#female class consciousness

[butch-reidentified]

I work in medicine now, and I work for a female doctor. My boss is also a woman. My performance coach is also a woman. All of them are amazing and super nice.

But this means I'm living a nearly complete urban separatist lifestyle now and it is FUCKING AMAZING!!!!

My household is me + my wife + another lesbian couple who rent our spare room. My workplace is 100% female. My friend group is almost entirely female with only 2 men, neither of them heterosexual and both work hard to be good allies to women esp SSA women. I only see them in small doses here and there.

Meaning on an average day, since I WFH, I interact with ZERO males. I'm so so so happy and I've worked hard to make this happen. It is so worth it!!!!

[balkanradfem]

I experienced the biggest shift in my feminist consciousness when I stopped seeing women as the 'other' and start seeing us as 'we'. I realized it's not about how the world sees us or how my personality is different or whatever I couldn't relate to in other women; it's what's threatening and disadvantaging all of us. It's we, the women, who are fighting a common enemy and this threat surpasses any differences that we might have between us, it surpasses all my personal squabbles and disagreements, because this is bigger than that.

What happened to women historically are not distant and 'unfortunate' events that have nothing to do with me, they have everything to do with why my life is the way it is right now. M*n burned women, and because of this now we, the women, don't have reasonable or effective healthcare anymore. They didn't burn them in a craze or hysteria, they burned them for studying female illnesses and developing medicine, for keeping women healthy and sane, for benefiting us as a group. It's the reason why I suffer from menstrual pain today and the reason why there's not a ready cure, reason why me and others were not educated on our genitals or our sex-specific illnesses, it's why our health problems are not, and won't be taken seriously.

M*n also burned women for owning land, and during the history, did everything they possibly could to stop women from inheriting, owning and managing land. And it's the reason why I will not be considered to inherit my fathers land, why most of women will not gain land just by having family ties, while males absolutely will, they'll be the first choice to inherit both land and property. It's the reason I will have to fight for the most of my life to acquire a piece of land and not only it will be difficult, but most people will believe that I shouldn't own any. Because they've managed to create a standard where women historically rarely had land, and made this into our normal. They did it to give land to themselves.

The fact that women were barred from colleges and high education in the past is not unrelated to me and my situation today. It's the reason my female ancestors were subjected to poverty and servitude, with no way to free themselves – and by extension, the reason I am still in poverty today. If my female ancestors were from the start, well educated, owning both land and freely managing their health issues, I would inherit not only their knowledge, skills and property, but also the financial security that comes with it. My female ancestors would be able to invest in their children's future, to make sure their female descendants don't have to suffer and fight for food, or a piece of land to exist on. Instead, what they were forced to do was serve a m*n and hope that he would be kind to their children and maybe secure them some more financial safety than they had  - and he didn't. Because m*n save those things for their own class.

The fact that women were banned from their own last names and lineage cuts me off from my history and my heritage. I don't get to draw my female-centered family tree or know what my female ancestors lived through and how they got me here, and if they even did it purposely, or were forced into childbirth without ever having a choice. I don't get to be proud of their achievements, inherit their wisdom or read their life stories. Instead I had to hear about male war escapades and be disgusted that the male lineage was filled with violent offenders.

The fact that women were historically enslaved or trapped in various types of servitude, despite how it was being called, has huge impact on my life today. It's the reason why, from the very start of life, I've been taught that I would be better fit for a role of servitude. That my place is in the kitchen, keeping home, feeding others, cleaning and doing menial tasks that would never be rewarded or paid for. It's why even my reproductive rights have been represented to me as my 'duty to the humankind'. None of that would be happening if women throughout history weren't in a servant/slave class. But, this wasn't only ever true for women, was it?

M*n during history were enslaved too, and yet all m*n are not taught from birth that they would be much very well fitted for a servant role, and to act as a resource for others. They're not told that their only value is to keep house, serve in the kitchen and clean house for others. To sacrifice their reproductive rights for someone else's purposes. That's because our age of servitude never ended. They're still at it, teaching every woman what she is before she even knows there's possibly a choice of freedom. Where they can't enforce us legally, they do it by grooming, by tradition, by violence in our home. We have not been freed from servitude until no female child is ever told that she needs to be a resource, to pick up and clean and cook and please everyone around her. We are still being trapped into belief that we have no choice, that our servitude is normal, expected, and nothing to fight against because they made it a tradition. We still have our female children in servitude before they even understand that what is asked of them is a part of a historical oppression.

