First, I will share a link to an awesome blog post by Kathy Miriam:
http://occupypatriarchy.org/2011/11/04/manifestoing-feminism-occupy-patriarchy/
I share it because I spent my early afternoon today at the occupation in down town Minneapolis, a 10 minute bike ride from Augsburg. The Wall Street protests have been occupying a significant amount of my time and energy lately, since I am writing my big, final women's studies paper on the movement through a feminist lens.
There are so many great things about it, and coming off of years of dreaming of being alive in the sixties to take part in those social changes, to be part of this is exhilarating. I've been browsing blogs and news articles, and reading books on post-modern feminism and justice movements and getting really, really excited.
And then I actually go to the protests (I've been a couple of times), and consistently leave feeling down trodden, hopeless, and peeved at being called cute by old men. The General Assemblies are disorganized and inefficiently run by the loudest voices of those who don't even believe in consensus. Cocky, twenty something, white boys with personal missions.
Ok. Just one cocky, twenty something, white boy in particular, that while he does a lot for the movement, and gets his name in all the papers, he still calls old ladies "F*cks" behind their backs and wins NO points in my book. So there's him.
Then there are the old men who seem to think that because I make eye contact with them, we're best friends. NOT that I don't like old men. I love old men! I can spend hours talking to them about history, politics and our current situation just fine. I get aggravated when they start calling me cute and dominating my conversations.
This rant should be going in a word document to be used in my paper...
Today, when I interviewed women, they listened to my questions, and answered accordingly. They did not linger, or call attention to my intelligence or glimmering eyes.
The men listen to one question and then talk at me for thirty minutes about how they feel about the money system, or where they were when the moon landing happened.
Why is it important that my eyes sparkle with intelligence, that I probably have a man in my life, or that I am cute enough to be mayor?*
Why can't I skirt the crowds and do my work without being gendered? SEXUALIZED!?
It's not fair, and in a movement that strives for fairness and an equality of voice, it's discouraging to see patriarchy dominate on the street level.
That's where my heart and mind is this evening, I'll keep you posted with hopefully more positive reports.
*Yes, this happens.
2 comments:
I'm really sorry your local Occupation is like that. That hasn't been my experience in my local group at all. One of the things I think that has helped is that we don't allow the same person to facilitate more than two general assemblies in a row, which means that one person can't dominate that role.
In addition, there are two main facilitator roles: one to keep the group on track & the other to keep track of who gets to speak next (called the stack). That way there are always at least two different people facilitating.
We also include care in our facilitator trainings to make sure people are paying attention to what voices are being heard such that if a bunch of white men have been talking, & a woman raises her hand, she should be next even if there is a white man who has had his hand up for a while. Same goes for issues of race, ability, age, etc.
We are also lucky, though, here in Carbondale, that we have a significantly large group of women involved. They all can't be at every meeting, but they stay active in the group. Not to mention, the majority of the men in our group are committed to acknowledging and working to correct their deployment of male privilege. It's not always perfect, and conflict does still arise, but there are conversations happening about it - from a place of love, understanding, mutual respect, and a real desire to create something better.
Nichole!
Thank You for your input. Our G.A.s are held in much the same way, but I still haven't seen that much accomplished. I am interested in talking with you more about the Occupation and what you think will come of it.
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