Linda Hirshman: I Didn't Call Anyone at Jezebel a Slut
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A guest post from Linda Hirshman:
In responding to my column, “The Trouble With Jezebel,” Jaclyn Friedman writes that I "said that the bloggers at Jezebel need to accept that they may be raped if they’re going to insist on being such public sluts."
Friedman says she is paraphrasing. Definition: "to rephrase, summarize, reword, interpret, translate, restate." Only problem: Something like the words used to paraphrase must be there in the first place. I have never used the word slut in anything I have ever written, and, after a lifetime of advocating and defending feminism, hope I never would. And far from accepting the possibility of rape, I urge all women to resist it, including by invoking the power of criminal law enforcement to punish rape and protect other women. I understand that it is not feel-good news to point out the vulnerability of freedom and the ineluctable fact of nature that women are, on the whole, smaller, weaker, and vulnerable in the course of childbirth and nursing and therefore vulnerable to larger, stronger men, much less that they have a responsibility to one another’s safety. I am prepared to defend what I say. But not what I don’t say. No matter how angry you are, there is no reason to groundlessly accuse a woman with 40 years in the feminist movement of calling a whole group of women sluts.
Emily Bazelon is a founding editor of Double X, and a writer and editor at Slate.
Comments
good post,I think
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By: anonymousgirl | Mon, 07/13/2009 - 20:51
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Good grief.
By: MB | Fri, 05/22/2009 - 20:11
Hirshman doesn't care how sexually free the Jezebel girls are! Their personal reckless sexual behavior (and if you feel the need to argue that unprotected sex with anonymous strangers isn't reckless, well, good luck with that) isn't the point. The point is that the Jezebel girls have a large influential voice, and they fail OTHER women when they do things like fail to report a rape, and then suggest that is okay. They fail OTHER women when they pretend that anonymous unprotected sex isn't dangerous and when they celebrate it as part of a carefree fun lifestyle. As a feminist, she's disturbed by how easily the Jezebel girls act like there is no collective responsibility to each other, as women, to, at the very least, give each other warning about rapists on the loose. She doesn't care who the girls are screwing-- she cares that any notion of a sisterhood is clearly dead to them.
Also, to pretend that there is no physiological difference between men and women is just absurd. Yes, there are women who are substantially stronger than many men. But looking at averages of height and weight, chances are that if you are a women in a dark alley with a strange man, he is going to be physically more dominant than you are. Hence the argument for keeping ones wits about them. (And perhaps not going off with strange men 14 drinks into a fun night.) Hirshman isn't on a high horse calling these women "sluts"-- she's wondering why such intelligent women are making such foolish choices when it comes to protecting their physical and emotional well being, and why they are advertising these choices as wacky and fun.
giving grief to other women
By: Caerolle | Sat, 05/23/2009 - 01:02
well, they are making *their* choices. they are not complaining when they have *bad* or *regrettable* sexual experiences (as they call them), b/c they often put themselves in that situation, and they accept responsibility for that. in fact, they are all about responsibility, and will admit they may be a bad example of how to behave. the main thing is, they own their behaviors...
Yes, and...
By: MB | Sat, 05/23/2009 - 11:20
Their "bad example" is the entire basis of Hirshman's complaint. These women, even in this very comment thread, are being presented as the face of feminism today-- the leaders of this ongoing struggle. When one's "leaders" are consistently setting a bad example with their "regrettable" choices, shouldn't we all be asking more of them? Shouldn't they be called out? I mean, it's one thing for a random woman to make horrifically bad judgment calls regarding her personal and emotional safety-- it is another thing for women who want to lead a "jezebel philosophy" movement to make these "regrettable" choices again and again and then present them as whimsical life lessons. People die from the choices they have made, and presenting them so cavalierly makes them pretty, well, shitty, "leaders".
No matter how angry you are
By: pontelo | Fri, 05/22/2009 - 19:39
There's no reason to revictimize rape survivors by telling them that if they don't experience their assault they way you think they should, they're bad feminists. There's no reason to dismiss a group of women who are leading the charge of feminism today as "drunk party girls in a bathtub".
40 years in the movement is not an excuse. Women, like the writers and editors at Jezebel, who speak honestly and thoughtfully about the experiences of young feminists today, are my partners in a movement to fight injustice and inequality. Women who viciously undermine and attack other women, acts quite opposite of the Jezebel philosophy, are not. There's a reason young feminists are rejecting the waves that went before them. This is it: http://www.doublex.com/section/news-politics/trouble-jezebel
no matter how angry you are... is no reason to ignore the facts
By: octobia | Fri, 05/22/2009 - 23:33
The picture of the "drunk party girl in a bathtub" was not a figment of Linda Hirshman's imagination. It's self-image cultivated by the subject of the photo. Not reporting a crime against yourself--is not just a personal choice, but a choosing to ignore one's participation in a larger society -- in the instance of rape, a larger society of sisters. If the only way to "lead the charge of feminism" today is to dismiss a group of women you disagree with as vicious attackers of other women, I'm glad I was part of the first charge instead!
I by no means agree with all Ms. Hirshman's points, but after reading her original post, I think the "slut" paraphrase was way offbase.
Having been a young woman during the early 70's -- after birth control and before HIV -- I certainly enjoyed some of the most risk-free sex the world has ever known and I disagree with Ms. Hirshman that an active sex life is an invitation to violence. But a woman's life has never been free of the threat of sexual violence, then, now, nor likely in the future, whether she's in the streets or the convent.
But I also disagree with the self-demeaning depictions of irresponsible and thoughtless behavior discussed in the posts. Criticizing the endorsement of a different set of stereotypes for young activist women (party girls instead of party-line girls, perhaps?) as somehow betraying young feminists seems short-sighted and defensive.
'drunk party girl in a a bathtub'
By: Caerolle | Sat, 05/23/2009 - 00:47
excuse me, but did you actually go to that post? the whole thing wa satire, she wasnt really drunk...
and, you dont have to answer, but pls think about this, have you ever personally been raped or sexually assaulted? if not, yo might not really have the perspective to understand why someone might not report such, other than being irresponsible to society and other women...
Carol
to all the old school feminists
By: Vanessa | Fri, 05/22/2009 - 13:03
Kids these days! Burning their bras and expecting to have professional careers and squawking about women's rights. It's unseemly!
No wait, that was a generation ago. I'm sorry, to the older feminists, that a big part of what it looks like to be a woman today seems just plain wrong. I'm old enough and square enough that sometimes it looks the same to me. There are excesses in the cultural norms of women today, there were excesses in the original feminist movement.
When you feel the need to share your opinion of today's women first take a deep breath and try and view these shocking and just awful young women who don't know how to behave as kids, and yourself as someone getting a little older. Chuckle and shake your head and try to get a little bit of perspective. Otherwise you're becoming more and more a caricature, and more and more like everything you fought against.
classic Hirshman
By: Caerolle | Fri, 05/22/2009 - 09:58
It is interesting that the only thing she regrets about that article is that someone 'misquoted her.' I think a lot of ppl got 'slut' from that article, including me. Just b/c you dont actually use the word doesnt mean that isnt what you said.
Her analytical approach saves the day and her honor, tho! I wonder what it is like to have the corner on the absolute truth, and to always be right. I dont think i have ever known her to back down an inch on anything, or consider anyone's feelings.
I really dont see her article as helpful in any way, except it made a lot of ppl reflect on and discuss what they are all about.
Carol