In reading this article this week I was a little confused,
not in the I didn’t understand what I was reading sort of way, just in another
way. Ferguson tells us about the two
vastly different sides of feminist ideals on sexuality; we have radical
feminists and then we have libertarian feminists. Radical feminists are the ones who believe
that women should not partake or enjoy over sexual things like porn or
promiscuous sex because they say that sex is a tool men use to keep women
submissive. Then you have the
libertarian feminists who believe it is fine for women to partake and enjoy
these things as long as it’s consensual because they say that women need to
take back their sexuality.
Then Ferguson breaks down the ideals within these two
groups. She shows us that there are
holes in the ideals of both sides, which is understandable because what
ideologies don’t have a few holes. So
the part that confused me was I was reading this whole article expecting her to
give us an idea for a middle ground of these two. So if anyone got something deeper that I may
have missed, please let me know.
After reading this article I realized that I am definitely a
libertarian feminist. Women deserve to
take back their sexuality from men and be able to use it however they see and
which ever way gives them most pleasure (obviously excluding the forbidden
practices that Ferguson mentioned, like incest and sexual relations between
adults and children). But, if a woman
wants to enjoy porn, go for it. If she
enjoys being promiscuous, that’s fine.
One thing I agree with Ferguson on is, “feminists should be free to
choose between basic and risky practices without fear of moral condemnation
from other feminists.
We talked about Nicki Minaj's Anaconda video in one of my other classes, and we talked about how this is a perfect representation of sex positive feminism. Throughout the video Nicki and all the other girls are showing off their bodies (especially their butts) but the entire time they are in control of their bodies. This is seen clearest at the end when Nicki is dancing around Drake. At one point he goes to touch her butt, and she just slaps it away and then walks off. She's showing that its alright for the guys to look at her body but she still also has control over when they can look and even touch it.
Just wondering what you guys think of that?
I didn't really see a middle ground either. It's definitely interesting to know about the different types of feminists as well. Also, I like what you said about Anaconda. It's cool to see how Nicki Minaj still has control over her body, even when she's showing off. But still I think that the video is inappropriate and is giving the wrong message to younger people. Older people like us can sit down and think keeping about the video, but to the young mind...they are just seeing the picture. Hopefully, they don't think its okay to do the things she's doing...
ReplyDeleteMatthew,
ReplyDeleteI think Ann Ferguson wanted to confuse her readers. This idea of two kinds of feminism is a little strange because so many people do not take the time to really look into both sides in a respectful manner.
I agree that women should have the right to take back their sexuality and be in power. I think there was no middle ground and in class I started to realize that Ann Ferguson wants to get rid of both ideas and just come up with another one which makes more sense and isn't as simplistic.
ReplyDelete