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desbianherstory · 4 years

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are you a terf?

1. I’m tired of this but here is a post with some links answering related questions. Anyway, I’ve decided to do something unfortunately long-winded in this answer.

2. The term ‘terf’ was created in 2008 by Viv Smythe, a self-described “cis-het” woman who ran a feminist blog. She would post feminist news and events to this blog. In February 2008, she made one such post about a party to celebrate the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. A few comments were left on the post decrying Michfest due to the controversy over the festival’s policy on trans inclusion. Smythe replied: “I don’t intend to censor any mention of a feminist group or event simply because their feminisms may not be my feminisms.” A trans woman commented on the post saying that Smythe should have included a disclaimer: “An editors note saying that this festival was problematic. Very simple, and beyond fair, methinks. As in Note: This festival excludes a highly marginalized group of women, and is considered by some as problematic. As much as I loathe the actions of this crowd, they too have a right to be part of the plurality of feminisms… even at the cost of trans women’s lives (as in dead from lack of services) that have been lost to the atmosphere of exclusion promoted by their transphobic ideas.” Smythe updated the post with such a disclaimer.

An organizer for the party also commented on the post saying, “To report, we spoke with MichFest – They do not have a written policy, or any policy for that matter on Trans. Trans womyn are welcome to the party.” Smythe did not find this sufficiently convincing, saying that Lisa Vogel, organizer of the festival, needed to make a clear statement on the issue.

3. In her guardian piece on creating the term ‘terf’, Smythe explains that the February post about the Michfest party led to the creation of the term as “commenters sent me on a rapid learning curve regarding trans-exclusion issues both specific to Michfest and in general.” If you look to the actual post, it generated a very limited response: 7 replies from 4 users and they were all specifically about Michfest.

In any case, on August 17, 2008, half a year after the Michfest post, Smythe wrote a blog post denouncing ‘terfs’ (the first use of the term) in regards to the internet discussions on gender identity going on amongst other feminist bloggers. These discussions had nothing to do with Michfest and were in no way a continuation of the discussion going on in the comment section of the Michfest post six months prior. However, though the denouncing terfs post is linked in the guardian piece, the specifics of these feminist blogging debates are not mentioned at all. Instead, Smythe depicts Michfest as the start and center of the ‘terf’ term creation story. Indeed, she highlights the fact that a few days after the denouncing terfs post, she made another post about ‘terfs’, this time apologizing for having posted about Michfest at all and committing to never promoting a trans-exclusionary event again. She quotes herself as having written on Michfest: “I am aware that this decision is likely to affront some trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs), but it must be said: marginalising trans women at actual risk from regularly documented abuse /violence in favour of protecting hypothetical cis women from purely hypothetical abuse/violence from trans women in women-only safe-spaces strikes me as horribly unethical as well as repellently callous.” In so doing, Smythe emphasizes that ‘terf’ was created to describe and denounce Michfest.

4. In the guardian piece, Smythe compares ‘terfs’ to racists: “Much of the factional divide here comes down to yet another gatekeeping argument about purity in feminism, perennial since the women’s suffrage movement, and this one has uncomfortable echoes of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s arguments against extending voting rights to black men.”

It is unclear to me how a music festival organized by lesbians can be seen as equivalent to saying black men should not be allowed to vote, or how a music festival somehow results in anyone’s death from lack of services, or how wanting a female-centric music festival can be described as horribly unethical and repellantly callous. Disagreeing with Michfest’s policies does not make any of these statements make any kind of sense. They are more than hyperbolic; they are distortions. However, this has been the narrative consistently chosen and advanced about Michfest. Similarly, Jill Soloway’s Transparent directly compares Michfest to Nazi Germany. Somehow lesbians organizing a female-centric music festival in the woods is equivalent to white supremacy and genocide. Indeed, in an editorial for the The Bilerico Project, Barbra Siperstein somehow managed to compare Michfest to the Westboro Baptist Church (in addition to accusing Michfest organizers of penis envy).

5. The exact details of what happened at Michfest are not hugely important to this post. There are a number of resources that one can look into: Emi Koyama, TransSisters, Bonnie Morris’ The Disappearing L: The Erasure of Lesbian Spaces, Riki Anne Wilchins’ TRANS/gressive: How Transgender Activists Took on Gay Rights, Feminism, the Media & Congress ... and Won! etc. I’ve drawn my own conclusions but what matters here is how did a lesbian music festival become made into such a flashpoint? And the one and only answer is lesbophobia.

As Lisa Vogel reflected in 2018: “Michigan became a tool that trans activists and gay activists could wield against a larger homophobic mainstream culture. They could say, ‘This is an example of intolerance even in our own community.’ Gay men don’t come from a radical lesbian analysis so they don’t understand why we believe what we believe. [...] The press covered Camp Trans wildly, and I would try to respond. [The portrayal] was in a way that is straight up misogyny — by the gay press and the straight press. We cannot forget how defensive everybody is about having womyn’s space. It was kind of perfect for the straight press and the gay press to have someone hammering us about having exclusive space that was supposedly [from] within the community. All kinds of things happen within the gay male community that is exclusive of trans people, that is exclusive of womyn, that is exclusive of, for example anyone except bears. They have complete autonomy of whoever they want to include. It’s frustrating that this [exclusivity] is only held against womyn, I think it was used as a tool by the all-of-a-sudden exploding trans community to be pitted against these “nasty lesbian separatists.” [...] The reality is that Michigan already did not have the support of the gay community and we were an embarrassment to the gay organizations, who were all trying to be mainstream. And we were not trying to be mainstream, we are trying to live a different ethic and a different politic. No we won’t fly an HRC flag. No, we won’t do that.”

This also accords with the specific way that lesbian separatism is demonized. Lesbian separatism was literally modelled after the separatist movements created by people of colour. And indeed, many lesbians separatists were women of colour. In lesbian film-maker Pratibha Parmar's A Place of Rage, Angela Davis (also a lesbian!) specifically talks about the importance of separatism to women of colour. Yet lesbian separatism is viewed as some unique evil produced by uniquely evil dyke minds instead of a rational response to lesbophobia within feminist organizing and to misogyny within gay rights activism.

