In which firecat discusses her isms

[firecat]

I've studied feminism for decades and have long believed that feminists—starting long before I was born and continuing today—have discovered some really important things about what my world is like and have done things to make my world better for me as a woman and better for a lot of other people too (although not all people).

Steeping myself in feminist viewpoints for a long time has made me pretty sensitive to gender-biased behavior among people I know, and gender bias in the media. (And has spoiled my enjoyment of a few authors I used to really like.)

Nevertheless, I have lived my whole life in a culture that privileges men over women and people of other genders in a number of ways, and I have internalized the assumption that the public sphere belongs to men. So despite decades of study, if someone mentions a person involved in making public policy, and I don't know who they are, and the name I hear doesn't strike me as "obviously feminine," I tend to assume they are male.

So I just saw a news headline, "Clinton stresses two-state solution," and my first thought is that Bill Clinton said it in a talk somewhere, and it takes me reading the first few words of the article, "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton stressed a two-state Israel-Palestine solution..." to realize who the story is talking about. *DOH*.

Despite decades of being involved with feminist thought, sexism is still so deeply rooted in me that I automatically envisioned Bill Clinton when I saw the name Clinton, even though Hillary Clinton is in a more prominent position in government now.

I have made some effort to learn about race issues but I haven't worked on that nearly as much as feminism. So I'm sure I have many more automatic assumptions about race than I do about gender.

When people who I think came from more or less the same upbringing as mine say they aren't racist or sexist at all, I really wonder where they got the module installed that erases all of the conditioning they received.

Comments

[ajroets.livejournal.com]

i really like your last little tid-bit you put on the end. im in a class where we are studying about attitudes towards people of different descents than our own. of course, there were those students who were all "im not racist at all!" i dont think there is anyone out there who is TRULY un-seeing of everyones differences, but it is merely the fact that they can turn a blind eye to their own feelings. it is great to strive for that though, i do believe, because if we can get enouhg people to have THAT atttitude, maybe eventually we can get someone who truly is indifferent to these differences.

even myself, for instance. i, honestly, do get worried when i am a minority in a group, or when someone who worries me as distrustful comes near, but i dont openly show or act on these feelings. i try to get better at it, and i have, but its not like im not "racist".

i enjoyed this post :)

[firecat]

Thanks for posting.

I know what you're trying to get at when you say "un-seeing of everyones differences," but I think that viewpoint can create problems it doesn't intend.

I don't want a world where people don't see differences. And based on my own experiences as fat and as a woman, and on what I have heard from some people of color, it seems that when a mainstream person doesn't see differences, they sometimes end up acting in ways that reinforce racism, sexism, or other isms.

Because some of the experiences of people who bear the brunt of prejudice are actually different from the experiences of people who don't, and being unaware of that doesn't help undo a prejudiced society.

I want a world where people respect and pay attention to each other, and that means acknowledging that other people have different life experiences, rather than assuming everyone is the same.

[ajroets.livejournal.com]

this is veryyyyyyy true. i guess i should say that when i was thinking about what i was saying and thinking, i was thinking about environments like the workplace, where its not really the point to be objectified for differences. as for as LIFE goes however, youre right. differences should be acknowledged mentally, and understood.

you totally caught me on that! hahaha

[firecat]

I definitely agree that differences should not lead to objectifying, especially in the workplace!