What armchair commentators say about your feminism doesn't matter

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/24/armchair-commentators-feminism-australia

"You’re doing it wrong! Feminist events shouldn’t have male speakers! Feminist events need more male speakers! SlutWalk is the handmaiden of capitalist oppression that will eventually lead to all women becoming prostitutes! SlutWalk should be called PerpWalk/PrudeWalk/Anti-Victim-BlamingWalk! You’re too middle class! You’re too radical! Why do you hate men/women so much!"

These are difficult viewpoints to engage with because they’re totalising arguments that are not really meant to start constructive discussions. They’re intended to shut down debate, not initiate it. That’s the very definition of trolling, but I still respond to these because it’s part of my job to change people’s minds, particularly about victim-blaming of women and sexual violence.

And then there are the vitriolic personal attacks. Ranging from accusations of stupidity and unchecked privilege through to insinuations that feminists “invented” rape culture in order to professionally profit from it, the slamming of individuals deemed incorrect seems to be a fashionable form of undermining feminism writ large.

I find this harder to tolerate. Not because women shouldn’t criticise the work of other women. They absolutely should, and I do it frequently. But mounting strenuous critiques of prevailing attitudes in the public sphere is possible without petty namecalling and spiteful innuendo. Not only is it inane, but it’s the mark of a mediocre intellect and a boring writer. It’s also doing the work of patriarchy, and nobody is happier to see it than anti-feminist gatekeepers of the status quo.