6. I think the history of the term ‘terf’ is important to understanding how it is used today. The woman who created the term has put forward a narrative where it was created in direct response to a lesbian musical festival in the woods; she does not say it was created to address transphobia amongst radical feminists, she does not say it was created to protest housing or employment or healthcare discrimination. She specifically tells us that discussing Michfest’s policies was where it began. Thus, while never naming lesbians, she advances a mean lesbians narrative. She, along with many others, advances a narrative where lesbians having a female-centric music festival is equivalent to denying people of colour their basic civil rights. And that is how it continues to be used today. We see lesbians being attacked as ‘terfs’ for literally being ourselves (being exclusively attracted to other female people) and for things of absolutely zero consequence (for saying that we would like to live with our partner in a house with a garden and a cat, for using the venus symbol, for joking that we don’t need birth control etc) and all of this is absolutely in keeping with how and why the term was created. Lesbian existence, lesbian culture, lesbian history becomes ‘terf’ violence. The mean lesbians are at it again. I have no interest in granting legitimacy to this term when its very origin is tied to demonizing lesbians and believe other lesbians shouldn’t either.

#mod post #cw homophobia

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leratotheot · 4 years

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Life is like a game of chess..we’re all being played

(https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b92fbf5eaf429820ef9f381223243e75-c)

Positionality is the notion that personal values, views, and location in time and space influence how one understands the world. In this context, gender, race, class, and other aspects of identities are indicators of social and spatial positions and are not fixed, given qualities.(sk.sagepub.com). This is evident that there are numerous factors that influence a person’s positionality,I would like to suggests that a person’s positionality can change from time to time in their lifetime giving the notion that in life we are being played by factors such as our government,media,laws,upbringing even the careers that we find ourselves in. A significant change in one of these factors can automatically cause a change in one’s position,just like a game of chess your opponents move will always impact the position(move) you make all in the quest to “win in life” but very few people understand that life isn’t just about winning but about learning.Changing your position in life can bring about a new perspective even a strategy to greater impact your society or even to understand it a bit more.This what I will be delving into this post..shall we.

Now I’ve turned the magnifying glass onto myself to really see what factors have created my current positionality.First of all I am able bodied and this has afforded me certain privileges in society and I am largely free from any form of discrimination in society.Looking through the media lense I am at a greater privilege to have more variety in terms of clothing,activities,careers all because of my weight and size(petite). There are certain stereotypes(model figure,more attractive to the opposite sex,”popular girl”) that put me at the top of the social hierarchy because of my size and height, but if I were to bring it into the South African context even globally my race does exclude me from certain activities and puts me in a position where I can be discriminated against because of the colour of my skin as a result of the history of racism that has happened globally and Apartheid that has happened in South Africa.This speaks into the factor of ethnicity and how that further impacts my positionality, I come from a Zulu culture and IsiZulu is my mother tongue this affords me the privilege to communicate with the majority population in South Africa. The Zulu culture is one of South Africa’s most authentic cultures and adds to the diversity of the country,but if you were to ask me it’s one of the most respected cultures within the country.

Patriarchy states that because I am a woman I am obligated to become submissive but through the years this has been challenged by feminists suggesting equality of all genders.This has influenced my positionality because I do agree with the case to some extent because I do follow what my religion says about gender roles.My religion is Christianity and my position is greatly influenced by it, my outlook on life is governed by the values and rituals of my religion. My educational level is also a factor that influences my positionality.I am in my 4th year of occupational therapy,they say knowledge is power and I am mindful of the power whether real or perceived that stems from my education.This degree puts me at a level to impact people’s lives who find themselves experiencing occupational imbalance.I come from a family where my mother is a widow taking care of myself and my younger brother.This family structure does not fall under the nuclear family structure but it is nothing short of unconditional love and support.With a female heading the household this challenges the patriarchal structure and feeds more into the driving forces of feminism this also further impacts my positionality in the world.

I live in Durban which is the heart of South Africa’s harbour trade having the largest habour in the country.This city is booming with many job opportunities and has it’s own cultural significance.This city is historic in South Africa and is home to many of the liberation fighters.This impacts my positionality in the sense that I look at the country from the historic lenses of my city. They call Durban” The boiling pot of cultural diversity” because of the many cultures that are found here.This gives me a diverse outlook on life.I live in suburban residential area where all basic needs are met,there is effective service delivery and there are infrastructure that promote growth and sustainability within my community.I come from a working class and it has been engraved within me that in order to get what I want I need to work hard for it.These factors impact my positionality in the sense that my approach towards achieving anything in life has to be hard work and determination,when I do start my own family I would like to be in an area that is safe, economically empowered, opportunistic and where all service deliveries are met

Positionality is something that is usually spoken about when one is about to embark on a research topic.The importance of this is to ensure that the researcher is not found to be biased or having their positionality influence the method and direction of their research.In the case of the community that I am in being Inanda it is always wise to put aside my positionality as this may cloud my judgement when it comes to assessing conditions of the community and its members;creating programmes for the people of the community as well as working in the community. My positionality of the environment that a child should be raised in which is having two parents if not at least one and in a household that provides unconditional love and support;the parents of the children need to be financially stable to care for the child’s needs.Now when it comes to planning interventions for the community and its members(Inanda) I need to constantly take into consideration how their socio-economic position is different from mine therefore I cannot assume that every child comes from a home that my positionality supports/is influenced by.Many children from this community come from households where there is no financial freedom,broken family dynamics where the main caregiver is the grandparents and the parents are nowhere to be found or even the children are heading that houdsehold.These factors have an impact on intervention and which programs I need to focus on/introduce to the community ensuring that I provide real life therapy and not just one that would fulfil my positional thoughts.The factors mentioned above also speak to the patriarchal state of my positionality in that women are generally the breadwinners and have to go to work,that alone has to be considered when planning a program for children who have learning or physical disabilities considering that the mother may not have time to carry out these activities and I would have to work my way around that situation to ensure the child still gets the therapy they need.

