Drag Queens, Rad Fems, and Genderpocalypse
I watched some pretty spectacular internet drama unfold over the weekend. Gotta love that.
Let’s just say that everyone’s favorite group of martyrs are up on the cross again, a few having been evicted from what has been declared a penis-obsessed, male-identified cauldron of anti-feminism. Run by Twisty.
Now, I’m no Twisty fan, for sure, but really, I think that above all I’d be calling her nihilistic, were I to lodge an official complaint. I mean, it’s pretty out there to assume that she heads up some sort of Secret Penis-bearing Cabal, in a huge disinformation plot designed to end Radical feminism as we know it.
Which means that they pulled out everyone’s absolute favorite go-to accusation: You must be a man. Now, there’s a difference between being outright mistaken for a dude, and being accused of gender obfuscation. I mean, first off, a mistake is a mistake (regardless of how hilarious it might be.) But, running around assuming that there are legions of people that are deliberately fooling you, of all people, in part of a larger, concerted effort to fuck up your internet groove and dilute your own personal ideology? Well… that’s just a wee paranoid, doncha think?
Particularly given the origins of the whole sordid affair.
See, apparently if you run “Drag Queens is the EVIL” and “Real feminists don’t speak publicly of trying to raise their sons” and “Transsexuals are undercover menz, sent intentionally to ladies rooms nationwide in order to destroy feminism” through a blender, you end up with something close to a Gremlin. And, no one wants a Gremlin hanging around. Well, almost no one. Once again, there is one place out there that welcomes Gremlins, and Vomit Monsters, and Trolls of all kinds. There is a refuge for the woman that seeks to alienate the whole of the feminist blogosphere in her search for Purity and Salvation. There is a place that welcomes the woman that wants to speak in Wimmin-centered Tongues, as the voices of our lost Mothers cried to the Goddess moons and moons ago. Alas, there is one place out there, one singular bastion of the faith, that remains a sanctuary for the kind of woman that is just plain sick of the sluts and the menz and the perverts high-jacking her feminism. And, she’s really sick of being chastised for calling people sluts, and men, and perverts.
And, at that place they will be quick to point out that I Blame the Patriarchy is a personality cult.
Because, surely, there’s no way in hell that a woman that weeds out dissenters, heavily moderates and alters group communication, and asks her readers to curtail their commenting at other blogs could possibly be running a bit of a personality cult herself. Of course, not. There’s no way that anyone with a history of embracing extremist ideology, that self-selects for an extremist audience of isolated martyrs, and then tries to achieve leadership positions on a national level could ever be running a cult. Oh, and begs for money from those same people.
No, ma’am, indeed.
It’s impossible.
tags: internecine drama
What the hell?
— Moira Jul 22, 01:48 PM #
Thanks for making me smile…”personality cult”...exactly!
— rootietoot Jul 22, 02:21 PM #
OK, hang on…TWISTY is insufficiently ideologically pure and woman-identified? Seriously? Links?
On the other hand it was inevitable that some of her peanut gallery would turn on her eventually. If nothing else the fact that she has a sense of humor alone would damn her in the eyes of those who think humor is a patriarchal contruct.
Also, when the last drama went down I remember one of that lot writing about how radfems were only a few dozen women in the whole world, and thinking that was a load of crap – I, personally, have met more radfems than that. Now I’m starting to think that what she meant was “radfems who are pure of heart and meet my exacting standards”, which would indeed be a pretty small group.
— CassandraSays Jul 22, 07:27 PM #
Yeah, well, “radfems who are pure of heart and meet my exacting standards” are the only ones that COUNT, ya know…
— Veronica Jul 22, 08:04 PM #
Oh yeah, the personality cult of Twisty, it is to die for. And the boards full of men and male sympathizers and trans trolls.
It is very difficult achieving purity in such a male-identified world. Thank goddess there are a few enlightened ones to show us the way.
— kactus Jul 22, 08:57 PM #
Kactus is right, as we are all becoming men (I was one of the earlier “men”), the road to parity is ever steeper. And the standard for feminist ever sterner. As this happens, throwing out the baby with the bathwater (not literally—well, mostly not literally) seems destined.
— Octogalore Jul 22, 11:28 PM #
“Sisterhood is powerful—it can kill you.”
Florynce Kennedy
— Daisy Jul 23, 07:25 AM #
This is dead on accuarate and it is fucking hysterical.
Thanks for the laugh!
— Kathy Jul 23, 03:21 PM #
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – those lot aren’t feminists, they’re a high school clique.
Maybe junior high.
— CassandraSays Jul 23, 04:22 PM #
That seems sort of mean to high school girls. At least in high school they don’t pretend that they’d save the world, if the girl’s softball team would just get the fuck out of their way…
— Veronica Jul 23, 04:27 PM #
“And, at that place they will be quick to point out that I Blame the Patriarchy is a personality cult.”
now, I tried to tell them that back last spring or summer. nobody listened. they all laughed! laughed!
— antiprincess Jul 23, 07:48 PM #
that cartoon is made of win.
— belledame222 Jul 26, 12:05 PM #
...as is the LaRouche nod.
— belledame222 Jul 26, 12:16 PM #
Um. Were you seriously comparing Twisty to La Rouche? (Certainly, there are valid comparisons to be drawn between certain of their respective followers, but…) Not assuming that you were or were not, but rather, asking a genuine question.
Anyway, it’s hilarious. I’ve always maintained that Twisty Faster is a lot like God. In that her most enthusiastic followers (and some of her most vituperative detractors) scare the crap out of me.
— Victoria Marinelli Jul 29, 03:08 AM #
Nah. La Rouche==Heart, the woman that writes "The Margins."
I might compare Twisty to Ayn Rand or L. Ron Hubbard, though.
— Veronica Jul 29, 11:32 AM #
the most LaRouchian of the followers all seem to be splitting off and going Marginalized, now. whatever else i think of TF, i think picking mods and distancing herself from some of these loons was a wise decision. but then, I would think that, of course, enabling tool o’patriarchal oppression-bot that i are…
— belledame222 Jul 29, 02:55 PM #