"Pop feminism’s Achilles’ heel is a faith in the power of the individual star turn over communal action, the belief that a gold-plated influencer plus a subscription list plus some viral content can be alchemized into mass activism.... If pop culture can make being a feminist a 'cool' personal identity, can’t that translate into doing feminism and thereby advance old-fashioned shoe-leather organizing? Perhaps. But the new individualist style of feminism so often cast itself as an alternative instead of as an aid to the old-fashioned communal activism.... It’s hard to gussy up pocketbook issues in sequins, and celebrity feminism has preferred to focus on problems of sexuality and identity over bedrock economics...."
Writes Susan Faludi in "Feminism Made a Faustian Bargain With Celebrity Culture. Now It’s Paying the Price" (NYT).
I'm trying to extract the meat of this overlong opinion piece. I think my quoted portion has done that, but I can shorten it even more. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think what Faludi is trying to say — and won't say with gut-punch clarity — is pop culture celebrity is inherently right wing.
There's something fundamentally incoherent about mixing left-wing politics and celebrity. These celebrities can mouth left-wing concepts, but they are individualistic — they are the winners in an ongoing tough, meritocratic competition — and left-wing politics is a matter of "old-fashioned communal activism."
Something else that peeks out from Faludi's verbiage: Feminism might be right wing.
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Well, that's what I took away from Freidan and de Beauvoir years ago, to take responsibility for myself. Become self supporting, so that didn't have to use men for security i.e. in bad faith.
Up to that point my parent had taught me that it's the man's job to take care of everything and make us secure. Just didn't work out for her.
I guess it is kinda right wingy.
It's because 'feminism' has nothing to do with women. QED.
Something else that peeks out from Faludi's verbiage: Feminism might be right wing.
It is now that women are in power.
Leadership is a process, not an event.
Once you realize liberalism is a cult, things get easier to understand.
pop culture celebrity is inherently populist, which currently codes as right wing
Feminism is neither left nor right, it's just nagging.
None of these leftist movements have ever involved any principles.
They are always about power.
Ann pretends her Feminism had some principles.
Voted for Bill Clinton.
Holy Adorno, Batman! Categorizing everything as right-wing or left-wing, reactionary or progressive doesn't make much sense. It's a way to avoid taking complexities into account.
Something else that peeks out from Faludi's verbiage: Feminism might be right wing.
And America might be right-wing, because of its inherent individualism.
And yet, it lurches ever leftward. Pop culture has been a way -- a right-wing way, if you like -- of pushing a "center-right" country culturally to what must people would now call the left, without seriously threatening those in power.
Since I'm not reading the original, I can only go on what's quoted. This sounds more like a "pretty girls can't be feminists because they're too privileged by beauty" argument.
But she used "gussy", which earns points from me.
Then she is saying feminism and left-wing politics is made of losers? I agree.
"pop culture celebrity is inherently right wing"
So all the people with the Che posters and shirts suffered from false consciousness?
"There's something fundamentally incoherent about mixing left-wing politics and celebrity"
The incoherence lies in leftism itself: the old left advanced collective liberation by collectivist means, the New Left advanced personal liberation by individualist means, brewing a toxic mixture of Big Brother control and pure subjectivism, the omnipotent state married to liberty as one's own personal meaning of the universe.
"Feminism might be right wing."
If any remnant of "individualism" is right wing, as intimated here, sure. Really existing feminism also has much in common with reactionary right-wingism: both assume that women are special, have special roles to play, and are entitled to special privileges.
Real feminists joined the Army and fought the actual patriarchies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
These were mostly men and they definitely did not support democrats. They in fact loathe pretty much all politicians and particularly politicians that mouth Feminist garbage.
Ever notice how Feminist Politicians are generally rapists and abusers?
Ever notice how activist/political feminists adore their rapist male leaders and hate the military
The words and the actions of the Feminist movement do not match.
Interesting observation. Not sure that Individualism is right wing unless Libertarianism is right wing. Traditional conservatism seems more group based. There’s a tension in progressivism and conservatism between the group and the individual. Both are susceptible to deifying the individual. Both believe in hierarchy, which is necessary to organization of groups. But it devolves into leaders and aspiring leaders.
Celebrity isn’t a team sport. It’s Individualism. Celebrity is the epitome of libertarianism.
