{"id":117,"date":"2008-09-13T09:39:34","date_gmt":"2008-09-13T14:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/mojo\/?p=117"},"modified":"2025-08-01T02:30:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:30:38","slug":"beatrix-kiddo-feminist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/blog\/beatrix-kiddo-feminist\/","title":{"rendered":"Beatrix Kiddo, feminist"},"content":{"rendered":"

I play with boys. Always have. I was the Batgirl and Princess Leia to my cohorts\u2019 Batman, Robin, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, etc. Apparently, I am not the only one, since the \u201curban fantasy\u201d subgenre (with the blatantly hard-ass heroine) has become such a success.<\/p>\n

Only within the last few years have I run into women with sensibilities similar to mine and with whom I feel comfortable. Also lately, I\u2019ve found a couple of blogs with women I relate to on a more matter-of-fact level (e.g., Dear Author<\/a> and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But put me in the bloggernacle (a portmanteau of blog<\/em> and tabernacle<\/em>) and I have to start hanging out with the boys again because the women are \u2026 well, whiny. And inconsistent in their whining.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t realize this until I was reading over on Eugene\u2019s blog<\/a> about the Japanese movie, >Freeze Me<\/em><\/a>, which is, in his opinion,<\/p>\n

\u2026 the standard Death Wish<\/em> revenge fantasy formula: pacifist gets shocked into action delivers violent justice to evil-doers (\u201ca conservative is a liberal who got mugged\u201d).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But then the film disappoints him:<\/p>\n

Freeze Me<\/em> could have hummed and purred as well. Instead it alternately shivers and sweats and clunks and gives up without a fight.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then Eugene goes on to blame:<\/p>\n

\u2026 Thelma & Louise<\/em><\/a> which should more appropriately be titled: \u201cThe Original<\/em> Dumb & Dumber.\u201d This supposed paean to film feminism follows the exploits of two unbelievably stupid grown women who have spent their entire lives as victims of impulse and circumstance and aren\u2019t about to let a little (almost justifiable) homicide stop them.<\/p>\n

The good-guy cop (Harvey Keitel) finds them such a pathetic pair that he starts emoting like a father in pursuit of his two dimwitted daughters. Their exploits inspire pity at best, contempt at worst. Not once is logic ever allowed to compete with emotion, let alone overcome it. So why not just drive off a cliff?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard not to read a very obvious metaphor into the final scene: the caring man stands by helplessly while the newly \u201cliberated\u201d women cast themselves into oblivion. And a woman actually wrote it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which put me in the mind of Mormon feminist blogs. I can\u2019t speak to feminist blogs of any other type because I don\u2019t read those. (Except, well, I\u2019ve stopped reading the Mormon feminist blogs, too. )<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t really get a handle on this feminist thing, being as I\u2019m fairly new to the label. Some days I think I\u2019m a feminist and some days I don\u2019t. Most days I don\u2019t know what a feminist is or how one defines oneself as a feminist. I mean, if it\u2019s as simple as \u201cequal pay for equal work\u201d (and the definition of that<\/strong><\/em> is fodder for a different rant), I\u2019m there.<\/p>\n

This is what I have gleaned (albeit most likely incomplete) from my wanderings around Mormon feminist blogs:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You cannot be a feminist and<\/em> against taxpayer-funded social welfare programs.\n
    Where\u2019s your compassion? Bitch.<\/strong> (Pssst: Did you hear that piece of the doctrine where Christ wanted people to be able to choose for themselves?)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  2. You cannot be a feminist and<\/em> a raging capitalist.\n
    You\u2019re contributing to the exploitation of women. Bitch.<\/strong> (Pssst: Did it ever occur to you that you can be more generous if you have money?)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  3. You cannot be a feminist and<\/em> pro-life.\n
    (Yes, even amongst Mormons.) Bitch.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  4. You cannot be a feminist and<\/em> not want to be given the priesthood.\n
    It\u2019s just a natural extension of equality and you should<\/em> want it. Bitch.<\/strong> (Pssst: Did it ever occur to you that God & Goddess might not be the ones doing the discriminating here? Oh, it didn\u2019t<\/em> occur to you. The church isn\u2019t the final authority, you know.)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Oh, amongst other things. So it looks like to me the hierarchy goes like this:<\/p>\n

    Liberal-ish politics<\/p>\n

    Mormonism<\/p>\n

    Feminism<\/p>\n

    There\u2019s apparently room for the traditional<\/em> Mormon woman role in this construct, but what I find disturbing is the willingness to completely bitch-slap a woman if her political philosophies don\u2019t align with the label of \u201cfeminist,\u201d especially if it hints at a more conservative bent.<\/p>\n

    So the LDS women of libertarian capitalist leanings have only one place to play in the bloggernacle: With the boys. As usual. Who are a helluva lot more enlightened than they\u2019re given credit for\u2014they just explain their philosophies in Belch (yes, it is an official language).<\/p>\n

    My soul sister is reading AmBITCHous<\/em><\/a>, which means I\u2019ve put that on my TBR pile (she finds all the good non-fiction!) along with Rules for Renegades<\/em><\/a>.<\/div>\n

    Mind you, these are just my gut impressions, but the \u201cdiscussion\u201d of feminist issues in the church has a whinier tone than I\u2019m comfortable with. And at this point, I\u2019m thinking I\u2019m not so much a feminist (whatever that means) as a bitch.<\/p>\n

    Thelma and Louise or Beatrix Kiddo<\/a>? I didn\u2019t hear much whining in Kill Bill<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I play with boys. Always have. I was the Batgirl and Princess Leia to my cohorts\u2019 Batman, Robin, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, etc. Apparently, I am not the only one, since the \u201curban fantasy\u201d subgenre (with the blatantly hard-ass heroine) has become such a success. Only within the last few years have I run into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[600,549],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feminism","category-mormon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17252,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/17252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}