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Beginning The Conversation
Anyone who has spent time in feminist or anti-racism circles knows about the tension between reaching new people, and having to rehash the same basic material indefinitely. I think figuring out how to transcend this issue is one of the biggest internal obstacles facing these groups.
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8 Responses to “Beginning The Conversation”
Reaching new people means not only that you have to “rehash” the same material from scratch, it also means that you have to be able to address it from scratch incorporating every new development that comes along.
I don’t see why there should be a tension there. Just because you take off, because you “get it” and because you are “enlightened” doesn’t mean that the light goes on for everyone else.
See yourself as the other and you’ll have no problem being kind, gentle and overextending yourself to answer those so-called basic questions.
I think one important aspect of beginning the conversation should be to keep the message as simple as possible. Don’t try to convince people to change political parties or to use a midwife (as the Feminism 101 blog you link to does). Less can be more.
Oh, other than those two notable exceptions, the Fem 101 blog looked quite good.
First of all, many of these issues stopped being discussed after 1980, suddenly there wasn’t a problem. Also, we need to do overview more than rehash and start thinking of realist solutions and how to move these issues forward and up to the 21st century. The same old ideas and talks are out of date and no longer in step with today’s society and values and where it’s going. As a woman I know this is how I feel. Using the same slogans and unreal discussions and ideas does nothing to move issues forward.
In this age of frequent reverse discrimination, activists are partiicularly silly if they see oppression and “privilege” everywhere it doesn’t exist.
Why, thankyou Kevin (were you “anon” over at FF101?). With regards to midwife sites, I’m perfectly happy to link to any Ob/Gyns who are also totally committed to evidence-based and consent-driven birthing practices that don’t place medical convenience above women’s bodily autonomy: do you know of any?
And as there are plenty of Republicans who want to rescue the GOP from the current social authoritarians who have wrenched the party away from its traditions, I don’t think that the link you object to is an attempt to get people to change parties at all. How will the Republicans ever get back on a sane path if Republicans themselves don’t check the rabid authoritarians currently holding high office?
Finally: that link is on a rebuttal of the preposterous “feminazi” coinage. Your outrage again points to the irony of the accusation that it is feminists who have no sense of humour.
David- The older I get the more I realize that there are some people that you just can’t reach, no matter how well-intentioned you are about bringing folks together to heal old wounds. There will always be some who cling to the old wounds and use them as an excuse, rather than taking personal responsibility, and others who deny that there’s any need to apologize for the past when the wounds were inflicted. All you can do is work on the next generation and set an example in your own behavior.
David, maybe the reason the other 40,000 aren’t talking is because of posts like your last one concerning Giuliani. I voiced my complaint about it in the comment section and see that it still sits, as is. Normally I would just leave it at that but having read this blog daily since the beginning I know that somewhere down the line there will be a commentor or two above me that will use that post as fact when it is actually false. I am hoping that you didn’t go all the way back to Elizabeth Benjamin’s interview that the qoute came from and just took someone elses word for it.
To summerize, here is the qoute from your blog before the “evil, racist” comment that you took as bragging,
when in fact the actual qoute is,
How can I take you seriously when you talk about feminism or anti-racism when you put posts up like that.