Hee has expressed her own view in her blog and I really enjoyed reading and thinking about it. Have a look:

http://insatiablehee.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-like-it-in-my-own-interpretations.html

I don't believe we really disagree on anything. We're both in for the anti-sexist cause (Hee suggested avoiding the term feminist) and encourage sexual expression. However, I don't think that the campaign is an expression of liberated sexuality.

Here's my reply:



Hi Hee!

I really should blog more because it's much more about articulating and listening than just getting short-term attention (as on twitter, facebook).

I agree with all you are saying and I would even go further in terms of female sexuality. I believe it's not only time/necessary for women to become more sexually confident and articulate but to take the next step and assume the predatory role.

Why am I saying this? Just like you, I cannot live in a sexist society because sexism mostly equals homophobia (i.e. aggressive behaviour towards me and my partner). In a sexist society men are the ones who make sexual choices and have the right to judge and evaluate women as they wish. Being confronted with men who tear down this paradigm (i.e. judge their looks and lust over them) makes sexist men uncomfortable and aggressive. That's why women have to join in as well. It's a common fight against sexism and homophobia. So go for it!

Having said this I don’t think this campaign does women any favours in this fight (and breast cancer awareness). First of all “I like it on the stairs” is not a confident sexual statement, especially when the escape clause is “I only meant my handbag”. If you want to talk about sex, talk about sex.

Second, I still think the campaign is sexist because its success depends on the sexual confirmation from (heterosexual) men. It may create a feeling of belonging and sorority, which is great, but all of this is just based on a common act of weak and self-conscious (escape clause) titillation of heterosexual men. Not the fact that participants talk about their sexuality is objectifying but that they use their sexuality in a cheap way ‘to get attention from the boys’.

Is this campaign about creating solidarity among women? This is a worthy cause although I would try not to be exclusive. But if it is, is sexual innuendo the way to go? Do women have to create sexual thoughts from heterosexual men to get attention as a group? All at once? As many as possible? Does that send the right signals? To me, this sounds a bit like a “girls gone wild” fantasy created on Facebook – for heterosexual men. There must be a better way.

And one last thought about what you said about the terms sexism, racism and feminism. I agree that people have to be careful when they want to get a point across not to put people off by using strong words. But I also believe that there is so much *ism around and I don’t want to save the word for the one serious cause when I can finally use it. The everyday racism and sexism are the ones people suffer from all the time and it’s important to speak up to make a change. It may get annoying and people may become tired (e.g. by my saying ‘heterosexual men’ all the time) but at least I have created some awareness and people will understand that there are some things which you cannot just say or do. And that’s all I want. Not change them but make everyday life a bit less *ist.

I want to hear more about your fight against racism and sexism.

This Year's Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign on Facebook

What it's about

The campaign works as follows: Women are encouraged to change their facebook status to "I like" and then add a location where they like to put their handbag.

The reason for the success of the campaign is that you have to assume that 'it' is something sexual because "it" is used without a context.

The status is aimed at stimulating heterosexual men's imagination by alluding to women's favourite places to have sex and thereby exert sexual power over heterosexual men (and lesbian women?) and thus create a feeling of sisterhood among the posters.

The official goal is to raise awareness for a serious women's issue which seems to justify the means to gender this campaign.

But it's wrong for the following reasons:

1. It's sexist because it uses women's sexuality to get attention. It presumes that women are willing to use sexual innuendo to reach this goal. Women who do not want to do this (and men) are excluded.
2. It's sexist because it propagates the stereotype that a woman must have a handbag. What is it going to be next year? The length of your favourite high heels ("My greatest achievement: 20cm")?
3. It's heterocentric and sexist because it suposes that woman's sexuality is the best way to get a man's attention. What about men who are not into women? They don't really need to know about this problem, right?
4. And why do you have to make use of heterosexual men's sex drive to get attention for a serious issue? It almost sounds as if that's the best way to do inter-sex communication.
5. It's dangerous and immoral to divide humanity into men and women when it comes to disease. Even if only women can get breast cancer it's not something only women have to deal with and deal with on their own.

Especially in times of hardship it's most important to see each other as fellow human beings, not objects who only communicate sexually.

That's why I'm quite disgusted.