(no subject)

[adiva_calandia]

So I was just in Skibo Cafe doing my Feminist Lit readings, and I nearly burst into simultaneous tears and laughter at one of them.

Don't be mistaken -- these weren't tears of frustration or laughs of derision, which you might expect from the kinds of readings one sometimes finds in this kind of textbook. No, these were the kind of sudden, overwhelming emotions that came from the same kind of resonance in my chest that I feel when I read, say, Angels in America or Narnia or certain poems -- the resonance when, for the lack of a better term, my soul says That's true. That's right for you.

Selected [by me] quotes from The BITCH Manifesto, by Joreen [Jo Freeman]. 1968.

BITCH is an organization which does not exist. The name is not an acronym. It stands for exactly what it sounds like. ...

BITCH does not use this word in the negative sense. A woman should be proud to declare she is a Bitch, because Bitch is Beautiful. It should be an act of affirmation by self and not negation by others. Not everyone can qualify as a Bitch.

... [Teenage girls] are hard on their competitors [for men] and even harder on those who decline to compete. Those of their peers who do not share their concerns and practice the arts of charming men are excluded from most social groupings. If she didn't know it before, a Bitch learns during these years that she is different.

... a Bitch will not always recognize that what she has achieved is not attainable by the typical woman. A highly competent Bitch often deprecates herself by refusing to recognize her own superiority. She is wont to say that she is average or less so; if she can do it, anyone can.

As adults, Bitches may have learned the feminine role, at least the outward style but they are rarely comfortable in it. This is particularly true of those women who are physical Bitches. They want to free their bodies as well as their minds and deplore the effort they must waste confining their physical motions or dressing the role in order not to turn people off ... A few deviations from the norm can be tolerated but too many are too threatening ... Women in particular are defined by their physical characteristics. Bitches who do not violate these limits are freer to violate others. Bitches who do violate them in style or size can be somewhat envious of those who do not have to so severely restrain the expansiveness of their personalities and behavior. Often these Bitches are tortured more because their deviancy is always evident. But they do have a compensation in that large Bitches have a good deal less difficulty being taken seriously than small women. One of the sources of their suffering as women is also a source of their strength. ...

Bitches, likewise, don't care too much for other women. They grow up disliking other women. They can't relate to them, they don't identify with them, they have nothing in common with them. ...

... Bitches are also uncomfortable around other women because frequently women are less their psychological peers than are men. Bitches don't particularly like passive people. They are always slightly afraid they will crush the fragile things. WOmen are trained to be passive and have learned to act that way even when they are not. A Bitch is not very passive and is not comfortable acting that role. But she usually does not like to be domineering either -- whether this is from natural distaste at dominating others or fear of seeming too masculine. Thus a Bitch can relax and be her natural non-passive self without worrying about macerating someone only in the company of those who are as strong as she. This is more frequently in the company of men than of women, but those Bitches who have not succumbed totally to self-hatred are most comfortable of all only in the company of fellow Bitches. These are her true peers and the only ones with whom she does not have to play some sort of role. Only with other Bitches can a Bitch be truly free.

newredshoes posted an essay some time back and said her reaction was like . . . some scene in a movie that I regrettably forget, in which the character sees a gay man on TV and wants to jump on the couch and say "That's me!"

That's me. Maybe only facets of me, but enough of me to make me want to burst into tears that someone else knows, has said it. And I'm sure 90% of it is me being tired and hungry and more PMS-y than I can remember being in some time, but 10% of it is the way my chest rings like a bell when I read that.

Unfortunately, all this is making me totally unfit for human consumption one-on-one. Too many thoughts and too much raw hormonal emotion.

Comments

[walksbyherself]

*hugs*

The blessing of academia is that you get to have those "That's me!" moments and know you aren't alone in how you feel about some part of the world. The curse is that you're usually hungry and hormonal when it happens.

[newredshoes]

The movie is Velvet Goldmine, and the essay that provoked the reaction is here.

What a fantastic few excerpts this is, Adiva. Oh man. Yes.

And hey, feel better, you. <3

[lienne.livejournal.com]

*snuggles you*

Eat some food, go to bed early tonight if you can, and I'm glad you found something that defines you.

A lot of these things sound exactly like one of my favourite cousins.

Some of them even sound like me.

[catch22girl]

That's how I felt when I read "The Beauty Myth" - it's one of those things that once you see it you can't UNsee it.

And yes, some things you read and you recognize the truth of what is being said. You're awesome.

As Tina Fey said, Bitches get things done.