Introduction

by Susan Bee and Mira Schor

Complete Article

( Excerpt )

Yet more intersectionality. (my spell check tells me that's spelled wrong. what does it know)

For all you men out there, you don't look harmless. Seriously. Like EVER.

I can't find it in myself to be surprised.

Hat tip to delux_vixens

I have a name for it now: The Cult of Originality.

Jonathon Lethman: The Ecstasy of Influence

This is in reference to my previous post.

Recent Femisphere events are levening my thoughts as well.

About appropriation without contribution. And that's really the line. Attribute? And you're good to go. Attribute UP THE BUTT if you have to. Over attribution.

Quote 13: "And I clasped my arms closer round Dean; he seemed dearer to me than ever; I felt as if I could not let him go; I lay with my face hidden on his neck. Presently he said in the sweetest tone,--'How comfortable I am! That last fit of coughing has tired me a little; I feel as if I could sleep: but don't leave me, Sam; I like to have you near me.'
'I'll stay with you, Dean: no one shall take me away.'
'Are you warm, darling?'
'Yes.'"Chapter 9, pg. 71, Jane Eyre by Bronte.

Okay, that was hilarious to type. Very instructive. Awful character voice!

I've been thinking a lot lately about the whole plagiarism thing that happened over in Lotrips a few weeks back. *a few weeks? feels like years*. Ah, internet time, isn't it wonderful?

You know this is going to be sort of mixed up so just...give me a few to sort this out.

See, I'm beginning to think that "ownership" and "originality" are actually part of the problem. The patriarchy problem. Let me say I'm not for out right stealing someone's work, far from it. But if you're saying up front you're stealing it, how ever you word it, I'm okay with that. Let me explain.

I always want to do this by saying, how do you *fill in the blank*? First create the universe.
It's pretty zen, well, it's very Alan Watts if you know what I mean. But it's sort of true. When I was sitting through art history classes with the Mater all those years ago, I understood that artists learned to draw/paint/sculpt by going and copying the masters. Even now there are lessons in art class where you are given a great master work and told to re-draw it. Stay with me, I can see the 'buts' already forming. True there were some who just kept right on making copies of great art and reselling them as authentic. This is bad. *nods*. But here's the thing, there is something about copying great art that does teach you about something deeper than just making the art.

Seque no 2: I once copied out a short story to add to my Christmas news letter (which is horrifying not because I copied it out, but because I am now an atheist and because I gave up newsletters a decade ago and I feel old), it was The Gift of the Magi by O Henry and it predated my move to gift amnesty vouchers. Why I'm bringing this in is not because I copied it, I think most would agree that with proper notation, using the story this way was fine. I'm bringing this up because of what happened in my mind when I retyped O Henry's words. It was amazing.

The feel of good writing, of typing it out or writing it long hand, is very different from generating your own words. I can remember seeing and reading about children copying out great poetry to learn it and memorizing it by rote. And I begin to see why this is so key. Greatness has a feel to it.

I know there are particulars to the actual event in Lotrps and I don't want to touch on those, I'm not really talking about the right or wrong of this one act. What I wanted to touch on is the air of danger that the event created around using existing material in fiction. The concept that if you use words or phrases or styles of language you might be letting yourself in for a great deal of drama that you don't want. And you might run away from a very useful tool. And this makes me sad.

I think that rather than putting huge pressure on originality in fiction, which in fanfic is a laugh to me because it's all so very derivative, can we put more pressure on stealing the right way? Because there is something about using original phrasing, style, language, that makes the fiction read more like the show it's stealing from. This used to be a good thing.

Seque no 3: See there's this thing that I've been struggling with in the feminist movement, *see how I did that there? see?* about knowledge and entitlement and these written and shared expectations about how women should live that just really bugs me. Because it feels very patriarchal to me. Now, throw in the ownership of ideas to that, the whole concept of knowing what's right for everyone coupled with ownership, and what happened there begins to feel patriarchal. I'm thinking, I don't want men or the male structure to do that to me, why would I listen to a bunch of women basically doing the same thing?

See now I can see some faults in my own reasoning, no of course I don't have to listen. But those voices have an affect on the world I live in. They affect me, and they affect my friends. And I'm struggling with how to deal with that. Certainly I want unity and consensus, but the more I'm around here, the more those ideas slip through my fingers.

So, back to the plagiarism thing. I think it behooves us to try writing someone else's words wholesale. Even if it's just a couple of paragraphs. Change the names to Viggo and Orlando or Sam and Dean or fill in the blank bandom guys, but just do it. And post it. And say that's what your doing. Just to see what it feels like. And just because it's not good to throw whole ideas out with the slash water. And because I want to try to be with each other in a way that's not sopatriarchal.

Rupert Smith, AKA James Lear, wrote an excellent article about the freedom of using ideas from literature wholesale. Notice he's not using them exactly, but the structures are there. Like I say, as long as you're saying you're doing it, I say more power to you.

cathybites posted a link to _allecto_ 's brilliantly hateful dissection of Joss Whedon, his work, life and movies. I'd love to read the meta on this. Turns out _allecto_ is the same girl from my previous entry in her eljay incarnation. Not that surprising.

