no subject

[lotesse]

I'm having massive feminist anxiety again.

Actually, it's all sort of dogpiling me at the moment. I'm digging through writing a paper on "Cinderella," trying to do what Gilbert and Gubar did for "Snow White" in "the Madwoman in the Attic," trying to find some way of justifying my feeling that the story is not nearly as sexist as we think it is. This is turning up some really weird stuff about feet and girly bits, esp. with Bettelheim, who somehow comes up with the sister's mutilation of their feet as a symbolic castration, but moving on...

Twisty, who blogs at <http://twistyfaster.typepad.com>, has been talking about women's clothing and fashion. To her, all fashion is misogynistic. And I've felt really uncomfortable with my heels and lipstick.

Part of this is the uneasiness that I feel over the paper--am I excusing a reprehensible story? is it really a story of subjugation to the patriarchy? am I a bad feminist for writing this?--and part is just the old insecurity about "bad feminists."

I'm clinging to my "fashion as theater" concept, and it's sort of saving me. The idea is that clothing is costume, and you pick your part. Some mornings it's one thing, sometimes another. High feminine drag can be used ironically. Right? but is that really why I love it so much? The trouble is that, yes, I agree with the rhetoric that points out that no choice is made in a vacuum. I can't reconcile breast implants with feminism or feminist choice for that reason. But yet I'm saving up for a corset. How the hell does this work?

Awareness has to be the key. The corset attracts my inner antiquarian, my inner submissive. But when I wear it, I am no less than any other person. If men think that it's for them, I'll do my best to disabuse them of that notion. Female desire is a valid motive, and female sexual expression is necessary to the feminist cause.

And Cinderella is a self-motivated agent of femal sexual awakening, damn it!

Comments

[singeaddams.livejournal.com]

Trading sexual repression for peer repression is a bad thing. Feminism, to me, is all about being free to make your own damn choices and if you choose to walk down the street with socks on your ears then, hey, let no one question you.

[lotesse]

okay, yes, but can we really let it be that simple? What about the women who want to slice of their clitorises or infibulate their vaginas? Wht about the women who get breast implants that could cause them serious damage? A choice isn't really a choice if there's a payoff on one end and a stigma on the other. And that's the point that worries me.

[singeaddams.livejournal.com]

But the point is, stupid as those choices ARE, they're still choices. Which is the entire point of freedom, the option to make a dumb mistake. Or even a deadly one, which is where the Darwin Awards come in.

Meanwhile, your attempts at deflection move me not. If you want a corset, high heels, lipstick, nose ring or a star-fairy tattoo then GET THEM and enjoy them.

[lotesse]

You. Are. So. Right. And the whole discussion bugs me, because it feels like telling other women what to do, which is not acceptable. And yet, and yet, and yet...

I wish I could take that hardcore a stance on this. It would prolly make my life much easier. But, then again, I'm taking up permanent residence in academia, so the odds of my being able to answer any question without lots of waffling are pretty low.

[rose-sous-globe.livejournal.com]

Hats off to ya for actually thinking about this stuff. I just kinda avoid the pain by keeping it outta sight, outta mind, and wearing whatever happens to be in my closet. ^^

Ali speaking. I got this account when a friend asked me to, so I could read her friends-only entries.

[lotesse]

nice icon, babe.

I think too much, neh? But I'm papering on the subject, and it's being talked about a lot. Ack. Pain indeed.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

When I was growing up I always liked the first part of the story where Cinderella is picking the lintels out of the ashes. She's proactive about thinking she deserves a place at the ball.

Also I saw a movie as a kid called "Three Nuts for Cinderella" where the branch that her father brings home has these three nuts, each of which turns into a set of clothes. I can't remember all of them but one is the dress for the ball with the slippers. The one *I* liked was a kick ass dark brown suede hunting outfit with a crossbow. She went hunting and caught the Prince's eye when she bagged a goose he missed.

I agree with singe that clothing can be power. It's only misogynistic if that's the way you relate to it. Why should women have to give up something they maybe like and is a personal expression because it's a man thing? That hunting outfit of Cinderellas is the perfect example, because it was an outfit that implied action and capability. It was even pretty Unisex. It was easy to move in. It was also just really cool.

[lotesse]

Actually, the coolest thing about researching for this is that a lot of people have said really amazing things about the ashes element of the story. Bettelheim thinks that ashes=dirty=masturbation, which is weird and also oddly intruiging. And then there's the whole Vestal virgins/tending of the hearth thing. Maria Warner talks absolutely brilliantly about the ashes in connection to the death of Cinderella's mother--ashes to ashes and dust to dust, ash wednesday, ashes of those who are cremated.

Any idea where I could find that movie? It sounds brilliant.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Any idea where I could find that movie? It sounds brilliant.

Only in my memory, where it's been lodged since I was whatever age I was that Saturday when it was on. For some reason there was just this kids' TV movie on in the middle of the day, as I remember it. I looked it up on Imdb and it seemed like there was a movie of the same name that's got a big following in Germany--I may have seen the English dubbed version...

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Any idea where I could find that movie? It sounds brilliant.

Okay, I just looked at the comments on IMDB and it looks like the movie is, in fact, very well-known in other countries! It's shown every Christmas in a couple of countries! But it definitely seems to be the same movie--people say how the Prince has to accept Cinderella in all her roles (like hunter) and that the main character is a tomboy.