Living conditions of the Inanda community is very informal most households do not have running water or electricity and the community is largely populated with RDP houses and shacks.All the conditions that come with this type of living such as inadequate sanitation,lack of recreational space,lack of privacy,increased crime have to be assessed when working with the community in terms of planning programmes that bring about optimal performance despite the living conditions that they are in.The Inanda Wilderness Park allows for these opportunities by being centred in the heart of the community to allow for therapeutic engagement with nature.

The socio-economic-legislative and cultural influence of South Africa as a whole impacts different communities in different ways.We may all be facing the same challenges but to some the impact is far greater than others.All of this impacts one’s positionality of which has to be guided when working in a space that is outside the walls of your positionality.This community block has challenged me to think outside the walls of my positionality and either find the differences or similarities that I may come across in the community of Inanda.Doing this will result in a greater relation to the people of the community meaning that I will beable to work with them at the same level of their understanding,I will be able to assess conditions of the community better and ultimately create programmes that are specific to them and that are beneficial.This will ensure effective therapeutic outcomes and opening the university to the streets-Gada Kadoda

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johnnyappleseed369-blog · 7 years

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Check out my petition: https://www.change.org/p/black-lives-matter-unity-of-the-left-against-oppression-while-we-still-can

The history of humanity is a series of struggles between identifiable groups. From the civil rights movement to the suffragists, many of the oppressed have periodically struggled for change to create a better life for themselves and future generations. Despite all of this, we find ourselves in a uniquely dangerous place today.

The progress of past movements has, over time, proven to fall short of what is necessary. From feminism to black lives matter to antifa, many of our generation have taken up the cause to create a more equal world for everyone. That being said, these groups don't always see eachother as allied. Many of these groups are in fact fighting the same enemy but calling them by a different name. What we need to do is band together and fight the root causes for oppression of minorities and women.

Though it would be ridiculous not to acknowledge that things have got better than they once were, todays political climate has brought the racists and bigots to the surface. The self described "land of opportunity" has shown itself to be fascist at its core. And the argument that one black president means everything is equal is absurd. People of african descent are targeted by police, women are paid 70% of what men are, muslims are unfairly painted with the brush of international terrorism, and the LGBTQ community finds itself having to struggle for the most basic of human rights.

Now is the time to strive for real change. We must band together and complete the revolutionary fight that our ancestors fought and died for. And I believe the first step is to outline our common enemy and band together. The fascists want us to stay divided,and cheer when we fight with one another (BLM protesting pride parades for example).

We must stop quibbling over small issues with one another and work to shut down fascism and systemic racism. The oppressive system of the west will always oppose change, because change means less power. Those in power always crave more and envision the loss of power to be worse than death. It is for this reason we must band together. The fascists see this as the first nail in their coffin if they do not win. And we cannot win without banding together. I believe now is the time to kill fascism once and for all. It has taken enough lives and oppressed enough people.

So who are the fascists? Well....there are a number of answers to that question. Donald Trump is the obvious example to point to. His administration has been polarizing and has been consistently pushing nazi policies. Republicans too have revealed themselves to be more than just conservatives. The refusal of the republican party to push back against Donald Trump has shown that they are not our allies. They are closeted rascists and bigots who are biding their time to reveal their true motives. Its more than just the government obviously. You can't blame Donald Trump and the alt right for everything. Someone gave them their power and their voice.

Feminism is the struggle for equality of the sexes, and is constantly oppressed by mysoginists. The patriarchy is real, and it is everywhere. However, I don't think the term fully explains the real problem.

Antifa is dedicated to fight fascism. The "punch a nazi" narrative is a good first step, but doesn't in the end fix anything. One individual nazi being punched won't change anything, and in fact will embolden them to become more outspoken. More violent. Moreoppressive. And sometimes more famous.

Black lives matter is fighting for better policing and rights for black communities. They find their safe spaces under attack, their young people shot by police for the crime of being black, and discriminated against by the system. These communities need real help, not to be told stop complaining and make better choices.

While the aforementioned groups all have real goals and are fighting for change, they are fighting an impossible fight alone,and fighting the same enemy without knowing it.

The true enemy to these causes is whiteness. And I think it is important to explain what whiteness is. Whiteness is the system white men in the west have in place to keep the power. White women are not as oppressed as black women for example, but that doesntmean they are given their fair share either. Indeed it is true they too are victims of whiteness, however not nearly to the degree that minorities are. Whiteness therefore could also be accurately called the patriarchy, but as I stated before is a term that isn't specific enough.

If whiteness were ended, many of these problems would cease overnight. However this isn't something that can be ended all in one day. Whiteness has caused all the wars, has stolen all the money and resources from other races, and has betrayed minorities atevery turn. The way to end whiteness will take time, and it will be a hard fight. Whiteness will not surrender power. Even when they become outwardly less rascist, they maintain their biases in their minds and in their systems.

The first step would be a blanket boycott of all white male owned businesses. Money is power, and if they cannot exploit us financially, they lose power. After that, we must purge oppressive ideas and literature. Whether it be by burning books or demanding e books be removed from online stores. Many white authors have routinely written in characters of color who are portrayed as dim witted and often threatening. These help to nurture biases, concious and unconcious.

Inter racial marriage is another way to destroy whiteness. If white women only associate with men of colour, whiteness would be dealt a death blow by the next generation. Policies should be made that forbid white men from having relations with white women.

Another way would be to confiscate the excess wealth from those who have actively oppressed minorities and women and to distribute that wealth amongst the oppressed. I don't just mean reperations for slavery, Im talking about social and wage inequities. Those who have been underneath the jackboot of whiteness deserve to be compensated.

