I received the following message from one too many of my Facebook friends:

“A friend of mine suggested we (the women) do something special on Facebook this October, to mark Breast Cancer month. It’s really simple and I invite you to join us in this online event.

Last year, the game was to write in your status line the color of the bra you were wearing. This got all men wondering about it for days… why are all these women putting colors in their status lines?

This year, the game is about a handbag, a purse, a backpack or anything you use to carry your things around. So the question is:

Where do you put your bag when you get home? The answer should be, for example, “I like it on the table,” “I like it in the kitchen,” “I like it in the wardrobe.”

Now it’s your turn, just put your answer in your status line in Facebook, MSN Messenger, and so on…

There’s no need to reply, just pass the message to all your girlfriends.

Last year, the bra game made the news. Let’s do the same thing with the bags and show how strong we are!

And don’t tell the men! Just put the answer in your status line…

So first of all, looks like I just “told the men.” Bummer.

It seems to me that if the term “false consciousness” was invented to describe one particular thing, it would be to describe this message. Still, I wasn’t going to write anything, but when the third such message landed in my inbox titled “Girl Power” (!), this was a bit too much.

I’m going to divide this post into three parts: Why the campaign is stupid, why it’s ugly, and why it’s dangerous. Let’s roll.

It’s stupid, because it has nothing to do with breast cancer. So as far as the rationale of “breast cancer awareness week” goes, the campaign doesn’t give any information at all about breast cancer, among other things because any link between the disease and the teaser is coincidental. You could just as easily run a campaign in which every girl says what is her favorite position, what’s the last digit of her phone number, and all kinds of other things, all bound by the shared quality of having nothing whatsoever to do with breast cancer.

It’s ugly, because this is the most un-feminist thing I’ve seen in a long, long while. To cut things short, why on earth are we supposed to attract men’s interest? They’re not the ones who should get checked up. Women are. So it’s much more sensible to run a breast cancer awareness campaign that would pique women’s, not men’s, curiosity. For some reason, the success of last year’s campaign was measured by how it “got the men wondering for days…” Who cares? Did it help anyone to go and get checked? It did not.

But the campaign’s decision to target men is not even the ugliest thing about it. The really ugly thing is the campaign author’s idea of how male interest can and should attracted. Like any third-rate copyrighter advertising a carwash, the authors decided to use the very assumption we as feminists are trying to eradicate from public consciousness: That all men are interested in is sex. Skipping for a moment over the affront this causes to the vast numbers of men who don’t match this notion, I’d like to say a few words about what it does to women.

How did the campaign authors decided to approach men? By turning us all into women who exist solely to make men horny.
One of the dangers of pornography, from a feminist perspective, is that it makes men think all women want is sex, all the time. Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting sex, it’s just not an inherent, and certainly not dominant part, of being a woman. One of the dangers that arise from that is when men meet real-world women, who don’t want sex at any given moment and whose existence is not defined by sex, men are angry because this is not what they were told. This anger sometimes is released through violence.

And here, using the sickening where-do-you-like-your-bag game to produce status lines on how we like it on the table and in the kitchen, we’re invited to squeeze ourselves into men’s stereotypes of women; to define ourselves by sexuality, and to describe ourselves in a seductive manner. Try pouting suggestively as you type that status message line, ladies. It helps.

So here we have all women coming together for a common purpose: Preventing breast cancer. The idea itself is wonderful, something done by women for women. The cause is worthy and seemingly, even feminist. But then comes the assumption something done by women, for women, only with women, is boring. If there’s no man to turn on or a male audience to get excited, where’s the fun? And so the real purpose, getting women to get checked for breast cancer, is sidelined by the real goal of this campaign, which is to arouse men and provoke their curiosity.

Why is this dangerous? Two reasons. First, because this is an initiative begun and carried on by women. If there’s any form of women oppression that drives me round the bend, it’s one that is transmitted and made permanent by women. It’s not new, but it saddens me anew every time I see it. The greatest strength of hegemony is that it solidifies itself only rarely resorting to use of force. It just convinces the oppressed individuals and groups that this is the way things are ought to be.

But the second reason is infuriating even more. The women who forward this message are truly and honestly convinced it’s a form of woman empowerment. This is why the Girl Power title really ticked me off. Connecting women empowerment to a patriarchal, oppressive, objectifying and humiliating campaign is infuriating, because convincing women that a blink, a wink, and a slightly deeper cleavage constitute “woman power” is dangerous. It’s dangerous because it dooms feminist struggle for many of the affected women. I don’t know if the deception is intentional or not, but saying that this is feminism, distracts from the real struggles, and makes the stubborn linkage between womanhood and sexuality appear not only natural, but legitimate.

We are all human, and therefore, sexual beings. It has nothing to do with whether we are men or women. But when the only way in which women or subjects related to women are defined is through sexuality, it cements the perception women are two-dimensional creatures. They attract attention from men not thanks to interesting ideas or important insights, but because they want sex. This it what they’re good for, and it’s only then that they are of any interest.

So ahead of the breast cancer awareness month, here’s what I’m putting in my Facebook status: Women, go for a check-up. Don’t “like it on the table”, on the chair, or the washing machine. Just go and get checked up.”

Oh, and for the record – here’s how I like my bag:

 

Cross posted with Reuma.