this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2025
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Witches VS Patriarchy
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Basic ass white women thinking them buying rocks and burning sage is a feminist uprising.
Is drinking pumpkin spice lattes also a feminist uprising?
Having a live laugh love sign is my favorite feminist uprising.
I get it, but also, women's interests have always been othered and viewed as lesser. Unabashedly enjoying feminine coded things and rejecting the stigma associated is kinda revolutionary. It is feminist to say "yes, I like pumpkin spice, so what?" Women need to stop looking down on other women. Is a live laugh love sign my style? Not really, but neither is yellow shag carpet in the bathroom and that was popular enough for a time. Wanting reminders of love throughout your house is not a bad thing. These women, like most other women, are just trying their best. Let's try to give them some grace.
If a man claimed he was a wizard, I'd be like "sure you are, buddy".
Astrology is pseudoscientific, objectively false garbage. It should be othered and seen as lesser just like any other pseudoscientific personality trait garbage. "Witchy" stuff like crystals etc. is also complete nonsense. We as a society should seek to identify beliefs and practices that aren't grounded in reality and treat them that way. Even if they aren't inherently harmful in isolation, that kind of pliability where it doesn't matter what's true and what isn't as long as it makes me feel a certain way is a recipe for a dumber and more dangerous society.
Live laugh love? I mean sure. It's super basic, and I'd just as quickly make fun of a guy for having a "man cave" sign, but it's at least harmless. The meme though is specifically talking about pseudoscientific horseshit and equating it to feminism, inherently equating calling it out with antifeminism. It's asinine.
My comment started with "I get it", and for the most part I do, but you are in a witchy community, so it seems a little strange to come into a space for that sort of thing and complain about that. My personal stance on religion in general is that it's harmful, but I'm not going into religious communities and commenting that their beliefs are bad for society.
I personally do not follow astrology, or crystals or whatever else, but calling something "basic" as though there's a problem with "basic" female interests is pretty anti feminist imho. The majority of (American) women don't believe in astrology, so on its face the comment was untrue, but it's also patriarchal in that they assume women as a whole are interested in something that they dismiss off hand. Proudly believing in and engaging in things that are considered "feminine" regardless of how others may view you is a core part of feminism. I don't think it makes all "feminine" beliefs or actions correct or good, but it can make open and proud participation an act of rebellion.
I don't know how I got here, but it's interesting.
Tbf, "pumpkin spice" isn't feminine in and of itself, the first time I saw it was in "manly" beer. But the type of people obsessed with it are the woman version of guys who watched too much Epic Meal Time and got obsessed with bacon. And like bacon (though, that was year round and has sorta kinda calmed down), pumpkin spice is EVERYWHERE for a time of the year, it's now the ONLY seasonal fall flavor in everything from beer to coffee to baked goods. Can we get some cranberry? Maybe some clove? Something else autumnal sometimes?
Those people often also share other characteristics such as shared phrases like "epic win bro" or shared clothing styles like "bleached hair han solo" which lends itself to grouping. Like for live laugh love, which is primarily displayed by ~50yo white women with a Karen haircut. Nothing is wrong with bacon, pumpkin spice, or the signs themselves, nor are they immediately feminine or masculine, it's just the people that gravitate to them en masse often share more characteristics than their enjoyment of their respective items.
And carpet in a bathroom is disgusting and unhygienic, and should be looked down on.
I mean this in the kindest way possible, but I don't understand how this is relevant.
My point is that liking feminine things can be a radical choice and you cling onto pumpkin spice as a concept and the general idea of decor. It feels like you missed the point. I generally would just not reply, but I'm legitimately confused as to what points you're attempting to bring up.
If you don't like my usage of pumpkin spice, feel free to replace it with whatever you personally perceive to be feminine coded enough. I'm not here to argue about what individual things are feminine or hygienic flooring choices or whatever. I'm just saying that women deserve solidarity, even ones with tastes or styles we disagree with. If you're suggesting that 50 yo white women should be ridiculed for their design choices because you assume they are part of a demographic that is inherently evil or bad, then focus on the bit that makes them inherently evil or bad. No need to throw shade at an unrelated attribute. For what it's worth, LLL signs are in my experience more a mid millennial thing.
If you think we should ridicule women for liking "trendy" signs then we fundamentally disagree and I don't know what can be gained here. If you don't, then I'm not sure what I should be taking away from your comment.
Yes those trendy women who like bacon because of epic mealtime.
If you're going to straight up ignore that I provided a literal male counterpart simply to paint me as some misogynist in bad faith, I think this conversation is going to end here. Thanks but no thanks, have a nice one.
I don't think we should ridicule men for liking bacon either. I expressed that I legitimately don't understand your point. Do you think we should ridicule people for liking things because other people also like those things? I don't think we should do that, and additionally I think understanding how taste fits into society writ large is important in analyzing how people interact with the world.
I am not engaging in bad faith, I directly expressed that I don't understand your point. If you'd like to directly state a thesis I will gladly respond. I responded to the extent I was able to with the understanding I had.
There's a difference between enjoyment and obsession. To use yet another near-meme example, while Rick and Morty may be a good show, their fanbase at large can also be annoying shouting pickle rick for no reason, and also Rick and Morty isn't "manly" nor "feminine" despite it (possibly, I'm not a Nielson family) being enjoyed primarily by one gender over the other.
This example and its listed attributes are applicable to literally every other thing we've mentioned so far (to list: pumpkin spice, L³ signs, bacon, beer, and Rick and Morty.) I hope this clarifies.
And also: can we get some different autumn themed flavors, for the love of Christ, is that too much to ask?
