by matttbastard
Shorter CBA establishment: “Lighten up and let teh menz have their little circle jerk!” [update 12.19: links corrected--nice try.]
Yes, damn wimminz and darkies, always having to ruin the fun of teh poor, put-out white menz. Newsflash: no one is holding anyone hostage; no one is holding a gun to anyone’s head; no one is calling for Armageddon. With respect, this also isn’t akin to asking for a constitutional rewrite (yeah, like fucking Charlottetown all over again–”You feminists are ruining everything!”)
Here, let me spell it out: what compelled myself and others to suggest a boycott of the 2007 Canadian Blog Awards was the utterly asinine attempt to lump feminists into the LGBT category (provoked, I might add, by HER trollish whinging, not the request for a Best Feminist category that Berlynn, JJ, Prole, myself, etc made). Speaking as both a feminist and a person who identifies as non-heterosexual, that was an ignorant, cruel, dismissive slap in the face to both feminist and queer bloggers. Are y’all so clueless that you can’t recognize this?
Please, cut the martyr-posing and check your goddamned privilege. If the matter is so trivial, the gesture of a boycott so meaningless, why the sizable negative outcry from both dedicated Right Wingers and (apparently clueless) small-’L’ liberals?
A nerve has been exposed.
“And “Best Feminist Blog” cannot be done, as it is unacceptable to some.”
“Feminists jump up and down about “male dominance” but there is a truth about ” equality” that does not get represented in media. I am so sick of men being blamed and bashed for all the illness of the world, when there is more at stake, more to factor into the equation about the state the world is in.”
“Maybe we should instead call it the most “feminine” blog award. That would be more inclusive. Being feminine is part of the definition of being a feminist.”
This entire discussion seems to have been time-displaced from the Suffragist era. Scandalous women who actually want the vote?! PREPOSTEROUS!
*rolls eyes*
So, to recap: some knuckle-dragging misogynists stuck in the 19th century, in tandem with RABID pro-life absolutists who seem hell-bent on confirming the worst stereotypes about the baby-lobby, are acting like knuckle-dragging misogynists stuck the 19th century and RABID pro-life absolutists who seem hell-bent on confirming the worst stereotypes about the baby-lobby; as a result, the organizers are refusing to use the word “feminist”.
Apparently there’s a new ‘F’ word that you never say, m’kay.
You know, if NBCD is speaking on behalf of the organization (and not out of a cavernous nether region where his cranium apparently resides) we (as in the bastard.logic crew) might not wait until Friday. I’ve been speaking with my cobloggers, and they (being nasty, man-hating, baby-eating F-worders) really don’t appreciate being associated with the regressive (if initially well-intentioned) endeavour this is turning out to be. And no, that’s not meant as a “threat”, merely a fact. [Update: by unanimous consent, we are out. Try not to celebrate too loudly.]
White liberals and Right Wing reactionaries team up to roll back the Progressive Era; I want another category: “Biggest Farce of 2007″.
Related: Voluntary homework, courtesy Mandolin and Roxanne.
Portions of this post appeared in different form at Bread and Roses and the 2007 CBA site.
14 responses so far ↓
JJ // December 18, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Don’t hold back, Mattt ;)
Seriously, I’m surprised at the firestorm this has erupted into. It was just a simple request for a legitimate category.
Some are citing the fact that there hasn’t been a feminist blog category in the CBAs before now, but the Canadian feminist blogosphere hasn’t been as organized a force as it is now. So it’s probably a good time to evolve the CBA formula a bit to accomodate that. The same way as it evolved to give GLBT its own category, apart from “culture” or wherever it was stuck before.
I hope a workable solution can be found for this, because it’s usually a great opportunity to find blogs you wouldn’t have normally. But we shall see…
Frank Frink // December 18, 2007 at 5:16 pm
*sigh*
I’ve always hated ‘Awards Shows’
matttbastard // December 18, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Me too, Frank. Me too.
I haven’t checked recently–are they still arguing over whether one can revoke a preliminary nomination?
