Purity and Individualism
In my first or second year of graduate school, I was newly immersed in feminist theory and generally excited about seeing the world again through a feminist lens. I had recently read Luce Irigaray’s “Women on the Market,” which analyzes the ways that customs around marriage and weddings contribute to viewing women as commodities. A graduate student friend who was finishing the program got engaged around the same time I was reading this piece and her partner gave her a diamond ring, which she wore. This friend was (and remains) something of a feminist hero to my young graduate student self so I asked her how she held together her feminist commitments and wearing a diamond ring. She told me, I still have to live my life, I still have to live in this world. Read more
The Trott Line 