Feminism, Anti-Feminism, and the Pacifism of Pagandom

I’m pretty uncompromising in my feminist views.

I believe that all people should be equal.

I believe that we all carry around programming that causes us to be oppressive, bigoted assholes — no matter how much work we’ve done on ourselves, we’re still hackers trying to bring down the Matrix from within — and that code is a tricky motherfucker.

I believe that we CAN rise above our programming.

I believe that gender is a social construct, and that makes it just as real as any other social construct.

I believe that our genitals have nothing to do with anything except our sex lives and personal hygiene, and that reducing people to their genitals or reproductive organs is oppression.

I believe that if you are against feminists or feminism, if you think we’re a bunch of frigid bitches who can’t get laid and therefore hate men, if you think we’re whiny, or if you faithfully uphold any other bit of anti-feminist bullshit, that you are a big stinky asshole.

(This has nothing to do with calling yourself a feminist and your comfort there, of course. There’s a difference between not wanting to call yourself a feminist and being against feminism in all its forms.)

And, though I am not Wiccan anymore, I find bits of Wiccish stuff sticking to me like lint on my clothes, and one in particular that applies here is this:

With a fool no season spend,

Lest ye be counted as his friend.

I do not want you around me if you are against feminism. I do not want the stink of your psychic energy on my clothing or in my hair. I do not want you infecting me with your misogyny, or dragging me down with your dogged attachment to the status quo. The status is not quo, and I will fight against it with my dying breath.

This means speaking up. This means saying “No, I cannot let this stand. These attitudes are poisonous and they have no place in this world; not if we want a better future.”

This does not mean allowing the anti-feminists to continue to be your friends. This does not mean allowing them to spew their hate unchecked.

Tolerating a bigot is as bad as bigotry itself. 

So, Pagandom: can we stop? Can we stop with the transphobia and the misogyny and the letting dudes go along with believing that they could never ever be sexist because they worship a goddess? (Swear to Morrigan, this happens a lot.)

Whenever something like this occurs in the community — whenever someone is a big stinky asshole — you get floods of posts about “seeing the other side of the argument” and “being peaceful” and “remembering that we’re all in the same boat, now, and we should stick together!”

Uh-uh. I am not in the same boat as anyone who believes I am not a person, and I will toss that motherfucker out and let him drown. 

This is part of being a warrior. This is the fight. The fight for ideals, for justice, and truth and beauty and all the good things: this is it.

Misogynist? Transphobic? Gender-eraser? Totally against all feminism and everything it stands for because you think women should make you a fucking sandwich? Get the fuck out of my paganism and the fuck off my planet.