E – Hi there, may I tell you about my movement?
L – Sure!
E – Women and men have their own set of essential qualities which define their respective sexes. For centuries, since the fall of the matriarchy, men have been glorifying their essential qualities (masculine qualities) while denegrating the essential qualities of women (feminine qualities).
L – That sounds horrible.
E – It essentially is.
L – Do you mind if I ask you some questions about all of that because I think I'm a little confused?
E – Sure!
L – Well, first what makes a quality essential?
E – That means it is associated with the entity in question, in this case the essential qualities of men are associated with men while the essential qualities of women are associated with women.
L – That's interesting. So how are these qualities associated with men or women?
E – Based on their use by one of the sexes.
L – So association is based on use?
E – Yeah, basically.
L – Are there some members of one sex that display the qualities associated with the other sex i.e. women that display qualities associated with men or men that display qualities associated with women.
S – Yes of course, there are lots of those types. A woman named Joan of Arc was a great military leader and even though King James I of England was male, he displayed many negative qualities which the patriarchy associates with women.
L – Was Joan of Arc considered a man because of her valor or King James I a woman because of his indecisiveness?
S – No, of course not that is silly.
L – So, despite their abnormal deviation from the set of essential qualities associated with their sex they remained members of their own sex?
S – Yes, isn't that obvious?
L – I'm the one asking questions. Why then are those qualities (valor and indecisiveness) associated with men and women respectively?
S – Because the consensus of history shows that generally speaking those qualities were associated with men or women.
L – Why does history say that when there are clearly exceptions to the rule?
S – Oh that's the good part. History is just this big cover up, as part of which men have striven to hide from memory those men who break the pattern and to suppress the memory of women who did not conform to their predetermined role.
L – Have men been successful in this cover up, because if so that would really suck?
S – No, because as we are aware of their attempt to do so and have acted to prevent its success or the continuation of the cover up.
L – Well that's good news. But is it possible that as part of this vast coverup they created a system of labels that associates certain preferred qualities with men and non-preferred qualities with women?
S – What do you mean?
L – It's kind of like they tried to deal us a bad hand in a card game by deliberately giving us bad cards to play with.
S – Oh yes, they definitely did that.
L – So then, should we accept this bad hand i.e. their attempt to label certain good qualities which lead to success as masculine and other qualities which do not lead to success as feminine?
S – You know what, those qualities that you're talking about, those are the qualities of men which they have glorified through the creation of a patriarchal hierarchy and a heteronormative society.
L – But are those qualities the essential qualities of men or is it simply that they would have us to believe that they are the only ones who can have those qualities?
S – It is possible that the male hierarchy has deceived us into choosing to use rhetorical tools (as well as display other qualities) which are inherently faulty. Tools such as rhetorical self-identification as the victim or rhetorical victimization which inherently place us in a subordinate role to the offending patriarchy.
L – How then should we respond when women self-identify themselves as victims (use the rhetoric of victimization) in the media?
S – With expressions of disgust. We are not subordinate to the patriarchy, we are equal to it and therefore we should not be constrained to using tools which only reinforce its power over us as victims.
L – So the logical conclusion of our conversation is that this whole system of essential qualities for men and women has been designed by men to trap us through the used of sex-based associations and labels?
S – Yes, we must reject the tools they have given us and take up the tools which they reserve for themselves.
L – But will the master's tools ever dismantle the master's house?
S – Haven't I heard that somewhere before? But the answer is that you have set up a false metaphor. It is not the master's house, it is the house if of all humankind who are created with equal rights to live in it and utilize the tools associated with it.
L – Just a thought: Is the logical conclusion of liberal feminism the abolition of sex based associations and the creation of a gender-blind society?
S – I think so, but honestly I am tired of thinking about all this. Let's go have a cigarette.
Fin
