The Feminist-Industrial Complex: Fat Lesbians vs. the ‘Heteronormative Gaze’

Posted on | May 31, 2015 | 138 Comments

Does the “fat acceptance” movement “destabilize the heteronormative gaze”? Can women overcome “gender inequality” by a “radical rejection of beauty as feminine aspiration”? Those possibilities are suggested by two Canadian sociologists in an article, included in a leading Women’s Studies textbook, that compared Dove’s “Real Beauty” advertising campaign to a protest by lesbian activists in Toronto.

Feminist Frontiers is a Women’s Studies textbook described by its publisher, McGraw-Hill, as the “most widely used anthology of feminist writings.,” Now in its ninth edition, Feminist Frontiers is edited by three lesbians: Professor Verta Taylor and Professor Leila Rupp, on the faculty of the University of California-Santa Barbara (where they are known as “the professors of lesbian love”), and Smith College Professor Nancy Whittier (whose wife Kate Weigand is the author of Red Feminism: American Communism and the Making of Women’s Liberation).

Because this textbook is so influential in academia, I obtained a copy of Feminist Frontiers via Amazon.com for my research in the “Sex Trouble” series on radical feminism. As I explain in the introduction to the first edition of Sex Trouble:

Those who would attempt to separate “mainstream” feminism from the more radical aspects of its ideology cannot avoid the problem that the faculty and curricula of university Women’s Studies programs — where feminism wields the authority of an official philosophy — are disproportionately dominated by radical lesbians. This hegemonic influence is not merely manifested in the fact that outspoken lesbian activists are employed as directors and professors in Women’s Studies programs everywhere, but also plainly evident in the textbooks and readings assigned in their classrooms.

It should be noted that, according to federal research, 2.3% of the U.S. population (about 1-in-40 American adults) is either gay or bisexual. Yet lesbianism is vastly overrepresented in the faculty and curricula of Women’s Studies programs to such an extent that Carmen Rios, communications director of the Feminist Majority Foundation, jocularly described these departments as “Lesbo Recruitment 101.” This anti-heterosexual bias is reflected in the contents of Feminist Frontiers, which includes selections with titles like “Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children’s G-Rated Films” (p. 153), “Doing Gender, Doing Heteronormativity: ‘Gender Normals,’ Transgender People, and the Social Maintenance of Heterosexuality” (p. 309) and “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” (p. 536). Among the lesbian feminist authors cited as references by the contributors are Mary Daly, Sheila Jeffreys, Andrea Dworkin, Celia Kitzinger, Adrienne Rich, Judith Butler, Luce Irigaray, Marilyn Frye, Gayle Rubin, Audre Lorde and Arlene Stein.

The anti-heterosexual bias of Feminist Frontiers is also apparent in “Feminist Consumerism and Fat Activists: A Comparative Study of Grassroots Activism and the Dove Real Beauty Campaign,” by University of Toronto professors Josée Johnston and Judith Taylor (p. 115). This article, first presented at a 2006 meeting of the American Sociological Association and later published in the feminist journal Signs, invokes the theories of Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci as the basis of its analysis:

Building on neo-Gramscian theories of hegemony, we argue that ideologies express degrees of hegemony depending on their ability to reinforce and naturalize power hierarchies and material inequality.

Feminists have frequently used Marxist theory to analyze the “male supremacy” they depict as an “ideology” that oppresses women in capitalist societies. In their article, Johnston and Taylor compare the “transformative possibilities” of Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign to a protest movement by the Toronto lesbian group Pretty, Porky and Pissed Off (PPPO). Co-founded by in 1996 by Allyson Mitchell (who is now an assistant professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Toronto’s York University), PPPO staged protests promoting the message that “being fat can mean being healthy, sexy and socially productive” and counteracting “fat phobia,” as a 2004 article described the group. According to Johnston and Taylor, PPO’s objectives were to “challenge hegemonic beauty standards” and “challenge misogynist attitudes about fat women and sexuality,” in protests that offered “a counter-hegemonic critique of beauty and its relationship to capitalist consumerism” (pp. 116-117). They compare these protests to Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign:

