I was talking to a (male) friend of mine the other night, about the feminist blogs he reads, and decided that I needed to start my own.
So, a few things about me:
I believe that men and women need to be/are/should be equal, and that 'equal' does not mean 'same'.
I refer to 'women' and 'woman' and 'history'--because I don't like most variant spellings of 'woman'/'women' (except We'Moon, which means 'we of the moon', and I may start using that occasionally), and because 'history' is not actually a sexist word, it refers to learning, and lore-keepers/lore-keeping--although it is not related to hyster- (of hysterectomy and hysteria, and meaning 'womb') like my ex once told me it was. So maybe instead I will refer to hystery. Knowledge of the womb? Maybe not.
I am not angry. (Most of the time)
I am unreasonable sometimes. I am human.
I create myth. (mythos, n. a pattern of beliefs expressing often symbolically the characteristic or prevalent attitudes in a group or culture) I create myth, and use the myth I create to explain the world to myself, to understand people. To understand myself. My mythos will come up in this blog.
That's enough for now. It's time for me to eat.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
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4 comments:
Thanks for your comment. I'm interested in reading your new blog and what you have to say about various feminist issues.
Cheers!
Goddammit. I was logged into the wrong effing account. This is Rowan the Opheliac.
I'm all like, how the hell did she find my blog? I'm so confused!!
Oh, my Gods.
Well, so welcome to my new blog!
lol
"I believe that men and women need to be/are/should be equal, and that 'equal' does not mean 'same'."
I think the trend in modern feminism is to see perceived distinctions between men and women as things that inevitably become used as justification for subjugating women. I agree somewhat, but there is danger in devaluing "feminine" traits. If women are to be seen as equals, not only do female humans need to be valued but the traits associated with them do as well--whether the associations are accurate or not. Saying women are okay as long as they conform to dominant (male) standards of behavior is only marginally better than saying women are only good for making pies and babies.
Hari: I'm slightly confused. I think I'm becoming unconfused with every rereading of your comment, but let reply, and you can tell me if I've totally missed the mark or not:
The modern trend as I understand it is that women want to be the same as men, not equal. Or because they think same means equal, or that in this world they will only get equality by being the same. I understand where that comes from, but really.
In my view, your timeline is confused. Men/the patriarchy/organized religion (pick your poison) have been devaluing feminine traits for centuries; it's the only way to make the power switch from matriarchal/egalitarian (again, whatever you choose to believe in) to patriarchal.
Because of this devaluing, women have been subjugated.
I mean seriously. Men are not going to subjugate women because of their ability to give birth unless that ability had already somehow been devalued into "poppin' out babies".
I believe that naming, speaking of, celebrating these differences is the only way to stop that. If we try to hide them, say, I'm just as good as a man, see how much I can lift, we are further devaluing our own feminine strengths.
If we instead speak of difference, if we say men and women are equal but not the same, we shed light on the differences, and the way we normally treat them. We need to speak honestly.
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