Note: For the sake of discussion/enabled criticism, this post is written with a stance of little respect for (not necessarily my position) and little knowledge of (my position indeed) 'modern' feminism.
Steffan .:
First of all, feminism and insight meditation seem to have the same goal: breaking down the subject/object duality. With mediation it is between our minds and the "world" of our sensations. With feminism it is between men as subjects and women as objects, but also looking at how women self-objectify.
This seems needlessly far-fetched. If you bend it far enough, the same comparison may apply to meditation and sliced bread o_O
Steffan .:
This was a big hint for me as I continued to practice insight meditation outside the monastery. For whatever reason, bringing awareness to mental images has been the most helpful for me to strengthen awareness. I suspect my mind is unusually filled with them. Anyway, studying feminism suggested to me that I may have many sexualized images of women in my mind when I interact with women. As mindfulness became more automatic for me, I was able to apply it while out in the chaotic world, and I intentionally put some extra awareness into noticing any mental images that arose when I noticed an attractive stranger. I found many! In fact, I was very surprised at how unusually vivid they were. By focusing on the images instead of the person in front of me, I noticed that the images were bound up with other mental objects, especially intentions (like, "make a move!!!"). And many pleasant physical sensations that I shouldn't need to describe. I noticed that when I applied strong sati to these images so that they eventually vanished (as all mental objects do under good mindfulness, of course), that the intentions vanished with them, as well as those specific pleasing physical sensations. What was left was just normal intentions toward a fellow human, and the less intense but more satisfying pleasing sensation that always comes after strong mental formations dissolve from strong mindfulness, as usual.
Could you describe this in more detail? What do you mean by 'pleasant sensations', 'normal sensations', 'less intense but more satisfying pleasing sensation', 'intentions (like, "make a move!!!")' and 'normal intentions toward a fellow human'? any mental images that arose when I noticed an attractive stranger <- what were they?
For this post, I'll assume that 'pleasant sensations' = 'sensations of attraction/caused by felt attraction'
In this case, I have another interpretation of what is happening:
when I applied strong sati to these images so that they eventually vanished (as all mental objects do under good mindfulness, of course), that the intentions vanished with them, as well as those specific pleasing physical sensations.
This is actually suppression, and I suggest that it may not be doing you any good. If sati is applied to the mental images correctly, then they will probably change, maybe even vanish soon. But if you apply sati to the attraction, why should it just go? If you're standing in front of an attractive person, and applying sati to your feelings of attraction makes them vanish, then you're just doing it wrong. Unless the vanishing of these feelings is your goal, of course. But is it?
I believe that this experience of intention dissolving is exactly what feminism is shooting for when activists try to pull down sexualized images. While noticing how my mind works in this context is one small step toward spiritual liberation for me, I suspect this experience was also one even smaller step toward the feminist goals of social liberation. I'm sure that I've saved a least a few strangers from my small yet not insignificant objectification of them. Perhaps I didn't stare too long at someone as they got on the bus, and saved them a moment of discomfort.
Regardless if my slightly changed behavior is doing anyone good or not, I now know that attractive strangers start a fascinating sequence of co-arising phenomena for me, which are excellent objects to practice insight with. And I'm going to keep studying feminism because I suspect it will continue to point out possible moments in my life that are rich with sensations to observe. Another "finger pointing at the moon" as the Tibetans say.
I agree that it's a cool thing to observe what happens within you in those instances. Also, I'm quite bugged by all those sexualized images. I feel that they're just annoying. Also, they are all fake and thus distracting from the attractiveness of real-world women. But I'm not convinced that removing sexualized images stops objectification. Note that the rise of sexualized images has been accompanied by the achieving of feminist goals. In terms of direct perception, I think this is what happening:
sight of attractive person -> recognition of attractiveness -> feelings of attraction
Up to this point, it's all pretty unchangeable. After this may come:
feelings of attraction -> craving -> intentions
or
feelings of attraction -> associated mental images/thoughts
or some random combination of those, mixing with other associations.
I don't know what is the goal of 'modern feminism'. If it's the dissolution of unwanted attraction or its expression, then to me it seems to me quite misguided. If it's something else, then it may be a good idea. If it's the stopping of 'objectification', then I sincerely don't know what they're talking about. The craving? Intentions of some kind? Specific thoughts arising as a consequence of attraction?
What do you think about this? What is your goal in it? Do you want the chain of dependent origination to change in some way? If so, in which way exactly? And how is watching attractive strangers on the bus an objectification?