Billboard, television, and magazine ads depicted women who were wrinkled, freckled, pregnant, had stretch marks, or might be seen as fat (at least compared with the average media representation of women). . . . The campaign . . .is now a major feature of Dove’s global marketing. (p. 116)

Because the “Real Beauty” ad campaign “promotes itself as a progressive force for women,” Johnston and Taylor interpret Dove’s marketing as “feminist consumerism,” a phenomenon with “the potential to partially disrupt gender norms” (p. 116). Johnston and Taylor contrast this to the “grassroots models for social change . . . at the heart of feminist consciousness-raising,” as exemplified by the PPPO protests:

The idea arose from a 1996 conversation between Allyson Mitchell and Ruby Rowan, both of whom were artists and women’s studies students. While attending a conference on subcultures, they lamented the absence of attention to lesbian feminists active in the queer arts scene. . . . The conversation turned to mundane matters; not being able to find cool pants that fit. . . .
Characterizing participants as a “dyke network” of artists, performers, feminists, friends, and exes, Mitchell says the event solidified their identities as fat activists . . . (pp. 118-119)
In addition, PPPO’s radical disruption of hegemonic beauty ideology worked to destabilize the heteronormative gaze. Strongly linked to a lesbian arts community, PPPO activists did not prioritize the approval of men socially or performatively, and this may have allowed a more radical rejection of beauty as feminine aspiration. (p. 123)

Comparing these protests to the “corporate strategy” behind “Dove’s appropriation of feminist themes,” Johnston and Taylor write that Pretty, Porky and Pissed Off “waged war with hegemonic beauty standards — actions far removed from Dove’s reformist peacemaking” (p. 123). Although the Dove campaign “partially disrupts the narrowness of Western contemporary beauty codes,” Johnston and Taylor conclude, “at the same time it systematically reproduces and legitimizes the hegemony of beauty ideology in women’s personal lives” (p. 125).

Hostility to “beauty ideology” has been a core theme of feminism since the emergence of the Women’s Liberation movement in the 1960s. Its first major protest occurred in September 1968, when about 100 feminists staged a demonstration at the Miss American pageant, condemning how the contestants “epitomize the roles we are all forced to play as women.” The protesters claimed “women in our society [are] forced daily to compete for male approval, enslaved by ludicrous ‘beauty’ standards we ourselves are conditioned to take seriously.”

Lesbianism also emerged early as a core theme of the Women’s Liberation movement. In 1971, prominent feminist Charlotte Bunch was co-founder of a D.C.-based lesbian collective known as The Furies. In the collective’s first publication (January 1972), Ginny Berson declared:

We are angry because we are oppressed by male supremacy. We have been f–ked over all our lives by a system which is based on the domination of men over women. . . .
Lesbianism is not a matter of sexual preference, but rather one of political choice which every woman must make if she is to become woman-identified and thereby end male supremacy.

Radical lesbians played key roles in founding Women’s Studies programs at many universities. Professor Bonnie Zimmerman, for example, was a founding member of the Women’s Studies College at SUNY Buffalo in 1970, and later helped begin the Women’s Studies program at San Diego State University. In a 1997 essay, Professor Zimmerman wrote: “I believe it can be shown that, historically, lesbianism and feminism have been coterminous if not identical social phenomena.”

So-called “fat-positive feminism” is a movement that “addresses how misogyny and sexism intersect with sizism and anti-fat bias.” While feminists blame “anti-fat bias” on male supremacy, the health risks of obesity are serious, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): “Obesity is a national epidemic and a major contributor to some of the leading causes of death in the U.S., including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer.”

Obesity is such a serious problem among lesbians that the National Institutes for Health funded a $3 million study to determine why “nearly three-quarters of lesbians are overweight or obese.”

