COVID changed some things. It’s hard for me to nail down, given that I moved and changed careers right before the lockdowns, so some of what I see could be do to different regional culture, etc. But I do think the US has begun to move on from identity politics. They are still there, and likely will be for years. And some of the things th…
COVID changed some things. It’s hard for me to nail down, given that I moved and changed careers right before the lockdowns, so some of what I see could be do to different regional culture, etc. But I do think the US has begun to move on from identity politics. They are still there, and likely will be for years. And some of the things they brought us are good- there is some point in questioning why all the leaders of a political group are white men, for example. But I think rising food prices, the anti-work movement, the end of Roe v Wade, the deaths of thousands, being treated like cattle to be vaccinated, and the isolation of COVID had reminded a lot of people about bigger issues. Survival/ prepper gear is out of stock in many places, as is seed, farm animals, and hobby farm machinery. Acreage is being bought up quickly. American culture has changed and I think left-adjacent people are now more concerned about the personal impact of politics than about pointless outrage. Conservatives are more worried about vaccine mandates than Antifa conspiracies. Left moderates are just patiently waiting for the lecture on why “uterus havers” is appropriate terminology to end instead of engaging. Basically I think you are right- the rulers aren’t going to stop peddling identity politics. But I think fewer people are buying. The US has hit a critical mass of what the Chinese call “lay flat and let it rot”. People stayed home for COVID and learned to make do with less money. Family and time became more important than that raise they were chasing. In this new culture, corporate culture (including identity politics) matters less. I don’t know if we’ll see a new framework emerge to explain why the world is the way it is and what to do about it. No more than polyamory was defeated and renounced. People just got bored with it and said “meh, fuck whomever you like”. I see that point approaching with identity politics were the proponents of idpol will be listened to and ignored.
Tangentially, I’ve got to admit I find something creepy in the campaign to move reproductive labor out of the family/ home and make it communal. It’s one of my few beefs with Silvia Federici.
1) I don’t believe the traditional housewife is alone. I am a SAHM and I am never alone. I have a deep feeling of community and kinship with my dairy animals and with the world around me. I really became a true feminist through being a farming housewife and realizing just how pointless 90% of males are (sorry dudes- I love my hubby and am hardly a man-hater but I had to realize that very few males in “the real world” of nature get past the stage of being tasty morsels for predators). There is a whole community in the garden, in the woods, and with the herd. Every space not full of inane human chatter is not solitary confinement.
2) Working “by myself” is not unpleasant or alienating. I find working with others and being expected to socialize to be more work than simply completing tasks. The assumption that the problem of reproductive labor is isolation is unproven. I would far more argue that the lack of appreciation (measured in wealth and security offered by the family/ society, not just in words) is the problem of reproductive labor. It is invisible and having it seen by other women who’s work is also invisible only does so much. Moreover, exemplary performance of reproductive labor is always seen as a luxury/ waste of time. A woman who carefully gardens whole foods to feed her family for years, who cooks and cleans and stores produce will be hit in the divorce proceedings with the estimated value of her contributions as compared to frozen pizza and not to heirloom organics.
3) Control- women in many cultures have had the home as a place of her power. It was her right to deny entrance to the man, or to refuse him food from the storehouses. Moving that locus of power out of the home into industrial food processing is a huge factor driving the degradation of women for centuries. Even to put it under community control puts it halfway under the control of men- who are unlikely to contribute half of the work even with the best intentions. It also puts it under the control of women as a collective and leaves no base of power for the individual woman. And to be realistic, women can be a problem just as much as men. Female genital mutilation is often performed and passed down through women’s societies and women’s culture, for one example. And touching on my previous point, where reproductive labor is controlled collectively, quality control becomes hard to establish. Perhaps some families like to eat cheap food and spend more on clothes, while other wear hand-me-downs and eat organic. Collective control makes diversity hard in that sense. And also, at risk of parodying myself, it is ableist as fuck. It assumes that food allergies are not a problem and/ or perhaps that those who have them will spend extra time preparing their own food while the normies can just eat. Or that everyone is forced to eat hypoallergenic mush. My point is not that collective cooking is evil and ableist (I really don’t mind bringing a gluten free dish to the party). My point is that a diversity of styles of reproductive labor has good points ranging from personal preferences to people who are going to go into anaphylaxis because someone used the a knife that touched peanut butter to cut their bread. It may seem a petty complaint (and I know it is compared to racism or sexism or whatever) but it is othering enough to be the person snacking on potato chips and not eating the host’s food because I can’t be sure if it will hurt me or not. To have a whole society where say, the infrastructure for home cooking were not standard in the home would be scary. And humans being human, someone would likely resent those with allergies if they were given access to dedicated kitchen space. So, yeah, tangential and petty but I’m just trying to shed some light on how even a simple, awesome thing like a communIty kitchen turning out awesome food could create as many problems as it solves. It’s petty but so much is petty. The best numbers I’ve been able to find out the number of celiacs in the US at twice the number of trans people. I admit to feeling extremely petty over the fact that this, that, and the other thing is “transphobic” because it might, in some small way, inconvenience or upset a trans person yet no one gives a flying fuck about being inclusive of people who have dietary restrictions. We’re all supposed to state our pronouns lest it be uncomfortable to make a request for pronouns that would not have been a first guess. But arguing for community kitchens very unlikely to be able to turn out safe (let alone palatable) food for those with allergies is completely inclusive. I promise I’m usually not this petty but goddamn it this is one that burns.