Whatever was done to women and girls throughout history affects every bit of my life right now, and what my life would be without it is almost unimaginable for a woman who never experienced living outside of an oppressed class. Our history is not only scarred but then cut away from us, we're being convinced that anything from the past is 'long forgotten' and 'no longer relevant since we can now vote', but it's only done to isolate us from the female class consciousness, to convince us that our life right now, is the best we could ever hope for, and there was never any way for it to be better, for us to have any more power than we do. While they give power to themselves.

We had the right to freedom, healthcare, knowledge, education, land and inheritance, for the entire history. All of it has been cut away and taken from all of us, resulting in us never being able to accumulate any security or safety for our own, not even enough to keep us out of life of poverty and servitude, not even enough to ensure that our children will be safe. And on top of that, we've been 'othered' and isolated from each other, so we cannot even work together on acknowledging what's been taken and how to reach safety. We're turned to self blame, and self loathing for our low status in the population, as if it's personally each of our faults that we couldn't overthrow the oppression or thrive in a hostile society.

Women are not the 'other'. M*n are. We the women are robbed of our property, inheritance, resources and right by m*n, systematically and consistently. It's affecting each and every one of our lives. It's why we can't care for our children, why we get turned away from our doctors, why each of us has to heal their own organs, why our mothers and grandmothers can only give us horror stories of survival and tell us we should make peace with a life of servitude, for they've never seen a woman survive any other way. It's why we had and still have to rely on m*n for housing and survival, even though there would be absolutely no need for this had they not robbed us of our half of the land. It's why developing class consciousness is necessary, we cannot recognize or fight this while we're othered from each other.

[valeriesolanasapologist]

[aunt-kats-chats]

Not to start shit but you ever think about how most men will never post on International men's day but when it's international women's day they complain all the time about international men's day not getting any attention

Men's mental health month is also in June but many of them would rather complain about gay people having pride month than actually use that month to talk about men's mental health

[ryukisgod]

[normal-hands]

Today I kicked the hornets nest and learned a few things, some of which I already knew

TRAs are fucking wild?? Like on a bad trip wild.

TRAs have no clue what terves believe

TIFs are hanging on to their denial of sex for dear fucking life

No one cares about misogyny, at least not more than misgendering

They're a waste of time and effort.

That last point really stuck. They don't care that they're effected by misogyny. In fact they will do everything in their power to deny it, because it invalidates their pronoun coupons or something idk. Zero class solidarity. Whatever.

It's made me want to get more serious about my ground-level activism. Start putting up stickers. Get more involved locally and remotely. I don't care that TIFs are in denial. I want to do everything in my power to protect them just as much as any woman.

[left-the-room]

the kind of shit I come across...

"people default to agab, which means nothing but a letter in their birth certificate"... yeah nothing else. People surely do not mention it bc it shapes their experiences growing up, their physical traits, etc 🙄

they just want to erase all discussion of sex as a class

[palettesofrenaissance]

As an adult, I remember hating my body when I was younger, whether because of self-hating due to my race, body type, bra size, or because I'm female. There were so many nights I went to sleep wishing I'd wake up White, or wake up with a thicker body or bigger bra size, or that I would wake up and miraculously be male. I still remember how deep that self-hatred ran

Now, I've come to accept and even love myself, and I'm more educated on the positives and grand benefits there is about being female. I've been fortunate enough to surrounded myself with wise women, girls who continue our foremothers' fight for our rights, Black women, and other feminists and womanists, and even participated in females-only sports

And because I know the brighter, positive, empowering better side of seeing yourself, it's so sad to see the increase of girls who consider being "not like other girls" a good thing, who desire cosmetic surgery, chasing the Instagram filters looks, or who try so desperately to disconnect themselves from their female bodies (as if that'll ever be possible) even at the risk of living a delusion, or who are still so convinced in gender roles (that a defining characteristic that someone is feminine then that person must be female, which obviously isn't true. There are masculine and androgynous women because this isn't a requirement/being feminine is a choice)

It's understanding where the regressive, sexist, and self-hating thinking originates since we live in the misogynistic world and the over-sexed way females are constantly broadcasted, but that doesn't make it reasonable. It shouldn't be this way. Nature constantly shows there's so many benefits of being female; it's the patriarchy society (that needs to be torn down, in my opinion) that sells the lie that being female is a negative and that same society is what's oppressing us worldwide. And, no, the best attribute of being female isn't that we're able to grow children; we're more complex than just that

