Writer Allison McNelly Argues Some Feminists Hurt Women Rather Than Help Other Women.

I’ve been behind on my lady news. It’s hard to keep up with the internets and what liberal, eduated women are getting angry about these days when I have a pesky thing called a full time job. However, my friend Sarah brought to my attention, via twitter, an interesting little bit published on Jezebel today.

Feminist Fatale originally published a piece called “The 10 Commandments of Pop Culture Feminism,” and it was republished by Jezebel.

Since I know you probably don’t want to contaminate your computer’s history by visiting feminist websites, I’ll lay out the commandments for you.

1. Thou shalt not see a sexist, misogynistic ad, say “that sucks” and leave it at that.

2. Thou shalt view all media through a critical lens.

3. Thou shalt watch every movie while wondering if it will pass the Bechdel Test.

4. Thou shalt critique media when it portrays women as one-dimensional, second-class citizens.

5. Thou shalt vote with thy wallet (also known as the “I will not pay $12 to see ‘I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell’ commandment.”)

6. Thou shalt consume shitty forms of media (i.e. tabloids, reality TV) to be aware of what the “mainstream media” is saying about (and to) women and girls.

7. Thou shalt write letters, make phone calls, and send emails to let Dodge know you won’t buy their cars or to tell GoDaddy.com that you’ll look elsewhere for a domain (or ? or ?).

8. Thou shalt utilize social media to get the message out.

9. Thou shalt not feel bad for still being influenced by the barrage of unattainable images.

10. Thou shalt criticize the culture, not the women (employ the pro-woman line).

And this is Jezebel’s addition:

I’ll add an 11th: Thou shalt recognize intersectionality in every component of media representation, sniffing out and calling them out on colorism, homophobia, heterosexism, classism, racism, ageism, ableism etc.

I’ll jump right off by saying “Thou shalt not tell me what kind of feminism I’m going to practice.” Oh, and the use of the oh-so-Judeo-Christian language is interesting.

I say this over and over and over and over ad nauseum, but I think the point still stands. Why do feminists insist on pressuring their “followers” into conforming to certain ideas on women, feminism, culture, society, etc.? Why does this list feel out of touch, fanatical, and like a test of how committed a feminist I really am?

This list reminds me of an experience I had as an undergrad. I consider myself a feminist, the big F kind, and so I was super excited to take Introduction to Women’s Studies in second year – and it turned out to be a horrible experience. What I found that was instead of a class full of bright and engaged women thinking honestly about women and our society today, I had instructors who were only interested in teaching and promoting their specific brand of hard-line feminism.

They taught theories that were interesting, but had no relevance to real life problems facing women today. They encouraged a narrow line of thinking that reflected their own beliefs. And if you couldn’t meet those standards, you were insulted in front of the class (happened to me) or grader lower (also happened to me.) This class left me feeling incredibly jaded by “establishment feminism,” and it was my first and last in the Women’s Studies department.

I blog a lot about hard-line feminism and it’s problems because I don’t like the way it alienates average women, and I particularly do not like the way it discourages dissenting thought. I may be overreacting, but I don’t think that someone who wrote 10 Commandments on Pop Culture Feminism would be open to my counter-argument of, “But I can’t admire Robert Downey Jr.’s sexiness if I am too busy running the Bechdel Test in Iron Man 2! It kills the mood!”

That would make me a BAD FEMINIST. And not, say, a normal woman.

I’m waiting for a feminist to write a manifesto that says, “Do whatever the hell is right for you.” If that ever happens, don’t worry Feminist Fatale, I’ll definitely be using social media to tell all y’all about it.