The past decades have seen the rise of a nominally apolitical marketing campaign masquerading as feminism, with Komen merely the most visible symbol. Komen aligns perfectly with what Linda Hirshman labeled choice feminisma moral-relativist approach to feminism that tries to scrub the movement of politics and value judgments in favor of uncritical affirmation of all womens choices.
In her statement of apology, Komen CEO Nancy Brinker said, We do not want our mission marred or affected by politicsanyones politics. Thats exactly the fallacythat somehow womens health can be narrowed to an apolitical and innocuous agenda.
Womens bodies are the most politicized sites on earth. When women focus on a hyperfeminine aesthetic at the expense of issues of substance, we end up with a hot pink ghetto of goodwill that forfeits the conversation about rights, access and money to the menfolk.
For the past decade, this has been the feminists lament: How do we identify the line where feminism becomes a marketing strategy for the very patriarchy it nominally opposesselling a non-threatening agenda that doesnt buck the status quo?
Its often hard to tell reclamation from capitulation, and easier to rely on shorthand symbols like, say, the color pink and you go girl sloganeering; its tempting to assume that everyones on the same ideological page. By the time you realize thats not the case, youve already purchased hundreds of dollars of carcinogenic cosmetics and applauded NFL players accused of sexual assault for courageously donning pink shoes
Why the Komen/Planned Parenthood Breakup
In her statement of apology, Komen CEO Nancy Brinker said, We do not want our mission marred or affected by politicsanyones politics. Thats exactly the fallacythat somehow womens health can be narrowed to an apolitical and innocuous agenda.
Womens bodies are the most politicized sites on earth. When women focus on a hyperfeminine aesthetic at the expense of issues of substance, we end up with a hot pink ghetto of goodwill that forfeits the conversation about rights, access and money to the menfolk.
For the past decade, this has been the feminists lament: How do we identify the line where feminism becomes a marketing strategy for the very patriarchy it nominally opposesselling a non-threatening agenda that doesnt buck the status quo?
Its often hard to tell reclamation from capitulation, and easier to rely on shorthand symbols like, say, the color pink and you go girl sloganeering; its tempting to assume that everyones on the same ideological page. By the time you realize thats not the case, youve already purchased hundreds of dollars of carcinogenic cosmetics and applauded NFL players accused of sexual assault for courageously donning pink shoes
Why the Komen/Planned Parenthood Breakup