Those who hold rascist views should have all property seized and redistributed and be forced to publicly apologize, as well as take mandatory bias training and denazification. Finally, we must make the oppressors feel the pain of the oppressed. Suffering bringsenlightenment, and enlightenment is freedom.

White women are not completely excluded from the crimes of whiteness. It would be ridiculous to not acknowledge the privelege they have. In fact many of the crimes against minorities were pushed forward using the excuse of protecting white women and white families. Therefore, white women should share in the burden to overthrow whiteness. Although many do not condone whiteness, they still benefit from it. Every white woman has a white father, and that white father perpetuated the system. It is for that reason I place special emphasis on their part in dismantling whiteness. However, they aren't to be fully trusted, and when the struggle ends must be willing to take their rightful place.

Only when whiteness is destroyed can we all flourish. Only when whiteness is destroyed can we have equality, not just the semblance of equality. Only when whiteness is destroyed will pointless wars cease. Whiteness is violence. Whiteness is fascism. Whiteness is oppression. Whiteness is racism. Whiteness is evil.

This petition has been made in hopes that the various groups fighting for their place in society will band together. Because only together can we topple whiteness. I would ask that all like minded people who this reaches band together and make the world a better place for everyone.

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nicemango-feed · 7 years

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Professor Jordan Peterson: Charlatan Conservative Christian Perpetually Paranoid about Pronouns & Postmodernism

Trigger Warning: If you don't like feminists or leftists, avert your eyes. This could be upsetting.

***

I ran a little contest for the title on Twitter, while there were so many great suggestions

Well, an anagram of Jordan B Peterson is desert banjo porn

— Martin (@NataliasDad) July 28, 2017

Kermit the Monologue

— Liam van der Spek (@SpekOfTheDevil) July 28, 2017

Misunderstanding Bill C-16 for $55,000 a month

— JD-800 (@thejd800) July 28, 2017

"Old Man Yells at Cloud: the Jordan Peterson Story"

— brane bzkl (@Buzzkill_AOC) July 28, 2017

I went for the wayyy too long alliteration angle, since I felt it captured the essence of his nonsense best..

He's so verbose I can't narrow down 11 paragraphs about NESTING into a title

— Paul City (@RealPaulCity) July 28, 2017

Shout out to @somestingray for inspiring that!

professor peterson’s postmodern paranoia

— Ray (@SomeStingray) July 28, 2017

-----

Pic From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awot-d8U9Cc

Ah...Jordan B. Peterson - I remember a time when I had no idea who that was, and my life was better for it.

Who is this guy? Well...For those unfamiliar he is a ‘controversial’ conservative university professor, in my own progressive city *sigh*....at University of Toronto.

He's your average conservative Christian, with an added dose of hardcore gobbledygook with the audacity to criticize postmodernists for the same. Step aside Deepak Chopra! There's a new snake oil salesman in town. And this time he's smuggling in extreme conservatism AND atheists love him. Apparently one of the *most requested* guests of all time on Sam Harris' podcast!

Why is 2017 like this. Nothing makes sense anymore.

jordan b peterson: a looney twist on the old school Christian conservative

— peppermint (@strengthgentle) July 28, 2017

Gosh, remember when the atheist scene used to ridicule charlatans like Deepak instead of embrace them as some of our favourite intellectuals simply because they ‘trigger’ libtards, and dump on trans ppl, ‘the left’ and feminism - all the favourite bogeymen of the internet atheist movement! ...resulting in this strange alliance with a man who literally brought himself to tears while reading his own essay which mentioned ‘a loss of faith’.

Goddammit, make atheism great again.

It really amazes me that he criticizes flowery 'postmodernist' language for much of the same type of nonsense that comes out of his own mouth. He rose to fame last year when he had an unbelievable temper tantrum about Ontario’s bill c-16 somehow taking away his freedoms by protecting trans people from discrimination. He’s been shown to be misrepresenting the law, but his popularity only grows in this climate where facts hold little value, and anything of substance is dubbed 'fake news'.

Peterson has no qualms associating with people on the far far right...he even appeared on a nazi's podcast. A woman who has literally advocated violence against people of colour refusing to leave the hypothetical ethnostate.

Host of that show is another extreme race & IQ obsessive wanting to deport non-whites. http://pic.twitter.com/QF00K9Tr3d

— Nikolashvili (@ViniKako) March 12, 2017

He may very well not be aware of all her views, but googling someone or looking at their social media is the least you can do before appearing on their show and lending them your legitimacy as a professor. If you are this blinded by your hatred of the left that you're going on Nazi shows to talk about 'Western Civilization'...you probably should not be teaching kids.

As a critic of leftist mumbo-jumbo, its funny he describes the average university class as a postmodern neo-marxist indoctrination cult (h/t @somestingray). He wants to start his own online university scarily enough...He plans to 'cut off the supply to people running the indoctrination cults', i.e., universities. And don't you worry... he's working on a way to differentiate between 'post modern course content' and 'classical course content'.

In a time where mainstream media institutions are being discredited by right wing nutjobs, so too are educational institutions. Now, hold on to your kekistani undies, i’m not saying there aren’t ever crazy instances on campus, I’m not saying never criticize universities or The Left. There’s plenty to criticize... but there’s no proportionality….this response, as in...idolizing Jordan Peterson the guy who’s somehow repackaged old school conservatism as something new and hip…as an antidote to 'the left gone wild, drunk on the power of premarital sex, immorality, independent career women and loss of faith'…I mean come on...I've heard this shit before...

I grew up in Saudi Arabia.

Just check this rulebook for men he wrote a few yrs ago. (h/t @21logician)

It’s full on insanity.

And spare me the obvious - 'these are metaphors'… yes I know he’s not calling for literal child sacrifice.

Still crazy.

Build the crystal palace. O-kay then.

Look I consulted with my ancestral spirits…and they warned me not to watch Jordan Peterson content…but silly lady-brain of mine.. didn’t listen. So here we are.

