Jessica Valenti, The (Face and) Voice of Third-Wave Feminism and PIV-Positive Rhetoric, Nearly Dies From Pregnancy-Related Complications February 6, 2011

you have got to be fucking kidding me.

jessica valenti, the voice of third-wave PIV-pozzie “young feminists” is stepping down from her position at feministing because she is too old (and elite?) to be the voice of “young non-elitist feminists” anymore.  this in and of itself is practically worthy of its own post.  i mean really.  she gets some respect, some credibility (amongst her own of course), some cash, some security, and her first thought is that its time to pass the torch to someone younger?  of course, because her own stated mission is to “give young feminists a platform to state their position and launch their careers” this was kind of the forseeable result.  we were just discussing this here a few days ago in fact.  shes no spring chicken anymore.  but to build a sunset provision into your own career as a feminist, based on age, is just so heartbreakingly short-sighted and well…pomo.  a perfect example of their own anti-feminist, misogynist ideology biting them in the fucking ass.

as is this:

recently, valenti almost died from pregnancy-related complications, including preeclampsia and resulting liver failure (and one complication that even i had never heard of before, a “variation of preeclampsia” called HELLP syndrome), and delivered a 29-weeks gestated fetus that almost died too.  she now (NOW!) believes that maternal health is an important issue, and she will be addressing it regularly now (NOW!)  i guess these things do matter afterall.  NOW.  now that its affected her, personally. 

because the only thing that matters is the personal lived experience of individuals, and not history, not data, and definitely not the lived-experience of anyone that doesnt (or cannot) experience life in a way that supports your own pomo, sex-pozzie agenda.  now, valenti is asking her supporters to donate money to “womendeliver“, an organization that supports (“fights for” in her words…rawr) maternal health.  whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean, and whomever the fuck that is expected to benefit.  this is what we are supposed to take away from all of this?  this is all anyone is supposed to actually do, in the face of actual shit-and-grit live-reporting on the dangers of PIV-centric sexuality and pregnancy-related complications?  as opposed to, say, making some actual connections and bringing radical awareness and change into our own lives?  even wanted pregnancies are fucking dangerous, and what makes women “want” them in the first fucking place is highly suspect. 

this is of course in addition to any possible critique of the unwanted pregnancies women are subjected to all the time, and the dangers (to women) of PIV-centric sex.  i wouldnt expect any of them to blow a lobe examining that part of it, but they cant even bring themselves to critique the dangers of pregnancy itself.  and how it only affects women, and not men, and that it has affected women forever, billions of them, across time and place.  even women they know.  individually.  and this is key.  they arent examining or even acknowledging how PIV-centric sexuality and pregnancy-related complications affect individual women, even though they are interested in examining everything else, on an individual level.  on this issue in particular, they are wearing blinders, and they arent taking them off, even when it affects one of their most beloved characters.  no, they arent interested in examining this one, at all.  i wonder why that would be?

it distresses and saddens me greatly that valenti had to go through what she herself describes as a harrowing and terrifying medical event, and especially one thats pregnancy-related.  it really does.  the inequity of it all just isnt fair, by definition, and i shouldnt have to fucking say it.  but apparently i do.  because what takes second place in the distressing and saddening competition here is probably this: feministe writes about valenti leaving feministing, and what lead up to her decision to leave, without once mentioning the pregnancy-related complications that almost killed her.  even though valenti herself has written about how important that event was in her life, and how it caused her to “take time away to reflect” and that it directly lead to her decision to leave.  this fucking twenty-something fun-fem took the time to write a tribute to her beloved mentor which by her own admission reads like a fucking obituary, (an obituary!  oh god…it burns) and could only mine the story of valentis life and her contributions for the nuggets that benefitted her, and pomo feminism.  like her dedication to young pomo feminists, and helping them get a leg up in the “how to get rich being a feminist” competition/career track, via the mainstream interwebs.

yes, that might be the worst fucking part.  valenti has now passed the torch to a bunch of twenty-something PIV-pozzies who are so hell-bent on feeding their own narcissism building “careers as feminists” where their own ass-biting agenda is to cater to the young and inexperienced, (as opposed to, for example, telling the truth no matter what, or advocating for women as a sexual class, around the world) and to 100% support PIV-centric sexuality, and already, less than a week after shes gone, its been made entirely clear that none of them have learned anything from this old hags “lived experience” with PIV and pregnancy and none of them ever will.

the latest post from feministe: hatin’ on katy perry.  on sunday.  probably their busiest day (or one of them, and less than a week after valenti announced she was leaving) this is what they lead with.  onward and upward, i guess?