Liberal pop-feminist side project

Posted on | August 22, 2005 |

Since writing the blogging chapter I’m starting to develop a bizarre fascination with a particular strand of US feminism that’s really vocal online but which I don’t hear coming from places near me, geographically speaking. I think I’m interested in it from the point of view that some of my friends are developing in their work - particularly Kiley Gaffney’s reading of subcultural cool in the art/music scene and also conversations I’ve been having recently with Jean (which arose at MACS last month) about how cultural capital is performed in certain academic settings.

Basically I’m interested in this liberal pop-feminism as a taste culture, as a form of distinction I guess, but also as a pretty simplistic political horizon (the latter being the recurring theme in most of my research, so don’t take it personally grrrls). For instance, I don’t agree that giving a kid a t-shirt with a feminist motto is the best way to teach them something so important, that by explaining what feminism is people will necessarily become more sympathetic to it. That’s because to my mind feminist sensibility depends on an experiential dimension, it is affective, it is a response to a lived condition of perceived oppression or discrimination. So yeah this is a grumpy anti-post-feminist position at heart except that it’s itself post-feminist because it’s not about consciousness raising. I don’t quite know what I make of it all yet, but the following list is what really got me going on this tangent. It’s the 2004 Reader Survey Results of Bitch Magazine which I got in an email newsletter the other day (I recently subscribed to the hardcopy version so I can live out this new obsession fully). Bush’s re-election being in the ‘Worst Pop Culture Moment’ category certainly started me thinking, but probably what concerns me is how actual agents, activists and events here become subject to consumption, as if consumption or endorsement were themselves exercises in political solidarity, tokens of subcultural identity. Maybe that’s what’s particularly North American about it? (If you’re a feminist, buy the t-shirt…) I’d really welcome thoughts on this. [Oh and yes, the three best bands happen to be favourites of mine too - oh the irony]

-Best Pop Culture Moment: Janet Jackson’s breast exposed; John Stewart on Crossfire; success of Fahrenheit 911
-Worst Pop Culture moment: Reaction to Janet Jackson’s exposed breast; Britney Spears’s marriages; Bush’s re-election
-Best Band: Le Tigre; Sleater Kinney; Franz Ferdinand
-Best Solo Artist: Ani DiFranco; Tori Amos; Bjork
-Best Record Label: Righteous Babe; Kill Rock Stars; Mr. Lady (R.I.P.)
-Best Film: Fahrenheit 911; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Garden State
-Best Non-Fiction Book: America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction, by
Jon Stewart; Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, by Al Franken; Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, by Dave Sedaris
-Best Fiction Book: The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown; Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides; The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffeneger
-Funniest (intentionally) Celebrity: Jon Stewart; Ellen DeGeneres; Margaret Cho
-I Should Know Better Than to Like This Celebrity: Britney Spears; Christina Aguilera; Jessica Simpson
-Best DIY Company: Sublime Stitching; Queen Bee Creations; BuyOlympia.com
-Best Sex Toy Shop: Toys In Babeland; Good Vibrations; Smitten Kitten
-Best Political/Activist Campaign: MoveOn.org; John Kerry; Howard Dean
-Best Non-Blog Website: Salon.com; TheOnion.com; TelevisionWithoutPity.com
-Best Blog: LiveJournal.com; Bitch (S)hitlist; MargaretCho.com/blog
-Magazine You Love to Hate: Cosmopolitan; Jane; People
Most Offensive Political Ad: Busy/Cheney 2004 presidential campaign ads; Swiftboat Veterans for Truth; Defense of Marriage Act
Most Offensive Consumer Ad: Coors/Budweiser; Midol/Tampax/Playtex; PETA
TV Show You Won’t Admit to Loving: America’s Next Top Model; The O.C.; The Real World
Best Feminist Pop Culture Maker: Janeane Garafolo; Margaret Cho; Ani DiFranco

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