Ok. Yes, there is a difference between enjoyment and obsession. I don't understand how that is related to the initial post or the comment chain? I also don't think it's OK to make fun of people that are obsessed with something. In general, unless they are hurting someone else, I think it's OK for people to have whatever interests to whatever degree they have them.
To keep this comment lighthearted, I will add that I actually dislike seasonal flavors. All flavors all the time, thank you very much. If I want cheery vibes during the dead of winter or cozy vibes when flowers are in full bloom no one should stop me, not even marketing teams.
Duuuuude I can't agree more with the disdain for seasonal flavors! Germany has a law (afaik) disallowing the practice to a degree, they (also, afaik) targeted the McRib and said it has to be available all year or not at all, in contrast to their typical business model which ties it to pork prices (low pork price = McRib is Back®™), we need that everywhere!
And I'm commenting under your comment in reply to it, not necessarily the OP. My "beef" (I'm not really mad about this lmao, it's just conversation, I was mad when I thought you were trying to paint me as a misogynist to be honest but that was a misunderstanding so we're all good despite disagreements!) is with the assumption that pumpkin spice is feminine despite its association with a particular "brand" so to speak of women, I say that's only because we lump things into stereotypical gender roles, and even then that's discounting all the pumpkin beer, as beer is "masculine" if we're subscribing to those gender roles.
Also, people aren't going to be able to help "hating" on others for their obsessions sometimes, especially when something becomes so ubiquitous (like pumpkin spice every fall, or bacon in 2010, or Rick and Morty in 2016) when it becomes like a song on the radio you can't escape at work. Actually that's a good example, to this day I still hate Jesse's Girl because of being force fed it at least 3x daily by literally 5 different radio stations at work (literally 5, we tried 5 before we gave up. They all played it at least 3x within my 8h shift. No more I beg of you.) Someone obsessed with frogs is cool as fuck, because I'm not forcefed frogs daily for 3mo/yr, someone who's favorite song is Jesse's Girl? We can't be in the same room lol.
Didn't know that about the McRib. Learn something new every day I guess.
Yes, I agree that gendered stuff is dumb generally and falls apart when actually examined. I hope I didn't come across as reinforcing gendered anything.
I feel like this hating on popular thing is itself a form of a popular thing. I hope it isn't true that people just are unable to stop hating on others because of their interests. It leads to a lot of "I'm not like the other girls" and "we live in a society" kind of bs that I think at its core is antisocial. We all want to think we're cool and different and special, but the reality is that we're all cool and not that different at all. Living in a society where there's cultural trends is cool actually and I don't think it should be a point of othering. It's awesome that a portion of people like pumpkin spice. It's also awesome that some people don't. Both people are cool and should not perceive themselves as somehow superior (regardless of the degree to which they like it). I know your comment is generally meant in jest, but a lot of people don't understand that what makes us similar far outweighs what makes us different, and it's sad to see them look down own others for such frivolous reasons.~jesses girl is good and I could listen to it 100x on repeat. fite me.~
While you partied, I studied the star signs.
When you were having premarital sex, I mastered the séance.
While you wasted your days at the gym in pursuit of vanity, I cultivated moss.
And now that the world is in fire and the barbarians are at the gate, you have the audacity to come to me for help?
Let's hope nobody's true nature is believing in middle school bullshit like astrology
The only thing these "astrology is inherently feminist" people successfully do is spread the myth that women are inherently all vibes and no proof.
Real witches are into astronomy.
After I married a very strong and independent woman. I'm all for this. Women need to dominate and take their rightful place on the planet. Also have 4 daughters so might be biased
Look, witchy shit is a delight and I live for Halloween, damn it.
Don't yuck someone else's yum.
Unless that yum involves repressing or hurting someone without consent. Yuck that. Yuck that a lot.
I for one welcome our new whitchy overlords
Spoiler: it wasn’t
People are getting more right wing not less, though I appreciate the minority that rebuke this trend
Men in the comments of a feminist sub putting down women for having beliefs that do not conform to their worldview... and they champion themselves as the harbingers of truth. Why target these beliefs, why here, why now? Is there an underlying benefit for you to dismantle this particular false belief?
It's a cold, frightening thing to realize just how much of our "objective reality" is as questionable and unfounded as astrology is. The human mind works on fantasy and dogma. Overcoming that is perhaps an impossible project. What fantasies do you hold? Can you even stomach the truths that threaten to dismantles your world? Do you have the courage to seek it out? Perhaps being willing to say that the measure by which we deem astrology to be fake is itself a flawed measurement would be a good start, but what other beliefs would start to unravel?
Ah, no one's going to get this point... this is why Nietzsche wrote for his dreams of the Frei Geistes, his own irrational beliefs. But modern Nietzscheans are probably the arrogant misogynists like those in the comments here, picking up his resentments towards women and conveniently ignoring his warnings against truth.
Go ahead, fill my inbox with dogma about how truth matters most. maybe if you fight hard enough you'll be able to browbeat all of humanity into bathing in the blood of their gods. come on down from your mountaintop once more, Zarathustra, surely they'll listen this time. dont delay, the bell tolls soon.
Nothing wrong with fun beliefs but the reply in the meme is super cringe and antagonistic/borderline hostile so yeah of course people are gonna be rubbed the wrong way.
good point! this meme invites us to consider why she is so hostile to Kevin. unfortunately the comments here all give Kevin vibes, rather than exploring the contributing factors to that hostility. it reminds me of how people policed the way marginalized people reacted to the world during the black lives matter protests. what's so important about acting "right" suddenly when marginalized people react to power?
I am so ready for the witches to overthrow the patriarchy and devour Kevin's soul. Kevin has had his turn fucking up the world for long enough now.
I'm big into astrology. I'm always looking at a fat dirt star every chance I get.
Fuckin Kevin.