(no subject)

[maevele]

I keep seeing people noting mary daly's passing without acknowledging how damaging she was for trans women. it frustrates me

Comments

[daedala]

They did do an edit on Shakesville, at least.

[daedala]

I sincerely apologize for mentioning this as if it were ok. I hadn't read the comments on the post, and didn't know much about Daly, and so I didn't realize just how completely inadequate that ETA was.

[littlebutfierce]

Me too. :/

[dharma_slut]

It is frustrating, because she did so *much* for me as a ciswoman. She reminded me that being born without a dick did not necessarily mean being powerless, and that power was worth fighting for, for the sake of others, even if it meant losing one's situation.

She might not have been able to extrapolate further than her single interest, but I have. I know that, had I been able to transition to male as i would have preferred, I would have lost her support. But she taught me how to support myself.

[dharma_slut]

And now that I've gone and looked at her career, I realise that she did not merely "not extrapolate further than her single interest" but was actively hateful and bigoted.

I think the only thing I really knew about her was her refusal to let men into her classes, and the reason she gave for that-- but I now understand that her stated reason was not the actual one. She's like a knife twisted in the gut.

[bifemmefatale.livejournal.com]

*nods* I was heartened to see that most of the commenters on Feministing mentioned that. There were some things about her work that I found amusing or thought-provoking, but generally, I thought her beyond-sloppy scholarship and goofy-to-genocidal positions on many social issues just made feminists look even more laughable and fringey.

[tessibean.livejournal.com]

Good lord. I don't really follow feminism trends, so I'll admit that I really didn't know about her.

But good lord. I thought feminism was about equal rights for everyone. :|

[maevele.livejournal.com]

some of her theories of radical feminism and some gender essentialist shit are what set the stage for the current anti- trans radfem bullshit

[tessibean.livejournal.com]

I don't think I can make this >:| face any more today.

[naomikritzer]

::googles::
::boggles::

My knowledge of Mary Daly was basically comprised of a reading in a "Women in Religion" course taken in 1991 or thereabouts. Her issues with trans people didn't come up, and I didn't find her interesting enough that I ever read her other writings (even though I majored in Religion -- for one thing, she was all about critiquing Christianity and I was far more interested in taking classes on Buddhism).