Apology-Free Feminism
Amanda Marcotte’s new book is for young feminists who get it.By Kay Steiger
May 9, 2008
Amanda Marcotte, the author of “It’s a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments.” (Image courtesy Seal Press)
Amanda Marcotte has proven herself to be a sarcastic, no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners, cuss-spewing, bullshit-calling, prank-inventing, riot grrrl-loving, kick-ass-and-take-names kind of feminist. This is Marcotte’s brand of politics and feminism—it’s funny and accessible.
Last year’s popular feminist book, Jessica Valenti’s "Full Frontal Feminism," sought to persuade young women to reclaim the word “feminism” and convince them that the term is cool. But Valenti’s book was best received* among young women who were already devoted readers of the blog she edits, Feministing.com. Apparently learning from this, Marcotte has written a book, "It’s a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments," that is geared toward women who already self-identify as feminists—those who have decided to reclaim the word. These women don’t need feminism’s potency explained to them; they already get it. And this book is for them.
Marcotte is no stranger to controversy. She’s been a blogger for years (which means she has dealt with her fair share of nasty commenters) and edits Pandagon, named one of the top ten political blogs in 2006 by Playboy. (She even gets the misogynists that run a porn rag to laugh.) She also got hired to blog for John Edwards’ presidential campaign, but was quickly fired after her enemies dredged up old anti-Catholic, pro-birth control posts she had written. Marcotte has also been accused by other feminists of plagiarism from the now-defunct BrownFemiPower blog in an AlterNet article. Marcotte disputes these accusations.
Even more recently, the art in Marcotte’s book has been labeled as racist—the cover depicts a Marvel comic-book blonde bombshell in animal print about to spear an alligator. In response to the attacks, Marcotte issued a post on Pandagon titled “I’m sorry” in which she said, “I didn’t pick the offensive imagery in my book, but I should have caught it sooner than now. I didn’t and there’s no excuse.” Marcotte’s co-blogger on Pandagon, the illustrious Pam Spaulding, said, “[S]ince Amanda obviously wasn’t attempting to promote a white supremacy theme in the book, [the mistake is the result of] the blind spot of white privilege.” Even her book about overcoming controversy created a controversy. In other words, Marcotte is something of an expert of on surviving “politically inhospitable” environments.
The book is structured like a series of themed blog posts. Each chapter is only a couple of pages and there are about eight or ten chapters in each section. Marcotte tackles everything from dealing with annoying relatives to anal bleaching. What is billed as a guide is really just Marcotte’s humor coming through at full throttle. Marcotte invents a series of pranks to challenge anti-choice advocates. For instance, she suggests prank-calling Pregnancy Crisis Centers, or “clinics” that masquerade as abortion providers but instead exist solely to talk women out of abortion. These pranks aren’t intended to serve as actual maps to fighting the anti-choice movement. They’re more ways for self-identified feminists to chuckle and remind ourselves of how ridiculous and inconsistent conservative, anti-feminist ideology can be.
Her attacks aren’t simply leveled at the anti-abortion crowd. She also takes on PETA, a radical animal-rights organization that has used misogynist ads in an attempt to be provocative. Marcotte begs, “Feminists, pro-feminists, feminist allies, and assorted liberals—do not give money to PETA. Please. Someone is still giving them money, and it has to stop.”
The last portion of the book, called “Resources,” outlines the kinds of movies, television shows, music, and blogs every feminist should read. But this section tends to reflect the cult of personality that Marcotte embodies. She outlines a lot of really great cultural milestones—but clearly the kinds of milestones that Marcotte herself loves. A feminist following in Marcotte’s footsteps loves “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Ugly Betty,” Bikini Kill, and calling people “tools” to insult them. Embarrassingly enough, Marcotte says BrownFemiPower “leaves no stone unturned in articulating [its author’s] vision for a broader international movement for social justice” in this final section. Now the website is down, thanks to a controversy involving Marcotte.
When Bitch magazine reviewed the book, the major complaint was that it felt like it was written as “a manual for collegiate-feminist set.” That’s code for, "It’s not very accessible to older feminists." But why should it be? Some of the second-wave feminists like Gloria Steinham, Deborah Dickerson, Linda Hirshman, and Camille Paglia have been disseminating some pretty reductive ideas of feminism these days. The infighting over what young women should care about is a pretty tired argument, especially since most young feminists, like me, aren’t really confused and don’t need guidance. We have a lot of opinions of our own and the blogs to prove it.
Marcotte’s book has earned a great deal of criticism, some of it well-deserved. But this is also the most accessible and hilarious book written by a feminist for feminists that I’ve read in a long time. She tried to reach a lot of feminists that are, quite frankly, a lot like me. Blogging is nothing if not a cult of personality, and Marcotte understands hers. She didn’t write her book for the feminist mommy or the wide-eyed sorority-pledging college freshman. Marcotte wrote her book for young feminists who get it, laugh about it, and don’t apologize for it.
Kay Steiger is an Associate Editor at Campus Progress.
*This text has been edited from the original.
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Comments
Even more recently, the art in Marcotte’s book has been labeled as racist—the cover depicts a Marvel comic-book blonde bombshell in animal print about to spear an alligator.
And, more to the point, some of the interior art depicts her beating up African natives.
