Bleach Stains and Feminism

Today I was sitting in my Information in Social Context(s) class which sometimes brings out my deeply buried, inner-Utah authoritarian that I didn't know I had in me. Also, sometime when I see all the religious booths, the LaRouche supporters, and anti-abortion propaganda on Red Square or the quad, I wonder why I'm paying all this money to live in liberal Seattle. I guess when you live in conservative Utah, the liberal activity sort of stands out. And in largely liberal Seattle, the conservatives have to make more noise. (By the way, did you see this NYT op-ed piece?) So anyway, I was sitting in class wearing my favorite American Eagle hoodie (that's getting a bit snug) thinking I should get a new, lightweight spring jacket that's actually waterproof. (I actually need a lot of new clothes. and Thin Mints! Yay, spring! )And then I thought I should stain my hoodie with bleach all distressed-like. Sadly it seems that most of the articles on the interwebs are about removing bleach stains. And then I wondered if distressed clothing is so 2006. So to stain or not to stain? That is the question. And if so, how?

(So Bill Maher is on, and even though I've never seen his show, I don't really like him. But he's a liberal! on HBO! Two things that I love.)

ANYWAY. Then in my 530 class, in which I never have any idea what we're talking about, we somehow were discussing language and feminism, and not Hélène Cixous or Julia Kristeva either. Now generally I consider myself a feminist, but this is where I say several chauvinistic things like, what about them crazy broads? Like Mary Daly who wrote Webster's First Intergalactic Wickedary because she wanted to take the dick out of dictionary (by replacing it with wick?) which I guess is her stab at écriture féminine. But I wonder if language is inherently patriarchal, though I suppose it is true that men have taken language and have used it to write the laws. I might even like the Wikedary, after all it's subverting language, and I think we need more subversives and iconoclasts. However, Daly, who taught at Boston College (and passed away earlier this year), refused to allow men to take her advanced women's studies classes. And then one of my fellow classmates told me how one her friends (a former women's studies major) refused to read books written by men, which first of all takes Shakespeare out of the picture, unless you believe that Lucy Negro wrote Shakespeare's plays. Seriously?! There are some dead white men who wrote some pretty good damn books. I think Virginia Woolf got there with the most when she said that the best writers have androgynous minds, womanly-men and manly-women. And I love my women writers like Virginia and Edith. (Hermione Lee and I should be best friends!) Now I know that getting all the women to agree on an issue is never going to happen which is why we have several different strands of feminism, but then I don't think it's possible for any socio-political movement to achieve unanimous consent. So I'm all for women's rights and equality, but sometimes I feel the feminist movement today is less interested in the glass ceiling and more interested in sexy girl talk. Now women's sexuality is an important issue, but just because you talk about dildos doesn't make you a feminist. And Alanis, I love you, but just because you sing about a breakup doesn't automatically make you a feminist either. But go girl power! Anyway, feel free to leave me angry comments.

Don't forget the Oscars are on this Sunday! I'm hoping Kathryn Bigelow or Quentin Tarantino wins Best Director, and that any film beats Avatar for Best Picture, especially Up In the Air, Inglourious Basterds, or The Hurt Locker. I feel the Best Actress category isn't very strong this year, maybe Meryl will finally win her third statue. Really I think it's between her and Helen (who already bested Meryl three years ago with The Queen). The Supporting Actress category is slightly more interesting, but Mo'Nique has that all but locked down. Happy watching!