One and two do not seem mutually exclusive to me. Though I'd probably tweak two to "Providing women with access to all options and resources available to men, even if that means they choose to perpetuate misogynistic patriarchal culture."
Well, yeah, if i'd gone to the trouble... but it's a complex issue and this was about as articulately flippant as i could manage at the time. Also, i would point out that your suggestion is covered by answer 3.
More seriously, i think that #1 is right simply because people make bad choices all the time. The way i see it, settling for #2 ignores the rest of #1's implications.
Can you explain what you mean more? In my mind, reminding folks that people will make bad choices even when presented with as much information as possible and even when as many barriers as possible are removed, is important within feminism because it takes away some of the tendency to blame individuals for their choices and instead looks at systematic pressures. In actual English, that would be something like, I would like to live in a world where a woman can wear lipstick and miniskirts if she finds it appropriate, and misogynists don't claim she's a slut and fucking over all men (covered by answer number one) and feminists don't claim she's a sell-out and fucking over all women (covered by answer number two).
So I don't see #2 as settling, but I'd be interested to hear why you do.
I guess that i'm coming at it like a sysadmin; #1 is the root cause from which #2 is a result. One thing that mouseworks told me some time ago (and i hope i'm remembering this correctly) was that sometimes Muslim women in Europe who wear the veil are doing so to buck the politically correct establishment, and in doing so are asserting their culture, even if to my Western eyes, that culture has inherent male-dominant elements (i also think of the odd juxtaposition of the Muslim women i see sometimes at my soccer facility who come to see their husbands play, and they're wearing a scarf and clothes that cover them completely, but they're also wearing makeup and stilettos).
There are certainly systematic pressures, but the individual choices we make can either reinforce or combat those pressures. And the choices we make can be made for completely different reasons than others assume, but at the same time, we should consider the reactions of others before making that choice. In short: people are a problem.
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syntheid
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Date: 2010-04-01 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-01 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-01 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-03 02:04 am (UTC)So I don't see #2 as settling, but I'd be interested to hear why you do.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-03 06:03 am (UTC)There are certainly systematic pressures, but the individual choices we make can either reinforce or combat those pressures. And the choices we make can be made for completely different reasons than others assume, but at the same time, we should consider the reactions of others before making that choice. In short: people are a problem.