Comments

1

Why does it feel like most women who call themselves feminists think they are, at least partially, male?

I never took the time to learn to cross my eyes, sorry.

2

She’s way too happy and successful to be a third wave feminist.

3

I don't know, I think it seems a bit like giving in to the cranks to say 'I am not a feminist' because there are a whole bunch of cranks who loudly declare that they are one. 'Feminist leaders' (if that's really what they were/are) like Dworkin, were/are mostly in the business of spinning their deep-seated neuroses as somehow 'feminist' because calling it that lends it validity. Feminists advancing the fraud that their puritanical hang-ups are feminist because they are feminists, and a neurosis that a feminist is afflicted with is therefore by definition feminist, are almost exactly like so-called Christians who will have you know that inhuman refugee/immigration policies are 'Christian' because they are Christians and these are policies they support.

5

Sigh. She's a feminist, she's just not the man hatin' no shavin' straw feminist that anti-feminists and apparently the two of you let live in your heads, and have used as a narrative.

Definition of feminism. 1 : the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. 2 : organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests.

Does she want political, economic and social equality for herself? Is she a woman? Cuz it sure looks like she does.
This isn't rocket science people.

6

Sigh. She's a feminist, she's just not the man hatin' no shavin' straw feminist that anti-feminists and apparently the two of you, @1 & 2, let live in your heads, and have used as a narrative.

Definition of feminism. 1 : the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. 2 : organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests.

Does she want political, economic and social equality for herself? Is she a woman? Cuz it sure looks like she does.
This isn't rocket science people.

7

Sorry! Double post!

9

Good Afternoon Katie,
Another fine essay. Like you, I back away from labels and advocacy-oriented issues (read: lobbyists). I think they are fraught with peril and orthodoxy. Very little if any room left for compromise.

I'm political but not self-righteous. It is tricky but I can listen and discern. I believe it is better for the body politic as a whole.

I like Dolly Parton as well. I believe she's a good person and a fine American. When flooding hit her native Tennessee, she contributed greatly to the victims. She doesn't have much drama in her life too. She's been in a solid marriage for more than 40 years.

Finally, she has two terrific assets, she can sing and she can act. I believe she's a good songwriter. She wrote "I Will Always Love You" most famously rendered by Whitney Houston

Good on her and you.

11

Having no real underlying convictions isn't a badge of honor. Being unwilling to act on your beliefs is not a sign of wisdom. Activists do the hard work you don't want to do.

I appreciate not being a joiner because I've never been one myself. But there's a bit more to politics than voting or writing legislation. And part of that is believing in something enough to throw your mind and body into it fully. And while some activists are dogmatic, intolerant, and blinded by ideology, many are just clear-eyed about the larger picture as Katie claims to be here. I really get these sense that she thinks she's a clear-eyed intellectual with some kind of true objectivity. The idea the dirty workaday peasants of political action having insights or the wisdom of experience never really occurs to her.

12

Having no real underlying convictions isn't a badge of honor. Being unwilling to act on your beliefs is not a sign of wisdom. Activists do the hard work you don't want to do.

I appreciate not being a joiner because I've never been one myself. But there's a bit more to politics than voting or writing legislation. And part of that is believing in something enough to throw your mind and body into it fully. And while some activists are dogmatic, intolerant, and blinded by ideology, many are just clear-eyed about the larger picture as Katie claims to be here. I really get these sense that she thinks she's a dispassionate intellectual with some kind of true objectivity that being above the fray affords her. The idea that the dirty workaday peasants of political action might have insights or the wisdom of experience never really occurs to her.

Some of the best people at detecting the bullshit of "isms" are activists.

13

@8: Are you saying C&W fans are misogynists?

Shall we move on to Tammy Wynette?

@5 wins it.

14

Yeah, we'll continue to take logic based principled positions such as these, while Team Shithead continues to build powerful coalitions behind King Shithead and skates their way to an entire Supreme Court made up of drunken rapists like Kavanaugh.

Winning!

15

@11, I don't think Katie is saying she doesn't have convictions. Read the last line of the essay. She's saying let your actions speak for your convictions, not the label.

16

This will surprise many but I consider myself a feminist (or at least, pro-feminist) although I do not identify as one. I believe women are people and should have as much right to choose their own destiny as anyone else.

Of course, publicly identifying feminists do not believe that, so I'm out of step with the general public (although largely in-step with most academic feminist writing), who I perceive as trying to portray themselves as a repressed victim while at the same time maintaining the world's highest standard of living.

Essentially, no one gets my benefit of the doubt as a poor helpless victims until I get my 40 acres. One only need glance at the demographics - murder rates, death rates, imprisonment rates, educational success, victimization rates, and basically any other stat - to see that a black man is MASSIVELY, MASSIVELY more discriminated against than women. And anyone who maintains that women should be the first in line for social reparations can eat my farts.

17

@16 Wait, aren't there black women?

20

@17: Exactly.
Why is the concept of intersectionality so hard to grasp? It's mind boggling.

22

@21: Word.

23

@18, that's my take as well. Right-wingers have been trashing the label of "feminist" for decades, until today a significant percentage of the population imagines a man-hating diesel dyke whenever they hear the word "feminist". Apparently including Dolly.

The problem isn't with the idea of equality for women. The problem is that the label of "feminist" has become toxic, due to decades of trolling by the right.

