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Ad Feministem: a Lesson in Logic

Lamia Moghnie — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:15:00 +0000

Prezi.com

Sara Emiline AbuGhazal

One argumentative fallacy I remember from the Introduction to Logic class I took 10 years ago was called: “Ad hominem” which means “To the man.” It is a false, incorrect way of arguing that we use very commonly when we go after the person presenting an argument in an attempt to discredit them using irrelevant accusations. Here are some examples of ad hominem:

A: Let’s go to Shtrumpf and have a salad bar.
B: No, let’s not go to Shtrumpf; they are too expensive.
A: You can never pick a good restaurant (or you are such a cheapo) (or you are a party pooper).

Here we see how A, instead of answering the argument of B, which is a valid argument, resorts to attack or belittle or ridicule or try to discredit B on false grounds. If A had said: you are a liar (or no, Shtrumpf is affordable), she would have had a point. Instead she commits the ad hominem fallacy by talking about person B rather than about his arguments.

At the time, ad hominem was meant to be a gender-neutral term like mankind, but it is interesting to observe how the fallacy actually becomes a strategy when addressed at women. This could probably be referred to as “ad feminem.” An example would be:

Ah, you got into a car accident because you are a woman & women can’t drive well (as opposed to “you got into a car accident because you didn’t hit the brakes at the right moment”)

Ad feminem is a fascinating world of bad logic in itself, but I will focus on a specific type of sexist argumentation which I will call “ad feministem.” Yes, my friends, ad feministem is probably the most common form of sexist argumentation. This is the technique of discrediting women who believe in gender equality and won’t take any bullshit about it by making reference to their personal beliefs or politics or qualities (regardless if these qualities are true or false). For example:

C: So what if Lebanese women can’t grant nationality to their kids; they shouldn’t be marrying foreigners anyway.
D: It’s every person’s right to grant citizenship to their family, be they women or men. Why discriminate?
C: What do you know? You’re always pissed off at everything.
or C: Of course you’ll think that, you’re a woman so you’re biased.

Ad feministem gets worse when we’re talking about sexuality matters. Women are immediately made out to be whores and nymphos and lesbians and sluts. Here is an example:

E: I think women should have the right to have sex on their own terms as long as they are educated about sexual health and birth control and feel confident to make their own decisions.
F: But that will lead our society to disintegrate, women won’t get married anymore and they won’t stay loyal to their partners, it will all become chaotic.
E: Actually, allowing women the same freedoms allowed to men and promoting a positive approach to sex and sexuality from both genders leads to a society that is more equal, more open, and more healthy.
F: Actually, you’re a slut who likes sleeping around, so you want all women to behave like you.
or F: You’re a lesbian who hates men and wants to delete them from society.

And the attacks can get pretty vicious (not that there is anything wrong with being a lesbian or a slut) and personal, against the selves and the bodies of women. That makes it really hard for any woman to keep on fighting. That’s probably why very few do. Every time we try to stand up for women’s rights, we get called angry, jealous, bitter hags. Every time we try to deconstruct gender, we get called ugly, sick, complicated man-haters. Sometimes we get called violent too because we raise our voices and refuse to be “polite” when “polite” is synonymous with shutting up. Often, people think we can’t take a joke. We can take plenty of jokes, when they’re funny, and laughs at the expense of women aren’t funny. When we try to wake up the little powerful voice inside a young woman, we are accused of sabotaging the entire society and ruining what is otherwise seen as a very successful social order. When we said Mohammad Iskandar’s song was not only sexist and demeaning towards women but actually promoted (promoted!) sexism as a cool thing, we were called ball-busting, uncivilized, rude, violent bitches. And when young men comfortable enough with their gender stood by us, they were called faggots. This is all not just isolated name-calling but a systematic argumentative technique that silences us, scares us, falsely discredits our arguments: ad feministem!

Friends, you call me feminist like it’s a bad thing. It’s not. I wear the political label with more joy than anything I have ever worn. But regardless of what you think of the word, whether by calling me a feminist you are praising or cursing me, sound logic dictates that you can’t use it as an argument to discredit or shut me up. You can’t use anything that I am (or you think I am) against me. Fight my ideas, my arguments, my logic instead. The next time I find you attacking me personally, I will consider myself winning.