Like herding cats.
matttbastard // December 18, 2007 at 7:33 pm
JJ: A little birdy told me that there might be stuff in the works…
as for the CBAs, that’s precisely why a distinct feminist category would have been brilliant: because there are a large number of feminist bloggers (especially younger feminists) who don’t have much interaction with the “mainstream” Canuckosphere.
Prior to the blow up, I nominated one, A Secret Chord, in the Best New Blogger category. Hopefully something comes of it, because it’s of my favourite discoveries this year (via the latest Carnival of Feminists, natch).
Prole // December 18, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Oh fer fuck sake it’s all just so ridiculous, isn’t it?
If SHE! would have suggested a “Best Fetus Fetish Blog”, that would have been A-OK with me. Why anyone would have had a problem with a “Feminist” category is just assinine bigotry. But the way it was handled, with the organizers practically tripping over themselves to acquiesce to the right wing authoritarian follower crowd and make HER! happy, and then insulting us in the process – that is what got under my skin about it. Acting like a bunch of US Democrats, kowtowing to the right wing, not wanting to make anybody upset except the people who keep women’s human rights in check, because who gives a shit about them?
The phrase “in a snit” was used more than once. To which I use the phrase “Go get bent, douchebag” in response.
matttbastard // December 18, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Oh well. Now they have to enjoy the sincere demands from the emboldened misogynist set for an Anti-Feminist category.
0:)
So many worms still left in that open can…
JJ // December 19, 2007 at 3:13 am
Prole – Amazing how it all started with a kneejerk response to the word Feminism.
I went over to BBW to explain why we want this by pointing out that it’s sort of like lumping their FF blogs in with conservative blogs like SDA. Not really fair. It’s too bad (for them) that they overreacted to the word “feminist”, because it could have been an opportunity to get a separate blog category of their own. Which is better for the awards too, since they tend to be a little over-represented by progressives because progressives blog from more diverse viewpoints than conservatives.
Oh well. Res ipsa loquitor.
Frank Frink // December 19, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Is it just me or have they (cdnba) buried the both the post and teh comment theads?
It’s all gone 404
JJ // December 19, 2007 at 5:02 pm
They said last night comments were being closed. There wasn’t much point in keeping them open once the trolls started in on the thread.
Meh.
matttbastard // December 19, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Don’t worry folks–I’ve fixed the links. Apparently they changed the URLs–perfectly innocent, I’m sure.
The bar is once again open via the discussion page.
Also, Saskboy has landed @ Canadian Cynic’s pad and is attempting to revise history.
Pretty Shaved Ape // December 19, 2007 at 7:58 pm
got home from physio a few hours ago and skimmed cynic. glanced at the blog award thread and left my usual generally supportive note. ate a bite, went back, read more carefully…hmmm. zipped over to read the award discussions. all i can say is i feel sorry for saskboy. i think he meant well and he got blind sided, waffled and was swept under. sure, he let himself get whipped by suzannes but it’s really too bad that this will come apart. the awards could be, as sask hoped, a good exposure for newer or different writers. but it got fuckered by suzanne and her chorus of doinks.
try not to hate on sask too much. he fucked up, but he got fucked into doing it. there’s been times in my life where i went spineless trying to do the right thing and it never went well. it really is a shitty lesson to learn and there’s a big steamer on saskboy’s plate.
matttbastard // December 20, 2007 at 1:28 am
PSA: I appreciate that fact. Was willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
But.
Yeah, but.
The cookie crumbles.
Pretty Shaved Ape // December 20, 2007 at 7:26 am
i know mattt. sask and dipper seem unwilling to let go of their shovels and they missed the memo about holes. at the moment i’m putting my thoughts together about how and whether to bother responding to scott tribe. he wins the award for my newly created category of blogging cock noggin (pardon my flemish).
matttbastard // December 20, 2007 at 11:40 am
Yup. I think we need to stage an intervention.
“Give us the shovel, boys. That’s it…”