EPTOn February 17 2011 07:35 jon arbuckle wrote:
Cute.
Generally, yes, equality is important; Virginia Woolf, I'm pretty sure, said "feminism" was a misnomer for this very reason. But look, assuming that this equality has been functionally attained (which it hasn't, because as the previously posted PDF noted the higher up you go in most companies and government institutions, the less likely you are to encounter a female, and the more likely you are to find sexist justifications for that), the problem is that male chauvinism asserts itself so easily and unconsciously. Equal opportunity is difficult because it necessitates a restructuring of people's private, reflexive opinions about gender, race, etc., and with almost the entirety of western civilization an assertion of white male dominance, this restructuring is profoundly difficult to do.
With thousands of years of male dominance leading into the 20th century's various feminisms, what does it mean to say, "we are equal," and how can someone presume that this equality has been achieved? Underlying a lot of supposedly civil discourse on this subject (e.g. some posts in this topic that think practical equality is as easy as institutionalizing it; women in the workplace) is a lot of people who privately think women are emotional, irrational, and incompetent, and so long as that attitude exists, equality has not been achieved.
This is why just the process of finding historical records of female agency, female intellectualism, and female perspectives is arduous, a life's work, and why the privileging of the female gaze is imperative - the history of the world is written by the winner, and the winner has been profoundly male because only the male was allowed to play. A large part of feminism is just that: the privileging of female perspectives if only for a moment, because society's gaze (its ideology) is male. A large part of feminism is getting men to shut up for just a moment and let women speak; the weighing of gazes against one another.
I'm not saying the women shouldn't have to pay the same as everyone else. This is bigger than golf: this is about people using this golf story as a synecdoche whereby they judge women and feminism in their entirety. This is about how if a female wants more than equal rights, she's an extremist; if a male wants more than equal rights, he is a man.
Cute.
Generally, yes, equality is important; Virginia Woolf, I'm pretty sure, said "feminism" was a misnomer for this very reason. But look, assuming that this equality has been functionally attained (which it hasn't, because as the previously posted PDF noted the higher up you go in most companies and government institutions, the less likely you are to encounter a female, and the more likely you are to find sexist justifications for that), the problem is that male chauvinism asserts itself so easily and unconsciously. Equal opportunity is difficult because it necessitates a restructuring of people's private, reflexive opinions about gender, race, etc., and with almost the entirety of western civilization an assertion of white male dominance, this restructuring is profoundly difficult to do.
With thousands of years of male dominance leading into the 20th century's various feminisms, what does it mean to say, "we are equal," and how can someone presume that this equality has been achieved? Underlying a lot of supposedly civil discourse on this subject (e.g. some posts in this topic that think practical equality is as easy as institutionalizing it; women in the workplace) is a lot of people who privately think women are emotional, irrational, and incompetent, and so long as that attitude exists, equality has not been achieved.
This is why just the process of finding historical records of female agency, female intellectualism, and female perspectives is arduous, a life's work, and why the privileging of the female gaze is imperative - the history of the world is written by the winner, and the winner has been profoundly male because only the male was allowed to play. A large part of feminism is just that: the privileging of female perspectives if only for a moment, because society's gaze (its ideology) is male. A large part of feminism is getting men to shut up for just a moment and let women speak; the weighing of gazes against one another.
I'm not saying the women shouldn't have to pay the same as everyone else. This is bigger than golf: this is about people using this golf story as a synecdoche whereby they judge women and feminism in their entirety. This is about how if a female wants more than equal rights, she's an extremist; if a male wants more than equal rights, he is a man.
We are equal when gender becomes a characteristic - similar to skin colour, hair colour, eye colour, et cetera - and no longer is part of a person's identity and tied to their personality. I don't know if it will ever happen. A lot of people haven't gotten over the stereotypes that come with blonde hair, or darker skin. Yes, this equality would be almost impossible to see at the individual level, because one cannot see another's thoughts. However. Since being politically correct is so big on the societal agenda...if that kind of prejudice was kept only in the history books as a reference to see how much society has changed, it could be caught in the current generation and have very few ways of continuing past the current chauvinists. Those chauvinists will maybe lock away their feelings and restrict it to themselves, but as long as it is not perpetuated, it can be 'bred out'. When prejudice by any physical characteristic of a person has been suppressed to the individual level and is no longer being passed on and expressed through their children, whether it is due to a sudden enlightenment of the human race or the pressure of society...that will be a day of victory.
The last paragraph in your post interested me in the way that I automatically wrote "I disagree with that last statement because here's X example of males being extremists" - and then it hit me. I couldn't think of any websites or publications with female extremists off the top of my head...because the idea of 'feminism' and 'feminazis' are so prevalent in society that people don't even give it any thought. Sure, everyone knows about those guys that yell 'HEY WOMAN GET ME A SAMMICH AND A BEER" from in front of the TV - but they would definitely be held in higher esteem than a woman who attempted to do something similar to his male counterpart.
(note, I hope this post makes some sense. I just finished it and realized it's past midnight...I'm normally asleep two hours earlier. lol. I'll edit it tomorrow afternoon if need be)
