I've been over-caffeinated and bored. Therefore, my brain has been racing and trying to work on not-work.
Specifically, I find I've been ruminating on feminist issues a fair - privilege, the role of women's sexuality in society, how the patriarchy affects that, etc. I feel a bit weird talking about it, though. I mean, I'm a guy. I am implicitly party to the patriarchy. I benefit, daily from my male privilege, and don't necessarily cast that off when I might. I haven't read most of the basic books of feminist theory. So, really, I'm probably talking out of my ass and expecting everyone to think my opinions are important because I'm a white male, and I'm used to people thinking what I say is important. I dunno. I feel sometimes like I'm not qualified to have opinions about this stuff, and should just shut up.
While pondering this, I was struck by the fact that despite my good intentions and attempts to have dependable sexual politics, I find I am easily swayed when a pretty girl asks me to do something. There's something in the neighbourhood of "sad" or "ironic" in there.
I have no answers. I'm not going to stop trying to understand gender/sexual politics, but sometimes I wonder if I ever really can.
Specifically, I find I've been ruminating on feminist issues a fair - privilege, the role of women's sexuality in society, how the patriarchy affects that, etc. I feel a bit weird talking about it, though. I mean, I'm a guy. I am implicitly party to the patriarchy. I benefit, daily from my male privilege, and don't necessarily cast that off when I might. I haven't read most of the basic books of feminist theory. So, really, I'm probably talking out of my ass and expecting everyone to think my opinions are important because I'm a white male, and I'm used to people thinking what I say is important. I dunno. I feel sometimes like I'm not qualified to have opinions about this stuff, and should just shut up.
While pondering this, I was struck by the fact that despite my good intentions and attempts to have dependable sexual politics, I find I am easily swayed when a pretty girl asks me to do something. There's something in the neighbourhood of "sad" or "ironic" in there.
I have no answers. I'm not going to stop trying to understand gender/sexual politics, but sometimes I wonder if I ever really can.
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