Re: <nettime> Gender and You

[Danny Butt <db@dannybutt.net>]

Let's try this another way.

Alan, you forwarded a piece called "Gender and You" to an
overwhelmingly male list. If you're that interested in gender, maybe
you'd familiarise yourself with a few decades of feminist philosophy
and criticism (empirically the largest body of work on gender issues)
and try and make a contribution to that field, or even acknowledge
that it exists. Instead, you want to have a conversation with a bunch
of guys about how you identify with "your female characters", and this
helps you work through your relationship with Heidegger. You don't
have to be Eve Sedgwick to see that one side of the gender divide
isn't getting a lot of airtime here.

Then, when a woman says as much, you refuse to admit there could be
a problem, proving Kali's point. Then you take the very mention of
minstrelsy - a completely apt description which is well known in the
literature on online identity - to suggest that you've been painted to
be a member of the KKK. It's pathetic.

You're accusing Kali of essentialism when she can discuss with great
detail her experience working with African American people, and
changing the way she behaves in response to critique from people who
might know something about the issues from their lived experience.
In other words, she's specifically saying that if you focus on
real conversation with respect, you can build relationships across
difference. If you were prepared to do the same, your textual efforts
might be better placed to make a difference to the gender dynamics of
the list, which would be a hell of a relief.

x.d

--
http://www.dannybutt.net








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