Julie Go – Forum Femmes Journalistes Mediterranée
In psychoanalysis, there exists a concept for a particular sensation. It names the unease and anguish that arise in specific circumstances. This occurs when something familiar becomes strange and disturbing. It reveals hidden aspects that awaken a primitive fear within us. In German, this is called Unheimliche. The French term is l’inquiétante étrangeté (the disquieting strangeness). In Spanish, it is known as lo ominoso, in English the uncanny. French feminism is enveloped in this very phenomenon.
Every 8th of March marks the day of women’s rights internationally. Every 25th of November commemorates the fight against violence towards women. Yet the situation grows worse with each passing year. There is increasing incitement to violence from queer feminists. This violence is directed towards non-queer feminists. But in France, something uncomfortable, uncanny has emerged over the past two years. This violence now affects women of the far right. This creates discomfort because I do not support their ideas. Yet I do not believe that calling for their murder is appropriate.
Historically, there were two feminist tendencies in France. One was favourable to prostitution, the veil, and gender identity. The other was more secular and critical of prostitution (a lot of women who criticise the veil come from Muslim background and/or are Muslim themselves). With the rise of gender identity ideology, the violence spiralled out of control. It became permitted to physically assault women who criticized this ideology. It is not “permitted” to speak with a “TERF” within French feminism. A TERF is a woman who thinks that being a woman is not a feeling. A feminist considered close to a TERF could be deemed neutral towards “TERF oppression”. She might also be labelled “whorephobic” since it goes together, and that’s how they won the battle. But this victory came at a cost: the weakening of French feminism.
I knew the beginnings of the queer movement when I was eighteen or nineteen. They were not so dogmatic then. They wished to live in a certain manner. They did not wish to force everyone to live as they did. I shall speak of “neo-queers” to designate this movement. It is simultaneously authoritarian and utterly absurd. It acts as a private police auxiliary for militants whose “oppression” consists solely in claiming they are oppressed. This is a group of militants willing to sink feminist movements entirely. They would destroy the left through pure individual narcissism. They are characterized by absolute intellectual and existential emptiness.
For the past year or two, nationalist feminists have been on the rise. These are women who criticise sexual violence only when it is committed by immigrants. The neo-queers are calling to “kill them” more than ever before. This is uncanny because I do not doubt these far-right women would do likewise if they could. Their ideas seem manipulative to me. Yet on the other hand, one must ask: why are neo-queers so obsessed with killing them? Because they wish to kill us. They want to be the sole voice of feminism. They wish to intoxicate young people so they cannot hear nuances or our viewpoint.
But I wonder about the neo-queers who support gender identity. They are accelerating the rise of the right wing. Their ambition is to remain as the only alternative. Do they truly believe in what they claim to defend? Rather, I wish to ask these women directly: do you truly think there can be no reasons to oppose defining a woman as anyone who claims to be one? Even for people who committed sexual assault? Of course, you tell us that “there are also predatory cis women”. But do you truly believe that we do not know this?
Do you truly believe there is no reason to think that normalising prostitution increases demand and therefore increases the need for supply. An increase occurs via the manipulation of adolescents. I know that your “argument” that any disagreement is mental illness or “playing the victim”. Do you truly not know this was also said about dissidents in the Soviet Union? One cannot be so foolish. Therefore, you must be feigning these beliefs for other reasons. Perhaps reasons related to professional ambition in the cultural sector. A very competitive sector. Performing luxury beliefs for social credit. Cancel culture allows the elimination of competition.
The concept of bad faith comes from the Latin mala fide (bad loyalty). This phrase was already used in ancient Roman law. It qualified a person who acts knowingly in a disloyal manner. They act dishonestly or with the intention to deceive. It stands opposed to bona fide (good faith). That designates someone who acts with honesty and without intention to harm.
The objective of feminism is not the overthrow of false neoliberal feminism. It is the struggle against the oppression of women. It fights against femicides. It opposes forced sterilizations. It resists forced pregnancies. It combats rape, whether marital or otherwise. But with the rise of a far right that is not feminist but feminine, we cannot wait any longer. We cannot show pedagogy towards people who act in bad faith.
Why do you not understand that we no longer have patience?
