I’ve been sitting on this post for awhile. I just didn’t have the heart to finish it or post it, but I need to. So, not quite as timely as it could have been since it’s been a little while since the events I address, but…still worth saying.

I’ve been too depressed by recent events in the news to even feel like writing about them — even though these are things which need to be talked about — but what is there to say? Between the recent violent attacks on young girls in my country (I refuse to call them “school shootings”; I’m from Colorado, and this is no Columbine) and our national legislature’s decision to legitimize the Bush administration’s war crimes, I feel too hopeless to even try. Why bother? No one seems to listen or care; things keep getting worse despite the work of all the amazing activists I know. But that’s just temporary burnout talking. Anyone who actually cares, anyone who actually tries to make the world slightly better, will feel like that sometimes. That doesn’t mean I can stop trying; of course, I can’t. Not standing up for what one believes is right makes one complicit in the whole mess.

If nothing else, here’s what I have to say: the fact that, in 2006, in the fucking United States of America, little girls are being killed by grown men simply for the crime of being born female, should tell us that feminism is still necessary. The fact that, in the US, religious conservatives keep pushing their agenda to prevent women from having any sort of control over their own bodies and health — and hey, people, you realize that women take hormones reasons other than the perverse joy they feel at preventing the implantation of possibly-fertilized eggs, right? to treat PCOS and endometriosis and such? and that by denying them their medication based on your moral principles you’re causing them extreme pain and agony for reasons which have nothing to do with your moral objections, not that your moral objections have any legitimacy anyway? — should tell us that feminism is still necessary.

And, of course, it’s not just here. The other day, I heard a report on the radio about how children in Afghanistan attending co-ed schools are receiving death threats, how little girls have been killed for going to school…go ahead, tell me feminism isn’t necessary. Just try to look at that and tell me that we can’t specifically promote the rights of women as human beings, that women and men are equal, that we should be “equalists” instead of “feminists”. Oh, but of course, I forget: we’re not like “them”. This is the US, not the Taliban, and anyway, we’ve liberated the people there, haven’t we…right?

But the people who would point to that as an example of a place where feminism is needed and then claim that US feminism is misguided, misplaced, useless… The way this place is headed, I can see that kind of future as a distinct possibility.* We’ve already fallen too close for comfort. And damned if I’m going to quietly allow myself to be put in a place where I can’t control whether I give birth or how many children I have, where I risk being killed on a daily basis simply for being born female (or not-white, or queer — but then, aren’t we there anyway?).

Those are only the worst extremes of what I’m afraid of. There’s smaller things, more insidious: I live in a place where girls being discouraged or prevented from developing their abilities in certain areas is said to reflect their inherent aptitude; where woman and girls are encouraged to endanger their health or kill themselves in pursuit of an impossible vision of ideal beauty (which seems, by all accounts, to consist of not-exisiting); where if women are not sex objects, they have no value, and if they are sex objects, they have no value. Where women and people of color and everyone who’s just not lucky enough to be born a straight, cisgendered, white male is considered by many to be responsible for their own oppression.

For all these reasons and many, many more: feminism is necessary.

1. I don’t mean this to come across in a “oh my god I don’t want to be like those poor brown women” kind of way, but in a “oh my that’s terrible, I want to help, and I also need to protect my own interests” kind of way. Just in case there’s any confusion.

The only reason I think this is worth commenting on is because I guest-posted on Alas back in May (sadly, a hectic month, so less productive than I’d hoped) and so I think my opinion is possibly relevant. I have always had a lot of respect for Barry and his work; he writes thought-provoking articles and he backs up his information with numbers and facts. This is great, since there are people like me who like to theorize about stuff but have no real data to reference — I really appreciate a lot of the posts on Alas as a resource. And despite his handling of the recent situation at Alas, I still have a lot of respect for him and his work because it is well-researched and well-written, and because I think he’s generally a pleasant person. I am unhappy that he knowingly did something which goes against the principles of a large portion of the community which made his site so popular, but people make mistakes and do stupid things sometimes, and what’s done is done.

Was this situation handled poorly? Yeah. Do I think Barry’s decision to sell his domain in general was a bad one? I don’t know; I wouldn’t want to do it. But I also have more content on my domain than Barry does. (He has a blog and some cartooning pages; I have two blogs, my art portfolio, an Escaflowne fan site, etc.) I’m very attached to it. But I’m not in his situation so I have no right to judge, and I’m not. Am I disappointed in the sort of content now on the amptoons.com domain? Hell yeah. Do I wish he’d looked for alternative solutions that might be more women-friendly and in line with his feminism and the feminism of other Alas posters who might have a problem with pornography (or, like me, a particular variety of pornography)? Definitely. Do I feel he’s “sold out”? Well, maybe a little, yeah, but if he’d sold out differently it would be okay. Selling out isn’t such a bad thing if you’re doing something vaguely in-line with your ethics and ideals.

But…most important, given some of the criticism I’ve seen about him exploiting women by asking them to guest-blog for free, etc… Do I feel he’s exploited my work for personal gain? No. I don’t think he ever had that intention. Am I upset I wasn’t consulted about his decision to sell Alas? I’m not sure. Not really; I didn’t contribute as much as many other people have, and it is (was) his domain to do with as he pleases. Barry has now gotten in touch with everyone who’s written for his blog to let them know we can take our work down if we don’t want it on the site, and while it’s a little late in coming, better late than never, so I’m okay with it.

I’m separating here the person from his actions. Obviously, we can only judge people by their actions, and if they continually say one thing and do another, it can no longer be excused as a mistake, a lapse in judgement, a poor decision. I don’t feel Barry has done this (others do), so I think the situation is unfortunate but forgivable. No hard feelings.

But I have asked him to take my posts off the site while the content which he doesn’t control links to pornographic websites. If the advertising in the future changes to something I find unobjectionable or if Alas moves to a new home, I will be fine with him putting my posts back up.

Here’s why: I wouldn’t say I’m pro- or anti-porn. I see nothing wrong with sexually explicit material; I like to personally describe a lot of my fiction as being borderline-pornographic. To me, it’s a value-neutral term. Porn can be degrading and misogynistic, and it can be fun and egalitarian. Certainly, almost all of it is the former. But, if it depicts people who haven’t been coerced actually enjoying themselves (rare in hardcore movies and such, I know–fiction is better in this regard), I don’t see the problem. I like porn with feminist and queer sensibilities. (I know some feminists will argue that can’t/doesn’t exist, but I have a wide definition of what I’d term porn, including erotic literature.) So if the content on amptoons.com were linking to material I didn’t find otherwise objectionable, I wouldn’t really have a problem. My site isn’t exactly safe for work as it is, what with all my nude art and general amount of foul language.

The problem is that the material being linked to I find racist, misogynistic, anti-queer, etc. Given that I am currently attempting to build a career based on feminist, queer, anti-racist writing, and given that I do use my penname as my handle on Alas and Definition, I do not want my words associated with a domain that also promotes that kind of material. I do not want that content to reflect on me or my writing, because I feel that undermines what I am trying to achieve professionally. If I left my words there, I would feel like a hypocrite, and certainly, I wouldn’t be willing to guest-post on Alas now, given the other content on Barry’s domain — not because I don’t like Alas, or Barry, but simply because it runs counter to my principles and goals at this time.

Anyway, if you’ve somehow managed to miss this whole thing, here’s some links:

The new Alas post detailing the sale of amptoons.com.
A good round-up of posts on the issue at Creative Destruction.