Letter to the men on the Left

Dear Leftist men,

We should be on the same side. We’re in the same corner on the issues of Western imperalism, we all recognise that poverty is the result of the greed of others and isn’t a ‘natural disaster’ for which no-one is responsible. We despise the exploitation of those who have least power in the world, we feel deep shame for all the crimes that have been committed in our names. We agree that we must all be aware of our class and race privileges if we have them, and we must be always ready to question our deepest thoughts and assumptions. We all know we have to be the change we want to see in the world, or whatever.

But we find there is a barrier, a fine mesh screen that you have put up and refuse to peer through. It can’t have escaped your notice that the vast majority of the world’s leaders are male, that worldwide women are economically, socially and physically subordinated to men. You know you may have racial privilege and class privilege, and you know they may be present when you are completely unaware of them. But yet, few of you ever seem to face head on the reality of male power in the world. You have male privilege, which is very likely harder for you to overcome than any other form of privilege you possess.

Don’t tell me I’m defensive. I am, that’s not the point. Don’t tell me that you are 100% for women’s rights, that you are not misogynistic. You don’t get to tell us that; you have to prove it. Just like you know the person who says ‘I’m not racist, but…’ means ‘I am racist, and…’. You have to analyse yourself, your assumptions, your desires, hell yes even your fantasies to see how that privilege has infected you, what it means, and what you can do about it.

For us feminists, dealing with you can be most disillusioning. We support all your campaigns against Western abuses of power and the trampling on human rights that their arrogance allows and excuses, but then our issues will turn up (and, let’s face it, they are your issues too) and suddenly we are treated as the side salad, and not the main course.  Our concerns are pushed aside. Abortion, we are told, is a fringe issue. To complain about violence against women in the West is bourgeois privilege. We’re letting down the team, preventing your glorious revolution from beginning. If only we’d play nice, we could sort out all the sexism stuff when we’re all free.

And then, oh ye gods, there’s the dreaded sex industry issue. If we criticise the sex industry you leap on us for being anti-your-freedom. Well let me just take this moment to not give a monkey’s. You have to analyse yourselves. Think. Why do we make such a fuss when you collectively buy Larry Flynt another estate, Hugh Hefner a brand new car? When you proclaim that your purchase of female flesh doesn’t comprimise your supposed feminist creds? Don’t just wave your pornography in our faces and tell us there’s nothing for us to worry our pretty little heads over. At the very least you know that there is abuse of women in the sex industry. That should be enough for you to pause before buying that copy of FHM. We’ve been telling you forever. There are many links  on my puny webpage alone, damnit. You should be able to work out that the frequency of abuse means that it is systematically a form of violence against women. And you should be able to look away from the pronouncements made from the female spokeswomen of the flesh industry, and look at the entire structure of women’s bodies that props it up.

When you buy that magazine, you are contributing to an industry that thrives on the sale of women. Dont give me that BS about how it’s natural for you to buy it and drool over it- even if that were true it wouldn’t excuse you. You are perfectly capable of analysing the ideologies that uphold capitalism, neo-conservatism, imperalism, racism. So do it here. Why do you think the idea that men are natural predators and devourers of women is so prevalent? Who does it benefit? At whose expense? Why do you think so much effort is made in the upbringing and education of males and females to keep them different from each other? Why does no-one blink an eye if you go out driving late at night, but lecture a woman on her safety should she even consider such a thing? Why does our society send out message after message demanding women keep themselves inside at night when inside their own homes is statistically where they are least safe?

Can you really look me in the eye (or in this case, in the screen) and tell me that the sex industry’s abuse of women is a bourgeois concern when you know damn well that it is global and inflicts the grossest indignities on the most vulnerable women in the world? Can you really sit there and tell me that there is absolutely no link between your porn consumption and the trafficking of women?

I don’t care if you like your porn. That’s not an argument against us. It’s not even a consideration. You’ve got to do the work involved. It’s not easy, nor should it be. It’s hard to read report after report of rape, of torture, of degradation of women, to listen to daily misogyny ranging from the superior little sneers and whispers to the echoing ranting of the nutcase fundie ideologue. You can no longer treat each act as the deed of one deranged madman. You have to connect the dots.

You owe us.

Yours,

Laurelin Rain

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