Slutwalk Today

[citrus_java]

Slutwalk. Got a ride there with a bunch of feminists, spent it playing I Never, sharing personal stuff, trying to play the raunchiest feminist songs on the ukelele (first time I ever tried to play one, I think), cheesily flirting with each other, talking about the differences between the waves of feminism, and trying to find cheap, vegan, gluten-free food.

You know, like the Winchesters and Jack Kerouac.

Awesome road trip.

It was too cold and too unsafe to wear my I Love Queer Porn shirt, so I was a covered up slut this time. Hugged a lot of people. Said no to a hug I didn't want, which was really hard to do. Heard a heartfelt, touching cover of Barbie Girl, sung on a megaphone cause we had no mic. Got harassed, cause of course, and everyone got pushed around a little by the police, just to make sure we remembered who was in charge.


It's so meaningful to me that this year, with new organizers, the Slutwalks made a point of being (way more) inclusive. The organizers made a point of inviting people from a whole lot of groups to write short pieces about it, from their standpoint . so many women, so many survivors, so many people I wanted to hear from - genderqueer, crip, asexual, immigrant, fat, people of different races and ages, trans, femme, butch, people living in rural areas, prostitutes, people in BDSM, mothers, heterosexual, cisgender, white, male, gay, lesbian, pansexual, polyamorous. And not even "one of each", I think they just included whoever wanted to write or talk, as well as personally asking people to talk. It came out real awesome, and was what made me want to go.

And sure, there's more to be desired. Not everyone could participate, and that is a big deal. But it is so much better than most feminist events I've been to, which are so often only about women from the strongest social groups. I want to set this at the new standard for events.

I'm so hungry to hear about all these people's different experiences, when they're things I am ignorant about, and to hear people actually saying stuff I so desperately need heard, when it's stuff I know too well myself.

Comments

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Yesyesyes, everything you said about patriarchy and the boys. I'm writing this huge article about it that I might at some point finish, but not fic :/ The first time I watched Show, I started at season 4. Got to know Dean there. And I was *certain*, coming in, that his macho mannerisms were a shell to placate the network or even fans of past seasons with, which anyone who really knows the show wouldn't take seriously. I was surprised at first, to hear Jensen talking about them like they were actually part of the character, rather than this flimsy shell clumsily thrown over the character. I have since come to love that side of Dean's too, to see it as more integrated, his defenses, his struggle, part of what makes him interesting, but that was my first-watch impression of him.

even though Dean is often portrayed as the domineering brother, calling the shots, often calling Sam out for his more sensitive approach Sam is far from subservient to Dean

Yesyesyes. It's one of my favorite things about Show. Dean is so caring, dependent, can be so gentle, more led by emotion than Sam for sure. He takes care of his family, disregards his own needs... Dean is "a rebel" cause he was raised to be one, he is so the good son. He doesn't enjoy being an actual bad boy, he needs approval, dislikes disharmony or being mad at.

for all his portrayed sensitivity I’d say Sam is the colder, more calculating of the two

*absolutely*
Have you read RivkaT's Captured by the Game or Only Sweeter? I adore her portrayal of Sam there.
But then, so much of fandom goes for Top!Sam in a way that is, ehm, over the top, to me. Misses his sweetness, his dependency on Dean sometimes just to take care of him, the places he looks at his big brother with awe, at the very least as a subject. Not to mention - the place where he might hold back or at least hesitate or consider, cause it's feral and not cultured.
To me, I see all those different sides as part of him, I like a good combination.

and he certainly isn’t less masculine he just doesn’t feel the need to defend it as much as Dean does because he’s more secure in his masculinity.

I agree.
To me, I can make a case for either of them being "the masculine one", and I like that, cause really - they're complex and lovely, and also don't need to be defined by each other's masculinity.

Actually, I think Sam holds himself to pretty strict rules of masculinity, only they aren't the same as Dean's. Sam's are the... man of culture, educated, liberal (sometimes), aware, elitist rules. I don't know how to call them - post-enlightened? Post-gentlemanly? Either way, he is willing to make the calculated decision to put them aside when something is important enough to him, but then so is Dean (only he maybe goes with loyalty and emotion more than calculation at these points). And Sam's aren't challenged as much. I suspect the series challenges Dean's mannerisms, not from a feminist point of view but from the point of view of Sam's sort of masculinity. It's more about class and "who's a better man" than it ever was for us.

Where Dean is concerned about his masculinity being called into question or open to scrutiny I think Sam is more concerned with others seeing him as unrefined.

Yes. Exactly. And I think it's part of not wanting to be like John/his life. I think the MOL, for him, was so meaningful partially because of that. A way to be with Dean and do those important things, that allows something more refined. really, more refined and high class than most anything else allows. Higher class, though less hegemonic, than being a lawyer.
(which, by the way, I hate that came with them becoming more patronizing towards others this season. Way too fitting, @#$%)