reconcile my beliefs with a musical tradition and world that is not only male dominated but also, often, at the best of times unintentionally reinforcing of negative attitudes towards women and at the worst of times, downright misogynist?
Part 3 (linking part 1 and part 2): one band that I especially love very much is German. Their music is... difficult to describe; it has something of metal, something of classic rock, something of industrial, and other things too. But they are definitely considered to be, and accepted as, part of the music world I just described above - the one that, as a feminist, I fairly frequently find problematic.
I am fully prepared to say that there have been occasions where I have found this band's presentation of women, if not insulting, then definitely uncomfortable and/or potentially distasteful. However, there are also ways that I find them to be incredibly progressive, at least in my personal definition of feminism (which I put in part 1): the main example of this is their treatment of homosexuality. In a music scene that is frequently both macho and homophobic, this band has written, performed, and continues to perform, not only songs about homosexual sex (not treating this any differently to the ways they treat hetrosexual sex in their songs), but songs supportive of gay rights and critically of prejudice against gay people from society in general, and, even more interestingly, from straight men in particular. They have also repeatedly portrayed themselves in homoerotic, or even obviously homosexual, situations - on stage, with each other, and also in their music videos. This has never, in my opinion, been done in a pornographic way, or a way suggesting it is only done to arouse female fans, or any way that is degrading to gay people; it is always done respectfully, and because in the particular song, homosexuality was the subject, or at least a large part of it.
Publicly, at least, as far as I know, all of them are hetrosexual themselves. But in a way I find this makes it more interesting: hetrosexual men quite obviously making it clear that not only do they have no discomforts with other men in general being gay, but also that they have no discomfort with the idea of themselves, or their close friends and companions, being gay. I think it shows a very modern, progressive attitude towards sexuality that still isn't as normal as it should be. (And bear in mind, these men are all in their mid- to late-forties, so they were not raised in a generation where this stuff was automatically acceptable.) An acceptance, and also a suggestion of sexual fluidity that most people, men and women, aren't really comfortable with.
That is one point directly addressing this band themselves. (Love and respect to them.) Here is another thing that I thought today, which prompted this "thought" post, as I was walking to class. I mentioned that this band is German. This made me wonder something: is it acceptable to a member of the patriarchy - as I defined it in part 1 - if you are not from one of the traditionally "acceptable" countries? If the patriarchy is male, white, hetrosexual, wealthy, attractive, politically centre-to-right-wing, from a Christian perspective, and Western - would men from all over Europe fit into that? There's that old quote that history is written by the victorious; I think the patriarchy is a part of this. It is a part of history; it is the conquering part of society (those outside the partiarchy being those that get conquered, dominated, etc). There are a lot of countries, even European countries, that are historically "unacceptable", and I don't mean any offense to anyone who has stumbled on this by saying that. I base it purely on my own experiences. I have known many people, for example, say that they automatically associate German accents with "evil" - a purely historical association, but one that still exists today.
A further twist in this particular story - these musicians are men who grew up in what used to be East Germany. And surely, if any of what I just said is in any way correct, those from the old Communist parts of Germany (and of course, also other former Soviet countries, but I was thinking about Germany) are even more historically unacceptable than those who were in West Germany, because they are not "Western"; again they are not the victors, after the collapse of communism; they are not, historically, capitalist or historically wealthy. They are, in a sense, outside of the patriarchy.
And, in a sense, I, in spite of the fact that I am female, am more acceptable to the patriarchy than they, because I am "Western", born in a historically capitalist and wealthy country, a country that fits in with today's Americanised values - one of "the conquerors". And where does that leave any of us?
Hattie Samuel
