Good post! There are other problems too, relating on the level of tropes (that is, specific symbol sets), rather than the level of archetypes/stereotypes. An integral part of the feminist project as I see it is the breaking down of the "man/woman" construct, as a source of disunity and discrimination. All too often, I think maybe because the "male" construct is seen as more powerful, its tropes are seen as a neutral default. (to oversimplify: "everyone would be 'male' if they could be") This strikes me as highly problematic because it seems to take the male mythos at its face value. But curiously in male-dominated cultures, many of the "female" tropes are feared, and warned against. Which would suggest to me that a better outlook toward deconstructing gender might be a more anarchic one, in which all tropes are open as a possibility to all people, regardless of their chromosomes/genitals, rather than seeking to obliterate the "female" tropes. One of the troubling things about those transphobic comments you referenced in your earlier post is that many of these people are reifying essentialism while calling themselves "feminist", which I find almost contradictory, or if not contradictory, then that's even worse, because it's just naked tribal power lust then. This also touches on the factor that there's really two types of privilege, those things which no one should have, and those things which everyone should have. This is often overlooked or blurred.
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There are other problems too, relating on the level of tropes (that is, specific symbol sets), rather than the level of archetypes/stereotypes.
An integral part of the feminist project as I see it is the breaking down of the "man/woman" construct, as a source of disunity and discrimination. All too often, I think maybe because the "male" construct is seen as more powerful, its tropes are seen as a neutral default. (to oversimplify: "everyone would be 'male' if they could be") This strikes me as highly problematic because it seems to take the male mythos at its face value.
But curiously in male-dominated cultures, many of the "female" tropes are feared, and warned against.
Which would suggest to me that a better outlook toward deconstructing gender might be a more anarchic one, in which all tropes are open as a possibility to all people, regardless of their chromosomes/genitals, rather than seeking to obliterate the "female" tropes.
One of the troubling things about those transphobic comments you referenced in your earlier post is that many of these people are reifying essentialism while calling themselves "feminist", which I find almost contradictory, or if not contradictory, then that's even worse, because it's just naked tribal power lust then.
This also touches on the factor that there's really two types of privilege, those things which no one should have, and those things which everyone should have. This is often overlooked or blurred.