SOMETHING NEW

[bookgazing]

Over at Torque Control Nic (of the ever joyous Eve’s Alexandria) has a post about feminism in Gwyneth Jones sci-fi novel ‘Life’. The quote below gets all my cogs spinning:

‘I don’t want to be liberated, I want to be a monster. He didn’t get it. No one ever got it, and Ramone could have straightened them out by saying nobody is born a woman and that what she hated was the way she COULD NOT ESCAPE from the role of second-class person. No woman could, the only escape was to become SOMETHING NEW that had never existed before.’

and I was hoping we could talk around the ideas in this quote a little bit (come on, it’ll be more fun than it sounds *puppy dog eyes*). 

First I wonder, how could (edit: cis-gender women) become ‘SOMETHING NEW’, in the middle of a pre-existing world full of pre-conceptions about gender and behaviour?

Then, I’d love to know if you think this new state of existence is even what feminists should be aiming for. Are some current feminist goals (achieving respect for things that are traditionally female and respect for women who don’t want to be traditionally female) more important? Is it important to work towards both traditional feminism and the ‘new paradigm’ that Nic mentions in her review?

And do you think the idea of existing, without being being examined as a product of gender at all (in a negative, or positive way) is desirable for (edit:cis-gender) women?

Chuck your words at me if you’re interested.

Edit: Please note that I am specifically asking these questions about cis-gender women, because I don't have the knowledge to ask how this quote might apply to trans-gender women.

Comments

[cypher]

Hmm, well, if you are only speaking to women, then this post isn't for me in the first place (though I do believe that feminist conversations are valuable for people of all genders, I also acknowledge that there's a need for female-only spaces as one of the parts of the whole). If the discussion you want to have here is whether the concepts in that quote could be useful for cis women in particular, then perhaps all you need to do is make it more clear that they are the audience you want to engage?