There are several things I do in the morning when I first get to work:
1. Check my email
2. Check blogs
3. Read the Salt Lake Tribune.
I like the Tribune, because of the Bagley cartoons and because it usually gives good general news. When I worked in politics, I always liked working with the Tribune writers. Anyhow, today it was disheartening when I came across this story (which is actually an AP story) in the paper today.
The thing is how can we expect for things to change, when this kind of behavior is considered commonplace. The worst part is that high level officials are actually condoning it w/their blatant disregard and trivializing the seriousness w/ stupid comments. They don't understand why people are so upset about it and think it is all about feminism. Sorry- did I miss something? Now I can see why it is sooo frustrating to make changes in the world (I, by no means, think we Americans are more educated or enlightened than anyone else), but I do think that as a human race this type of mentality is scary and destructive to the community as a whole. However, I know how difficult it is to make changes in societies that have a completely different culture and outsiders don't always get that each culture understands and changes differently. I remember a class that showed health organizations going into small villages in Africa to help teach the community that they couldn't eat the fish, because of all the contaminants in the water. So everyday they would go and say you can't eat the fish- it will make you sick, but everyday they would come back and find the villagers fishing in the waters (I'm talking dead fish floating). It wasn't until they used a play and common undertstandings of the village that people finally got what they were saying. It is interesting to me, that sometimes we forget that even though we are all the same, we learn so differently and geography plays a major part in how we learn.
My second thought came from the line "some women take feminism too seriously". It got me thinking about feminism in general. My friend Brent posted a couple of days ago about what a true feminist was and how confusing it is for him because there is no real definition of feminism. Well- at least one that everyone sticks to. I have been thinking about this and don't have the answer to it, but was interested in how y'all define feminism? I'm actually really excited, because one of the books (I think it is on the schedule for August) we are reading for book club is all about the early feminist movement (we are reading it in conjunction w/ Mothers and Fathers Defending Marriage at the UN and Reviving Ophelia- hello what happened to "light" reading?).
My this blog is very complicated for a Thursday morning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
What an awful story. I just can't believe this joke was told in that setting! It's really indicative of how pervasive the problem must be, if someone can do that without recognizing their complete inappropriateness (is that a word?). As to your question about feminism, I'm going to think on that some more and get back to you...
I learned in a class once that there are levels of feminism. I can't remember what they were called, or the definintions but I do remember classifing myself as one level...but not the highest level.
Now that I have a daughter, I think a lot about feminism. I feel very comfortable in my traditional female role, but I can't help wanting her to do more than I did. I am excited to read others views on this.
Lara, I agree they were missing the boat when they understood this to be an issue of feminism, this is about basic human rights. Nothing gets me more fired up than men abusing women--in any way. I was jogging around the Provo temple one evening, before dark, and this man flashed me in a very crude way. For such a "small" thing it really shook me up and all sorts of angry feelings welled up inside of me. It is a frustrating issue. At the roots of feminism, though (and I haven't totally thought this through) is the basic understanding, or lack of, that women and men do not and will not EVER understand eachother. I'm not sure why this is but I think it has something to do with learning how to respect and trust and compromise with eachother as human beings--man or woman. I, with Elisa, am comfortable in my "traditional" female role, but in that role we must be strong and stand up for ourselves and maintain a high sense of self-respect. We can only begin with ourselves anyway--as can these women in Nairobi--even though the fault doesn't necessarily lie with them.
So I guess I'm still not really sure where I stand on feminism, or how I define it. I tend to think of it as standing up for women's rights, and I'm all for that. I also believe in the right of women, and every human being, to choose, although I am pro-life. I definitely support the notion that girls/women can and should achieve anything, although I very much enjoy being a stay-at-home mom in a traditional role. Can you see that I'm somewhat conflicted here? I'm not sure why feminism gets such a bad name, I guess because there is a lot of extremism associated with it.
I have been thinking about this post for a day or two and still don't know how to totally respond- but here are my thoughts now.
I don't really know my definition of feminism, but I feel like I grew up with a lot of feminist influence. I will be 25 this year, so I was a teen somewhat after the whole feminist thing was front and center. You could say I was able to reap the benefits. When I think of feminism, I think of all the good things that the whole feminist movement did for women, but I also think of what I consider to be bad things it did for women. I think equal pay and voting and all that is something to stand for and having a choice in all things was good.
Then I think of the added pressures women have taken on because of this. I grew up being taught in schools that women should be and do everything and excel at everything. It was sort of empowering back then to think that I had a choice and didn't have to just 'get married and have kids' like my mom and aunts and grandma did. If I didn't want to get married, that was okay- casual sex and relationships were totally fine. If I were to get pregnant, there were options. It was empowering to think that you didn't have to have a man around because women are capable. At least that is what we were told. Looking back I know I made a lot of bad decisions because of this mind set.
Until I had Mya, I seriously thought I wanted to work after having kids. I felt like I would be wasting my talent and abilities just staying home and not contributing to society. After having Mya though, I know I had a total paradigm shift and really felt sold out by what I was taught. I wanted to be a traditional mom! I almost felt embarassed to admit it though. Here I grew up thinking that if I chose to be a mom/wife, I should still have a career so I could contribute to society, all the while being 100% great at everything all the time.
I have gotten over those feelings, especially after having to work after having her for a while and finally being able to be the 100% stay-at-home mom I have wanted to be since she was born. I think I have had to re-wire my brain in a lot of respects so I can be a happy mom and wife and person in general. When I see the choices a lot of teen girls are making now, I am sad that some of them will go through what I went through but hope they will somehow be enlightened and feel okay with choosing a traditional role or otherwise.
Post a Comment