[memesmylife1]

Sometimes I feel like I’m all alone in my feminist beliefs. I read about other women agreeing with me online but I never knowingly encounter women in real life who are as feminist as me. I’m making more of an effort to connect to them, because I’m sure they’re there but for now, I feel alone. I try to think about other women who felt and feel the same way. There was probably a farmer in the 1400s who felt this way. Maybe she had the courage to share her beliefs, maybe she didn’t. There was probably a housewife in the 1700s who felt as alone as me. I know there are and have been so many women like me. And I can even connect to others, albeit mainly online, but I’m really well off actually. I know that, but it still hurts. What I can do is create feminist spaces. I want to join spaces that are already feminist but I also take the space I already have and make it feminist. Those are both good things to do.

[gendiebrainrotreceipts]

[mikasasrippedtoenail]

Women's existence as a social class is a profound reality. The poorest man-bruised and battered by the capitalists- still has access to the labour of a woman-his wife. With what little strength he posseses, he exploits her cooking, her cleaning and ofcourse her sex. Misogyny is the oldest form of slavery. When it comes down to men and women, no barriers of race, caste, creed or class prevent men from abusing women. The belief that women of upper station live in ivory towers that shield them from sex based oppression needs to die. The hold of patriarchy upon them is albeit light; howerver, you cant dismiss that their performance of feminity is also a show for the poorest of men. The poor man is a sex buyer, a wife beater and a rapist. His poverty does not dissuade him from committing violence against women. Unlike women, it does not make him more vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Removing class will not dismantle the patriarchy for men will hate and violate all women regardless, be they rich or poor.

[valeriesolanasapologist]

So, I'm a little farther into Right Wing Woman and this jumped out:

"The reality of the fear". This is an important distinction, and why I think a lot of gender critical women mistakenly think that the conservative Right (at least here in the US) may have their best interests at heart (at least concerning the trans movement and men in women's spaces).

While the Left deny and minimize the threat of male violence, the Right openly acknowledges it.

"Yes, you are right. Men cannot be women, and men who say they are women are still a threat to actual women. We acknowledge this. We hear you."

That sounds promising. But then the next part-

"The Right then manipulates the fear."

The Right nor the Left really have women's safety or well being in mind. They just have different strategies for how they can manipulate us to their side, for their own benefits.

[aunt-kats-chats]

If I'm entirely honest one of the harder things about being a feminist is simply realizing how pervasive misogyny still is even in the United States. Like Roe v Wade got overturned and women are being thrown in jail for needing life saving abortions. Yet men will face less time in prison for putting abortion pills in their girlfriends/wives' drinks. Absolute Insanity

[burningtheroots]

Men always find ways to conceal & justify their abusive and predatory mentalities and behaviors, and convince everyone that the women who reject their "ideals" and begin to call out & look down on their literal oppressors are the "real problem".

For example, men masturbating to porn categories titled "women crying" is sexual freedom and what not, but women joking about drinking the tears of men who they simply told "No!" to or kicked from their high horses is evil.

Patriarchal brainwashing has achieved that men AND women alike defend and normalize this — and unfortunately, it prevents women who get wronged by men (on different levels) from recognizing it, and even if they recognize it, it still prevents them from unapologetically advocating for themselves in most cases.

Women make excuses for men to FEEL safer and better, perhaps even protected, and because they don’t want to believe that these men‘s evilness (e.g. porn consumption, older men looking out for young women, exploitation of women’s bodies and labour both in public and in private etc.) is REAL, and runs DEEP. Even if it only pops up on the surface, occasionally. The typical "accidentally sexist" comment or action.

Men make excuses for each other to BECOME more untouchable, less prone to getting held accountable and because they KNOW and WANT the atrocities they commit against women to remain powerful and prevalent. Because that‘s what they build their own fulfillment and accomplishments on.

Men benefit when women are aware of their suffering and the dangers imposed upon them, and they also benefit when women remain ignorant towards them. The mixture of both keeps patriarchy going. While women are fighting for their survival, men can continue to make it harder for us — but we get punished either way. Even when it seems like patriarchy "rewards" a woman for being complicit or too afraid to speak up, it only reinforces itself and manifests women‘s collective (& individual) abuse further.

Also, most people gloss over the fact that smaller injustices fuel larger ones. For example, the power imbalances men create in their relationships (which is one of the main reasons they love huge age differences, and society does the same because our male-centered society thrives when women are the butt of the joke) are one of the pillars of patriarchy, since patriarchy gets fueled when "the personal becomes political".