Now I’m trying to compile as much of JBP’s bs into one blogpost as I can tolerate sifting through in one sitting. For someone sooooo upset about his free speech allegedly being taken away over bill c-16, he certainly doesn’t extend that courtesy to other groups.

Here he is in 2011 discussing how atheists aren’t an oppressed or excluded group in the west, perhaps even dominant, and how he’s not a fan of atheist advertising. An Ad on a bus pissed him off ffs, meanwhile calling people what they want to be called is a violation of his rights. Full video of his ad chat here

Jordan Peterson on pro-atheism billboards. This would be a good topic for discussion @SamHarrisOrg http://pic.twitter.com/JQdhfvgyo8

— Tom Bloke (@21logician) December 28, 2016

Why maybe Dawkins *should* be oppressed he said. Jeez Jordan, why so angry?

maybe @RichardDawkins should be oppressed @jordanbpeterson http://pic.twitter.com/MiaGNIosA3

— Tom Bloke (@21logician) December 28, 2016

"If you don’t have any faith in an ultimate authority that says life is sacred, what’s to stop you from mobilizing everything you can to kill as many people as you can…." That's real original Jordan.

Jordan Peterson talking about Stalin's lack of religion. This is as feisty as Canadian TV gets I think http://pic.twitter.com/gzzpDcfXVj

— Tom Bloke (@21logician) December 27, 2016

Here’s some more laughable god stuff:

Proof itself, of any sort, is impossible, without an axiom (as Godel proved). Thus faith in God is a prerequisite for all proof.

— Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) November 26, 2013

To think of how popular he is among atheists cracks me up (and makes me sad). This anti-left stuff in the era of the rise of the right...sure makes for some strange bedfellows.

In his two hour conversation with Sam Harris he couldn’t really define 'truth'. He is basically the religious conservative version of what he criticizes re:postmodernism. Dislikes the pronoun Xir because apparently thats just leftist nonsense….but can’t decide on what truth means.

Just a quick glance at his Twitter timeline will show that he posts bs memes of his own gibberish quotes..and people love it!

I honestly can’t understand…has the human population become this dumbed down? Is this reflective of a failure of our education systems?…that people hear a string of multi-syllabic words and are immediately wowed/lulled into some sort of illusion that they are smarter than they thought? His fans also have a habit of saying “but you haven’t heard ALL his lectures… if you had, what he was saying would make sense” - come on. Surely something of his has to be able to stand on it’s own.

I mean what the fuck does this mean?

one last meme before bed http://pic.twitter.com/KQQkPTRYAq

— Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) July 25, 2017

To be fair though, somehow I guess it's possible you've stuck to his .. I dunno..mythology, psychology lectures which are supposed to be better....but still, how are you unaware of his crazy side? The side that's made him rich and famous?

Peterson is a top earner on Patreon making over 55K *a month* (remember this number) last time I checked…which he’s planning to use to launch an online university, to influence more young minds into his way of thinking.

I just googled him right now and came across a reddit thread asking whether he was a prophet, because he’s turning Western Civilization back to Christianity….FFS.. this guy’s following is legitimately creepy.

This is the person who thinks college SJWs are bad, but is upset that Disney’s Frozen is *propaganda*…

Why...you ask?

Because it showed that two female characters did not need a man to be successful. (h/t @21logician)

Heaven forbid we indoctrinate our kids into evil-leftist-feminist-cultural-marxist-postmodernism.

Shameful Disney…don’t you know that all female characters should need a MAN….that’s how God intended it after all.

No wonder he’s spooked by the Trans Agenda of jailing him for mistakenly saying the wrong pronoun some day. Poor guy.

This man is in charge of teaching young minds. And with his own online postmodernism-proof university he will be more influential than before, 'radicalizing' more people. Alarming.

***

He also has some very disturbing ideas about sex. In his mind the left encourages ‘sexual predation’ by saying that sex is for pleasure and you can have it when you want…we should allow any form of sexual expression and not discriminate against any of them. But at the SAME TIME they want to jail men who make unwanted sexual advances.

Yes Peterson, its called consent. We can have free sexual expression and consent simultaneously .. this isn’t hard.

how the hell can you have free sexual expression and also not rape people http://pic.twitter.com/AWM0gu7rHR

— Tom Bloke (@21logician) February 13, 2017

And who's he discussing this with? None other than Stefan Molyneux - known extreme misogynist who blames women for all evil in the world, crazy conspiracist and racist.

This isn’t the first time i’ve heard Peterson rail against casual sex. If I close my eyes, It’s almost like I’m back in Saudi Arabia.

everything is so fucking melodramatic with this dude. if you don't do sex and procreation his way you're getting ENSLAVED @jordanbpeterson http://pic.twitter.com/lawOmTOxlm

— Tom Bloke (@21logician) December 18, 2016

***

Which brings me to the JBP lecture clip I watched, that all this build up is for:

What. The. Fuck. Did I just see/hear, and what decade am I in… one can forget they exist in 2017 and not 1950 while listening to Peterson. The fact he’s giving lectures like this to young people and they aren’t laughing him out of the room, means that there are some real regressive people out there who want to take us back in time, and hey guess what.. these ones aren’t on the left.

It's horrifying how popular he is.

So the video is posted, not by him but some other YT user (called biased asshole lol) and titled “Peterson on Western Women”.

I’m already gritting my teeth, I hit play… despite the warning from my ancestral spirits, and my crystal palace is crumbling before me, letting the howling winds in. I offer myself to god as a sacrifice...but alas, it's too late.

At the start of his talk, there’s the obligatory mention of declining birthrates of course, civilization is failing because women are working more procreating less. This is the stuff that endears him to the #TradLife Alt Right nutters.

This is the woman from his Western Civilization podcast appearance.

