I'm sure it will shock you to hear I've had similar noodlings. I have, as you know, a tendency to talk over other people to make certain my own brilliant inisghts are heard and appreciated by all. When I was last in school, we had a very seminar-based classroom style, and I found I had to actively sit on myself in order to get everyone's PoV heard. To my horror, I noticed that I was more likely to talk over women than men. So I sat on myself extra hard -- and noticed that not only do guys tend to talk over girls, but women were more likely to stop talking to let a man make a point.
As for the beautiful people, well, on some level there's biological conditioning, but since beauty is a social construct, it can be deconstructed the same way as the Patriarchy.
Sometimes I wonder if, as a penis-carrying member of the patriarchy (a white one at that!) I'm not loftily dispensing favours on the less fortunate below my station... but then, it's not as though I associate with women who have any truck with the Patriarchy, either. There are plenty who do, and who work within that system.
I think that it's impossible to "make reparations" or anything -- but "white man's guilt" is not entirely a bad thing -- so long as one does something about it. You (and I) actively engage gender awareness; I think that challenging the norms is the best way to bring about change.
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Date: 2008-04-03 11:33 am (UTC)As for the beautiful people, well, on some level there's biological conditioning, but since beauty is a social construct, it can be deconstructed the same way as the Patriarchy.
Sometimes I wonder if, as a penis-carrying member of the patriarchy (a white one at that!) I'm not loftily dispensing favours on the less fortunate below my station... but then, it's not as though I associate with women who have any truck with the Patriarchy, either. There are plenty who do, and who work within that system.
I think that it's impossible to "make reparations" or anything -- but "white man's guilt" is not entirely a bad thing -- so long as one does something about it. You (and I) actively engage gender awareness; I think that challenging the norms is the best way to bring about change.