And honestly, sometimes it feels like the oppression olympics.
I was just in this discussion - regarding women finding drag queens offensive - with my daughter (the young, idealistic, militant feminist) and my friend the straight cis-male of privilege who considers himself an advocate for all oppressed people - he was trying to tell us that we shouldn’t be offended ( I think he felt he had to represent the unrepresented drag queens). I do have to admit that when suddenly it comes out that people who formerly presented as male say something, he changed his mind - male privilege - cis women can say it and get told not to worry their pretty little heads but have a Y chromosome and suddenly you get taken seriously - it torqued me off. But transwomen are making my point for me. Let’s not pretend that an over-sexualized overly bitchy presentation of women done by men for the purposes of entertainment is a compliment to women - any of them. Let’s not pretend that objectifying women makes it any easier for any woman to be a woman. Let’s not pretend that when a frat boy dresses up as a woman its in poor taste, but suddenly a gay man does it and because he himself is oppressed, we can’t call him on it.
At the same time, lets also celebrate that we have freedom of expression, and sometimes that freedom means that things are offensive - which is great because otherwise we wouldn’t have The Book of Mormon or Cole Porter or Madonna or about a zillion comedians. Choosing to be offensive - doing something for shock value - should be something you are allowed to choose. But it should also be something we acknowledge and make a conscious choice.