(screenshot via @vinikako)

This young mom is the face of Mormonism's Hateful Alt Right. Full article here

Next in the lecture, Peterson questions why women would want positions of power at all. I’m paraphrasing here,

‘ladies... trust me you don’t want these powerful positions, men are crazy to have ‘em in the first place… but you know how men are lulz….crazy hardworking and competitive. You also don’t want powerful positions because extra money doesn’t help, and billion dollar corporations are reaaaally complicated to run ok? There are lawsuits, and you have to travel a lot. & shit Just…trust me ladies u don’t wanna get involved in this mess.”

7:29 (now this is an actual quote I’m no longer paraphrasing) he continues on to deter women from wanting positions of power

“If you’re half crazy and you have a lot of money, you’re going to be crazy a lot faster I can tell you, because it frees you from all sorts of constraints”

[some weak excuse abt how lottery winners are unhappy and if u are prone to a drug problem, then the money will just speed it up]

THIS IS ONE OF PATREON’S TOP EARNERS FFS. What business does he have telling women that money is no good and will just make you crazy. He makes 55K a fucking month.

This shit continues:

7:46 “being broke stops you from dying if you’re a cocaine addict” ok JBP ..lol...you’re realllllly trying hard to stop women from having careers here.

7:56 “If somebody dumped an infinite amount of money on you what makes you think you wouldn’t unravel completely?” - is he describing himself?

(Click to enlarge)

9:30 “The older I get the more I understand marriage and family are of primary importance” - yeah ok.. I think we get it. #TradLife

9:32 - "The more I see women in particular, they hit 35-40 …and they’re not married…and they don’t have kids…and they are not happy. Cuz what the hell are you gonna do from the time you’re 40 till the time you’re 80?! You got no family… you got no relationships? What are you gonna do?! Go run your company?!!! Yeah well… if you’re 1 in a 1000 that will satisfy you.”

LMAO Peterson, you nutjob. If someone just says this shit in Urdu or Arabic, it will be no different than the mullahs who are afraid of women being empowered and independent. More polished sure, but he is a professor at one of Toronto’s best universities after all. This is an embarrassment. I mean, he should be far off from Mullah-rhetoric, not spouting essentially polished versions of the anti-woman turds that come out of their mouths. Having babies isn’t the only thing that gives women meaning, purpose or happiness in their lives, you absolute dinosaur. And there are other forms of relationships out there. My dad is way more progressive than you, and I’m certain he’s a lot older..heck so is my granddad.

The idea that running a company would be satisfying to a woman...as opposed to raising children is simply unfathomable to him, no wonder he spends his time freaking out about this (and pronouns) in 2017 because he’s unable to adjust to modernity. I got news, there are other things women do aside from having kids. They are complete human beings even without kids….imagine that!

I mean this is some serious insecurity around women succeeding. And lets not forget his bullet points for men:

Hmm.

***

11:22 - Then we get into the “yeah women have it rough but you do live 8 years longer, so thats not trivial…TESTOSTERONE IS KILLING MEN.” (emphasis mine)

“Men do almost all the dangerous jobs and outside work. There’s lots of reasons that men get paid more than women that have *nothing to do with prejudice*” - ok by this point in the video I’m laugh-crying. This is so ridiculous….

“each sex has it’s own unfairness to deal with, but to think of that as a consequence of the social structure….come on really?!"

*lolz guys…there’s plenty of injustice to go around, men do all the hard work around here, why do you whiny women think its some sort of systemic thing, sexism is a leftist cultural marxist myth*

The video ends on note of JBP saying there’s no gratitude for how far we’ve come because we aren’t outside all day lifting rocks and shit. I kid you not.

Sexism isn’t real because bad things happen to everyone, and we are no longer lifting rocks. So quit yer whining cultural marxist feminists….do what you were actually put here to do and fulfill your life’s role, make some babies…otherwise what are you even doing with your life. Money sucks (for you), positions of power are way too hard (for you ladies). K thanks bye. Donate to my patreon.

Lecture summed up right there. (Ok he didn't actually plug his patreon there)

According to his logic he should be grateful about how privileged he is to earn so much and be a professor and quit *his* whining about cultural marxism and postmodernist SJWs...because you know, he's not out there lifting rocks and shit.

*The Truth* about Jordan Peterson is...he's full of shit and he's dangerously bridging the gap between the far right and the mainstream...and young people are falling for it.

----

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madelinepreston · 7 years

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I would first like to start off by stating that I identify as a white, able-bodied, cisgendered, heterosexual female. I am aware of my privilege, but am not ignorant to the disempowered groups around me. For the purpose of this analysis, I am to aligning myself with black women and the struggles they face as seen in the Oscar nominated film Hidden Figures - after all, solidarity for women and all that jazz. But seriously, the media has long wrongly or underrepresented women and the power they have, so it is incredibly refreshing to see strong black women being portrayed in this film. From a plot perspective, I was hooked from the very first scene – 3 strong, independent women on their way to work, fixing their own car at the side of the road. I buckled in for an empowering film that I was sure to love whilst yelling “go get em’ girl” at the screen *cue boyfriend eye roll*. If you haven’t gotten off the couch to a movie theatre near you to see the film, Peter Debruge couldn’t have said it any better:

While an all-male team of engineers performed the calculations for potential space travel, women mathematicians checked their work, playing a vital role at a moment when the United States was neck-and-neck with the Soviets in the space race. As brash, bright, and broad as Hollywood studio movies come, "Hidden Figures" tells the story of three of these unsung heroes, all of them African-American, who fought a doubly steep uphill battle --as crusaders for both feminism and civil rights in segregated Virginia--to help put an American into orbit.

