Friday, September 28, 2012

Deveny on the grand final

It's the Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final today. It's a contest which showcases masculine athleticism at the highest level and it's a longstanding part of local culture. And yet this is what feminist Catherine Deveny chose as her grand final day tweet:
Men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men and none openly gay.

At first I thought I shouldn't post on this. Deveny likes to act the part of the provocative leftist and I don't want to rise always to the bait. But then it struck me that her attitude is not all that different from the way that feminists respond, say, to the armed services. If twitter had been popular 10 or 15 years ago, it's not hard to imagine someone like Hilary Clinton having tweeted about the U.S. armed services:
Men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men, men and none openly gay.

The feminist focus is not on the larger purpose of the institution and it's relation to masculine endeavour and strengths, but on transformation along gender and sexual lines.

Most people see a great mark
Catherine Deveny sees too many men

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