Twisty’s latest post expands, if succinctly, on her post from the day before connecting resistance to femininity with the beginning of the end of women’s oppression:
Unlike the murdered Pakistani women, many Western women have privilege enough to repudiate femininity without suffering life-threatening consequences. My crazy idea is that they should if they can, because women cannot be liberated from men’s oppression until we are de-otherized.
Bingo. And, I would like to take that a step further by making the assertion that the consumerist practices of femininity are a major way that middle and upper-class western women are complicit with the white supremacist capitalist patriarchal exploitation of women in other areas of the world (as well as animals and the environment). To be very clear, the information below is meant as a direct challenge to vapid assertions such as “women don’t have choices so their choices are irrelevant” and “there’s a difference between rejecting patriarchy and rejecting things that make one happy.” The fact is that a lot of things that make privileged people happy are paid for with the lives of the less privileged. If you don’t care that you have a toe in the collective boot crushing the necks of women in the “third world” as well as right here in the good ol’ U S of A, then go you. If you do, and you haven’t thought about any of the following before, well, maybe it’s time.
1. Clothing. Most clothing that is sold in the United States is made in sweatshops, both domestically and abroad. These sweatshops are overwhelmingly staffed by women. These women are exploited by long hours with little pay, draconian working conditions, exposure to toxins like shoe glue, severe repercussions against organizing, sexual harassment and rape by management, and, in the case of the maquila workers in Ciudad Juarez, kidnapping, torture, and murder on their way to or from work. There are consequences of loving those “cute and comfortable” skirts.
Yes, it’s true that men’s and children’s clothing are made under the same conditions, and I don’t deny that they are equally problematic. However, femininity tells women we “need” a much larger wardrobe–more clothes, shoes, and accessories–than is usual for men, and to the degree that women comply, we’re a big part of the problem.
Unlike some of the other dictates of femininity, obviously almost all of us need to wear some kind of clothing. So what are some alternatives? There are companies that make clothing in the United States and pay their workers a living wage. Or you could make your own — there’s actually quite a large fiber movement in the US within which you can learn how to shear, spin, dye, weave and/or knit beautiful wearable garments. There are thrift and second-hand stores where some women can find clothing to fit them. There’s reducing consumption by resisting the dictates of fashion and having a smaller wardrobe and fewer pairs of shoes. And there are lots of organizations working on this issue: The Clean Clothes Campaign is just one of many that provides ideas and information about how your choices can help instead of hurt.
2. Jewelry. Almost all the components of jewelry are extracted from the earth by mining. Does it excite you to think about working as a miner? I didn’t think so. I also doubt it’s very thrilling for the people who are exploited by multinational corporations to meet the consumer demand for jewelry — not to mention that mining is notoriously devastating to the environment. As just a couple of examples, conflict arising from the mining and trade of diamonds has decimated parts of Africa. Gold is being extracted using cyanide and destroying Shoshone ancestral lands in Nevada. Your bling has consequences, and you don’t need it.
3. Makeup and personal care products. Makeup may or may not contain toxic substances, depending on whether you trust the FDA. I know many women who are allergic to the fragrances and other substances in makeup, personal care products, and perfume, such that being around you while you wear those things can make them ill. And lots of makeup companies boast that their products contain “natural minerals.” Where do these minerals come from? Yep, mining, again. I believe it was Aranxta who had a post some time back on children collecting mica to be used to provide shine and glitter in cosmetics. And this is not even mentioning that every ingredient in every personal care product gets FDA approval in the first place by being tested on animals. That is, by animals being tortured with mascara brushes in their eyes, their fur being shaved repeatedly to test razors, and various chemicals being smeared onto their skins — to name only a few examples. Makeup and personal care products cause humans and animals pain.
And no, I’m not suggesting that you never take a shower and go around smelly all the time. But what can you do? How about making your own using simple food ingredients that don’t require FDA approval? You could even, I don’t know, organize (gasp!) a group of women in your city or town; you could each make one product and trade so that you don’t have to do all the work yourself. In larger areas, it’s likely someone is already doing it, and you could support her work by buying your soap and shampoo from her.
4. Damage by beauty practices throughout history. I hope even the least educated feminist out there does not need me to elaborate upon the evils of corseting (restriction of breathing and deformation of internal organs), footbinding (deformation of the feet, painful walking, inability to walk, gangrene and infection), female genital mutilation — evils which continue through the present in the form of continued FGM, dieting, weight loss surgery, high heeled shoes, cosmetic surgery of all types, skin bleaching creams, hair straightening, etc.
What more do I have to say? The consumerist practices of femininity hurt women. They hurt those of us who engage in them, and those who are being raped, beaten, exploited, and killed in the process of making the products femininity demands. It is not “harmless fun,” it’s not value-neutral, and it is certainly not without consequences. I’m sick of hearing feminists defend it as any of the above.
Lest anyone think otherwise, none of this should be construed as a defense of masculinity, with its emphasis on aggression, toughness and rejection of empathy and connectedness. Sex roles suck — why do people cling to them? Contrary to popular belief, well-constructed, comfortable and durable clothing is not masculine. It’s just that men, as usual, have claimed the easiest road for themselves. It isn’t really that hard to dress like human beings, which includes an effort to cover ourselves in ways that do not require others to lay down their lives.
And while we’re refusing to justify our complicity on the grounds that it “makes us happy,” let’s also eschew that all-too-common middle-class smugness about “doing the right thing.” Reducing our consumption, reusing stuff, buying stuff in thrift stores doesn’t entitle us to feel better than other people. You do realize that the people who are so often forced to work against their own interest to provide us with all our stuff, are doing all the reducing, reusing, and recycling that we ought to be doing because they have no other choice. Being responsible about our consumption doesn’t make us “good” — it’s part of what we owe to restore justice in the world.
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