One of my Peak Radfem moments

I still consider myself a radical feminist. Also an anarchafeminist and trans feminist. I take a lot of criticism, and sometimes hate, for being trans and for having unorthodox feminist views. But this maddens me more than all of that.

Commenting on this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/20/condom-seizures-sex-workers-hiv-aids#start-of-comments on the criminalization of carrying condoms, I noted:

"Sometimes it seems that the purpose of the law is to keep the powerful powerful and the powerless powerless. In this case, it's to punish/endanger/sometimes extort sex from prostitutes and punish marginalized demographics, not to protect prostitutes from abusive clients. Anti-prostitution sweeps target poor womyn, womyn of color, and trans womyn, and profile the targets."

And someone called me a "propagandist in favor of prostitution" who "serve[s] as the mouthpiece of sex traffickers."

*headdesk*

Where do heterosexists come up with these ideas?

"Every culture before us for thousands of years has supported the concept that marriage is only between one man and one woman."

Not true. Many cultures have taken polygyny, with one husband and several wives, for granted. In the bible [since the above claim most often comes from self-described Christians], Jacob has two wives, David has multiple wives, and Solomon has hundreds. Of course, in David's and Solomon's cases, it is tied to the power and corruption of kingship.

"This arrangement has been the building block of society since the start of civilization."

People said that about monarchy [obviously ignoring the facts] and about slavery too. In early Roman law, wives, children, and slaves were the property of their husband, father, or master, respectively [the principle of patria potestas].

****

It would help to have a list of what people have regarded as universal necessary building-blocks of society: slavery, feudalism, monarchy, aristocratic rule, patria potestas, raping slaves, raping womyn, raping children, beating children, female genital mutilation, the gender binary, warfare, ethnic/racial apartheid, forced birth, infanticide, human sacrifice, noble lies...