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The original was posted on /r/thedeprogram by /u/afafe_e on 2024-11-07 16:29:09+00:00.
As a woman, an ML and a radical feminist, I'm quite frankly sick and tired of men on the left ignoring valid feminist criticisms because they don't fluff their ego, from the previously discussed Andrea Dworkin quote, their insistance that sex work will continue to exist under communism, their refusal to understand how Johns are inherently rapists, to the recent criticisms of the 4b movement in a recent post here (which prompted this post), it is genuinely disturbing how they will apply material analysis to capitalism, imperialism and white supremacy, but draw the line at patriarchy.
And to be clear, I'm all for shitting on liberal feminists, those idiots have put the feminist liberation decades back, from their "sex work is empowering" nonsense to their co-opting every radical feminist movement and bastardizing it to serve capitalism, they should be criticized and held accountable for the disastrous state of discourse they have created.
Their hopping on the 4B movement is just another instance of their usual behavior. And while it's reasonable to dissect that, what isn't is completely ignoring the validity of said movement, that was started by radical feminists from an extremely conservative country where being labeled as a feminist is akin to social murder.
The 4B movement is a women's strike against patriarchy, in the form of withholding their contribution, their labor. In general, a woman is expected to be a caretaker, have children and provide sexual services to men in a patriarchal society. By refusing to date, marry, have sex, or have children, they are keeping the patriarchy away from exploiting them like it has for thousands of years.
You may doubt its efficacy due to lack of organizing and class consciousness amongst women, and I'd agree with you on that. But most of the criticisms of it seem to be towards the women practicing it.
I've even seen some people say that it's ineffective because the government will just force them to get married and have sex. The irony is lost on them, as it is the same criticism that liberals use against us when we say that workers should organize and revolt. That the bourgeois class will use police and military force against us.
Ignoring the fact that women are already being violated, what other options do you suggest that women have? We've literally tried it all, voting, protesting, changing laws little by little, and yet I still live in a world where men are allowed to publicly debate whether or not I should have access to my own rights.
Why is a movement that basically boils down to "I'm not allowing anyone access to my body", a basic expression of one's bodily autonomy, pissing you off so fucking bad? Why are you angry that you no longer have access to a woman's body, emotional and physical labor?
Could it possibly be that it's because the same group who believes women would still wanna get paid for sex under communism (with what money, might I add), haven't deconstructed their male privilege enough to understand that they shouldn't be entitled to women's bodies?
Sadly, not everyone has the right opinion for the right reasons. Many men are leftist because they haven't succeeded within capitalism. They are reactionaries who haven't understoond the reality of class struggle, otherwise they'd see the parallels between capitalism and patriarchy. Where the boss owns the means of production, the husband owns the home, the furniture and even the means of reproduction (his wife). Where the boss makes all the decisions and the workers follow, the husband is the head of the family and the wife must submit to him. Where the boss can fire you with no repercussions to himself, a husband can replace his aging wife and throw her on the streets without a dime to her name (side note: in south korea elderly women are forced into prostitution because of poverty, many of those were divorced after decades of marriage, and in Australia there's an epidemic of homeless elderly women for the same reason). Seeing the similarities would allow leftist men to see how women are going on a strike, in the same way workers go on a strike to improve their working conditions.
Sadly, not a lot of leftist men are aware of the parallels, and are unwilling to understand how they are our oppressors. Which is why, until they do, there will be no proper revolution. You need to stop oppressing the other half of the working class if you want to get anything done. I'm sick and tired of taking the hits as a woman from every side of the aisle, but especially from the side that supposedly wants to create a classless society, yet is willing to turn a blind eye to the oldest oppressive system of them all, just because it's not directly affecting you, in fact you're benefitting from lt. And no, we shouldn't eradicate capitalism first, then dismantle patriarchy, as many of you loooooooove to tout, because then only men are free, and from the track record of men's support of women's issues, I don't trust that y'all will show up to help us when it's finally our turn to be liberated.