Monday, October 13, 2008

Roseanne Barr - 2 SWORDS - and a write up at deliberately barren

 IN response to Deliberately Barren's recent post on Roseanne Barr - generally speaking a very cool site that is scratching my itch regarding women, what and why?!?

That's pretty cool! Roseanne Barr gets 2 Swords of Awesome on my rather tough scale of services to women warriors everywhere.

I enjoyed reading her capsule version of the appropriation of religion and the female. A book I loved back in the Women's Press days was 'The Wild Girl' (or the Secret Gospel of Mary Magdalen) by Michele Roberts - published by Methuen.

You raise an interesting issue. What is barren? Can you have had and lost or relinquished children to be barren? What does society hate most - barren women or bad mothers? By bad, I mean as mildly offensive as outspoken, angry, non child-centred, professional or passionate women.

I'm too daunted to tackle the really bad mothers issue - women who kill! although abortion is considered part of that spectrum disorder.

A couple of years ago, I was planning to start a 'bad mother' blog but discovered that assorted pornographic sites had appropriated the idea.

Back on topic, I see barrenness, like feminism, as the willingness to witness. To not be a slave to biology and gender, to speak out and not apologize.

4 comments:

GS said...

what and why?

What?

Andra said...

i'm on the return trip from eliminating difference.

As a global template, we have human rights charters, which we ignore, but they do exist. So in theory, we accept all humans and their variations.

We don't talk much anymore about what being a woman is and why it's different and what that means.

I am still surrounded by people who think it's rude to talk about feminism or difference as it implies that the war wasn't won and done.

That women aren't as good, successful, whatever as men. This insults most strong minded women and sensitive men.

I feel like I'm back in my first consciousness raising group in the lounge at newcastle uni in the late 70s asking "but why can't we just be? be whatever?"

what, why vs. whatever

GS said...

Absolutely...but wait there's more.

I discovered this post bouncing off my original and your comment on it.

http://thesiteformallyknowas.blogspot.com/2008/10/roseanne-barr-is-moron.html?showComment=1224206580000

It is one of my first experiences of the generation gap. They are the prozac, post-feminist generation. We obviously see the world in a different way. They don't get women's oppression - is that because it doesn't exist in their world or have they been dumbed down to it?

Help!

Andra said...

That post is too incoherent to be criticism! There is hope for the next generation as I discovered - http://andragy.blogspot.com/2008/09/antifeminists.html.

But in the very "post everything" world in which we live in, it's very difficult to get anyone to express an opinion that is not cynical, sardonic, cute or just completely incoherent.

I love menopause as a state of mind. It is realising that my body no longer gives a damn about impressing anyone, so why should I conform to your expectations.. in any part of my life?

I feel sorry that some girls i know are under such pressure to conform that they have taken it out on themselves with depression, agorophobia, anxiety attacks and anorexia.