The two strips above are one of a few recent strips poking fun at (or with?) feminism, and I’m not too sure how to take it. I’ve been one of many anonymous fans of A Softer World for quite some time now due to the quirky, poignant or true (or all three) things I find there, like this:
The mouse-over text for the strip above reads “I contain a factory for producing my own prison,” which is why I am oh-so-ready to take the first two strips as a joke and not a trivialization of feminism.
That said, I’m still conflicted about them, in that I’m not sure how much feminism-based humor is OK. In the end, it really depends on its origin and the motivation of the joker. For example, a slutty bisexual joke out of the mouth of a gay or straight person would sound different to my ears than a joke about their own orientation. But perhaps I’m wrong — hate speech is hate speech, after all.
Who knows whether Emily Horne and Joey Comeau are feminists making meta jokes, or hipsters disguising their disdain with irony. Certainly I will continue to enjoy their lovely art no matter their motivations. But what do you think, dear intelligent readers? Post your interpretations in the comments!
Well, I've been in correspondence with Joey Comeau about this very matter, and I would say a little of column A and a little of column B.Joey is, apparently, a queer profeminist … as well as a total hipster. However, as has been covered to death on our other favorite blogs, irony fails if one's audience can read it as total sincerity. And let's face it, most people who laugh at those jokes on ASW are probably laughing AT feminism, even if Joey isn't.However, Joey is a white male in addition to also being a hipster, and we all know what problems that causes. Joey, if you manage to read this, know that I am laughing WITH you, not AT you, eh?
I'll admit I often get a tries too hard vibe from ASW; Cat and Girl seems more genuinely clever. ASW tends to have prettier art though.Well, that, and I like otters.
hate speech is hate speechYes. When did the thing of "re-appropriating" slurs begin? I'm 67 and don't remember it until maybe the 80's, which I think of as the decade the bad guys counterattacked and, basically, prevailed. So "re-appropriating" strikes me as a kind of bitter consolation prize our side settled for, instead of actual forward movement. I don't use that language, in any context, ironically or otherwise. But my (white, male, het, Red Diaper, railroad retiree) viewpoint's culturally skewed too, and I have no business to object when people do the re-appropriating of the hostile language that's been directed at them. My nom de blog is a re-appropriation of a Stalinist slur on doubters and nay-sayers (especially, though not exclusively, Jewish ones); that shoe fits me and I wear it.
@joy That's why I love you guys. I thought to myself, "Self!" (because that is what I call me when talking to me), "Perhaps you ought to contact this elusive Joey-and-Emily duo before hitting that publish button." Then I heard the clarion call of pickles frying in a vat of oil and wandered off. Thank you so much for illuminating me! You win some fried pickles, although I'm not sure they'd travel well.
@Azundris I swear on my love of furry river-creatures that that T-shirt said "eroticizing otters". Tee-hee!
A Softer World can do no wrong. ♥
@rootlesscosmo I don't have the historical context you do, but the re-appropriation of slurs timeline you describe sounds about right, and fits in with my understanding of the "feminist/political-correctness-backlash" period. Which, come to think of it, still seems to be going on.I suppose re-appropriation of slurs by the oppressed (the c word, the n word) are significantly different in nature from re-appropriation by the oppressor (the c-word sounds a lot different from the mouth of someone using it as an insult, or from the mouth of someone who doesn't have one). What do you think?