Well, that's what I took away from Freidan and de Beauvoir years ago, to take responsibility for myself. Become self supporting, so that didn't have to use men for security i.e. in bad faith.
That was back when feminism meant what it said. But two of Conquest's laws apply.
1. Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.
2. Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left wing.
If anything, it made the face of feminism, Oscar night speeches et-all, annoying and eventually it deteriorated into violence. An overreaction to a perceived slight of an African American woman of color. It backfired big time.
The whole thing, using celebrities to preach feminism, was an unsustainable exercise in inauthenticity.
More fall out from Amber Heard. Such reservations were never before expressed about Cher or Streisand or even Rose O''Donnell...Maybe if Amber Heard can put her name to an ACLU op-ed attacking ACB, she can regain some traction. Better yet march in front of ACB's house with a uterus impaled on a trident. It would be good publicity for her Aquaman movie and help Amber win the love and admiration of Susan Faludi and other like minded feminists.
I saw an interesting video the other day. A Honduran man (drunk of course) was playing with a very large boa constrictor (or other constrictor type snake...I don't know I'm not a biologist) and he proceeded to wrap the snake around his neck...Darwin smiles.
You can assume what happens next, but I really wasn't focused on the dude cause as someone who's seen a lot of idiot death his idiocy and near-death (he survived) was quite boring to me. I was more focused on his wife. Not only does she scream bloody murder when he takes a dive from suffocation but she runs into the house and grabs a cleaver. She then runs out and looks in what appears to be each of the cardinal directions and screams, cleaver in hand, in Spanish for help. She then puts down the cleaver, grabs a piece of laundry hanging on the line next to her and proceeds to wave it at the snake around her husband's neck as if she was attempting to put out a fire. Finally, a village man gets there, tries to pry the snake off with his arms, a futile gesture, and sees the cleaver nearby which he uses instantly to kill this ill-acquired pet and unentangle the beast from the honduran senor steve Irwin drunk snake wrangling maestro who has since turned several shades of purple.
Here's the thing, this is a rural Honduran village. These are not people unaquainted with death. The man's wife had probably prepared thousands if not hundreds of thousands of animals for the table previously, and seen her fair share of slings and arrows of outrageous fortune fell less able men and women than her husband, a man to which she's probably been married for several decades. Yet, I the throws of serious life threatening situation the wife did not know what to do, cleaver in hand. She could not kill. She could not solve a seemingly preschool level problem, though acquainted millions of times with death, in this contest between her man's life and the life of this poorly thought out choice of pet (I'm assuming it was a pet).
The future is not female. For every 1 woman who can pass such a test there are 10,000 who can not take out the garbage, build a house, pave a road, or survive long enough to make themselves useful on a battlefield. It is a feminist fantasy. An illusion, helped by hollywood, and promoted by educated women who've never tasted desperate much less handled sunk a cleaver into the skull of animal xyz.
P.S. never try to cut the snakes head off. With the bottom of the cleaver nail the brain stem at the base of the skull to deaden then acetylcholine tissue response while the brain so still attached, and the muscles will relax enough, just like all vertebrates. I'm not a biologist.
Ignorance is bliss in leftwingland.
Black is white and up is down.
Celebrity is a libertarian state that celebrates individual dignity, individual conscience, intrinsic value, and merit-based achievement.
We have too many celebrities. And we have too many intellectuals. We also have too many celebrity/intellectuals. I am being inundated by the opinions of know-nothings and dolts with pr managers who get their names and thoughts into circulation.
Is there an off switch?
Men, women, and "our Posterity" are from Earth. Feminists are from Venus. Masculinists are from Mars. Social progressives are from Uranus.
As a chemist, I object to “alchemized”; I’d suggest the word “transmuted” but nowadays it should be “cismuted” — the knee jerk shushing of hetero males.
"feminism has preferred to focus on problems of sexuality and identity over bedrock economics..."
That's saying the movement has drifted too far left, not too far right.
Holy Adorno, Batman! Categorizing everything as right-wing or left-wing, reactionary or progressive doesn't make much sense. It's a way to avoid taking complexities into account.
Something else that peeks out from Faludi's verbiage: Feminism might be right wing.
And America might be right-wing, because of its inherent individualism.
