So, for me this was all "epiphany!" ish, but other people may already be on the bandwagon and will probably think, "seriously... how did you not get this already?" but I was doing... something... I think I was at a talk at UT about sex education and worry, and it was like my head suddenly expanded, or something, to accommodate this thought:
All of the feminist causes I care about come down to the same basic thing. Violence against women, FGM, inequalities in wages, the glass ceiling, the oppression of female sexuality, the objectification of women, even sex education in public schools, they all come down to one basic thing. It doesn't matter what people tell you about how women have moved forward and have made so many gains. It doesn't matter that now a minority of people call those who have been raped or experienced domestic abuse survivors instead of victims. You want to know why? Because women are still experiencing job inequality, still being raped, and all together still being held down. If we look at all of these different issues as different, then we may fall into a trap of thinking of them as unrelated. If you focus on one issue at a time, they can become separated in your mind. It is hard to look at the big picture when each different campaign is a different issue, with different articles, protests, and campaigns around them. But when my mind expanded, I was able to see for the first time how they are all connected, because they are all springing from the same point: society must still devalue women, because if it didn't, these issues would not exist. You might say, "No, Genevieve, that's not true. Society just moves in baby steps." To which I would reply: "If people really respected and valued women, there would be nowhere to take those baby steps to!" Women are given less value in society, and the presence of all of these issues is the proof. My question is: WHY?
What is it about women that has allowed all different groups and peoples to devalue them? From women on Native American reservations to the comfort women of WWII, societies across the world have adopted this idea of women as less, as the slightly less complete version of man. If this is the reality at the core of all of our issues, how do we deal with this? How can we stop this? I seriously wish I had the answer.
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3 comments:
Don't worry about it Gen. We just talked about the exit exams and changing the name of Global Studies to something else. Also, draft due on the 21st.
Hey, I LIKE those star wars clips.
As for the body of your post today: I don't know. But I do wonder if organizations who set out to solve a problem will ever really fully solve that problem because then they would no longer be useful aka loss of $. I'm not saying you're wrong, I just think that baby steps are a way of prolonging their existence.
P.S. deleted & reposted 'cause I misspelled existence. Sorry.
Several Comments:
-Totz agree with you about addressing the larger issue of the devaluation of women from society instead of the individual issues. Although now, rape is becoming my new 'issue.'
-Went to a socialist meeting this week to watch a film on civilians' rights, Sojourner's speech 'Ain't I A Woman' absolutely AMAZING!
- However there was one speech by a female who was participating in a sit-in back in the factory days. To calm the tension between the male factory workers and policemen, she called upon the women on the side lines to 'join their husbands, sons, and neighbors.' Of course they did. But today, I wonder, instead of using a woman's relationship with her husband, what would the speaker call upon first to rally the women of today? What is a common idea/role that all modern women share?
-Lastly, what do you think of Rihanna's new single "Rude Boy"??
Yeay for epiphanies!!
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