24

Anyone who refuses to identify as a feminist because "they love men" does not have the faintest idea what feminism is about. Feminism is the basic belief that women are human beings and just because they are women in they are in no way LESS than men.

25

@24 But they are not the same as men. That’s where feminists crash the train.

27

@26 A perfectly good argument? Hmm. Well it certainly would not be a perfectly good argument that is rooted in feminism. What it is rooted in is this society's deeply neurotic hang-ups regarding sex and spinning it as a 'feminist' argument is just straight up fraud.

28

Meanwhile, everyone who was brought up expecting you to form your own opinions that they are to respect is left scratching their collective head.

29

It's just inter-generational semantics—she's probably been answering that question since 9-to-5 came out. Iggy Pop said he never made punk rock but still inspired nearly every musician that ever has.

30

Someone should let Dolly know you don’t need to be a feminist to hate men.

31

"Feminism is the radical notion that women are people." -- M. Shear

I think someone should talk to Ms. Parton asking her questions that speak to the basic ideas and notions of feminism... e.g. equality, freedom, autonomy, etc.

As @18 points out, the reactionaries have managed to brand the term "feminist" with the concept "man-hating". And PLENTY of people obviously heard that message and did not explore any further.

Until we can "retake" the label and encourage the masses to understand it for what it ^really^ means ... (which may likely require bringing them on-board to the idea that women should be free as men) ... the conceptual division that Ms. Parton expresses will probably reign.

Now about nuclear power... IDK Ms. Herzog... where we gonna put all that nuclear waste?

Also this:
Gregory Jaczko, who served on America's Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2005 to 2009 and was its chairman from 2009 to 2012. He says, "Despite working in the industry for more than a decade, I now believe that nuclear power's benefits are no longer enough to risk the welfare of people living near these plants..."

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/05/17/i-oversaw-us-nuclear-power-industry-now-i-think-it-should-be-banned

32

@5. Nice strawman. Feminists always love to jump to the "dictionary" definition (not even what the dictionary says by the way. It clearly says "women", not "sexes" but nice ideological spin) of feminism, while doing the complete opposite of the definition and not dasavowing rampant (and encouraged) misandry.

Feminism never had a monopoly on a equality, so you can shove that double-talk up your ass. Anyone can believe in equality between sexes without following the woke religion of feminism. It is called being an egalitarian or humanist. Look that one up in a dectionary. Idiot.

33

@25 When feminists insist that women are the same as men they mean as human beings who deserve political, economic, personal, and social equality. There is no train crashing.

And if you REALLY want to get into on biological and scientific matter of fact: All human individuals—whether they have an XX, an XY, or an atypical sex chromosome combination—begin development from the same starting point. During early development the gonads of the fetus remain undifferentiated; that is, all fetal genitalia are the same and are phenotypically female.

Thanks for playing. Please drive through.

34

@32: Yes, yes TeeHee we all know how invested you are in equality for all. Now go get into you pjs and brush your teeth. No whining that brushing you teeth is misandry or we'll take your random number generator away from you and you won't be able to play on Slog anymore. Scoot!

36

@34. Yup, that's what I thought. :). Check..... Aaaaaand mate.

And you feminists do more than enough whining for everyone (about everything), so I will leave that task to you. :)

37

@36: mmm uh huh. Anything else? I mean don't you have to get the barricades to sing the Marseillaise? Don't forget to take some snacks, you know what you're like when your blood sugar gets low.

38

@36: Oh! And don't forget to tidy up your game board before you go. Kiss kiss!

39

"No Scotsman hates all men."
"But MacGarrigle hates all men!"
"Aye, but nae TRUE Scotsman hates all men."

40

Your actions should speak more than a label. If you are sticking strictly to what the dictionary calls "feminism", then I think most people, including Dolly, ARE, in fact feminists. However, like the article pointed out, many take those labels into extreme directions in the name of "justice", only to mete out injustice - which naturally, the opposition will latch onto, despite the much good that many have done under the label. Discard labels. Be a decent person who wants equality for all and condones all bad behavior. Too many times, have I seen people, like the current Republican senate, put party over people. This is also the case with most major labels. Loyalty to the label and saying the correct words comes absolute first, while people and actions come a very distant second - and it's that disregard for the latter that leads to injustice, witch hunts, and a damaged label that most decent people would be too embarrassed to associated with. It doesn't/shouldn't have to be that way, but I sadly, don't see it changing any time soon.

41

The word feminist has too much baggage, and it’s exclusionary. Want gender equity? Work on men. Dolly Parton is exactly right and we’re all too tripped up on language and ideology to see it.

42

@41: Work on men how exactly? Legit question, not trying to be snarky. What do you mean by that statement?

43

@42 Lissa (as all feminazis) doesn't know what "not being misandryst" (@41 statement) means. Yawwwwwwn. Figures.

44

@43: Hush darling, I was asking Totomam a question, not looking for more of your patented poo flinging. Why don't you go smear it on the wall in your nursery hmmm?

45

Don’t need nearly 30 paragraphs to know Parton doesn’t consider herself a feminist.

47

Calling checkmate in a game of spank the monkey is a new one one me, but hey, whatever gets one's rocks off.

48

@32 & @36: Put on your onesies, go back to slurping Cocoa Puffs and SuperFriends binge-watching on Channel 4, and chill, laughing boy.

49

@41 & @43: Being an ignorant couch bound incel glued to FOX-TeeVee must be hard work. How long has it been since your mommy last changed your diaper?


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