When that study made headlines in September 2014, Mari Brighe wrote at the lesbian blog Autostraddle that lesbians “tend to be less critical of their bodies than straight women,” because they don’t “suffer the incessant, unreasonable pressure of the male gaze.”

This would suggest that “the male gaze” is actually beneficial to heterosexual women, whose “feminine aspiration” to be attractive to men by meeting “hegemonic beauty standards” (as the Johnston/Taylor article put it) leads women to stay thin and thereby avoid heart disease, diabetes and other health complications of obesity. But the way women benefit from heterosexuality isn’t something college students are likely to learn from Women’s Studies classes, where the textbooks are edited by lesbians who never have anything good to say about men.

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Category: Education, Feminism, Sex Trouble

Comments

138 Responses to “The Feminist-Industrial Complex: Fat Lesbians vs. the ‘Heteronormative Gaze’”

Prime Director
May 31st, 2015 @ 3:31 pm

Interesting…
concern00
May 31st, 2015 @ 3:50 pm

If the solution to a problem is cultural marxism, it is probably a leftist policy – feminism, homosexuality and other sexual deviancy, climate change, Obamacare, anti-fracking, green movement in general etc
Fail Burton
May 31st, 2015 @ 3:55 pm

The thing I love about women like that is how finicky they are with their hair and how completely uninterested they are in making the entire rest of their body presentable.
Prime Director
May 31st, 2015 @ 3:56 pm

Reagan Phone?

Your profile is weird
Bob Belvedere
May 31st, 2015 @ 4:40 pm

Exactly.

Feminism is an Ideology that was born in the Leftist Womb. Thus, it and all of it’s manifestations are forever the flowering of Evil.

Those Women on the Right who claim to be Feminists are aiding and abetting the Leftist Narrative.
concern00
May 31st, 2015 @ 4:47 pm

When you’re ugly on the inside, I can understand the need for the exterior to align.
richard mcenroe
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:00 pm

“Does the “fat acceptance” movement “destabilize the heteronormative gaze”?”
Dude, I shop at WalMart. The feminist movement has nothing on that.
#Feminism – Spawned From The Leftist Womb | The Camp Of The Saints
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:01 pm

[…] published another penetrating [pun intended?] mini-essay on the Ideology of Feminism, entitled: The Feminist-Industrial Complex: Fat Lesbians vs. the ‘Heteronormative Gaze’ — the title tells you exactly what to expect from it. It is, as with everything he writes on […]
richard mcenroe
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:04 pm

For those of you who only shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, the points of the above are: Many persons of enthusiastic circumference patronize WalMart, and many of them appear to be shopping with husbands. So the “heteronormative gaze” may reach more than skin deep.
Prime Director
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:04 pm

Un-C00L
richard mcenroe
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:05 pm

See above re: WalMart
robertstacymccain
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:11 pm

No need to get personal with her.

Some people want HEADLINE NEWS (whatever’s on Drudge about Hillary, etc.) day in and day out, and I don’t expect them to appreciate the Deep Culture thing I’m doing, mining way down below the surface.

Because it is so deep, probably only the “regulars” appreciate it and (I know) even some of them are wondering how long I’ll keep mining this lode. It’s OK.

I’m still doing this “draft chapters” thing, using the posts to compile material for the expanded and revised second edition which I expect to have out by mid-August.

