"All the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway." - Harry S Truman, Letter to his sister, Nov. 14, 1947

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Me: I said I was going to do the reasons why Singaporean women marry foreign men, but I'm a bit dry right now.

Off the top of my head:

- richer
- don't live with parents
- more charming
- more romantic
- less boring
- more spontaneous

What else ah.

Singaporean men say Singaporean women are not demure, too aggressive etc (in addition to reasons previously stated). Applying feminist theory, I will say that whether these are better reasons than those above is a value judgment.


A: ???? That looked more like an application of the English language than an application of feminist theory.


Me: Feminist theory says that societal valuations are based on a male way of looking at the world, and we should take into account women's worldview. For example, males believe in more abstract concepts of justice and females prefer more affective/particular concepts. To privilege the former over the latter is thus sexist and wrong, since it ignores the valuations of half the world's population.

Similarly, that looking for aesthetic appeal in a mate is 'shallow' is a value judgment women impose on men, because men and women look for different things in mates, and saying that men who look for pretty girls are 'shallow' is to privilege female valuations over male ones, and is thus sexist and wrong, since it ignores the valuations of half the world's population.


A: OK, I'm not sure at all that that post clarified much as I still have some difficulty understanding how "Saying that X is better or more acceptable than Y involves a value judgment" requires an application of feminist theory rather than just the common definitions of words as we generally use them, but in any case, which feminist theorists are we talking about here? My exposure to feminist theorists is limited (Greer, de Beauvoir, Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill arguably, I suppose Sontag, plus rather hazily McKinnon and Dworkin) but this all sounds completely unfamiliar and not at all representative of (my understanding of) their views.


Me: Which was why I said I was applying feminist theory, not feminism or feminists' theory :P

Feminists would never conclude such things, since in their view it's women who are subjugated by men and not vice versa (men can be subjugated by men/patriarchy but that's a separate issue); in short: 'Men are evil'.