What saddens me about this is the intolerance she shows to other women who fall outside of her narrow interpretation of what is acceptable. I struggle a lot with feminism and feminist ideas. I've never been one for being solidly in one box. I've always tried to see lots of sides. I don't always succeed. But I think knowing there are lots of boxes is a step in the right direction. Openly deriding women as unknowing victims seems like a conversation stopper to me. How to you converse with that? It's pretty much of a monologue.

Dissenter's Coments

From comments by Dissenter:

Moderation note: There was previously an earlier part to this discussion, in which I posted and responded to a small number of the comments I’ve been getting from those defending slash. With hindsight, I think this achieved little, if anything, so I have decided to remove that portion of the comments. Anyone wanting to read pro-slash defenses, they are everywhere in fandom spaces. From the number of hits this post has gotten, I’m guessing criticisms of me and what I’ve said here are also going to be pretty easy to find, and have no doubt already been read by the slashers who are currently coming here and trying to make me see the sad error of my ways. I have left up all of the two responses I’ve gotten so far from radical feminists who I know.

Dissenter.

There has got to be a write up on this somewhere. Anyone have a link?

I answered questions on sophiaserpentia 's lj about lack of boundary respect by men.
Fill out the poll here

As I was reading through the choices I began to think about all the times this has happened to me. Shockingly, there are way more instances than I thought.

I've been slow to post here. Well, I'm hoping to change that.

This morning, feministing
posted a pic and a link to the flikr account of irregulargirl from which I made this:




I did it without permission.


View irregulargirl's map

(  i randomly stumbled upon this stencil in SF and found the group's manifesto online...i am in no way affliated, nor does this exactly reflect my views. )

The consequence of internalizing this role is an enormous reservoir of self-hate. This is not to say the self-hate is recognized or accepted as such; indeed most women would deny it. It may be experienced as discomfort with her role, as feeling empty, as numbness, as restlessness, as a paralyzing anxiety at the center. Alternatively, it may be expressed in shrill defensiveness of the glory and destiny of her role. But it does exist, often beneath the edge of her consciousness, poisoning her existence, keeping her alienated from herself, her own needs, and rendering her a stranger to other women. They try to escape by identifying with the oppressor, living through him, gaining status and identity from his ego, his power, his accomplishments. And by not identifying with other “empty vessels” like themselves. Women resist relating on all levels to other women who will reflect their own oppression, their own secondary status, their own self-hate. For to confront another woman is finally to confront one’s self-the self we have gone to such lengths to avoid. And in that mirror we know we cannot really respect and love that which we have been made to be. (emphasis mine)
Radicalesbians (Special Collections Library, Duke University):The Woman Identified Woman


From here at Feminism 101


I'm a little flaily right now. One of the side effects of immersion therapy. This just strikes me so deeply. I'm a little shattered. I will have more to say about all of this reading once I've given myself time to digest it. To really think about it and not just react.

That being said...*shakes head* amazing.

This post on Feminism 101 finally, FINALLY got through my head some stuff that was really hard for me to grasp. I admit, being a white woman from the middle class, it felt like I couldn't understand what feminists and people of color where talking about. I'm ashamed to admit that I was so long to understand this. That it's about empathy and it's not all about me and that I just have to go on being a good person over and over again because for some people, I'll always be guilty until proven innocent and that's just something I'll have to deal with.

I'm looking forward to a time when I can see for myself the inequities others have noticed. Without having to have my hand held.

My head hurts.

You know, I spent a good deal of my childhood being adored by my Mom. My Dad is a really good guy too. I was a pretty child so it's no wonder my Mom mentioned it every time we would go into public together. I'm still confused about that. She's a big reason why I'm not comfortable with myself, my choices or being seen. Because while she was proud to show me off, she also second guessed every action I ever took. I wonder about that sometimes. Also, now that I'm older and not so pretty, I doubt my own value. Now, I'm pretty sure she is not solely to blame. I'm a white woman who grew up with the Brady Bunch, Bonanza and Star Trek. I have deeply embedded issues about gender and race and the value of women. 

There's a big component of that in my fear of being seen. Of being read or noticed even though I crave the attention. Because I don't like being mistaken and yet those embedded issues, while invisible to me, are very plain to those more knowledgeable than I.

So I'm going to work through those here. I'm tired of the dichotomy. It's exhausting. And I'm struggling for greater authenticity.

I'll be using this journal to sort out my thoughts on being a woman, women in general, gender ideas and politics, and feminism.

I have other lj's but felt the need for a designated place to talk about the evolving nature of my head.

Also, the name is priceless. I'm very glad it wasn't taken.

For personal reasons I'm keeping my other lj's out of this. I'm looking for a clean slate of sorts. An unspoiled space to start unsnarling some very snarled thoughts.

Comments are welcomed. Of all sorts. With links especially.