And yet, it lurches ever leftward. Pop culture has been a way -- a right-wing way, if you like -- of pushing a "center-right" country culturally to what must people would now call the left, without seriously threatening those in power.
Well, if by "feminism", you mean equality of opportunity, then, yes, it's a deeply American, small-r republican, conservative idea. Much like gay marriage.
If by "feminism" you mean all the bullshit drama, rent-seeking, and demands for preference, then it's an un-American, capital-D Democrat, load of shit.
Celebrities' worth seems to be based on either $$$ made or awards/critical consensus, but calling it "meritocratic" seems to be quite a stretch.
Isn't Ms. Faludi's entire career based on "Celebrity Feminism?"
Following up on RideSpaceMountain, there's a YouTube video (Survivor style) of two groups of people, one male, the other female, charged with setting up shelter and establishing some sort of general settlement. The men sorted out their skillsets, and in short order had shelter, latrines and foodstuffs gathered.
Meanwhile, the women were all hung up on who was the boss, arguing about who should give orders to the others, but having no discernable skills on their own. At the end of the day, no shelter had been built, no food gathered, and all the women were either upset and crying or refusing to speak to each other. Let's hope the future isn't female.
"The Unbearable Burden of Amazing Talent" is an amusing riff on the concept of celebrity. It would make a fine double feature with "Get Shorty" for those who like Hollywood celebrity stories. What movie with these two would make a fine triple feature of self-centered career-motivated human behavioral studies? The Player, perhaps?
Celebrity culture is right-wing?
Uh, no.
"Meanwhile, the women were all hung up on who was the boss..."
From Catfights over handbags and tears in the toilets. When this producer launched a women-only TV company she thought she'd kissed goodbye to conflict...
"Gradually, what had started out as a daydream - wouldn't it be great if there were no men where I worked? - turned into an exciting concept. I decided to create the first all-female production company where smart, intelligent, career-orientated women could work harmoniously, free from the bravado of the opposite sex.
Though I will not absolve myself of all guilt, I believe the business was ruined by the destructive jealousy and in-fighting of an allfemale staff. Their selfishness and insecurities led to my company's demise. When I needed the socalled 'Sisterhood', believe me, it just wasn't there.
And while I stand by my initial reason for excluding male employees - because they have an easy ride in TV - if I were to do it again, I'd definitely employ men. In fact, I'd probably employ only men."
old-fashioned shoe-leather organizing
As we see time and again, freedom to choose is antithetical to a nationwide "organizing" campaign.
Sounds more to me like Celebrity told Feminism that it would respect it in the morning, but took off out the door while Feminism was in the bathroom peeing, then never called again.
She is saying feminism requires organizing, mass action, politics, not striking a pose. Right wing has nothing to do with it.
The feminism I respected was about the right of individuals to make choices regardless of tradition. There is no having it all - if you want to be a high powered executive - go for it, but be advised that male and female executives give up time for their personal lives for the enterprises they command. If you want to stay home with your children, do it, but understand, your lifetime income will be reduced and plan accordingly. Take responsibility for making choices.
I would like to correct my previous statement. My wife pointed out that "A honduran man (drunk of course) was pretty insulting if someone misinterpreted the context - which was of course aimed at his drunk handling a large constrictor snake - not that Hondurans are habitual drunkards.
I apologize to any Hondurans who were offended.
Susan Faludi wants some attention, so she says paying attention to her is wrong.
The right wing sucks at organizing but they have the right ideas. The left wing excels at organizing, but they have terrible, expensive, and ultimately destructive ideas.
Feminism is overwhelmingly left-wing.
Both parties have celebrities. But the left-wing has many more, plus they have the media, which empowers feminism and Faludi.
None of what she says has ever made any sense to me. She's just trying to be intersectionally chic here: powerful white feminists are the problem, bla bla bla. This is hardly a new phenomenon. And nobody pays attention to what comes out of starlets' mouths.
Faludi also wrote Backlash, so it's unbelievably tacky for her to refer to the importance of the book in third person -- 'USA today says this is a backlash...this is an important throughline...as academics have observed...'
What a steaming pile of hubris. It's her book. Why not say, "as I said in my book, Backlash..." It's not like she discovered the atom. Or that Amber Heard is a crappy spokesperson for anything.
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