— Djiril - May 9, 11:57 PM - #Quote from Amanda Marcotte in reference to IMBRA:
“...I recommend listening to the howls of men who think the government owes them the right to treat immigrant women like a population available for their punching bag and sexual assault needs.”
It is as if someone is writing satire but this woman really means it.
Quote from her book:
“Once a Nice Guy has slid into racist fetishizing, he is usually unsalvageable. The best thing you can do is wait until he brings home potential mail-order brides from Russia and slip them pamphlets explaining how to get a green card outside of marrying a Nice Guy.”
Unsalvageable? Ruined for feminism perhaps. They are onto us..quick! hide the passports!
Pamphlets? Of course, its the ‘ol claim abuse trick instruction manual.
I dare you to go near my “mail order bride” Amanda, you old feminist buzzard. You are all talk and too scared to act. Doing any cutting and pasting tonight?
— Lee - May 10, 06:28 AM - #To the original author: Uh, Playboy is ‘run by misogynists’? What the hell are you smoking?
And to Lee: I don’t really feel bad for your ‘mail order bride’, because clearly she’s getting what she wants out of it, and I’ll take you at your word that you’re not beating her or anything.
I feel sorry for you. Not being able to have a relationship among equals (which requires being with someone who acts as a feminist, whether they call themselves by that label or not) pretty much brands you as stunted, pathetic, and missing out on the higher things in life.
Shit, I’ve lived in Japan, I know how far white privilege can get you with beautiful, non-feminist women. But to settle for that would be to make myself a lesser person, as it’s clearly made you.
Does IMBRA leave plenty of room for men to be tricked? Sure, but by the time you’re using a foreign match-making service, you’re at a low enough level in the world that I’m perfectly fine with having you get the short end of the stick.
I’d put the trade-off at roughly… 20 to 1? I’m willing for about 20 of you to get tricked and divorced if it’ll allow one abused immigrant woman to get help who otherwise would be too scared to come forward.
Is that discriminatory against your ilk? Sure.
But in case you haven’t noticed, you’re at the bottom of the gene pool. Hell, using a ‘mail-order bride’ service even puts you behind the guys who actually go abroad in search of a wife because they’re not desirable enough here. If you don’t end up breeding nearly as much, more’s the pity for you, but the next generation will turn out alright.
— Joe - May 11, 05:30 PM - #Oh, and just to add: I’d put immigrants at the top of the proverbial American gene pool, above native-born Americans. To want to come here so badly that you’re willing to marry the kind of slob that uses online foreign matchmaking services, or get a coyote to take you across the border, indicates a level of determination and will to power that the bulk of my fellow lazy-ass Americans I’ve known (red-state and blue-state alike) will never match. If anything, this country needs more ‘churn’ in its population, rather than an ossified core that sticks here for 10 generations and gets fat and lazy, and and policies that get more immigrants into this country and give them autonomy and economic power are all for the better.
— Joe - May 11, 05:34 PM - #Hey Kay,
— Anna van Z - May 11, 10:19 PM - #I think it’s inaccurate to describe PETA as a “radical” animal rights group. Marcotte seems really judgemental about PETA – if she has a problem with some of their campaigns or demonstrations, she’d find a better result by dialoging with them about it, and seeing if she could assist them with making changes. This kind of mentality turns off a lot of people who otherwise might be onboard with Marcotte’s agenda.
I am one of the many women “still sending money” to PETA, and will continue to do so, as I deeply believe in their work.
Which reminds me — since when are alluring portrayals of naked women “anti-feminist”? It’s not saying “women are only interesting for their bodies”. It’s saying that this given woman, a celebrity who’s made her living off of her body, is interesting in the nude.
Take the latest Eva Mendes nude PETA pictorial, for example. Do I give a shit what Eva Mendes has to say about foreign policy? No! Is it because she’s a woman? No! It’s because she’s made her living at a trade (acting) that in no way indicates she’d know something about foreign policy. That said, if there’s a nude picture of her next to a political statement about wearing fur, I’ll take notice. Why? Because while I’m not willing to compromise every principle I have if a naked, beautiful woman tells me to, I’m willing to compromise some principles for that sake. Frankly, I think that’s true with most guys. Which is why PETA’s ads are effective.
And no, to the Marcotte-ers in the audience, this isn’t about “women have to be sexy to be taken seriously”. Samantha Power? Not sexy (though the slight scottish accent is adorable), but I’ll take her seriously in a heartbeat. The “Rock For Change” tour that swept America in 2004? Awesome dudes, but nobody took them seriously, because they were just musicians. Neil Young now admits that he probably didn’t swing a single vote our way with his activism. It’s not a matter of “People don’t normally take women seriously”, it’s a matter of “people don’t normally take celebrities seriously”.
In short, I think your description of PETA’s ads playing on beautiful, naked women as being ‘misogynist’ is total bullshit, and if you still disagree I’d like to hear you back it up with some reasoning.
— Joe - May 12, 05:22 AM - #Stop wasting the gift second generation feminists suffered and sacrificed for you to have.
— Prof.Helen McCaffrey - May 15, 08:27 PM - #You’re acting like men – self centered, narcissistic , anti-intellectual and loathsome.
Grow up!
Feminists didn’t contribute anything to women’s lives. It’s narcissism, self-pity and class warfare. The free market brought women into the workplace and gave them the vote, not activist freaks.
— wakeup - May 21, 02:32 AM - #