COVID changed some things. It’s hard for me to nail down, given that I moved and changed careers right before the lockdowns, so some of what I see could be do to different regional culture, etc. But I do think the US has begun to move on from identity politics. They are still there, and likely will be for years. And some of the things they brought us are good- there is some point in questioning why all the leaders of a political group are white men, for example. But I think rising food prices, the anti-work movement, the end of Roe v Wade, the deaths of thousands, being treated like cattle to be vaccinated, and the isolation of COVID had reminded a lot of people about bigger issues. Survival/ prepper gear is out of stock in many places, as is seed, farm animals, and hobby farm machinery. Acreage is being bought up quickly. American culture has changed and I think left-adjacent people are now more concerned about the personal impact of politics than about pointless outrage. Conservatives are more worried about vaccine mandates than Antifa conspiracies. Left moderates are just patiently waiting for the lecture on why “uterus havers” is appropriate terminology to end instead of engaging. Basically I think you are right- the rulers aren’t going to stop peddling identity politics. But I think fewer people are buying. The US has hit a critical mass of what the Chinese call “lay flat and let it rot”. People stayed home for COVID and learned to make do with less money. Family and time became more important than that raise they were chasing. In this new culture, corporate culture (including identity politics) matters less. I don’t know if we’ll see a new framework emerge to explain why the world is the way it is and what to do about it. No more than polyamory was defeated and renounced. People just got bored with it and said “meh, fuck whomever you like”. I see that point approaching with identity politics were the proponents of idpol will be listened to and ignored.
Tangentially, I’ve got to admit I find something creepy in the campaign to move reproductive labor out of the family/ home and make it communal. It’s one of my few beefs with Silvia Federici.
1) I don’t believe the traditional housewife is alone. I am a SAHM and I am never alone. I have a deep feeling of community and kinship with my dairy animals and with the world around me. I really became a true feminist through being a farming housewife and realizing just how pointless 90% of males are (sorry dudes- I love my hubby and am hardly a man-hater but I had to realize that very few males in “the real world” of nature get past the stage of being tasty morsels for predators). There is a whole community in the garden, in the woods, and with the herd. Every space not full of inane human chatter is not solitary confinement.
2) Working “by myself” is not unpleasant or alienating. I find working with others and being expected to socialize to be more work than simply completing tasks. The assumption that the problem of reproductive labor is isolation is unproven. I would far more argue that the lack of appreciation (measured in wealth and security offered by the family/ society, not just in words) is the problem of reproductive labor. It is invisible and having it seen by other women who’s work is also invisible only does so much. Moreover, exemplary performance of reproductive labor is always seen as a luxury/ waste of time. A woman who carefully gardens whole foods to feed her family for years, who cooks and cleans and stores produce will be hit in the divorce proceedings with the estimated value of her contributions as compared to frozen pizza and not to heirloom organics.
3) Control- women in many cultures have had the home as a place of her power. It was her right to deny entrance to the man, or to refuse him food from the storehouses. Moving that locus of power out of the home into industrial food processing is a huge factor driving the degradation of women for centuries. Even to put it under community control puts it halfway under the control of men- who are unlikely to contribute half of the work even with the best intentions. It also puts it under the control of women as a collective and leaves no base of power for the individual woman. And to be realistic, women can be a problem just as much as men. Female genital mutilation is often performed and passed down through women’s societies and women’s culture, for one example. And touching on my previous point, where reproductive labor is controlled collectively, quality control becomes hard to establish. Perhaps some families like to eat cheap food and spend more on clothes, while other wear hand-me-downs and eat organic. Collective control makes diversity hard in that sense. And also, at risk of parodying myself, it is ableist as fuck. It assumes that food allergies are not a problem and/ or perhaps that those who have them will spend extra time preparing their own food while the normies can just eat. Or that everyone is forced to eat hypoallergenic mush. My point is not that collective cooking is evil and ableist (I really don’t mind bringing a gluten free dish to the party). My point is that a diversity of styles of reproductive labor has good points ranging from personal preferences to people who are going to go into anaphylaxis because someone used the a knife that touched peanut butter to cut their bread. It may seem a petty complaint (and I know it is compared to racism or sexism or whatever) but it is othering enough to be the person snacking on potato chips and not eating the host’s food because I can’t be sure if it will hurt me or not. To have a whole society where say, the infrastructure for home cooking were not standard in the home would be scary. And humans being human, someone would likely resent those with allergies if they were given access to dedicated kitchen space. So, yeah, tangential and petty but I’m just trying to shed some light on how even a simple, awesome thing like a communIty kitchen turning out awesome food could create as many problems as it solves. It’s petty but so much is petty. The best numbers I’ve been able to find out the number of celiacs in the US at twice the number of trans people. I admit to feeling extremely petty over the fact that this, that, and the other thing is “transphobic” because it might, in some small way, inconvenience or upset a trans person yet no one gives a flying fuck about being inclusive of people who have dietary restrictions. We’re all supposed to state our pronouns lest it be uncomfortable to make a request for pronouns that would not have been a first guess. But arguing for community kitchens very unlikely to be able to turn out safe (let alone palatable) food for those with allergies is completely inclusive. I promise I’m usually not this petty but goddamn it this is one that burns.