I like how on top of quoting the female specific realities in the world she explains why addressing these issues is important for everyone, not just women! So many of these facts go beyond easily identifiable female repression through law/cultural practice. Boys and men deserve to grow up in a world where they are encouraged to find their own self, and arent taught that women are boobs and you are supposed to be attracted to boobs and oh by the way products associated with boobs make you attractive to get more boobs and here is the correct socially acceptable way to attract boobs and it is socially acceptable because its everywhere. And arent taught that double standards are okay (because that causes turmoil in life in the end for everyone). In an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world (which I see as a good thing for the most part) boys and girls, men and women should be free of being taught the right way of whatever, and encouraged to become themselves, to evaluate and take on whatever roles make them them and to be loving and supportive parts of their community. Id say that the goal of most people is to be happy, and in our current world new ways of helping people actualize that for themselves are needed. There are two things I had some thoughts about that diverged from what shes saying. First, I dont particularly agree with her use of the word feminist - or to be more specific the lack of discussion of context. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism Yes, modern feminism is very much about gender equality but not always, feminism can mean a LOT of different things because it has been around for a long time in a lot of different places. Personally Im supportive of a lot of what feminism focuses on, but I dont think Id call myself a feminist because I would be at a loss as to what that actually means and I would also be concerned that my message would be attached to either one form or another of radical feminism or stereotypes of feminism. Of course, simply ignoring the issue wont make it go away, rather I choose to approach more from the standpoint of: heres the specific things I support/will discuss (I.e. gender equality in education, work place, pay, politics) and oh by the way they are a part of feminism/this specific feminist school of thought. This does justice to the issue as it attaches it directly to scholarship and theory most discussing it and Id even say it does justice to feminism overall as it helps clarify what it is and the breadth it covers. The second thing I think warrants more exploration is the wage inequality piece. The first obvious point is how the wage inequality is measured i.e. there are studies which compare income between genders by profession in positions of comparable responsibility/experience/education and then there are studies who just lump it all together regardless of the woman contributing to the economy by staying home and drawing on the income of the husband for lifestyle (this of course brings up the whole economic control of men over women but thats for another time). As a man and a human being I would feel horrible if anyone made more than me because of some arbitrary measuring stick - so Im not defending wage inequality. Instead I would like to add to the equality side of it, I think that as men we are often expected to be the breadwinners, and to pay for dates etc. during courtship. Culturally men are also sometimes expected to care for ageing parents or needy family members and such. There is growing social discussion going on now about these rules and I think that as wage equality gains traction those social rules around money and status should be part of the discussion. Now this isnt just me saying hey Im a boy and if boys will stop having an economic advantage over women we should stop sharing the wealth *cue rant on reverse discrimination. I think this is important primarily because it will touch on family finance and everybodys quality of life - what really matters once that courtship has hopefully led to a happy life together and the possible choice of planned pregnancy or choice to acquire a child. The traditional approach has been man makes money and woman supports home and man, then later it moved to woman has life and usually has side career or shit job while guy helps out a little but woman usually does way more at home anyway and is exhausted (lots has been written on this too). Moving to equality I think we should take a holistic approach as a society to families, i.e. what is expected of genders and the support provided by programs should be equal and CHILD CENTERED what do I mean? Well for example lets say the standard kid has x needs to be raised well in a standard 2 parent home (regardless of parent genders)... those needs should be supported regardless of who is doing the parenting or making more money. While some jurisdictions are doing a decent job of this, many arent nearly there yet. And the bigger issue that precedes jurisdictional change is societal change. What does parenting redefined look like? If we move into a world where there is no pay gap is there a correlation with how this will change family makeup, single parent demographics etc. and how should our laws on alimony, parent leave and so forth adapt, and how will purchasing power of wages overall react? Will we move into a world where both parents are working like donkeys for the same lifestyle we enjoy today? There are already concerns about the two income household and how it is more necessity than choice these days. So yeah, not defending wage inequality but unfortunately its more complicated than saying lets just pay women more. As we move toward that, what about everything else?
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 23:12:50 +0000
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