Feministing Year in Review: Eesha’s Faves

There was some brilliant feminist analysis on the blog in 2011. I’m delighted to be a (newish) member of this fierce team, and here are a couple of my faves from this year:

“I need more evidence,” and other things that probably make you a mansplainer – By Samhita

I love tools, resources and how-to guides. And I love them doubly if they help us challenge common social norms where folks use “logic” and “rigor” as arguments against feminism and feminist practice.  In this post, Samhita calls out covert sexism in dance music culture and gives us a handy  list of how to spot “mansplaining in the wild–when we are out of our feminist circles, in places where we feel comfortable but are confronted with blatant moments of sexism and are made to feel like we are imagining them.” There are a few folks I should send this list to right now, come to think of it.

Kelli Goff, champion of victim blamers everywhere – By Jos

This post just went up two weeks ago, but I was so grateful to see it. We’ve seen a lot of victim-blaming this year (shout-out to Chloe for her letter to Naomi Wolf), but Kelli Goff’s argument was particularly insidious because she positioned herself as a feminist, and an opponent of victim-blaming. Then she speedily began blaming victims of sexual assault and rape by conflating their predicament with the perils of binge drinking. As Jos said,

“[This] to be clear, is bullshit. Drinking too much doesn’t cause rape, just like a short skirt or sexy dancing or walking down the street or sweat pants don’t cause rape. Goff thinks she gets this. But when you say to someone well, if you don’t do that thing you might be able to prevent a rape? Guess what? You are blaming the victim. You are saying the person who did drink too much the night she got raped is responsible, because hey, it could have been prevented.”

Boom. Game, set, match.

And with that I bid you, one and all, happy holidays, a happy solstice and a happy winter break. May your celebrations be joyous and your family dinners be full of fruitful conversations about feminism!