I am sick of the (to me) flawed and invented characterization of a split in feminism today - largely demonstrated and brought to a head by the reaction of feminists to the #MeToo movement - on the one hand that old school feminists have argued that women could solve the problem of sexual assault by being pragmatic, and just sucking up minor transgressions and coping with them, while on the other hand younger feminists were lumping together almost trivial acts with really serious incidents, and the movement had become rather silly.
I know Germaine Greer (who I admire greatly) has reacted in line with this "old-school" portrayal, but then she has also said that trans women are not "real women", so perhaps it’s time for me to honour her for what she’s achieved, and ignore her recent unpleasant statements. I also know that she’s not alone - Daphne Merkin and Bari Weiss, and Katie Roiphe (https://harpers.org/archi…/…/03/the-other-whisper-network-2/) for example – have argued much the same thing (about #MeToo, that is).
I know that in the article “The Backlash to #MeToo is Second-Wave Feminism” (https://jezebel.com/the-backlash-to-metoo-is-second-wave-fe…), Stassa Edwards (https://kinja.com/sbedwards…) hand waved at a bunch of old school feminists, but with little substance to her argument.
But I also know this; there are many of the old school who are not of this supposed “old-school” view, and are not being heard, because they didn’t say anything. Many who agree with #MeToo have not spoken out saying that they don’t think it’s silly. That’s not what people do. I, for Non-deity’s sake, am surely old school. I don’t think #MeToo has gone too far (and OK, I’m speaking out, but it’s a meta-speaking out). Yes – and I would expect to get flamed by some for this – groping a woman is a lesser crime than rape. But it’s all wrong. It’s all a result of a fundamental wrongness in our culture. It all must be brought out into the open, and the perpetrators punished to the full extent that they can be.
The real difference, the real split, is, I think, the fairly obvious fact that the #MeToo movement is a movement. As a movement, it of necessity makes assumptions that are not in the (shit, I almost said playbook) er, lexicon of the feminist coda. By standing up and proclaiming “me too”, a woman becomes one of a band of sisters; stands proud with others who have suffered as she has. This takes feminism beyond where it has previously been. It has become a social movement, it is no longer intellectuals in ivory towers issuing Fatwas (I might have mixed metaphors there). It is become “We few, we happy few, we band of sisters; For she to-day that sheds her blood with me Shall be my sister; be she ne'er so vile,”, with no apology to Shakespeare whatsoever.
And the young have got it right on this one, make no mistake. I know this to be so. Fuck putting up with harassment. Fuck standing by while your daughter learns to survive as a woman. Any man who has harassed/abused/raped any woman at any time, no matter how distant, must be called out, punished, and vilified. Sorry Germaine, I’m afraid I’m really not with you anymore (though I still love you).
-- Nikkie
