Better dispatched to dustbin of medieval
history
Views of English feminist, lesbian, writer Julie Bindel
Editing, re-reporting by
Carolyn Bennett
Marriage the controversy
Wasted energy on illiberal construct
“Many feminists argue, as I do,” Julie Bindel wrote in 2010,
that marriage is an oppressive institution, and that we should be campaigning
to replace it with civil partnerships for all.
 |
| Julie Bindel |
“My civil partnership four years ago,” Julie Bindel wrote, “was
nothing like a wedding. I had been with my partner for 19 years and we wanted
to be recognized as each other’s next of kin; [yet] a small number of our
friends disapproved, despite our low-key approach, [accusing] us of ‘selling
out.’ While we understood and mainly agree with the feminist arguments against
civil partnerships ─ what we now refer to as ‘Civilgate’ was deeply hurtful; some
friendships never recovered. It’s an emotive issue.” she said.
 |
| Paula Louise Ettelbrick |
In 2011, the American attorney and human rights leader and advocate,
Paula Louise Ettelbrick died and Bindel wrote a remembrance in which she revealed
a linkage between her views and those of Ettelbrick on marriage and greater acceptance
and recognition of diverse families.
|
I
|
n ‘Since When Is Marriage a Path to Liberation,’ a 1993 “feminist
critique of how the institution of marriage had historically constrained the
freedom and rights of women,” Julie Bindel noted Ettelbrick’s argument “that
the LGBT community should be pressing for social and legal changes to support
alternative family structures” and said:
‘Marriage is a great institution –
if you like living in institutions.’
“‘The best course for family advocates to pursue is that
which recognizes the caring and committed relationships of all families – not
just those who wish to marry and those that include lesbian and gay couples,’”
Bindel quotes from Ettelbrick’s speech at a 2001 Albany Law Review symposium “‘Family
and the Political Landscape for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People.’”
Three years later in a paper ‘Same-Sex Marriage: Are We on
the Path to Liberation, Now’, Bindel quotes Ettelbrick’s expression of her fear
that
People [were proposing] that we
should move away from the ‘gay pride image’ ─ meaning a display of the full
diversity of our community ─ and just promote the ‘same-sex marriage image’ to
advance the movement.
Form of “prostitution”
Bindel references British/Australian feminist Sheila
Jeffreys’ The Industrial Vagina in
which Jeffreys sees “marriage as a type of prostitution, a legal transaction
that has traditionally guaranteed sexual access to women’s bodies in return for
subsistence. ‘Prostitution and marriage have always been related,’ says
Jeffreys.” And “‘what is shocking is that today marriage is becoming more
fashionable amongst some young women.’”
In “Stop the whingeing about gay people demanding rights,” Bindel
concludes:
I absolutely agree that fighting
for the rights for same-sex marriage is going too far.
 |
| Julie Bindel |
Pride has become both wildly hedonistic and a deeply conservative movement, with its message of ‘please tolerate us.’ I don’t want tolerance; I want liberation.
I would outlaw marriage for
everyone, including for heterosexuals…
Sources and notes
My initial introduction to Julie Bindel’s thoughts was on
last week’s edition of BBC Radio 4’s “Any Questions.” First broadcast: Friday February 8, 2013: Jonathan
Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from St Chad’s Church,
Gateshead. Guests: the former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, conservative MP
David Davis, coalition Transport Minister Norman Baker MP and feminist Julie
Bindel. Producer: Lisa Jenkinson. Duration: 48 minutes; Availability: over a
year left to listen, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qflzy
“Something borrowed: Portia de Rossi wants to take her
partner Ellen DeGeneres’s surname. But should gay marriages be established on
new, more equal, terms?” (Julie Bindel, The Guardian), August 13, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/14/same-sex-marriage-ban-california?INTCMP=SRCH
“Is Pride today about gay rights or just partying? As Pride
London celebrates its 40th year, is it still a gay rights march, or just a
fabulous party? Former attendee Julie Bindel talks with loyal enthusiast Peter
Tatchell (Interview by Oliver Laughland), “I think Pride has become both wildly
hedonistic and a deeply conservative movement, with its message of ‘please
tolerate us.’ I don’t want tolerance; I want liberation,” Bindel says, The
Guardian, July 6, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/06/conversation-pride-gay-rights-party?INTCMP=SRCH
“U.S. campaigner for gay and lesbian rights” (Paula
Ettelbrick obituary), Julie Bindel in The Guardian, November 3, 2011 (Paula
Louise Ettelbrick, lawyer and human rights activist, born October 2, 1955; died
October 7, 2011; survived by her partner, Marianne Haggerty, and her children, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/03/paula-ettelbrick-obituary?INTCMP=SRCH
“Stop the whingeing about gay people demanding rights ─ The
likes of Christina Odone and Rick Santorum think gay rights would open the floodgates.
