The roots of my feminism

I was surprised to find Twisty praising Feministing dot com in her recent post.

Not too long ago, I used to read Feministing every day.  I really do not recall how I found it or how I found I Blame the Patriarchy, but I do know that I now look forward to Twisty’s posts and only now and then look at Valenti & Co.’s blog.  I got tired of the Feminism TM approach.  Says Twisty:

It’s only natural that the nascent feminists of tomorrow, just beginning to explore a future separate from being unpopular in high school, would be attracted to Feministing. They’re 18. Their hormones are snap crackle poppin’. They want to be like the hip, self-actualized Feministingers. This is good, because Feministing gets a lot of the basic stuff right. They’re blamin’ the patriarchy left and right, and they’re doing it, not with a bunch of pie-in-the-sky inaccessible revolutionary theory that takes months, if not years, of committed intellectualizing to grasp, but with cogent, cut-to-the-chase commentary on current events.

I thought that I was sort of a rookie feminist because I did not take Women’s Studies courses in college and I have only in the last couple of years read any feminist theory.  I enjoyed reading what the young bloggers have to say, but tired of it quickly.  I wondered how I could advance so quickly from a feminism primer to IBTP when Valenti actually majored in Women’s and Gender Studies and I know so little about it.  But Twisty’s post and the comments after made me realize that I am older than the target audience for Feministing and that my feminist beliefs stem more from the life I have lived than the literature I have read.  Yes, Valenti and the other writers on Feministing probably know a lot more about Women’s Studies than I do, in an academic sense.  When I read Dworkin, I don’t think what a new idea for me–I think I noticed that too but couldn’t say it so well.

Thanks, Twisty, for helping me clarify this for myself.  And, by the way, I am not claiming that Valenti et al. have not had life experiences, too.  I am just saying that I am older (than Jessica Valenti and some other young feminist writers) and have had certain experiences which have brought me to this point.

Misogyny abounds

I wish I had time to write brilliant posts about a couple of current topics.  Since I don’t, I will point you to other blog posts about each of these important topics:

Topic:  Spitzer and prostitution, Blog:  I blame the patriarchy, Post:  Spinster weighs in on Spitzer

Topic:  Obama’s pastor and ignoring misogyny, Blog:  The Confluence, Post:  Thursday – Jeremiah’s Right

Not Fiction

This blog is not fiction, but, as mentioned before, names are changed (see the Legend for explanations of who the named people and places are), and sometimes I may have to change minor details in order to protect my privacy.

Underground on the Web

Please don’t worry that I’m literally on the run or hiding in a cave somewhere.  I just can’t write certain personal and career-related items out in the open anymore.  Mostly I can’t post personal information because of Lowry.  I can’t say anything about him because he made certain threats about that.  But here I am not calling him by his real name and most readers won’t know who he really is, so it’s okay.  And I don’t want to give too much personal information at the old web hangout because Lowry is still reading it and I don’t want him to know what’s going on in my life.

Let the blogging of the ‘batty’ woman begin

ok … so I guess it’s time to start real posts. 

Pseudonym Legend

I’m going to have to establish pseudonyms for everybody.  I’ll keep track of some of these here and update this post with more as I add or change them.

Chiroptera – ME!

Lowry - Boyfriend from 2007 to early 2008

Hill Valley Employer [ HVE] - Place where I currently work

Certain Metropolitan Place [CMP] - Someplace I applied for a job

Dream Former Employer [ DFE] - Place there is a current job posting, also a place I used to work

Rural Crossroads Place [RCP] — Place I applied for a job

Bad times, good times

Things are not going so well lately, but hopefully I will get to talk about good things as well as bad things on this blog.

 One good thing that happened recently:  I learned that a job I would really like may be posted soon.

 One bad thing that happened recently:  My ex-boyfriend made me cry.

To protect my privacy

It goes without saying that names of people, places, and events may be changed in this blog to protect my privacy.  Names may be obviously not real, such as Chiroptera, or may sound like real names like Joe or Jane.

Welcome to the Chiropteran Underground

Welcome to my new blog.  I am calling myself Chiroptera because I like bats and to some extent think of them as my totem animal.  This is my underground because I need to blog pseudonymously right now so that I may talk about things like relationships and job searches.