The article (written by a male author) is essentially saying "If frigid American women would just relax and start 'understanding the game' of men groping them, plying them with alcohol and forcing their attention on them, and not make such a friggin' big deal about consenting to sex, then we could be as sexually liberated as France!"
Oh?
The article includes such gems as this:
"Thinking about sex as decision — and not an action requiring consent — may in this way be empowering. A decision is an action that can be neutral and value-independent in a way that offering consent simply cannot."
"I'm not suggesting that a woman have sex with someone she doesn't want to, but I'm hoping we can start having more guilt-free sex by any means necessary. If we turn the volume down on consent, perhaps we'll get closer to this kind of liberation."
I am mostly confused as to what this article is doing on a website like Jezebel, that tries very hard to maintain a liberal, feminist reputation and atmosphere. As one commenter put it, "So ... his views don't "necessarily" represent the views of this site. Then why is this article here? Unless this is a blatant ploy for commenter controversy and s***-stirring, I'm at a loss for a reason."
...anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday
-------------------- “I thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty.” --John Waters Posts: 205 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
[I'd warn that the article is potentially triggering]
I saw this too and was similarly squicked by it. Some people in the comments seem to think that it's a deliberate attempt by Jezebel to get pageviews by posting something controversial.
Whether or not that's true, it was a shitty decision and not one that a truly feminist site would have made. It wasn't even posted with a disclaimer originally, and even now has a very wishy-washy one.
It's not even as if it's a potentially interesting alternative viewpoint; it's just the same kind of rape-apologist bullshit we're surrounded by anyway. Surely feminist sites should be safe spaces from that kind of stuff? (Although Jezebel doesn't have a great record on that front anyway.) It's also pretty offensively making a lot of sweeping generalisations about the French, Parisians, Parisian women/men etc without ever actually using the actual words or thoughts of an actual Parisian person. It comes across to me like someone who's been on a gap year and is trying really hard to appear cultured, when actually all he's done is mooch around wishing it were more acceptable to assault women.
It's pretty poorly-written as well; the thread of the argument doesn't follow through the piece and it's very poorly structured. It shouldn't have been published on those grounds, let alone anything else.
posted
I confess, I couldn't even make myself go read this. Thankfully, I've never been under any illusion that Jezebel was anything even remotely resembling a feminist publication. Lots of things call themselves feminist that clearly aren't, so anyone just calling themselves feminist never tends to give me much information that someone or something is.
The sad part is that there are a couple women who write for them who really are strong feminist writers with great points of view and really valuable things to say. I'd love to link to their work, because some of their pieces have been so good, but I've just always refused to give Jezebel and their parent company any more income.
So, this, for me, is just one more in a long litany of reasons to avoid them and keep the same stance about them I've always had.
-------------------- Heather Corinna, Executive Director & Founder, Scarleteen About Me • Get our book! Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead Posts: 63416 | From: An island near Seattle | Registered: May 2000
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posted
Yeah, I've never read Jezebel particularly as it didn't really grab me. I knew it called itself a feminist site, and I'd heard about problems with it before, but I'd been linked to some interesting feminist articles there so hmm.
Seems you're right though Heather, I won't be visiting the site again. I think I hadn't grasped just how crappy it was.
On the upside, there are many awesome feminist resources on the 'net. Wonder if there's a thread anywhere on this board where people can post their favourite feminist linkys. If not, we should totally start one.
-------------------- Heather Corinna, Executive Director & Founder, Scarleteen About Me • Get our book! Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead Posts: 63416 | From: An island near Seattle | Registered: May 2000
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