Thoughts on Tong's Thoughts

So, somehow I managed to read chapter 2 along the way...even though Celia said it wasn't assigned. I think it's my fateful punishment for having half-assed one of the other reading assignments... :X

As a general note, I think Tong succeeds in dividing her chapters into logical sections; chapter 2 was basically divided along the lines of the two "camps" of radical feminism--the radical-libertarian feminists and the radical-cultural feminists--and explains how both schools of thought (although they share a common theory) have multiple conflicts in pursuing their goals.
Radical-libertarian feminists, for example, aim to abolish the concept of "femininity" (mother, wife, subservient counterpart, etc.) to achieve their ultimate goal: androgynous societies (and individuals) that combine the characteristics of both genders.
Radical-cultural feminists, however, encourage women to reject masculinity in favor of a super-duper-femininity (all female, all the time). Radical-cultural feminists want to know why masculinity is the desirable gender trait...why do we want to be equal to men? In a way, I wonder how this is at all liberating to women...if we each harness our own perception of super-duper femininity, I think that'd be great, but we don't. I feel like the majority of women would instead reject masculinity for the femininity that the male patriarchy prescribes. Ick.

Radical feminists claim that societies' prescribed sex/gender roles are the ultimate cause of women's oppression, exploitation, etc. I definitely agree with this...but I guess because feminism and "radical" acts have been done before (when they were revolutionary), I don't necessarily earn the title "radical feminist." I think it's pretty interesting that today's feminists who participate in movements to raise awareness about gender inequality issues would have been considered "radical" in the '60s and '70s, but are no longer seen as such because the movement's not really as much of a revolution anymore...this was discussed in one of our previous readings, I think. 

Like Celia, I found the bit about pornography especially fascinating (and frustrating). While some radical-libertarian feminists see pornography as a way for females to control and/or take charge of their own sexualities ("just because a woman wants to explore whether power games are part of what makes sex 'sexy' for her does not mean she wants to serve as an object for male violence in real life" [p. 68]), other radical-cultural feminists see it as disgustingly demeaning; On page 68 Tong outlines radical-culturalists' claims that "there is no difference between gender discrimination against women in the boardroom and the sexual objectification of women in the bedroom." I'm definitely taking the side of the cultural feminists on this one! Pornography skews just about everyone's perception of sex, from how long sex should be to what should be said or what sounds should be made, to what types of clothing/props should be used during the act. Ultimately, I think pornography it demeans women (women demean themselves by acting the way pornography tells us to--silent, victimized, servant/slave, etc.) and also encourages men to act like what they see (rough, aggressive, harmful, etc.). It's disgusting! Sex, at least for our generation, needs to be relearned...