The movie is fascinatingly based on real people (Katherine Goble, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn) and events, which were actually created from the non-fiction book of the same name (Melfi and Schroeder). Not only did I love this movie for the refreshingly kick-ass women (both the actresses and their characters), but I also loved the “on-the-nose” dialogue. A perfect example of this is when Kevin Costner’s character learns that Katherine is consistently never around because she is running to “the coloured bathroom” on the opposite side of the campus. This already had my blood boiling, cause when a girls gotta go, she’s gotta go. The light-hearted “Running” theme song by Pharrell Williams did not uplift my mood one iota. It honestly was adding insult to injury, I feel, and was making light of a situation which is steeped in systematic, blatant, intolerable racism! The scene continues with Katherine returning from one of her bathroom breaks and Costner’s character consequently cut down the ‘coloured bathroom’ sign and yells, “Here at NASA, we all pee the same colour!” (Debruge 182) – I’m glad someone finally did. The inhumanity of it all had me feeling uneasy and a bit disgusted. However, this film brought forth two extremely necessary topics of the 1960’s which we still struggle with today – women and the racial ‘other.’

What I mean to say here is similar to Stuart Hall’s argument that explains: “we know what black means, not because there is some essence of ‘blackness’ but because we can contrast it with its opposite – ‘white’ (26). The same can even be said about masculine and feminine, especially within this movie. We see opposing ‘black’ versus ‘white’ and ‘masculine’ versus ‘feminine’, but as we know today there are so many things in between. Even the word ‘versus’ really translates as ‘against’ – setting the ‘bad’ versus ‘good’ in these examples. So basically, the world is doomed to repeat itself if we don’t make necessary changes – not to be dramatic or anything. I also just have to add that it’s all fine and well that she can pee in the other bathroom again, but once again it is a man stepping in to “save the day”. I am happy about the positive message, but I really can’t help but think about the way this once again reinforces these stereotypes and systems of oppression, but I digress…

As Hall describes reminiscing of the past:

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries popular representations of daily life under slavery, ownership and servitude are shown as so ‘natural’ that they require no comment. It was part of the natural order of things that white men should sit and slaves should stand; that white women rode and slave men ran after them shading them from the Louisiana sun with an umbrella…” (37)

This can be seen all too well within Hidden Figures. For example, when Dorothy Vaughn is looking for a certain book, the librarian insists she has “books in the coloured section” trying to rush her out. Dorothy stands her ground and the librarian replies with an indignant, “that’s just the way it is” and escorts her out by security. This situation is one of the most infuriating parts of the movie for me because as an English major I advocate for the promotion of early and for all, literacy. The only thing that brought me some sort of faith in people again was the way in which Dorothy uses this as a way to teach her kids: “Separate and equal are two different things. Just cause’ it’s the way doesn’t make it right. Understand? You act right, you are right…” (Hidden Figures). I couldn’t believe that a woman that was just kicked out of a library for being black, turned it into a lesson learned for her children and a calm attitude to move forward. Dorothy still provides her children with a lesson while sitting at the back of the bus on seats labelled “For Coloured Patrons Only.” However, Dorothy handles her anger in a dignified manner – more than I could say for myself if it were me *cue Mean Girls clip of Cady Heron tackling Regina George*. This is exactly what Sara Ahmed describes in her article “Feminist Killjoys”:

[…] The anger of feminists of colour is attributed. So you might be angry about how racism and sexism diminish life choices for women of colour. Your anger is a judgement that something is wrong. But in being heard as angry, your speech is read as motivated by anger. Your anger is read as unattributed, as if you are against x. You become angry at the injustice of being heard as motivated by anger, which makes it harder to separate yourself from the object of your anger. You become entangled with what you are angry about because you are angry about how they have entangled you in your anger. In becoming angry about that entanglement, you confirm their commitment to your anger as the truth “behind” your speech, which is what blocks your anger, stops it from getting through. You are blocked by not getting through. (98)

In this case, Dorothy doesn’t give in to the ‘angry black woman’ stereotype Ahmed talks about, knowing its adverse effects – now that’s some will power. Although, on the flip side why can’t a woman express her emotions (in this case anger) in the way she sees fit?! After all, Dorothy is clearly being mistreated. Men can beat women, each other, really anything they want to a pulp but God forbid a woman show anything besides grace and dignity? – Gimmie a break. The double standards continue.

Anyway, what is most important to acknowledge here is that this segregation and racism extends even into the more modernized environments; it’s not something just seen back in the day, it’s happening now! An example is Katherine Goble’s work environment in the film. Through stereotyping, the “‘binding’ or bonding together of all of Us who are ‘normal’ into one ‘imagined community’; and it sends into symbolic exile all of Them – ‘the Others’ – who are in some way different…” (Hall 50). This acknowledgement is the foundation for the movie. When Katherine moves to a new team, she is greeted with a man handing her the trash bin stating: “This wasn’t emptied last night” (Hidden Figures) – this is exactly what I am talking about. OF COURSE the black woman was most likely a custodian and not one of the greatest minds of her time. Why else would she be here? – I’d tell him exactly where I’d like him to put that trash can…This stereotyping is what Hall refers to as “classifying people according to norm and constructs the excluded ‘other’” (51).

Speaking of all this stereotyping and unequal relations, can we also talk about the power of white society? Hell yes we can. And we should. It was an extremely hard pill to swallow watching the only female co-worker Katherine had, explain: “I don’t know where your bathrooms are” (Hidden Figures). What struck me was the way that female relationships did not even supersede the racial divide within the movie. For example, in the way Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst) treats the black women: “As a woman, Vivian can empathize with Katherine's workplace challenges; and yet, as a white woman, she doesn't get it at all, oblivious to her subconscious role in keeping Katherine down” (Debruge). Whatever happened to a little female solidarity? This is what is referred to as “white feminism versus feminism” (UWIRE). Although the women have a common goal, characters like Vivian are only interested in the white woman’s plight as a separate issue. How can we win a fight for women, when all women aren’t united? When Vivian finds that Mary has applied for the engineer training program she storms in: “NASA doesn’t commission females for the engineer training program,” […] “We now require advanced extension courses through the University of Virginia.” This is an all-white school, making it impossible for Mary to attend – think maybe they did this on purpose? Mary is clearly disappointed: “Every time we have a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line” with which Vivian retorts “Ya’ll should be thankful you have jobs at all” (Hidden Figures). I could not believe that she had the guts to even say something like that to another person, let alone a fellow woman. What is crazy to me is that the women don’t share in their fight for equality. The white women still treat the black women like slaves, even though they themselves feel the oppression of the white patriarchal society – talk about a flaw in logic. UWIRE Text provides one of those ‘I couldn’t have said it better myself’ moments:

We see that the black women in the film stick together and uplift one another. Together, they try to ensure the one another's success. Yet, the white women -- who already held higher positions than their female counterparts -- were only trying to achieve personal gain. They struggled with the fact that the men dominated the workplace. Although they didn't work against black women, they certainly didn't work in favor of them […] Just remember, this is an inclusive movement. You cannot call yourself a feminist if you're not fighting for the advancement of all women -- of all backgrounds. White feminism is not feminism.

