Today, in my anthropology class, I lost some of my feminist cred. We have to pick from 3 books to have a group discussion on: Fast Food Nation (which I already own and don't want to discuss ad nauseum again), Under the Banner of Heaven(about the history of violence in the Mormon religion) and Without a Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class.
I picked Under the Banner of Heaven and finished reading it before it was actually assigned. It was a terrifying breakdown of how fundamentalists think God's laws justify murder and violence towards those that are not on their side. It applies to all fundies, not just Mormons. But my little book report will have to come later because this is not the point of this post.
In class we had to do a show of hands about what books people wanted to read. Half went for Fast Food Nation, half to Under the Banner of Heaven, and exactly one person (girl) raised their hand for Without a Net. One person in the most liberal of disciplines in a very liberal community college full of working class kids. One. And it wasn't me.
To be honest, the topic didn't appeal to me cause I live it everyday. Like I need someone to point out to me about the feminization of poverty. But my lack of interest is not singular and at least half the class is made up of boys to whom this would be a new topic.
So how can I yell at you boys for not taking an interest in something I can't even take an interest in? I can't (sort of- I'll yell anyways just cause I like to).
The real question then is what will it take for you boys to get into the topic? This is a real question and I would love if you would post in comments why you feel ambivalent about topics that are usually seen as the domain of girls.
Come on boys- you know you wanna write.
4 comments:
Mormon fundamentalists are very very similiar to (and not really less aggressive than) muslim fundamentalists who are very similiar to all other religious extremists.
Fast food nation is about the poor quality but huge quantity of food that we have here.
We have had the arguement previously about your baby daughter- you shouldn't be surprised that I said the exact same things when you used the exact same example.
You might want to open the can because you have a daughter that you have to teach to live in the world.
I cannot discuss women's issues without also raising race and class; all are intertwined. In this country (I don't know the name of the players), a conscious and public decision was made to separate the two camps right after the Civil War; black and women activists felt that a combination of the efforts would kill both. I beleive we are left with this legacy.
Nonetheless I will speak to feminism at the drop of hat. In fact, I wonder what happened to it. Though many women and girls enjoy better rights than their mothers, they go out of their way to declare that they are non-feminists. What up with that (and what's up with the big return to marriage)?
I also know that many NGOs have made some progress with women in pooer countries with issues such as micro-loans and birth control, but again there are not many sources on this.
I also know that feminism (or whatever you gals call it these days, hehe) has made poor progress outside of the US. I am not just speaking of El Salvador, or the poor status of women in Muslim communities. The "F" word is barely mentioned in Europe; I know for a fact that women are still restriced or discouraged from playing golf in Britain (I can hear the screams now!). But why has it stayed isolated to the US as it seems it has? I think to some degree, the equality of women is accepted among American males (I could be wrong), but if the same degree of acceptance is not fould elsewhere, the success of women here and everywhere becomes diluted.
So bring it on! I need to know!
There was a long tradition of suffragists and abolitionists working together. After the civil war the black leaders who were pushing for voting rights dropped the women's suffrage movement like a hot potato under a kinda deal with the devil plan. That's why it took so long afterwards to get women the right to vote.
I agree that race and class and gender are all tied together (gender and race just being the easiest ways to create an underclass- if we were all green enuchs then it would like the Dr. Seuss story about creatures with spots) And I have no problem discussing any or all three.
I think the thing is being willing to discuss it- even if it's out of your comfort area and also being willing to accept some criticism for having privilged views. I am never gonna know what it's like to be pulled over for driving while black- but I accept that it exists. Likewise- you boys won't understand what it's like to worry when a boy at a party won't take no for an answer and keeps trying to put his hand up your skirt. (do you play coy in an effort to escape him, do you knee him in the groin, if coy doesn't work do you then knee him and could you get past him while he recovered from the knee kick?)
I know a few (you've been to my apartment) but I would hardly qualify as an expert on black women. I do know that we (the black women in my complex and I) share a lot of similiar experiences- single parenthood, poverty, etc. but that I get much better results when trying to apply for services or employment. That can only be attributed to perceptions of stereotypes. Even though I am poor- I speak with an educated diction and generally come off as presentable (whatever that means). But my neighboor- who has read just as much as I have, is obviously intelligent to anyone who talks to her for more than a minute, and is also struggling with going to school, etc. gets blown off. I'm not anymore deserving or hard working (hell Im proabably much less hard working). I'm just paler.
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