Hello all...
Please forgive me if you've seen this before - I posted it to newsgroups
but didn't really get a response...
I just started subscribing to the list, and the threads are...interesting
(*to say the least*). Still, it's sad that some listservs are able to
maintain dialogue without name-calling, and some aren't (sound of 2 cents
jangling to the floor)
I know that talk without action is unproductive, but for the moment I have
concentrate on being productive in an academic sense. There's a time and a
place for all things, but unfortunately I'm stuck having to write a paper
for my Poli Sci, 'Social Movements' class - a 3500 word paper. I want to
explore parallels between the deep ecology movement and the radical
feminist/post-feminist movement (for the purposes of this essay, elements
of both I guess). I should tell you that I believe wholeheartedly in both
movements just so you know where I'm coming from. I want to involve those
active in either or both communities to get some ideas about how the two
movements are similar instead of just focussing on what the academic books
say.
Part of my problem is trying to define what 'radical feminism' is. I have
an academic definition of it - that biological and sexual differences
between men and women have been made the basis of women's oppression"
(Joseph Des Jardins) - and I guess the common definition of it - radical
feminism as militant feminism (whatever that is). But is this academic
definition accurate? Also I'm trying to get the direct action theme in
there. If a major component of radical environmentalism is direct action,
is there an equivalent in radical feminism? Can you think of contemporary
examples of feminist civil disobedience? I guess since I'm using
EarthFirst! and Greenpeace's work as examples of radical environmentalism's
direct action, I'm kind of looking for equivalents (if that's right) in
radical feminism. Are women's anti-nuclear blockades an equivalent? Is
lesbian activism what radical feminism is? Is body politic writings (like
Adrienne Rich's work) radical feminism? How many feminists consider
themselves radical feminists? Or is this a case of radical feminism(s)?
I see some similarities between radical environmentalism and radical
feminism, but I want to hear what you have to say. So far I see that
-both are examples of 'radical' formations of mainstream political
ideologies (both within the environmental and women's movements). This
one's kind of obvious, of course.
-both have I feel that there are parallels in terms of the rhetoric used in
debate, their philosophical orientations, and their position within society
and social movements (as "outsiders" too "radical" for mainstream social
movements) - similar in their criticism of mainstream environmentalism and
feminism, etc. Maybe both are similar in their membership numbers (or
lackthereof, some might say).
Yet in some sense deep ecology and postfeminism differ in methodology and
action; deep ecology often is expressed in illegal activities (what we know
as direct action :) ) like monkeywrenching (purposeful dismantling of
machinery used in logging) while radical and postfeminism engages in
critical dialogue (critical theory, gender studies, etc.) or performance
(the 'riotgrrl' movement in music, for example), all the while operating
within legal boundaries. I'd like to examine why a difference in approach
exists, and why their actual activist actions differ. Are both similar in
how they engage with the mainstream political process, and how they deal
with the social movements which spawned them? Also where is (or should go)
ecofeminism in this whole debate - did it emerge as a response to the
perceived schism between deep ecology and radical feminism, and what does
ecofeminism contribute or takes away from radical environmentalism and
radical feminism.
So tell me your thoughts, rants, experiences, perceptions etc. about any of
this, especially what radical feminism is (and, for that matter, what do
you define radical environmentalism as). Any info on radical feminist
direct actions would be very helpful.
I appreciate you reading this, and I'd love to hear what you have to say.
If you have any good books or websites to recommend, pass them on to me too
:)
Thanks,
Rachel
reply to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Yes, Yet Another Lefty Signature Line
~The Resistance Will Be As Transnational As Capital..."the collapse of the
global marketplace would be a traumatic event with unimaginable
consequences. Yet I find it easier to imagine than the continuation of the
present regime." - George Soros
~Nothing ever burns down by itself/Every fire needs a little bit of
help...- Chumbawamba
~Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. - Horace Mann
~You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, this is
something you are free to do and is in accord with your nature, but perhaps
precisely this holding back is the only suffering that you might be able to
avoid - Franz Kafka
~The sociologist, in his quest for understanding, moves through the world
of men without respect for the usual lines of demarcation - Peter L. Berger
~Thank you to everyone who recognizes that there is more to a city, a
people, a nation, more to human endeavor than that which can be measured in
the terms dictated by the goddamn, so-called free market. - Guillermo
Verdecchia, 1993.
~Unless either philosophers become kings in their countries or those who
are now called kings and rulers come to be sufficiently inspired with a
genuine desire for widom; unless, that is to say, political power and
philosophy meet together, while the many natures who now go their several
ways in the one or the other direction are forcibly debarred from doing so,
there can be no rest from troubles, my dear Glaucon, for states, nor yet,
as I believe, for all mankind. - Plato's Republic, v. 473
++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal +++
++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++
++++ see: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++
(latest favourite quote as of Saturday, February 27th, 1999 2:10 PM
Toronto, Kanata. Come check out my slowly-being-brought-back-to-life
webpage at http://welcome.to/rachelshomepage )
