Sexism's a Bitch
(or, The Kids Are Alright)
The library at Nordhoff High School has changed very little in the nine years since i graduated, but this past friday, it actually saw something new: teenagers talking intelligently and purposefully about sexism.
Nordhoff has a new Social Justice Club, organized by twin sisters Sarafina and Darah Tabrum, which put on the four-hour workshop to generate dialogue and action around this sensitive issue.
i'm hoping to get some of the organizers and participants to flesh out the experience on this thread, so i'll just share what i felt was the most prominent point: COLLUSION. simply put, in this context it means how one contributes to any given type of oppression, whether one is the oppressed or the oppressor.
with sexism, we're clearly talking about males comprising the privilege group and females making up the target group, yet both contribute to the ongoing oppression of sexism.
dig deep: how do YOU collude?
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Comments (3)
good on ya, Sarafina and Darah!
the thousands of years of abuse, violence, torture, burnings, servitude, economic deprivation, spiritual negation ...
must be forgiven and released!
in the Year 2007, of the Divine Feminine Returning.
global consciousness, our global heartmind, is by HER very definition, of affirmation, sharing, coming together, nurturing.
unbounded spectrum, personality, song ...
Comment #1 Posted by: Millennium Twain | March 28, 2007 01:10 PM
okay, i'll start.
as a white american male, i find myself born into the most priveledged class of human being on the planet. that means primarily two things to me:
• EVERYTHING i do probably contributes to a gender-based system of inequality or oppression in some way (think of it as socialization meets original sin)
• i inherit the thrilling responsibility to champion the rights of women, ethnic minorities, and all other (non-american) citizens of our world.
so how do i collude with sexism?
there's collusion in the music i listen to, when it contains themes or lyrics which refer to women and/or members of the LGBTQ community in an unequal or derrogatory way.
i collude in the swear words that i choose. the ones that are gender-based only give me the ability to generalize, prejudge, and degrade the inherent value of another person. so i strike them from my vocabulary.
Comment #2 Posted by: evan | March 29, 2007 01:02 PM
Sexism is a part of both male and female lives and should be acknowledged for what it truly is. It is not a male or a female problem with one gender being worse than the other. It is not a reason for the blame game. Sexism is simply someone using their sex to overpower or dominate another. Both of the sexes are guilty of this in one way or another. Now more than ever the tides are turning to the women being sexist. We wanted to be equal then we still expected to be treated specially. Cake and eat it kind of thing. Well I have not felt repressed by men in my life so I don't think I can expect payback for past repressions. Yes of course I was raised to believe I could do what I put my mind to but I hear too many women blaming their own inadequacies on the men in their lives. I've caught myself doing it as well. Like a man would say in a bad relationship there are other fish. So my collusion is that I like the differences between men and women and I think understanding and compromise work better than accusation and blame.
Comment #3 Posted by: laurinda93023 | March 31, 2007 01:28 AM