Due to some misunderstandings about my purpose behind writing this paper, I'm going to state this now: I am not writing this paper in the masculinist tradition. This is why I amended the post's title and the last paragraph of the preface. Yes, it is in MLA format and yes, I technically have a thesis and supporting claims and examples. But these arguments I'm posing are not dogmas that I will STAND BY NO MATTER WHAT SO HELP ME GOD like a soldier marching out to battle willing to die for some cut and dry ideology. By the way, this post is largely in response to comments here. Also a couple here. (Thank you Elaine-Sensei and Frikin-Chibi for featuring my blog in your respective online communities!)
This isn't to say I don't have strong beliefs concerning these concepts, but I've been updating, adding footnotes, reconsidering ideas, and more ever since I began writing this paper. What I mean when I say I'm not doing this in the masculinist tradition is that traditionally essays are meant to fight intellectual wars. It's not like I'm attacking you and your beliefs with this paper and now you need to attack or parry or surrender. We can work together to develop these ideas! That's why this is a blog and not an essay in print or on a static webpage! I can rearrange, delete, and add footnotes as I learn more from people who respond (and I have been doing so!).
None of the arguments I posit in my essay are central to my major thesis standing alone. If you don't agree with one claim, there are still many other claims that stand to consider. My goal isn't to make anyone believe every single thing I say, but to consider an array of ideas. This is why this paper is so long, I have built a complex web of arguments, so snapping one thread won't be enough to disregard this paper and everything it represents. So anyone who is going to say, "well I disagree with this point because x" or "this point is wrong because of y" and ignores the whole network of arguments as if they can disregard what the paper is doing, like it was just a series of deductive and inductive claims, don't bother. You can't compromise a well-built web by cutting one thread.
And trying to demolish each other's arguments is NOT the point anyway. Recognize I am putting forth alternative ways of thinking to consider pornography, prostitution, and yaoi in ways useful to women as well as men. I'm trying to parse out what “the oldest occupation” means for men and women and how images of the woman and men hired to perform this act for privileged people don't stay under the rug with that explicit, obscene material--how these images may have ramifications for all people commodified for its purpose.
So please feel free to respond to my essay! Please tell me what you think, even if you disagree—especially if you disagree! But don't insult me, don't exclaim “you are wrong” or “you are stupid!” then cry "AH-HA! I HAVE SLAIN THEE!" For that is NOT the purpose of this discourse. I am no Amazon charging with a battle cry and a spear to impale all who disagree with me, to impose my understanding on everyone. I am just presenting alternatives of thinking on behalf of a minority that is rarely, if ever, heard. I'm just one small female voice in a cacophony of gunfire. One female voice saying, "hey, how about this idea? What if we frame this concept like this? Then what happens?" My essay is a question. Please give me your questions in response. I am happy to learn new ways I can frame my ideas. I am happy to contemplate questions that problematize the web I've been spinning. I'm still spinning it, note. I'm listening.
I have read your essay, and examined it along with my own ideas, and even wrote out my response. However, it is far too long for the space of these comments I'm afraid. If there is a way for me to either email it to you, or post it elsewhere (say, Livejournal or some such) for you to read, that would be lovely. It is in disagreement with your essay, but not so much as to change your view, and more to give you an idea of what the opposite side is or how a reader may react, but not from a male perspective. If you're interested, please let me know by responding here or at my livejournal.
ReplyDelete...which, by the way, my livejournal is yaoi_rox_me_sox (old name from when I was a young fangirl).
ReplyDeleteRosemary: I edited my blog description to include an email to send well-thought-out responses to. Please email it to me there, I'll make a habit of checking that email periodically.
ReplyDelete