TIME’S NOW
11
Jessa Crispin: Feminism is becoming ‘pointless’
Book critic and author Jessa Crispin explains why feminism is not doing enough for women BY CHARLOTTE JONES
FEMINIST author Jessa Crispin is not someone to shy away from controversial topics. The author of 2017 book Why I Am Not A Feminist, you’d be forgiven for assuming she was part of an alternative right, Fox news-watching, Ann Coulter-supporting brand of womanhood that believes feminism has gone too far. But you’d be wrong. Crispin believes that current feminist thinking hasn’t gone far enough. She believes it has been rendered pointless. Crispin, who is white and was raised in a traditional nuclear family in Kansas, says the conversation about women’s issues needs to extend to a more diverse group of women, including women of colour. “I think the conversation has to move away from women like me who are doing okay and move it in the direction of the most vulnerable people in our society,” she said. In her book, she argues that in a bid to be universal and recruit more people, feminism failed to address fundamental problems in the way society was run, settling instead on an argument for “close to the status quo-with minor modifications”. In other words, feminism became banal. But if she no longer identifies as a feminist, what inspired her to write a book on the subject? The answer lies in her background as a book editor. She says that after being an editor and critic for around 15 years, she became increasingly frustrated with the feminist literature she reviewed. She says: “I was just angry at how bad it was. I was just like what the fuck is going on, why is it so terrible? Why is it so shallow? Why is there no thinking? Why is everyone trying to demonise the second wave... And so, it became a situation where I am either going to go out on the street and set myself on fire or I have to write a book to keep me sane.” Crispin also talks passionately about women’s reproductive rights,
Jessa Crispin a hot topic in the US, where news had just emerged that Trump official Scott Lloyd tried to ‘reverse’ a teenage immigrant’s abortion last year . She criticised the US for being the only developed country with rising maternal deaths and partly attributed this to the “very little access to abortion which Obama did very little to do anything with”. Having lived in the Republic of Ireland for six months aged 19, the Kansas native also discussed her confusion over why a referendum to amend Ireland’s almost total ban on abortion is only happening now. Prime Minister Leo Vardakar
Photo: Jessa Crispin last month announced the Republic would decide in May if it wanted Crispin said: “It’s interesting to me that Ireland has legitimised gay marriage before legalising abortion.” She questioned why, when homophobia has been traditionally so rife in Western culture, both Ireland and the US appear to welcome same sex marriage, yet try to deny women a right to abortion. She puts it down to the same sex marriage issue being about assimilation and normalisation into a largely white, middle class society. “The gay rights has become in lots of ways kind of conservative in order to pass gay marriage... But
abortion is an inherently anti heteronormative act, because you are rejecting the notion of yourself as mother,” she said. Ask her if male feminists can help the feminist movement and she is largely sceptical. She says. “I am deeply suspicious of any man that calls themselves a feminist. Just be a person. I mean why do you have to sort of latch onto the movement?... Just be a human.” The only way men can truly identify as feminists, according to Crispin, is to reject the inherent advantages of being male. She said: “If you want to 100% reject the protections of traditional
masculinity and patriarchy, wear a skirt and put yourself in a physically, economically vulnerable situation and become more feminine and present yourself and take femininity on as a project...then yeah I will have time to talk to you.” It is clear from almost the beginning of the interview that Crispin is a firebrand. When discussing last year’s condemnation of sexual assault and harassment on social media, otherwise known as the Me too Movement, Crispin offers fresh ideas. Yes, she shares the belief that the movement enabled victims to have their voices acknowledged and “their stories legitimised”. But to Crispin, the movement’s lack of structure means there has been too much focus on making tribunal and case decisions rather than thinking about how to dismantle the power structures that enabled men in high positions to abuse power. “Taking your dick out without being asked first is just one way to abuse your power,” she said. “And so if you replace these men with women just because they don’t have a dick to take out that doesn’t mean that they’re going to be sort of kinder and gentler and not abuse their power in different ways.” For Crispin then, the way to even try to solve the issues facing women in 2018 and beyond is to have a different conversation where our inherent beliefs about women and current social structures are turned on its head. The most radical idea that she supported? The end of female reproduction with the introduction of artificial wombs. She says: “We are deeply uncomfortable with women not being mothers and until that changes I don’t think we’ll ever see it.” Crispin does not propose a plan for how feminists can dismantle these gender biases found within heteronormative society, either in the book or during the interview. Instead, by listening to her arguments, you learn that feminism has a long way to go if true gender equality is to be achieved.