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It's not that I didn't see it. It's that I didn't see it.

By Ann Althouse

It's hard being a feminist, you know. You know everything, and there are so many things you know, and then it's like you don't know a damned thing. Look at this tragic attempt at thinking on the page or pretending to think on the page:

I read It?s a Jungle Out There. And it?s not that I didn?t notice the images were racist ? it?s that I didn?t bother to look at the images. It?s not that I don?t understand why images of white women kicking dark-skinned natives are problematic. It?s that I was a sloppy reader who didn?t check out the pictures, even though they?re part of the book and I should have. My not looking at the pictures is part of the problem. Obviously I saw the pictures, because I had to turn the page. If I had taken two seconds to look at them, I would have been pretty pissed. But I didn?t ? because, as a white girl, there?s nothing about ?jungle theme? that puts me on notice. There?s nothing in my experience that makes me take notice and actually look when I glance past a retro jungle cartoon. That is privilege. I failed to check mine. I failed in a lot of ways.

Someone you were in solidarity with had a book and so you had to promote it.

I initially promoted the book because it?s a fun, funny, quick read.

Why are you helping sell books that are mere fluff? This blog post goes on and on, and I'm too busy to wade through it. But skipping ahead:

The feminist blogosphere has been poison lately. A lot of people have left. Tonight, for the first time in a long while, I?ve seriously considered dropping out, too. I promised myself that I would quit when I felt like blogging was doing me more harm than good; that is how I feel right now....

That post, by Jill of Feministe went up a few days ago. Today, she says she's quitting blogging:

... I feel like an untrustworthy back-stabbing bitch who threw someone she likes and respects under the bus in order to give herself some undeserved moral superiority and undo un-doable wrongs. That wasn?t my intention, of course. It never is. But that?s what it feels like....

That isn?t to say that I don?t stand by what I wrote in the apology post. I do. I just I feel like I?m spinning in circles and I have no idea what I?m even trying to accomplish anymore....

So I need to just stop.

You know, I don't read the feminist blogs, but from what little I've seen of them, I can see why someone would wake up screaming let me the hell out of here. Feminism should feel like freedom. Obviously, it doesn't. I don't really know what you characters have been doing to each other lately, but get some sleep. Get some fresh air.

IN THE COMMENTS: Cyrus writes:

I know you say that you "don't read the feminist blogs," ... [b]ut ... Jill ends the blog entry you link to... with the sentence: "I'll come back in a couple of weeks"...

You're right. I confess that I stopped when I got to the line "So I need to just stop." It's also clear that she was going to quit for a few weeks anyway to work on exams. So really, what was all this parading of angst about? Ugh. Must go back to not reading feminist blogs. Involuted nonsense. Life goes on.

Full post as published by Althouse on April 29, 2008 (boomark / email).