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🪞⚔️👁️ Post-Feminizm 🪞⚔️👁️

(Turkish)

The blind spot of feminism overlaps with the blind spot of the male gaze [*]. To realize that the bubble of politeness is actually a heap of garbage, it is necessary to understand the workings of aesthetic ideology. It is believed that social etiquette, repertoires of politeness, and the aesthetic ideal serve to protect women. Yet “beautiful woman” images have only been used as a club—to stun, to crush, to dominate.

Although many analyses have previously been made on this issue, some points remain incomplete. For example, the article titled The Phallic Woman Religion: If There’s No Penis, No Child, No Success, Then Let’s Grant Her an Identity discussed how men cling to a perverse belief—the Phallic Woman Religion—which denies the fact that women lack a penis and tries to compensate for this lack by granting her a child, success, or identity [*]. However, an important missing point remained: the Phallic Woman is not just a figure created and worshipped by men; it is also a form of domination that functions among women, as a mechanism through which they oppress, direct, and manipulate each other.

For men, politeness is an embellishment, a polish of the socialization process; it is a social technique developed to mask vulnerability and ensure conformity. But for women, politeness is the very domain of power. The most dangerous aspect of this power is its intertwining with aesthetic ideology [*]. The politeness bubble is a space most inhabited and inflated by women, as they breathe it in and expand it. And that space, above all, is suffocating other women.

To understand how aesthetic power among women, the hegemonic pressure of the female image, and beauty function as tools of domination, it is necessary to address the issue more deeply. It is commonly believed that men’s belief in the Phallic Woman imposes an external obligation upon women. However, the issue is far more complex: beauty is not merely an imposition of patriarchy; it also functions as a power tool that women wield against one another.

This is why feminist discourse carries an inherent contradiction. Discourses that declare women as victims and portray them as passive objects eliminate the possibility of women becoming subjects. Just as the Phallic Woman awaits something to be granted to her to complete her lack, feminism’s constant positioning of woman as an “object of victimhood” is not actually about empowerment, but about rendering her passive. When the desire to be desired is rejected, all that remains is a passive existence. Yet women are not merely victims of this system; they are also its actors, sustainers, and reproducers. This is why feminist psychology must move beyond victimhood narratives and open up discussions on women’s positions within power.

Beauty is not a norm or a set of rules; it is a technology of domination. Just as the Phallic Woman continually takes on new forms—from child to success, from success to identity—the hierarchy among women also functions through aesthetics, grace, politeness, and the widespread belief that “what is beautiful is right.” And this technology is a system of power operated not only by men but also—consciously or unconsciously—by women.

Politeness is the mask of a feminine hierarchy. And without unmasking it, it is impossible to understand either the Phallic Woman or the contradictions hidden within feminism itself. Faces are not seen until the masks fall.