#*radical feminism does not mean terf btw to anyone who is wondering

[r-osehips]

I just finished a book about femicide in Mexico and it really crystallized something for me, which is: a society that blames the victims is a society that deputizes the perpetrator.

People say “she was asking for it [femicide] because of how she acted” — but what they mean is, “women are not allowed to be free in that way, and if you dare to be free the punishment is death.”

People say “well you can’t really blame him, boys will be boys,” but what they mean is, “we willingly deputized this man to carry out the death sentence that we decreed.”

Of course this applies to assault and rape and abuse too. We live in a patriarchal society, so men who kill and terrorize women are acting as approved agents of this society. Patriarchy does not just handwave these actions; it demands them, because free women are threats to patriarchy’s existence.

Which is obvious, and I knew all of this, but I hadn’t thought of it in such clear terms until now.

As a feminist in the U.S. I have overwhelmingly heard, and used, the mainstream feminist framing that we must decry victim blaming. Which is true! But imo we need to also talk about the deputization of the perpetrator too, or else we’re missing half the point.

(the book is Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza, and if ppl have recs for more reading about the Mexican feminist movement I’m all ears.)