Again, for anyone who didn’t get that– white feminism. is. not. feminism.

Speaking of white patriarchal society, what is everyone’s problem with these 3 African-American women within NASA? Well, one of the main aspects we see is what Katie Milestone and Anneke Meyer describe as contempt for women exhibiting “the new femininity that gives girls the licence to engage in practices and display attitudes previously reserved for men” (119) – and thank God for that. The privileges other women have fought to provide me things such as; a life that revolves around more than marriage and babies – hallelujah. My University diploma (soon to be) and my one bedroom apartment can attest to that. In my opinion, Milestone and Meyer’s argument can easily be seen in the relationship between Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons) and Katherine Goble. Paul clearly feels threatened that Katherine is told to check his math (can men be any more insecure?), and the reports that Katherine creates can’t even have her own name on them? Let alone the fact that Paul has no problem telling her: “Computers don’t author reports.” Not to mention when Katherine wants to attend the briefings in order to accurately do her job, Paul declares: “There is no protocol for a woman in there” (Hidden Figures) – Guess you better get one then eh, Paul? Milestone and Meyer’s refer to this on page 120 of their article explaining: “From a feminist point of view the intense critique of women do not conform to behaviours prescribed as appropriate by emphasized femininity, then they will be symbolically punished.” This interaction between Paul and Katherine surrounds the idea that “men are associated with the public domain and the world of work, women are associated with the private space and the domestic” (Milestone and Meyer 124). And, at the heart of this feminist struggle lies the plight of women to get educated and out to work into good jobs (125). Not only is this discrimination dripping off Paul, but the team for which Katherine works, is all men. The only exception is one other female who seems to be doing administrative work – not math or ‘man’s work.’ What a shock that was for me. I currently work in an office surrounded with both strong and leadership oriented women – I was so not impressed with the egos and maltreatment from the men.

One of the most laughable aspects for me is the character of Al Harrison (Kevin Costner). Mostly because he is portrayed as ‘one of the good guys’ and an ‘advocate’ for the women within NASA. However, our prince charming is seriously flawed *cue Shrek montage*. Al is supposed to be one of the only ones ‘on our side,’ but even he struggles with some of the encounters regarding both colour, and women. For example, even when Al is providing a motivational speech and states: “I suggest you call your wives, and tell them how it’s gunna be.” So many things are wrong with this statement for me. I have become so much more aware of social taboos. Like, 1. Why is it “call your wives” – this leaves no room for any other sexual orientation (I know it’s the 1960’s, but someone was definitely secretly cringing inside here); 2. Why is it mid-day and your wives are home – this reinforces the gender stereotype of the woman at home in the domestic space and not within the work force *eye roll*; 3. He says: “tell them how it’s gunna be” – let me tell you, if any man ever thought they could ‘tell me’ what to do, they would have another thing coming. Not to mention after all of this, Al was fully aware that Katherine and her other female co-worker were in the room – like, what’s a woman gotta do to get a little respect? He excluded her, maybe not on purpose, but by instinct. The tragedy of it all is that the film captures one tragic main element: “the reality that no matter the amount of intelligence a black woman may have, she'll always have to work considerably harder than the average white man” (UWIRE). The even sadder part is that this is still all too true today. Women are still making less money than their male counterparts and have far less opportunity for advancement and recognition. And you can be sure that black women have to fight even harder.

One of the refreshing aspects for me was to not only see a movie with 3 strong female leads being nominated for an Oscar, but that all three of the women are black. Andi Zeisler provides an intriguing new outlook on this aspect of film: “Perhaps parts created for women of colour would be not only more plentiful but also less stereotypical. Perhaps the juiciest roles for women – would be something other than […] ‘hookers, victims, and doormats’” (143). Although Zeisler sees less promise back in 2008, we have made huge leaps today. Maybe that’s why this film is so important. It changes people’s perspectives and attitudes.

The last thing that is notable to mention about Hidden Figures is that is a celebratory story. The movie is first and foremost about “a group of extraordinary women into an account of how they overcame race and gender barriers, while helping to win the space race” (Kumar). The most important aspect is that the movie “celebrates the skills, achievements and tenacity of women like Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson as they helped launch rockets and humans into space” (Kumar). Can I get a hell ya? CNN Wire touches on this perfectly:

A clever title with multiple meanings, "Hidden Figures" captures the enthusiasm that surrounded putting men in space, but tempers it with the injustices faced by those who assisted them back on Earth. That includes the brilliantly capable Katherine being told by her immediate supervisor ("The Big Bang Theory's" Jim Parsons) that "computers," the rather amusing job title back then for those working in the math department, don't put their names on reports.

I think the fact that it celebrates women, and most importantly women of all colours, is what makes me the proudest. Privileged as I may be in modern society, we (women) still have large steps to climb when it comes to inequality. Manjit Kumar has it right for all of us: “There's an easy moral here: that Neil Armstrong's "giant leap for mankind" will only loom larger in our imaginations once we appreciate all the people - men and women - who got him there."

Hidden Figures makes me feel proud to be a woman and to face our inequality head on. My voice will be heard. I will continue to take a stand – will you?

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