>>Well, actually, quite a bit of gender policing is also done by women. I'm not sure how all the pieces fit together, but it's not just a system for the convenience of (some) men.
Russ doesn't mean that femininity is something men DO to women, or that women can't participate in the policing of it (everyone self-polices). The discourse she's refering to isn't one in which we can say, "well this man said this and made all these other people do that for his own convenience," but nevertheless, the dominant discourse was (and is, arguably) one that conveniences some men over women. When behaviors/patterns attributed to men are valued more than behaviors/patterns attributed to women (no matter "who" is marking the values, and no matter if it's men or women portraying the behaviors/patterns), then it IS a system that IS about convenience. And even if women are actively participating, it's still the men (whose behavior has greater value) that benefit the most.
no subject
Russ doesn't mean that femininity is something men DO to women, or that women can't participate in the policing of it (everyone self-polices). The discourse she's refering to isn't one in which we can say, "well this man said this and made all these other people do that for his own convenience," but nevertheless, the dominant discourse was (and is, arguably) one that conveniences some men over women. When behaviors/patterns attributed to men are valued more than behaviors/patterns attributed to women (no matter "who" is marking the values, and no matter if it's men or women portraying the behaviors/patterns), then it IS a system that IS about convenience. And even if women are actively participating, it's still the men (whose behavior has greater value) that benefit the most.