Boektip van de week: "Beauty and Misogyny" van Sheila Jeffreys

Deze week stellen we de boektip van Sophie Withaeckx voor, namelijk “Beauty and Misogyny” van Sheila Jeffreys. Sophie is licentiate in Afrikaanse Talen en Culturen, en studeerde daarnaast Internationale Politiek. Sinds 2002 werkt ze bij het Intercultureel Vrouwencentrum Antwerpen (IVCA), aanvankelijk als projectmedewerker en coördinator, en nu als vrijwilliger. Op dit moment werkt ze aan haar doctoraat omtrent eergerelateerd geweld in Vlaanderen.

 

Over dit boek schrijft ze:

“Sheila Jeffreys is tof om te lezen, omdat ze de vanzelfsprekendheden van de Westerse cultuur zo goed in vraag kan stellen, de dingen die we allemaal 'normaal' vinden, maar die in feite fundamentele ongelijkheden uitdrukken: het gebruik van make-up, het dragen van hoge hakken, het verschil in mannen- en vrouwenkleding, maar ook ingrijpendere praktijken als plastische chirurgie en anorexia. Ze is controversieel, omdat ze zeer radicaal is, maar ook omdat veel mensen het moeilijk hebben om het problematische van die alledaagse dingen in te zien. In ieder geval, stof tot nadenken.”

Een korte biografie:

"Sheila Jeffreys writes and teaches in the areas of sexual politics, international gender politics, and lesbian and gay politics. She has written six books on the history and politics of sexuality. Originally from the UK, Sheila moved to Melbourne in 1991 to take up a position at the University of Melbourne. She has been actively involved in feminist and lesbian feminist politics, particularly around the issue of sexual violence, since 1973. She is involved with the international non-government organization, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women."

Klik hier om een interview met Sheila Jeffreys over haar boek “Beauty and Misogyny” en haar denken in het algemeen te lezen. Alvast enkele fragmenten:

"[...] Jeffreys has been treated with hostility and ridicule. Pornographers named a dildo after her - The Sheila: A Spinster's Best Friend. Sexual libertarians are infuriated by her criticism of the practices they enjoy. When she pointed out in Anticlimax the need for feminists to challenge the dominance and submission characteristic of many a heterosexual relationship, she was pretty much a lone voice, and still is."

"Jeffreys argues that many male fashion designers are "projecting their misogyny on to the bodies of women", and gives examples of collections featuring images based on sexual violence - Alexander McQueen's show for his masters degree was entitled Jack The Ripper, and depicted bloodied images of Victorian prostitutes."

"She likens cosmetic surgery such as labiaplasty and breast implants to female genital mutilation. She concedes the distinction that genital mutilation is carried out on children who have no choice in the matter, "but the liberal view of choice, which is that women can now 'choose' to engage in harmful, oppressive actions, does not make the practice of slicing up women's genitals to please men any less vile". As Jeffreys points out, hymen repair surgery, which is available through the public health service in the Netherlands, is sought not only by women whose cultures require them to be virgins when they marry, but also by western women whose partners wish to penetrate a tighter vagina."

"Jeffreys maintains that transsexual surgery is an extension of the beauty industry offering cosmetic solutions to deeper rooted problems. She argues that in a society in which there was no such thing as gender, there would be no need to undergo such surgery."