Stick with me, guys, and everything will work out fine. No need to get excited, the thief, he kindly spoke …
Jeanette Victoria
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:11 pm

I shop at Trader Joe’s and it is a haven for lesbians in fact I often photograph their cars with all the bumper stickers.
1389AD
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:24 pm

What goes for fat conservatives also goes for elderly, diminutive, and freckle-faced conservatives, of which I am one. My beloved husband still thinks I’m cute and tells me so every day! But then, maybe my lack of chip on shoulder makes up for my lack of youth and physical stature.
1389AD
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:24 pm

Somebody ought to tell her, “Zap! You’re a sandwich!”
1389AD
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:26 pm

Not every woman is like that! It’s the leftists who don’t bother with bathing, depilation, deodorant, proper dress, a balanced diet, and reasonable exercise.
Jeanette Victoria
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:29 pm

You are so right it is all the attitude I’m not grumpy and I don’t have a sour expression. And I’m not complaining all the time. No one wants to be around a miserable dark cloud. Of course it just might be my cooking that everyone likes. (I’ve ended up doing a lot of the cooking for church events LOL that is on top of me photographing them and singing at them as well)
Jeanette Victoria
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:31 pm

I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wear a dress
m k
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:33 pm

Or Cultural Marxism.
RS
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:39 pm

So, they’ve discovered that the purpose of advertising is to sell stuff. Stop the presses!

Where’s the outrage about auto manufacturers showing us commercials of active people driving around 4X4 SUVs and the resulting trauma inflicted upon people who schlub around in minivans? Are they arguing that women are so weak of mind that they are particularly susceptible to the wiles of Madison Avenue?
RS
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:43 pm

It says something when their “we shall overcome” moment consists of being mentally strong enough to resist the seduction of a soap advert, but not strong enough to resist the all-you-can eat pork, pasta and pie buffet.
Jim R
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:51 pm

Actually, yes they are. I’ve read several lefties who believe (and, candidly, I often agree) that many people can be – ARE – figuratively lead by the nose by Madison Ave. They may not say that women specifically are so weak-minded and easily gulled, but they certainly believe it. Why else the push to have Uncle Sugar slap warning labels on everything under the sun? Why else the whining about predatory lending? Why else calorie counts on menus, or Michelle Meals in schools? It stems from the fundamental belief that people are so stupid that they are naturally not responsible for themselves, and a benevolent government run by “the right people” is needed to save them from themselves.
exsanguine
May 31st, 2015 @ 5:58 pm

Why are lesbian feminists obese?

Because they are full of hate and anger and they take it out on food whenever possible.
Vicky Fisher
May 31st, 2015 @ 6:09 pm

Jeanette your so funny.I have only been to Trader Joe’s a few times. The closest one is an hour away in Salt Lake City.I saw a story on Traders Joe’s. They do not allow GMO’S in their private label stuff. My hubby and I shop at Smith’s Marketplace its a huge store and it gas pumps, we get fuel points and dang I’m happy it has a Starbucks inside. 🙂
Prime Director
May 31st, 2015 @ 6:14 pm

Get some followers
Prime Director
May 31st, 2015 @ 6:21 pm

Hey Matt:

Dr Metamora, I’m tellin’ ya
richard mcenroe
May 31st, 2015 @ 6:52 pm

Our local WalMart here in Texas has a sizeable (in any way you want to apply the word) contingent of lesbian couples. Nobody gives a damn as long as they’re not block the shelf you want to reach.
Matt_SE
May 31st, 2015 @ 7:00 pm

He’s a lefty stalker who followed me over here from Politico. Most of the time, he just posts inane things like “Wut?” or “Huh?”
FUNKy-sentFromMyReaganPhone
May 31st, 2015 @ 7:01 pm

Yawnz
Matt_SE
May 31st, 2015 @ 7:03 pm

When he’s not posting “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”
Prime Director
May 31st, 2015 @ 7:16 pm

Really? Ewww…

He prolly just wants your abuse.
Prime Director
May 31st, 2015 @ 7:43 pm

He’s basically a punching bag who follows you around and pops off when he needs a fresh one?

