random babble…

an ongoing series.  some day i will count the parts.  

Liss over at Shakesville, has a great Feminism 101 up about Sexism being subjective.

how convenient that this should come up today.

but honestly, i have never liked the Matrix movies…but Liss hits the fucking nail dead square on the head w/ this one:

Like the Matrix, which Morpheus described as “everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room… It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth,” the systemic sexism known as the patriarchy is so comprehensive and profound that “seeing it” actually takes some effort, some willingness to see it. And, like those who find themselves awakening from the Matrix, people who find themselves awakening from the patriarchy learn to identify its patterns, upon which it is dependent for the transmission of its ideals and its continual self-generation.

that might be the best allusion to sexism and privilege i have ever read.

it is about your willingness to see it.  and just b/c you don’t sure as fuck doesn’t mean it isn’t there, that women aren’t being hurt by it, or that men aren’t benefiting from it.

what we fail to remember as a society is that privilege doesn’t make you bad.  i am not vilifying anyone for having privilege.  i have plenty of my own, so that would be self defeating.  but all i am saying is that everyone has privilege of some sort.  my desire is to get people who tread here and in my life and glorious presence to see their own, to own their own, and to use that as a first step toward the desire to improve the world.  pretty lofty fucking goal of mine, but there it is.  isn’t there some sort of mantra about knowing being half the battle?

so, in the mean time, please go read Liss’ post in it’s entirety.  this is one of the best feminism primers i have read.  that woman has a way w/ words, and bow before her awesomeness, and impeccable timing.

and RQ, i have another book idea.