Category Archives: From My Fellow Bloggers

The ‘Strong Woman’ Myth Can Be Destructive

Erin Matson

The mythology of the strong woman is fairly epic, considering that women are supposed to be weak-willed ornaments or maids that make it through every indignity — depending on how those women score on other scales of the privilege lottery. A system of male domination is not supposed to allow for strong women, except that it really does and in a way that reinforces the ongoing subjugation of women as a gender, and as individuals. While of course it feels good to be identified as a ‘strong woman,’ the reality is that this myth is a mixed bag. Strangely enough it can be destructive.

It’s important to note that the moniker “strong woman” is a compliment. But its status as a compliment actually depends on drawing a contrast between you and other women, as if those other women are weak. As if being a woman makes you inherently weak. As if you are…

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CANADA: LAND OF MISANDRY? NOT ANYMORE

This piece from The Belle Jar relates to my writings on Persepolis, The Eggs and Us: The Abortion Wars Rage On,” and “We Asked 22 Women Why They Take Birth Control And These Are Their Answers”. I’m woefully uninformed when it comes to international politics, so I found this post extremely illuminating and entertaining.

I hope you do too!

The Belle Jar

I think that we can all agree that the main problem with Canadian history is that men are just way too underrepresented. Take our money, for example. I mean, the queen is on all of our coins! What kind of misandry is this? Sure the five dollar bill boasts our old pal Wilfred Laurier, and the ten dollar bill shows everyone’s favourite confederation-loving racist Sir John A. Macdonald, and the fifty dollar bill has séance-holder and dog enthusiast William Lyon Mackenzie King and yeah, fine, the hundred dollar bill is devoted to Nova Scotia’s good ole boy Sir Robert Borden, but I mean, come on. Queen Elizabeth II graces all of our coins and our twenty dollar bill. Every time you open your wallet it’s just ladies ladies everywhere and nary a dick in sight*.

If you’re not seeing the feminist conspiracy that’s clearly at play here, then you must have taken the…

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Protection vs. Freedom: Third Wave Feminist Goals and Methods

This connects to my recent analysis of Buffy. Check it out!

Queer Guess Code

pen writing

If you ever want an articulate and precise argument, go to a philosopher.  A good philosophical argument will leave you intrigued, rather than confused, because it will define its terms clearly.  This argument about why the methods of Feminist Egalitarianism and Christian Complementarianism both boil down to Chivalry and Patriarchy is a good example.  Andy Rogers defines his terms as system, goal, and method.

A system is the context in which you are working–the facts that you are assuming to be the case for the sake of addressing a specific goal. I hope that goal and method are self-explanatory . It is generally better to first start with goal and system, and then figure out the best method for attaining said goal given the system.

Using this model, I will lay out the groundwork for my own feminist philosophy and standpoint, while heavily disputing Andy’s claim that Chivalry and Patriarchy…

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