Christina Hoff Sommers: “If ‘bossy’ has to go because it is sexist, then shouldn’t we stop using male-vilifying terms like ‘mansplaining’ & ‘rape culture’?”

I happen to love the word bossy, and I have no problem with it, period. So I’d never vote to “ban” it. Bless bell hooks for her tweet.

I also love the term mansplain, because it is so extremely specific. It perfectly captures an element of sexist culture. The first time my mom heard it, she laughed her ass off– she’d never heard it before but she totally GOT IT.

“Rape Culture” villifies our entire culture, and unfortunately captures it very well. I’ve never considered it directed specifically at men, even though men are primarily the rapists in our culture. But they certainly aren’t the only rape apologists, as so many fauxminists prove, and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard teen girls and younger bash other females for daring to complain about sexism/harassment/assault/rape. Rape culture isn’t just about rapists– it’s about an entire system that allows for it, encourages it, protects the perpetrators, and attacks the victims. In short– Christine Hoff Sommers is an idiot, and, in an addendum, huh, she’s still around? Haven’t heard her name in years.

I got a new troll in my comments. X_X

I dislike your troll, but it looks like some other anonymous people have the troll covered.

I’m not certain if the troll is purposefully missing the point and is thus a thick troll, or is innocently missing the point in a wordy way, like I sometimes do.

Blargh.

Back on topic, why do certain people insist on using male and female as gender terms? Do they use male and female when referring directly to their own gender? I’ve been puzzled by this for a while.

@trans_commie Do you have a tumblr, by any chance? I don’t have a dreamwidth account, and I’d like to be able to keep up with what you write.

@Lids

My Tumblr is anarcho-womanist.tumblr.com, although I tend to write a bit more on my DreamWidth journal. I mostly reblog stuff on Tumblr and write very short entries of my own – my journal is where I write longer, more complex entries. You can also check out Feminist Borg, which is a new blog that has many different writers from the Man Boobz comment section. I go by “Ally” there. I haven’t written much there in a while, unfortunately, but I’m working on another entry relating to the theme of the month.stuff

Thanks for the clarification, trans_commie! I really, really appreciate it. When it comes to social things, I can be extremely clueless, and I’m really grateful that everyone here is so nice about it.

I think I just spend far too much time trying to figure out frameworks using definitions. Gender as a whole is extraordinarily confusing, and when terms leap out of their appropriate boxes, it messes with my head.

It just seems to me like using male/female as gender signifiers seems to imply there aren’t any other genders… which I know is patently false.

Totally my hangup, though, and not yours.

Thanks so much! 🙂

Yeah I was thinking “rape culture” isn’t a gendered thing. I’ve encounter plenty of women (Sommers included) who perpetuate ideals of rape culture. Also I thought the “mansplaning” and “bossy” thing were a ridiculous comparison too, though I suppose somewhat less ridiculous than comparing it to rape culture.

I left a tweet using Bell’s hashtag. So does Hoff-Sommers want to get rid of ‘boss’ too? It’s etymology is 19th cent. Dutch ‘baas’, meaning master. I guess that word has to go too? She’s a bellend.

Oh, and Tina Fey’s book “Bossypants” is awesome.

I have to admit that I am a little surprised that there are people crapping on this campaign. Not shocked, but a bit saddened I guess. I mean, I am raising a daughter and even though she doesn’t get the “don’t be bossy” message from me, I know she has gotten it plenty from other places. What is so terrible about people wanting to point out a problem and work to solve it? It is very clear that for some reason women do not hold as many leadership positions worldwide. There are multiple reasons for this, one of which is being addressed with this campaign.

I just have to keep telling myself that the only reason that these people are such loud-mouth, douche canoes is because they know they are steadily becoming the minority. I think it is also because they are angry that their efforts to demonize feminism has not stopped feminist ideas from permeating the wider culture.

I’m sure Sommers has some female friends: namely, Camile Paglia, Katie Roiphe, and Helen Smith. Unfortunately, they are also exactly like Sommers.

I know I’m like always OT but everyone who posts here is so smart and knowledgeable that when I can’t find something on google the first people I think to ask are you guys.

I’m debating someone about the “evil things feminists have done.” They’re using the actions of a few feminists and the theories of a few dead feminists to excuse being anti-feminist, and I’m looking into their examples one by one to know what I’m talking about.

They brought up Erin Pizzey and I’m just over here like, was her harassment ever officially documented besides her own claims? Like, police reports and evidence? Proof that it was a bunch of feminists and not, IDK, angry batterers sending her threats. Or even if it was more than one or two people? And what was her issue anyways? In reading her statement she said stuff along the lines of 62% of battered women battered their husbands too which I find to be kind of telling in how she made so many enemies to begin with.

What is the deal with Erin Pizzey and is there crucial insight I need to talk about this subject intelligently?

Ok, on to the article haha.

I can’t remember who it was, but we had a commenter at one point who’d worked with Pizzey back in the day. Her observations match the ones I heard from other people who’d worked with Pizzey, ie. that Pizzey is a toxic control freak with an ego the size of Australia.