Welcome to the weekly Fairer Disputations round-up: your one-stop shop for the best in sex-realist feminism. This week: Erica Komisar on the unique nature of a mother’s love; Poppy Sowerby on Depop, Vinted, and porn pushing boundaries; and Ashley Frawley on society’s sex change. Plus: rage against the mom machine, “affirming” pedophilia, the manosphere can’t give boys fathers, the dignity of dependence—and more!
In honor of Mother’s Day in the US, Erica Komisar reminds us that mothers have a unique, irreplaceable role in loving their children.
Next, Poppy Sowerby discusses the used panties market on Depop and Vinted—and how porn results in pushing women’s boundaries to make sexualization unavoidable.
Finally, Ashley Frawley writes about how society’s embrace of gender identity is linked with the rise of the perfect subject of postliberal managerialism.
More Great Reads:
- Rage Against the Mom Machine, Valerie Stivers, UnHerd
- The ‘Manosphere’ Can’t Give Boys What They Need the Most, Naomi Schafer Riley, Deseret News
- This Group Wants to “Affirm” Pedophilia, Christina Buttons, City Journal
- One of “Those” Moms, Paige Boyer Gomez, Most Likely to Succeed
- Beyond ‘Based’ and ‘Cringe’, Helen Roy, Helen Roy
Fairer Disputations Recommends:
Featured Author Leah Libresco Sargeant has a new book out soon, published by Notre Dame Press and available for pre-order now:
The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto, Leah Libresco Sargeant
The Dignity of Dependence argues that women’s equal rights depend on advocating for women as women.
The world is not ready to welcome women as women; a culture that fears dependence and asks everyone to aim for autonomy and independence will always be a society hostile to women. Women are expected to care for those around them while living in a society that despises need and penalizes those who care for the weak.
The Dignity of Dependence aims to liberate women and men from this corrosive and false ideal of the human person as strongest alone. Leah Libresco Sargeant argues that to thrive, human beings need to exist in webs of mutual dependence, not in isolating, radical autonomy. Women’s equal dignity doesn’t require women to deny biological reality or attempt to be interchangeable with men. Sargeant advocates for building a culture that accepts and celebrates women as they are rather than demanding that women keep their relationships and their bodies in check. The fight for women’s dignity is a fight for a full, human dignity—a dignity that isn’t threatened by dependence. It is our need for each other that makes us human.
