killjoypat

[killjoypat]

Why do conservatives always feel the need to argue feminist media is crypto-conservative?

Ross Douthat’s conservative reading of Barbie interprets sexual awakening as “reproductive destiny”. In "Why Barbie and Ken Need Each Other" (a wily choice of words that alludes to coalition building when actually perpetuating misogynistic ideals), Douthat concludes his article with, “In the movie they made, ‘Barbie and Ken’ is a statement of reverse subordination, female rule and male eclipse. But in reality, nothing may matter as much to male and female happiness, and indeed, to the future of the human race, as whether Barbie and Ken can make that ‘and’ into something reciprocal and fertile — a bridge, a bond, a marriage.” 

This idea that any interest a woman has with her gynecology and sexuality must revolve around a desire for reproduction is age-old patriarchal propaganda that subjugates women to the reproductive economy and denies them sexual liberation. Considering Douthat’s anti-abortion history, this reading becomes particularly dark. This reading of Barbie is also incredibly heteronormative and subscribes to the confines of gender binary. Ascribing happiness to reproduction and heteronormative marriage weaponizes joy. Douthat’s argument is irredeemably rooted in the idea that women would and should be happy providing uncompensated reproductive labor in a gender dynamic and societal structure that neither appreciates nor releases her from this work. 

Of course, there are complexities and nuances to motherhood, especially the relationship between mother and daughter, which Barbie as a film explores (though I'd argue should be a larger focus of the movie). But the idea that as women become mothers they are expected to leave behind their childhood and imagination is a large critique the film makes, which Douthat ignores. Barbie isn't driving women towards motherhood, it's recognizing and celebrating a specific relationship between women (that of mother and daughter) and within the feminine experience.

The female experience is riddled with demands of what to do with your body, from being slut-shamed to being told you have “only this many good years left” to "achieve" marriage and motherhood, that the female body has failed if it has not satisfied a man and provided a child. It is so disappointing to see that a feminist narrative precisely denying the need for women to exist relative to men ends up being co-opted by a pro-lifer insisting the film is crypto-conservative. 

I am so tired of patriarchy trying to frame what is more often than not an exploitative system designed against women as the key to our happiness. 

I am so tired of cishet white men at the height of privilege trying to sell us marriage and motherhood.

For more resources on weaponized happiness and the logical flaws of framing anti-abortion as a morality argument, I recommend reading Sara Ahmed and Judith Jarvis Thompson's works!

Ahmed's Promise of Happiness I recommend starting w chapter 2 if you don't have time to read the whole book

TW: mention of rape (pg 80, ch. 2)

Thompson's A Defense of Abortion

You might also be interested in where do WOC stand w Barbie's white feminism?

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[killjoypat]

What does it mean to engage with white feminist media as a woman of color? Growing up, I wasn’t all that in tune with my racial identity. Though I’d fallen victim to the Model Minority Myth and its plights, it was my identity as a woman that first got me into advocacy. I clung to Barbie’s You Can Be Anything slogan and played Taylor’s songs on repeat.

Yet as I further understood the significance of my other identities, I began to shun these gorgeous blonde pop-culture icons. Their politics, like the narrow-eyed, pinkish-pale East Asian doll Mattel came out with, felt more and more like they weren’t meant for me. 

I could dissect the problems with Barbie the Movie—the performative diversity, the lack of intersectionality in its politics, its conflating of matriarchy and patriarchy, its being capitalist in its critique of capitalism, and the fact that Ken never really apologizes. And I have. 

But the truth is, sometimes I miss my Barbies. I still want to scream the lyrics to "I Wish You Would" and fangirl over the "they're burning all the witches even if you aren't one" line in "I Did Something Bad". I, too, want to bask in the hot pink, unapologetically feminine, mainstream, in-your-face feminist agenda that sticks it to the patriarchy, however surface level. Barbie the Movie is unapologetically for the girls– for the women. And even if it at times didn’t totally feel like it was for this girl, she still wants to dress up in all pink with her friends and run to the theater in high heels. 

[killjoypat]

this!!!

"Never Again"

Pro-choice chalk graffiti seen outside the US Supreme Court during a protest against the court's decision to overturn the legal protections for abortion access.

[killjoypat]

and i don't even like classical music LOL

when i say “i can’t talk right now, i’m doing hot girl shit.” what i really mean is “i can’t talk right now, i’m doing my bio hw while listening to classical music and pretending i’m a female scientist in the 1700s learning in secret using books i stole from the academy when they refused to let me in, i’m hiding away in the attic of the opera house (where i work) while the orchestra rehearses beneath me. they’ll never accept me in the world of academia, but i know i’m destined for greatness.”

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Articles ✩

Past weeks of what I've read organized by topic

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Writing ♡

Here's where I'll link all my posts!

♥︎ BARBIE + TS White feminism and WOC?

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About moi 💋

Call me Bibs (totally not short for Bibble or anything...)

she/her ♡ infj-a ♡ sucker for cool eyeliner

love feminist killjoy discourse

Moi les hommes, je les déteste (I'm reading on the topic, still forming my own opinions)

💖 intersectionality 💗

bans off our bodies

[killjoypat]

Hi babes~

Feminist/lifestyle blog, here to share what I'm learning about ✨ feminism ✨, also just being a woman and living life 💕

Here to post my thoughts and probably memes :3

Check out my bio for more about me \(//∇//)\

Kinda chaotic vibes here loll

♥︎ WHAT I'M READING THIS WEEK ♥︎

🌟 writing

💫 articles

Abortion info + resources