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In reply to the discussion: sexism, lets play. [View all]Threedifferentones
(1,070 posts)You're gonna need to link that because I know DU pretty well and I cannot recall a single debate over abortion rights. We all agree on that, and anyone who does not gets flamed, reported, TSd.
I think I know why so many fellow feminists are irritated by seabeyond's tirades. We are absolutely in favor of reproductive rights, we think rape is as horrifying and disgusting as any violence or atrocity ever committed. We know that a person should be judged on ability and character, that anyone should be able to make full use of their talents regardless of sex or skin color. We get filled with rage whenever we read about a stronger person oppressing a weaker one, and we know full well that a husband or boyfriend abusing the woman in his life is one of the most frequent forms of such oppression.
Can you explain to me why the same crew of posters talks frequently about the supposed passivity of liberal men while going weeks and weeks without mentioning the billions of conservative women who are actively working against their own rights? Here's a hint, if you say it's because men make those women conservative you are not what I would call a feminist. Feminists acknowledge that women have agency and choices, and that men learn gender roles from their families and cultures just like women do.
Do you understand that abuse of women by men is just one among many equally abhorrent trends of violence and domination? In other words, do you understand that even before feminism a rich woman had more power and freedom and comfort than all those multitudes of male slaves? Or have you ever studied how many white women in the 20th century supported the oppression of blacks even as they campaigned for their own rights? This point is especially useful for seabeyond.
I've lurked here for many years and read this forum every day. What is telling about seabeyond's posting is not what she says but what she does not. Give her half a chance and she will go off about how pretty much every man every where (besides hubby of course) offers no help to any women. But, in all the threads which illustrate or discuss racism or extreme poverty and the exploitation of a working class...NADA. In all the threads about religion she will mention a fundy's views about women but not any of their other craziness. Is this justified because as a woman that is what affects her life the most? In that case we men would be justified in ignoring it because it does not directly affect us.
So, why should I assume she is on my side? Here in Nashville I regularly socialize with a loose community of hispanic people I came to know in my years landscaping. Sometimes in our conversations I meet people ignorant of our laws and their rights as workers, and I help them as best I can. Since they are poor pretty much all of them work regardless of age or sex, and I do what is in my power to help people without thinking about those factors. Get that? We truly see all people as equal, so we judge based upon individual circumstances, and we see all people in need as equally deserving.
As a modern man I lack even the "benevolent" form of sexism, but the same cannot be said for people who make post after post calling for more aid exclusive to women.
Seabeyond is a prolific poster with a distinct style of writing, so she stands out in my memory. It often seems she is on her own side, not ours, and now the same can be said of you.
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