Friday, January 13, 2012

Reinventing feminism




3 comments:

Steve Bates said...

I wish I had something intelligent to say about this, but I'm at a loss.

Over the years, I've encountered two kinds of feminist communities: those who believe men can be feminists, even activist feminists, and those who don't. Even among the former, some are more accepting of the presence of men in feminist gatherings than others.

Three decades ago, about once a year, the local UU church's women's group, which was in those days almost 100% lesbian, presented a service. Despite their best efforts... I concede that they were genuinely trying to convey to everyone, woman or man, some of the things it meant to them to be a woman... I never for even one moment felt comfortable at those services. FWIW, I was comfortable enough with those same women in other settings.

Some mysteries are simply closed, and there may be no way to open them up.

ellroon said...

I posted this because of what so many politicians are trying to do to women at this moment. Return us to second citizen status in so many horrific ways. We need to resurrect feminism and take it away from the stereotypical angry woman.

Feminism as I define it is inclusive and all sexes. It benefits everyone.

Steve Bates said...

That is how I took Courtney Martin's commentary. That is how the overwhelming majority of feminist women at the UU church saw things, and apart from that annual service, I always felt my personal activism was welcomed.

That overwhelming majority were far, far from any "angry woman" stereotype, though in their own way they were angry enough... as was I, within the limits of being male both biologically and psychologically.

I miss that community. The church still exists, but most of the women and men there whose friendship and comradeship I treasured so much have moved away, and I stopped attending church events when I took over the helm of Houston Baroque Ensemble in the late 1980s. Even when I was no longer part of it, I was glad just to know that there was such a community.