"They will not win"
From a thread by Sara Phillimore
If Laurie Penny has returned from her bed rest after exposure to the horrors of women with an opinion, I hope she will consider how some men responded to the women on Glasgow Green. How our age and the fact they didn’t want to fuck is became the only things worth commenting on.
I spotted quite a few lovely young women, my own daughter among them - but of course that isn’t the point and we don’t play that game. We don’t judge women on how desirable other men find them. Our rights exist whether our hair is grey or our stomachs no longer flat.
And if they aren’t condemning us for no longer being 20 and sufficiently fuckable, then they will claim to be afraid of us - a two pronged attack, both limbs as risible as each other.
I wonder how many women in our group would have felt able to go for a stroll, alone, as the sun set on Glasgow Green. My bet is not many. Because they know some of the men they would meet would have something other than a ribbon or a caustic tongue to give them.
It will never cease to amaze me how so many men apparently want to be women, or will make it the fight of their lives to support the men that do - and yet they hate and despise women so much, so often and so publicly.
Is it because we are a constant reminder that being a woman is so much more than a sexy shoe or a nice pair of breasts? It’s idle speculation. I don’t give a shit why they are like this. I only know that they must be challenged and they will not win.
Follow Sarah here.
We are told in very overt, but also subliminal, ways how much we are hated once we are no longer of 'use' to some men.
There is no shortage of men out there who think any woman who gets cat-called/wolf-whistled or in any way verbally told she's fuckable ought to feel grateful for the compliment. That is literally the lens through which they judge every one of us. It's all fine as long as women laugh at their pathetic attempt at banter, eh? Women who aren't impressed by these half-wits will often be called ugly, or munters I think was the word used here. They obviously think a negative comment about our looks is like a dagger in our hearts because that's all they see us for. We're just silly women, how could we ever hope to aspire to be anything other than pretty (ie fuckable)? I'd love a really good chat about all that, societal expectations, conditioning, the role of advertising, etc.
These kinds of men do not like being told no, and will resort to violence if they feel emasculated. They're dangerous because many women don't see the potential threat. Those women will discover their only protection lies in remaining fuckable, giddy, demure, or whatever way a man might find her useful.
I always say it: objectification has been one of the most frequently used (and effective?) tools of the patriarchy for centuries. They can treat us however they want if we're less than human.
Under patriarchy, women are viewed as commodities that produce commodities (children/future soldiers/consumers/workers). It's essential for capitalist patriarchy to objectify women in order to keep exploiting them.
The goal is always control through dehumanization which will take many/any forms: physical/sexual/verbal violence, gaslighting/making the word "woman" meaningless, dismissal based on age/weight/desirability, objectification through sexualization/turning "woman" into a costume, convincing us we can obtain freedom and empowerment through self-objectification--it's endless.
"Desirability" = no boundaries, quiet, play by the rules.
Misogynists don't find us desirable? GOOD.