Re: Once a Stripper, never a Feminist?

From the latest Ms. Magazine:

In your Spring 2008 issue ["Milestones"], Diablo Cody is quoted as saying she is a feminist. [But] in Cody's book Candy Girl, she tells about her life as a stripper, lap dancer and peep-show entertainer. Her life as a sexual entertainer and sex object for males hardly seems like a feminist activity. Perhaps she was one of those "young women" that Helen Mirren mentions [in "Lest We Forget"] who have been empowered [by] sexual objectification. Cody and others like her who have used their bodies as sexual objects have disrespected women and encouraged the subjugation of females.
-Pat Tate, Millersville MD

This is a troubling road to go down because society already rejects and denigrates the sex worker. While I think idea the that women can find things like stripping 'empowering' is questionable at best, rejecting strippers and other women who work in the sex industry is not going to solve anything. We need to answer a few questions first. Why is it that sex work is the best-paying gig for some women and what does it say about us as a society that we don't offer them anything better? I don't mean to paint Cody as a complete victim, or say that women can't consciously choose sex work but why must these women be further degraded by feminists, who should be their allies? Why is it so hard to see from their point-of-view? Why can't we identify with the 'fallen woman?' (or do away with such terminology for that matter?)

Referenced portions from Spring 2008:

Milestones-Four films written by women were nominated for screen-writing Academy Awards this year, an Oscar record. Diablo Cody, who won best original screenplay for Juno, said, "As a feminist, and someone who feels that women are marginalized in this industry, I'm thrilled that women are getting this sort of recognition."

Lest We Forget-"Being a sexual object is mortifying and irritating, yet it's giving you power--an awful power that you've done nothing to deserve, a powerless power. I think some young women fall in love with that power, and it's really objectifying. And when it starts falling away, it's an incredible relief. -British actor Helen Mirren, to More magazine

McCain gets more disappointing

I used to think of John McCain as a respectable Republican, a true compassionate conservative, an experienced war vet who was even willing to cross the proverbial aisle and work with Democrats on an anti-torture bill. Those days are long gone. For me, the first disappointment was when McCain was one of the many Republicans who were "too busy" to attend a debate at a historically black college. That was just cold.

Not content to ignore only African-Americans, McCain has recently stepped up his act by brushing aside women's issues as well. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was filibustered by Senate Republicans Wednesday. The Act would have restored available solutions for pay discrimination based on gender and improved workers' ability to contest discrimination. Though McCain didn't bother to show up for the vote he did comment that all women needed to gain equality in the workplace was a little more "education and training." This answer is simply illogical in light of the fact that women are beginning to outnumber men as students in higher education. In fact it has come to the point where some college enact a sort of 'affirmative action' policy to keep the gender balance 50/50 when the number of female applicants is especially high. Women not only outnumber men but apparently their grades tend to be better as well. Yet the wage gap persists.

Someone set McCain straight.

Major feminist blog off the air over plagiarism issues

I almost feel like I shouldn't comment on this at all given my relative unfamiliarity with the feminist blogosphere. From what I've been able to piece together (Thanks Bitch, Feministe, and Alas! among others), feminist powerhouse Brownfemipower (BFP) has pulled her blog off the web. Apparently BFP's extensive work on racism and sexism in immigration was blatantly plagiarized in an article by Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon. As Marcotte is white and BFP a woman of color, the incident raises plenty of questions beyond 'why didn't you cite your sources?'

Even without all the racist implications of a white woman writing about racial and sexual oppression but ignoring the work of a fellow feminist blogger and woman of color, you gotta cite your sources. It's not ok to exclude the hard work of others. No one is isolated from the influence of other writers, no idea is completely original, and you've gotta give credit where credit is due. This is basic research paper stuff and Marcotte should know that. At the same time, I think Holly and Amp are right, playing the blame game won't solve anything. We live in a racist society and we're not immune to its influence. We can never really quantitate how it effects us the same way we don't always now what influences our ideas.

My apologies, this is a bit of a fluff post without much original content. But I would like to say that this incident has taught me a lot, as a student journalist and writer. Also, I really hope to see BFP come back. Everyone who has written about her obviously has a great amount of respect for her and naturally I'm itching to see her work now. Hopefully she'll see how many people are behind her and revive the blog but that's a decision only she can make.