We thought we were breaking boundaries and taboos around women’s bodies
The Auckland University Students Association is putting on a Womensfest September 21-25.
It’s time for another Womensfest! The AUSA Womens’ Rights Officers have been working around the clock to bring you a great week filled with events on womens’ rights, issues, culture and intersectionality! Don’t miss it – come along and get empowered!
Good stuff, right? But there’s a problem.
One planned item is the Vagina Cupcake event.
Uh oh.
Hiya WROs! I was one of the WROs in 2011 and I’ve learned a lot since then. For example, we did things for fun (luckily not during our Womensfest, but unfortunately during our KATE) like vulva origami and vulva cupcakes, for exactly the same reasons as you are now – we thought we were breaking boundaries and taboos around women’s bodies, and doing something new and exciting.
What I didn’t think about then was that we weren’t representing all women’s bodies, and in fact what we were doing was a pretty cruel slap to those women who were already the most excluded. It wasn’t new and exciting, but an old exercise in cis privilege. It was reminiscent of the ways a lot of old-school feminists try to exclude trans people from women’s spaces by emphasising specific shared traits or experiences of “womanhood”, e.g. having a vagina. Which if you think about it is not a great thing to base a sisterhood on!
I’m actually really embarrassed about a lot of the things I did out of ignorance when I was WRO, but history doesn’t have to repeat. Luckily there are lots of fun ways to celebrate Womensfest without resorting to a reductive feminism rooted in the vagina, aka Cunt Feminism. If you want to learn how not to be a cunt feminist I suggest you listen closely to the constructive criticism that you are being given by your peers.
Surely she means cuntstructive criticism.
I’d like to think that if I were a trans woman, I would have a sense of humor about something like vulva cupcakes.
And, look, now she’s moved on to breaking boundaries and taboos by calling feminist women cunts!
What a maroon.
Congratulations! We’re back to “vaginas are dirty and unmentionable”. I’m sure all mention of periods, pregnancy, and childbirth will be purged from women’s spaces ASAP.
If women’s bodies may no longer be celebrated, valued, or even accepted because they don’t match trans women’s bodies, how is that different from women’s bodies being devalued because they’re not like men’s bodies? Plus ça change…
Oh, for…
*Facepalmheaddeskbodyfloor*
Bake the bloody cakes! I’m sick of ‘allies’ doing this.
With ‘friends’ like these, as they say. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Honestly, I’m beginning to think that ‘trans allies’ are actually fifth columnists trained by MRAs. By building this straw trans woman they couldn’t make trans women look worse, could they? The actual, real-life, breathing, trans women I know honestly do have a sense of humour about their ‘private parts’ and have no problem with cis women celebrating their womanhood. But will the cancellation of such an event be blamed on an over-zealous ‘ally’ working on her own initiative? Of course not. Trans women will get all the flack. Again.
I know, it’s awful.
The people doing it apparently mostly have nothing to do with the University of Auckland though. Maybe none of them do.
One of the most belligerent and absurd actually has a Patreon account to pay her for creating such posts. She’s quite far away from Auckland.
https://www.patreon.com/queerdykekylie?ty=h
But the outright hatred of and contempt for “cis women” is truly disgusting. Misogyny is the ultimate in social justcie now. Wtf?
Have any straight women complained about how this is straight excluding because it expects women to eat (symbolic) pussy?
More seriously, I don’t like the idea of the cupcakes because they are presenting disembodied women’s sex parts as commodities for consumption. Let’s bond over experiencing what men do everyday– objectification and reduction to focus on our own satisfaction. To me, it doesn’t sound like empowerment as, at best, an ironical representation of the subjugation of women.
(Yet I wouldn’t object to other women enjoying them, I’d just side eye the cupcakes and bring my own snacks)
So much about this is absurd and enraging, I don’t know where to start. But here’s one thing that upsets me about it: how many young women will be deterred from putting on similar events, possibly even turned away from feminism altogether, because of nonsense like this? Because the message they are being told is: no matter how well intentioned your efforts, no matter how hard you try to be inclusive, you will inevitably be called an Evil Bigoted Shitlord by someone and have all your efforts derailed, maybe even completely destroyed, by self-righteous, posturing keyboard warriors who have worked out that trashing other people’s activism is a much quicker and more painless path to virtue than carrying out your own.
Who could be bothered to even try, in those circumstances? Why would anyone volunteer to host next year’s event?
Absolutely. This kind of thing makes any kind of feminism seem like a pool of piranhas.
I think what the heresy-sniffing assholes at Purethought Blogs did to me will have a similar effect; I think all these eruptions have a similar effect. LOOK OUT!! DON’T GO NEAR!!
Are these people for real? I mean, if I wanted to *troll* an event, I couldn’t think of any better way of doing this.
Alright, I’m afraid they are for real. That’s … strange. (Yeah, I know: an understatment of the year.)
This seems honest and reasonable to me, though to be honest I don’t know anything of the background.
I have no words.
@Samantha Vimes:
“Let’s bond over experiencing what MEN do everyday– objectification and reduction to focus on our own satisfaction.”
I’m sorry, but I cannot let that pass unchallenged. I’m sure SOME men do objectify women and focus on their own satisfaction. I’m also sure SOME women do the same, as do SOME trans people. Isn’t it about time we recognized that virtues and flaws have nothng to do with sex or gender?
#14: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NotAllMen
@Cressida:
Your wisdom shines too bright for me to behold.
Oh, of course! Silly me! That was an Argument!
For what it’s worth, piero, I found that statement unhelpful too.
I don’t think the problems women face are attributable to the virtues and flaws, or enlightenment and otherwise, of individuals at all (of whatever gender.) These are deep-rooted prejudices, internalized by us all, and systemically enforced.
I’m not oppressed by “men.” I’m oppressed by a complex of beliefs, prejudices and traditions called “Patriarchy.” There’s a difference. Patriarchy values men above women, but everybody has a hand in perpetuating it.
I just checked back, and it seems that after initially defending the cupcakes and getting even more hate, the organisers decided to cancel the event. Apparently celebrating female sexuality is no longer allowed…
[…] that this is “Cunt Feminism.” They said that. Promoting vulva visibility is “Cunt Feminism” and an anathema to trans women! Is this ok? Sorry no. It isn’t. I am also not […]