That‘s also why a woman disliking or joking about her oppressor class gets scrutinized, ridiculed & harassed whereas a man who jokes about women‘s brutalization and suffering, and non-chalantly embraces his privilege, is merely a victim and misunderstood, or "not a big deal". People extend this apologist mentality to rape jokes and worse, even.

A woman who speaks up about her oppression needs to be closely examined and checked for the privileges she may or may not have, while a man who oppresses (directly or indirectly), is seen as a misunderstood victim of his privileges who doesn’t know better or just needs some grace.

A woman being oppressed doesn’t matter to these people because she‘s not the perfect victim. She‘s merely entitled or whiny or vengeful.

And a man being oppressive doesn’t matter to these people because he‘s both the perfect perpetrator and the perfect victim at once, in their minds. He‘s merely trying.

That‘s why I‘m prioritizing women, and am unashamed of my criticism and skepticism of men, both as a class and as individuals.

[muppetminge]

I think it’s really sad how quick people are to attribute malice to people purely on the basis of disagreement. 

Discussions around beauty culture so often end up being a case of pitting traditionally ‘feminine’ women and ‘non-feminine’ women against each other - despite the fact that this is usually not the initial intent. 

I am extremely critical of beauty culture. Flat out. I do not like make-up. I think it’s a horrible thing. I stand by this. 

I do not have anything against individual women who wear make-up. Or women who shave, or get botox, or plastic surgery or whatever. Nor do I - solely based on this - have any opinion whatsoever about how feminist or unfeminist you are. No, wearing make-up or shaving or whatever will never be a feminist action. You, as a person, can still be be - no one is ideologically pure, we are all whole, multifaceted people. That’s good, and that’s fine, and that’s how it is. You are so absoluted allowed to do things without going through the analysis - otherwise no one would ever get anything done. Something something ethical consumption or whatever, you get it.

The point with all this is, I think it’s a shame that so many seem to interpret anti-beauty rhetoric to be anti-you, as a person, or, indeed, anti-women. Because that’s exactly the opposite of the intent! I feel about this like I do, and as passionately as I do, because I love women. 

And I think it’s, mind the language, fucking bullshit how much bullshit is invented purely to prey on insecurities that don’t even have a grounding in reality! Because I promise you, your face is fine. Your skin is fine. Your body hair is fine. 

You are allowed to look like a human woman. Because that’s what these standards are about, isn’t it? Alienation from our natural form? Trying to convince perfectly normal women that something is wrong with them for ... being perfectly normal women? Because, really, why are you insecure about your hairy legs in the first place? Your perfectly normal, though non-airbrushed complexion? The signs of life, and joy, and laughter, and age on your face? The length of your eyelashes, the size of your feet, the shape of your breasts? Because it sells. Because it’s kind of genius, isn’t it, inventing shit based on fuck all so you can sell more stuff we don’t need to (over) half of the human race. Most importantly, because it takes control away from you. Because messing with your confidence and your self image makes us easier to push around; to stop us from meeting our potential (and, oh, is there anything that’s more terrifying than the thought of women being what we could be, what we have the ability to accomplish?) 

And I’m at the point of rambling now, perhaps, but there’s that. I don’t hate women who wear make-up, my beef isn’t with you. I promise you that. I’m not asking you to burn your eyeshadow palette. I’m just fucking sad this is how we are treated. That we are expected to buy into this whole illusion that there’s something wrong with us, that we’re just a sack of (fixable! buy our latest cure now!) problems in a trenchcoat. 

And I wish that more of us were better at looking in the mirror barefaced and be astonished at the beauty there, instead of feeling naked and ashamed. I wish we didn’t try to hide from each other quite so much. I wish we could just be. 

She screams at the top of her lungs, I’m whole! I’m body, I’m heart, I’m mind, I’m soul.

[haggishlyhagging]

“. . . [M]yths about class still abound among both psychiatrists and psychotherapists, (e.g. a wealthy woman is spoiled and is probably only faking neurosis in order to get attention). A poor woman can't afford neurosis- she has to keep going, no matter what. When the workload, stress, heartbreak, and tragedies mount up, and she cracks up- as most human beings would under similar circumstances- many psychiatrists may think: Nothing to do but diagnose, medicate, and ship her off to an institution. She can't afford private therapy anyway.

Actually, these days, very few people can.”

-Phyllis Chesler, Women and Madness