You pop him, he takes it and comes back for more?
Daniel Freeman
May 31st, 2015 @ 8:01 pm

Ah, I see. I didn’t arrive here until after the project was underway, so this is the only pattern of your site that I know. I can guess that it would’ve been different before, and that there would be people who prefer that. Makes sense.
Daniel Freeman
May 31st, 2015 @ 8:10 pm

Ah, but fashion magazines reflect the absence of the [straight] male gaze. They’re made for women, by women (and gay men). If you want to see what straight men actually like, just look at porn. Then it becomes clear that all body types are desired by some man somewhere, with only a subconscious preference for the markers of fertility (not too unfit, not too old, not too ugly).
Jim R
May 31st, 2015 @ 8:18 pm

Good point.
M. Thompson
May 31st, 2015 @ 8:20 pm

Yeah, in 2012 he was Gonzo in the trenches for the primary.
RKae
May 31st, 2015 @ 8:33 pm

Church of England slips ever farther down the slope.

Women priests want to start referring to God as “She.”

http://downtrend.com/brian-carey/women-priests-in-the-church-of-england-want-to-start-calling-god-she-instead-of-he

When are the Muslims going to take over that worthless patch of dirt and put it out of its misery?
Daniel Freeman
May 31st, 2015 @ 8:35 pm

I’ll admit, I was disappointed when he intimated that he might not do that this time. We need someone who’s willing to ask the questions that other reporters won’t. The first example that comes to mind is how every Republican will be asked where he draws the line on abortion, but no Democrat will be forced to go on the record as admitting that they don’t support any limits at all.
Jeanette Victoria
May 31st, 2015 @ 8:51 pm

Here you go
RKae
May 31st, 2015 @ 9:56 pm

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view/161008/metropolis-erotiqdancemen-o.gif
RKae
May 31st, 2015 @ 10:15 pm

To be fair: There is an actual science to breaking down the human personality, molding it and leading it. It happens every time you see a stage magician.

There are colors and shapes that work better on movie posters, etc.

And the science of it has been increasing in leaps and bounds. (Think of a computer in 1980 and a computer today. Mind control has made those same leaps of advancement… only those who make the advancements don’t talk about it.)

Also: it’s not as effective as you might think to say “Oh, but I know what they’re up to, so I’m impervious to it.” Getting you to say that is all part of the science.
DeadMessenger
May 31st, 2015 @ 10:29 pm

Walls has a cute baby as his profile pic! Wait…are feminists going to attack me for noticing that?
Voland
May 31st, 2015 @ 10:30 pm

(for the hog with the sign)

I guess she could buy her own sandwich with money she earned but somehow I don’t think that is what she really wants.
DeadMessenger
May 31st, 2015 @ 10:35 pm

You can browse the archives and get a flavor for the pre-feminism pieces. Sometimes it’s an interesting change for me, when the Fem Stupidity becomes too strong, and I get a case of the vapors, lol.
DeadMessenger
May 31st, 2015 @ 10:41 pm

I go with the Popeye philosophy:

I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam.

That’s always worked for me.
DeadMessenger
May 31st, 2015 @ 10:48 pm

Nevertheless, bulldykery would be a much more accurate word than feminism.

To me, feminism means that I like to paint my nails with a pretty pink polish, and I like really cute boots, and I giggle girlishly when men say stuff they think is funny, and I like it when men call me “babe” or “darlin'” and tell me that they like my smile. It also means that I like flowers and babies, and I like to embroider and knit and sew.

I don’t know how any word with the root “feminine” got associated with psycho lesbians.
DeadMessenger
May 31st, 2015 @ 10:58 pm

I knew there’d be a cat on there somewhere, and sure enough…
Vicky Fisher
May 31st, 2015 @ 11:42 pm

Oh my at least they put the stickers on rear end bumper. I have seen a few cars put that many on there back window plus a few more. I’m like WTHeck that is obstruction of view. DMV Handbook – HELLO but Liberals and the law, Yeah LOL.
Jeanette Victoria
May 31st, 2015 @ 11:46 pm

lol the whole car
Prime Director
June 1st, 2015 @ 12:03 am

X^(