okay, here we go. Feminism, like any concept, is just that... a concept. It means many things to many people. When you say that it's time to live it out, what part are you gonna pick? The slightly feminist that just wants to get paid the same as everyone else? The angry feminist that howls and rails against she knows not what, but knows to blame all injustice on clitorism (that's a funny word, I just made it up). Or maybe the pseudo-fem, that feels that if sperm could be manufactured men could be tagged and kenneled?
That's kinda the problem with trying to live a concept. Once you decide what it means to you, you run the risk of being judged and "educated" by those who live the same word quite differently. Where my compatriot (the she said part) feels the Feminism should no longer be a dirty word, I feel that maybe all tags are horribly dirty little words. Now if we could remove that word and find a different way to say com man sense, that could work. Why does everyone have to find so many ways to say "Don't be dumb, we're all equal"? Seems to me that picking a title to live under isn't so much about finding a way to save humanity as it is a way to separate yourself from it. Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Baptists, Jews... all titles.
Maybe instead of picking a title, finding and gathering others under that banner, and associating yourself with countless others, just maybe we could instead say "Don't be dumb, use your comman sense". Yep, someday.
I think I'll start now. And you?
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Into the breach
(And Abel laughs about the title. This will be a deep learning curve, for both of us.)
Anyway, we've talked about starting a "he said/she said" type of blog for a while now. And I guess this is the first dip into this. So, here goes. Here's what I (Anni/"the she") say:
I get it. Feminism is good. So is/was abolishment.
However, there does come a time when we DO have to give up the labels, the constricts, and the rhetoric, and start LIVING what we preach. Instead of railing against the patriarchy, when is it time to just dismiss the misogyny and start saying, "oh, well, yes. Of COURSE I get what you're saying. I AM assuming you mean that in general terms of people, and not the male or female gender roles we were given."
The whole hoopla with "Sex and The City", and with Hillary making a fantastic run for President (even though other countries have had women heads of state WELL before our own) ... when will we finally take out gender? When will we stop villifying whether or not someone in "power" has a vagina or penis?
I get it. I DO give a thumbs up to the first, second, and third wave feminists ... but when will the time come when the mainsteam feminists will start moving away from the gender-specific term of "feminist" and embrace the role of "humanist"? Granted, most of my inner circle identify as "humanist", but with a feminist slant. But what ...
... What if we completely shrug off the role of "us vs. them", shrug off the role of "misogynist vs. feminist" and honestly, TRULY, start to embrace the concept of "humanist" ...
... Embracing the idea, the societal concept, that ALL humans - be they male or female, black or white, transgendered or [word] - when will we embrace the idea, no ... the IDEAL, that we are ALL equal, all HUMAN, and ALL deserving the same rights and voice as ... as ...
… you?
___________
When I read the above to Abel, his first, off the cuff responses were:
1) A country without mirrors – if people weren’t so afraid of what they LOOKED like ...
2) If you keep pace with yourself, you don’t have to run from anything.
3) You have to keep on walking … to the road to Zion. You’ll never make it to Eden. It’s all about the journey – not the destination (go Nas and Marley!).
___________
Abel will expand upon the above tonight or tomorrow. (Well, today, seeing as how it's 1 AM.)
Anyway, we've talked about starting a "he said/she said" type of blog for a while now. And I guess this is the first dip into this. So, here goes. Here's what I (Anni/"the she") say:
I get it. Feminism is good. So is/was abolishment.
However, there does come a time when we DO have to give up the labels, the constricts, and the rhetoric, and start LIVING what we preach. Instead of railing against the patriarchy, when is it time to just dismiss the misogyny and start saying, "oh, well, yes. Of COURSE I get what you're saying. I AM assuming you mean that in general terms of people, and not the male or female gender roles we were given."
The whole hoopla with "Sex and The City", and with Hillary making a fantastic run for President (even though other countries have had women heads of state WELL before our own) ... when will we finally take out gender? When will we stop villifying whether or not someone in "power" has a vagina or penis?
I get it. I DO give a thumbs up to the first, second, and third wave feminists ... but when will the time come when the mainsteam feminists will start moving away from the gender-specific term of "feminist" and embrace the role of "humanist"? Granted, most of my inner circle identify as "humanist", but with a feminist slant. But what ...
... What if we completely shrug off the role of "us vs. them", shrug off the role of "misogynist vs. feminist" and honestly, TRULY, start to embrace the concept of "humanist" ...
... Embracing the idea, the societal concept, that ALL humans - be they male or female, black or white, transgendered or [word] - when will we embrace the idea, no ... the IDEAL, that we are ALL equal, all HUMAN, and ALL deserving the same rights and voice as ... as ...
… you?
___________
When I read the above to Abel, his first, off the cuff responses were:
1) A country without mirrors – if people weren’t so afraid of what they LOOKED like ...
2) If you keep pace with yourself, you don’t have to run from anything.
3) You have to keep on walking … to the road to Zion. You’ll never make it to Eden. It’s all about the journey – not the destination (go Nas and Marley!).
___________
Abel will expand upon the above tonight or tomorrow. (Well, today, seeing as how it's 1 AM.)
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