What I really think

Tidying up my desktop, I found this list. I think it was written in response to some skirmish(es) in the ongoing feminist blogwars. I try not to get too intensively involved in online discussions of these topics, because it activates my PTSD. But I do have an opinion or two:

• The Patriarchy: Heavily armed and oppressive as fuck-all, and it's everywhere you look -- including inside your own head. And mine. Largely imaginary and mostly useful as a metaphor, it nevertheless must be dismantled, or at least seriously marginalized and its effects neutralized. Pointing at it and laughing sometimes helps, as long as you're not in a situation where that would compromise your physical safety. Also known as "The Man," "The System," and western civilization.
  
• Racism: See above. They are in fact related (and might even be the same); they feed each other and give each other power. Neither is "worse," and it doesn't matter which one we dismantle first. Both have got to go. Also known as "The Man," "The System," and western civilization.
• The Transsexual Menace: As menaces go, not a very menacing one. Some of my best friends, etc. I don't really care which restroom they use, unless they're ahead of me in line, in which case I'll use the other one if I'm in a hurry.
• Sex: Fun! Also funny and embarrassing and weird and full of emotional peril. Frequently re-purposed into a surprisingly effective weapon by The Patriarchy. Is it political? Yep. So is everything. Be careful about what thrills you. Not fun for you? Do something else. No need to apologize or explain. "Fun!" just happens to be my experience of it. YMMV.
  
• Blowjobs: Hilarious! Also wildly entertaining, unless you'd rather be doing something else, in which case: do something else. No need to apologize or explain.
• Rape: Not at all funny. Way too popular. Not in fact caused by alcohol, skirt length, chicks who leave home unsupervised, lipstick, high heels, or even pornography. Caused primarily by rapists, working on behalf of The Patriarchy.
• Shoes: I like them. I want more of them, no matter how many I have already. I don't care if that makes me a tool in the hand of the retail/advertising arm of The Patriarchy. Life is fucking complicated. Shoes support your body and comprise the very foundation of your relationship to the planet.
  
• Lipstick and the removal (or not) of body hair: Surely we have better things to quarrel about. Call me a sparklepony; I don't care. Be as pretty as you wanna be. Or don't. You're under no obligation, either way. You are free to ignore anyone who tells you otherwise.
  
• But alphabitch, what about the men? Yeah, yeah, you're oppressed too, dude. Quit yer whining and help us smash the damn patriarchy already. It's keeping us all down. You didn't build it, I know that, but you happen to benefit from it a little bit more than I do (just as I benefit every day from the structures of racism, which I did not cause and do not support). Yes, of course it limits you too. That's part of the problem. Join us.
  

Any questions?