Maybe we just shouldn’t mention sex” (Julie Bindel, guardian.co.uk), February 27,
2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/27/gay-people-demanding-rights
JULIE BINDEL
Julie Bindel (born 1962) is an English writer, activist and
feminist and co-founder of Justice for Women, an organization that opposes
violence against women.
Her activism is reflected in her contribution to research
and writing on feminist issues, violence against women, and prostitution; she
was a researcher at both Leeds Metropolitan and London Metropolitan
Universities, being the assistant director of the research unit on violence and
abuse at Leeds Metropolitan. Her writing features in books and reports she has
authored, edited, contributed to or been quoted in. Bindel’s journalistic
writing began while she was Assistant Director of the Research Centre on
Violence, Abuse and Gender Relations at Leeds Metropolitan University.
Bindel has written for the Telegraph, Independent and
Guardian newspapers, also online. A few of her full-length works in the 2000s:
■Bindel, J. Profitable Exploits: Lap Dancing in the UK,
London, Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit of London Metropolitan University,
2004
■Bindel, J &
Kelly, L. A Critical Examination of Responses to Prostitution in Four
Countries: Victoria, Australia; Ireland; the Netherlands; and Sweden, Child and
Woman Abuse Studies Unit of London Metropolitan University, 2003
■Bindel, J. ‘Press for Change’; A guide for journalists
reporting on the prostitution and trafficking of women, CATW, 2006
■Bindel, J; Atkins,
H. Big Brothel - a survey of the off-street sex industry in London, POPPY
Project, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Bindel
SHEILA JEFFREYS
Sheila Jeffreys (born 1948) is a lesbian feminist scholar
and political activist, known for her analysis of the history and politics of
sexuality in Britain. She is a professor in Political Science at the University
of Melbourne in Australia.
Some of her works in the 2000s
■Jeffreys, Sheila. Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian
Feminist Perspective. Cambridge : Polity ; Oxford : Blackwell, 2003. ISBN
0-7456-2837-0 (hbk.), ISBN 0-7456-2838-9 (pbk.)
■Jeffreys, Sheila.
Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful Cultural Practices in the West. London :
Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0-415-35183-9 (hbk.). ISBN 0-415-35182-0 (pbk.)
■Jeffreys, Sheila.
The Industrial Vagina: The Political Economy of the Sex Trade. London :
Routledge, 2009. ISBN 0-415-41232-3 (hbk.). ISBN 0-415-41233-1 (pbk.)
■Jeffreys, Sheila.
Man's Dominion: The Rise of Religion and the Eclipse of Women's Rights (Routledge
Studies in Religion and Politics). London : Routledge, 2010. ISBN 0-415-59674-2
■Jeffreys, Sheila.
Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism. London :
Routledge, 2013. ISBN 0-415-53940-4
Essays and pamphlets
■"Prostitution as a Harmful Cultural Practice", in
Not For Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography, eds Rebecca
Whisnant and Christine Stark (North Melbourne, Vic. : Spinifex Press, 2004.).
ISBN 1-876-75649-7. OCLC 57139681 (//www.worldcat.org/oclc/57139681) .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Jeffreys
PAULA LOUISE ETTELBRICK
Paula Louise Ettelbrick (born October 2, 1955, on a U.S. Army
base in Stuttgart, Germany) is an educator, litigator (lawyer and activist for
lesbian and gay rights, lifelong advocate of public service); an advocate particularly
“for a segment of the population that has been historically marginalized and
denied rights taken for granted by the rest of society.”
1986: an attorney ─ the first staff attorney for Lambda
Legal Defense and Education Fund ─ serving as its legal director from 1988 to
1993. Founded in New York City in 1973, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
is an organization that advocates gay and lesbian civil rights. (two years
earlier, she was an associate in a large law firm in Detroit, Michigan, law
firm: Miller, Canfield, Paddock, and Stone)
In addition to her work on high profile cases with Lambda,
beginning in 1990, Ettelbrick taught a course at New York University Law School
on sexuality and the law; in 1994, she taught at the University of Michigan Law
School.
From 1999 to 2001, Ettelbrick was the family policy director
of the Policy Institute of the national gay and lesbian task force. In March
2003, she became the executive director of the nonprofit International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), an organization was founded in 1990
to address, on an international level, issues involving discrimination and
persecution of gays, lesbians, and persons living with HIV and AIDS.
West’s Encyclopedia of American Law | 2005 | 700+ words | COPYRIGHT
2005 The Gale Group, Inc. (Hide copyright information) Copyright, http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3437701667.html
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WHINGEING
whinge \'hwinj, 'winj\
vi, whinged whing·ingor whinge·ing [ME *whingen, fr. OE hwinsian; akin
to OHG winsōn to moan] (12c) Brit: to complain fretfully : whine
— whinge nBrit
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