tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302245627574027504.post7982570244367811514..comments2019-05-15T23:59:20.159-07:00Comments on Feminist Legal Theory: Feminist Legal Theory and consciousness raising Lisa R. Pruitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16469550950363542801noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302245627574027504.post-59359551719994162202019-03-12T14:36:07.294-07:002019-03-12T14:36:07.294-07:00Consciousness raising to me is an important way th...Consciousness raising to me is an important way that we can work to change the world! Perhaps, though, people's issues with consciousness raising is that it's often (accurately) framed as "feminist consciousness raising." As we know, the term "feminist" is fraught with controversy and can engender very strong feelings from its opponents. https://bust.com/feminism/9763-is-feminism-a-dirty-word.html<br /><br />Does it matter if we call it "consciousness raising" or "feminist consciousness raising" if it has the same result either way? As long as people are thinking about things in different ways, seeing other people's experiences, and understanding how privilege intersects with gender, race, sexuality, disability, etc who cares how they get there? Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17475732304436385004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302245627574027504.post-92079508702861903062018-01-16T12:48:59.964-08:002018-01-16T12:48:59.964-08:00As always, thank you for your insightful post! Lik...As always, thank you for your insightful post! Like you, I hold the efforts of consciousness raising near and dear to my heart. To me it is a widely accessible tool that allows feminists to promote feminists ends by engaging in challenging dialogue. <br /><br />However, your point about the naysayers characterizing social media consciousness raising as "attention-seeking, laziness, and mere "slacktivism" is something that I worry about. I worry that when having difficult conversations about any given feminist issue, a lot can be lost in translation when people are conversing online. I may be biased, but from personal experience, in-person conversations seem to better facilitate meaningful dialogue. <br /><br />I also worry that there may be some truth to the criticism that social media consciousness raising has an air of laziness or half-hearted activism associated with it. I fully recognize that technological advances allows for the wide-spread dissemination of information, which has the benefit of community building. But I worry the ease of connecting with others will dissuade people from taking actions on the ground. Civil rights movements in the past were built on marches, demonstrations, sit-ins. <br /><br />My takeaway point is that so long as social media consciousness raising is used in conjunction with, and not to the exclusion of traditional consciousness raising efforts, it could be an incredibly powerful tool for all feminists. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08087216470089812598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302245627574027504.post-66713019279805565542017-12-31T14:46:03.509-08:002017-12-31T14:46:03.509-08:00Awesome post B. Williams! Like you, I often find m...Awesome post B. Williams! Like you, I often find myself raising the topics we discussed in class in conversations with friends. And since many of them are not college educated or have not been exposed to (formal) feminist theories, I’ve made it my mission to frame feminist arguments in layperson’s terms. Indeed, as feminists, we mustn’t forget that feminism concerns concrete problems that affect real people, rather than theoretical abstractions that “ascend from heaven to earth” and obfuscate concrete goals, e.g., gender parity. (See The German Ideology, by Marx.) This means that part-and-parcel of being a feminist is making sure that feminist theory is accessible to women from all educational backgrounds. <br /><br />Thankfully, there is a burgeoning group of entrepreneurial women who are popularizing feminism in layperson terms. Just recently, a simple canvas tote with the word “chingona” and its definition—“a mujer who is intelligent, fearless, and can get things done”—caught my attention. [https://chingonadefinition.com] This is because while the Spanish word “chingona” denotes a female “badass,” it also connotes a “badass bitch.” Later, I was delighted to find that “chingona” bags are promoting feminist consciousness raising among Latina women, who are playfully putting feminism in their own words, and recasting feminists as mujeres chingonas. [http://www.helloesperanza.com/home/2017/8/13/chingona-brunch] <br /><br />And truthfully, we, feminists, need to be pragmatic about how we promote feminism given the pervasive sexism and misogyny that (re)surfaced last year. To do this, we must democratize feminism by, for example, peppering routine conversations with feminist arguments in layperson terms, or even toting “chingona” totes around. Hopefully, this will help fold those who are presently put off by feminism’s elitist tinge into feminism’s ranks. Personally, I look forward to shifting from an avid consumer to a keen salesman of feminism. Joterias!https://www.blogger.com/profile/16966719194553283271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302245627574027504.post-90182881213075882282017-12-08T15:22:01.805-08:002017-12-08T15:22:01.805-08:00Becca,
Thank you for your post. I found your par...Becca, <br /><br />Thank you for your post. I found your paragraph on what the skeptics and cynics say almost comical. You write that they criticize consciousness raising groups for being "group psychotherapy" and all talk with no real action. Even if you categorize consciousness raising to this, what would be so bad about that? What would be so bad about a group where people just talk about their lives and the problems they face? It's not bringing any harm to anyone. Anyway, that's clearly not what consciousness raising groups are about so I guess it doesn't matter. I agree with you that these kinds of groups are alive and well and they have the potential be very powerful. It's comforting to know that because of the internet people can connect like never before and stand together in solidarity through situations that would be crippling in other eras. This level of instantaneous connection to masses of people is also terrifying though. We don't need to look any further than the past election cycle to see the consequences of abusing this type of mass communication. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09917965427946396528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302245627574027504.post-26322046610028242042017-12-01T11:32:49.218-08:002017-12-01T11:32:49.218-08:00Becca,
Like you, I also found Feminist Legal The...Becca, <br /><br />Like you, I also found Feminist Legal Theory this semester to have an almost cathartic effect and to be a demonstration of living consciousness raising of feminist issues. It was also a bonus that we had a wonderful, diverse class, capable of shedding new light on age-old topics and bringing many issues alive and into focus with deeply personal contributions. I can't begin to emphasize how important I think consciousness raising is, particularly it's current online form, at keeping feminist issues alive and accessible. As with almost anything feminist-related, I'm not surprised there's critiques of the original form of consciousness raising and the various online forms we see today. However, I also think that the pros of consciousness raising far outweigh the cons of being slammed by petty critics. Many of these twitter campaigns in particular have given the valuable gift of a voice to those who have had their voices stolen or silenced for far too long. As feminists, we need to make noise in order to be heard, so if a hashtag on twitter is a means of achieving this, then I'm all for it. Suzanne Connellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13272108405684096027noreply@blogger.com