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My Feminist School: A Life

deema kaedbey — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Rania Ignatios

The day I was born, my feminist future was determined. I was brought up to become a woman, and while everything around me conspired to teach me how to be one, I became a feminist instead.

It was not a text that I read, nor a song that I heard, and it certainly was not a particular experience I went through. Rather: my whole life was a feminist school.

Everything in our life is predetermined just by being female: Do you remember when the first time something was done or said to you solely because you’re a girl? Well, then, how could I determine the first time I decided I was a feminist? There was no first feminist awakening, there was no first feminist thought. Becoming a feminist was a process for me and it happened accidentally while my parents, school and society were teaching me how to become a woman.

I was not oppressed by my parents for being a girl. On the contrary, I was considered the smart one in the family, and my dad bragged about how I was going to become an engineer. I was also allowed to do everything I wanted to do, and encouraged to do it. But I don’t like it when people say how they don’t understand the real struggle that we, feminists, talk about just because they did not face oppression. I simply knew I was oppressed when I did something my guy friend could have just as easily done and got extra praise for it just because I was a girl doing it.

Something else happened the day I was born: my dad was not excited. I represented his third and last failed attempt at having a boy. But he did not give up on me; he was determined to make me the toughest of his girls, the closer to a guy. He took me everywhere he went. I was his favorite little boy. And I looked up to him. He taught me everything he knew. He tells people today how he used to teach me addition and multiplication long before they were taught in school. I think he is convinced that he’s the reason I became a math major today. And maybe he is.

I grew up in a poor neighborhood where all the friends I had were boys, I learnt to survive in an environment people would usually judge unsuitable for a girl. My Motto was: If he says something you don’t like, kick him. I left that neighborhood when I was ten, but spending the first ten years of my life on those streets taught me how to be tough. When I was playing football at eight years old on a court filled with guys a few years older than me, and when I saw their faces looking at me with admiration and shock, I knew that everything I was going to hear about being a girl was wrong and I understood that I am capable of everything a guy is capable of. But it did not end here; this was going to be the story of my life. The same happened in school when the sports teacher would kiss me just for running as fast as the other boys in class, or when the French teacher would be surprised that I knew how to fix the tape player when the four boys in my class didn’t know what to do. And you ask me how I became this angry? Anger, my dear, was building up throughout all this. I would get angry every time a teacher would say sentences like: “Girls are not usually interested in electronics and mechanics”. The word “usually” is used to hide the gaps in their statements. “Girls are not good at sports” and that’s why you cannot find good running shoes for women. Try to go into any sports shop and go to the shoe section; you can see the beautiful collection of sports shoes for men, and next to it, a couple of pink sports shoes designed for women.

Later in my teenage years, I made a best friend who had my concerns and anger. She was determined to surpass all those obstacles as well. We learnt about feminism together. The day I discovered there was a word to all those feelings and thoughts I was having was a happy day for me. I was what we call a feminist, and other feminists like me do exist. I finally had a word to google in order to read about all the things I always wanted to say, but never heard anyone else talking about. I found out there’s a book that started the feminist revolution in France and Europe called “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir. My best friend got it, and gave it to me. Reading that book was the most empowering thing ever. During my teenage years, I learnt about the feminist movement. I remember creating a folder on my computer called “Feminism” and collecting all the feminist things I got on the internet. My appreciation to the feminist movement we are building today comes from all those lonely feminist teenage years when I only dreamt of being part of this feminist collective that comes together to share all this anger and frustration and prepare for the revolution that is going to change everything.

Question: Was it the self-esteem and toughness my dad raised me to have, or the confidence I built on the all-men football court, was it the anger from all the discrimination you face at school, or the best friend I made that shared my feminist thoughts, was it that amazing feminist book I read, or all the amazing feminists I met in this collective I am part of today that made me a feminist?

Answer: None and all of the above. My whole life was a feminist school. Any woman’s life is a feminist school, but whether she graduates or not, and how early, is only up to her.