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McCamy Taylor

(19,240 posts)
Thu Mar 3, 2016, 03:25 AM Mar 2016

Women and the Disrespect that Starts Within Ones Own Home

We had to face this in the 1960s. Minority rights, the peace movement---these were all things on which the left agreed. But when it came to women's rights, suddenly we women were out there on our own. We were told that it was our job to have sex with men resisting the draft, in order to prove that they were still real men even though they did not want to die in Vietnam and wore their hair long. We were expected to "put out" for other members of various rights groups as a gesture of racial, ethnic, religious and socio-economic equality/solidarity. But, when we wanted to talk about how we were paid a fraction of what men were paid, how we did double duty as child caretakers, elder caretakers, homemakers and workers, we were told that our work at home was not important. We were derided as bra burners and man haters. We were told that our movement detracted from other, more worthy causes, that we held the left up to general public derision, because somehow women's rights were less right that minority rights, religious rights, economic rights. Comedians on all sides of the political spectrum mocked us in a way they never would have mocked Brother Malcolm of Cesar Chavez.

Our situation was the same as that of other oppressed groups, we were told. Women were, based on their biology, inherently different and any attempt to elevate our position within society were doomed to fail. The only group that endured the same type of criticism from within the left were the LBGT, who were also portrayed as "unnatural", "deviant" a distraction from the greater cause of economic justice. Let the (straight or closeted) men take care of things, and prosperity and equality would trickle down to the women.

We were told that our first duty was to support our men at home while they did the fighting, the protesting, the politicking. If we objected to being made into sex objects, if we objected to rape, we were called "frigid" , "unhip". If we admitted to being intimidated in the presence of men, if we requested our own groups, our own chance to form our own union, we were called unnatural, Lesbians, man haters---

Pardon me. But when people like Dr. King self identified as Black, this did not make them white haters. When members of minority groups formed their own coalitions, no one on the left accused them of "voting with their melanin (skin pigment)" But when women express concern about the patriarchy, when we call for equal representation, we are accused of "voting with our vaginas". Much the same way that psychoanalysts used to accuse us of being hysterical in reference to the hyster or uterus.

In 2008, when Black Americans celebrated breaking the race barrier in the White House, everyone on the left agreed that this was a worthy achievement, worthy of celebration.

Now, in 2016, the same members of the left (or maybe some people who only claim to be members of the left) openly deride women who want to celebrate the breaking of the gender barrier in the White House. They attempt to shame younger women into denying that sexism exists in this country. Meanwhile, our young women are taught that they have value only as long as they are young, slender, beautiful and desirable to men. Female actors are over the hill at 30. Females in school are taught to keep a low profile and never let their brains show. Rape victims continue to have their identities withheld because there is something shameful about being raped while there is no shame at all in being the victim of any other violent crime. Women continue to be passed over for promotion on the grounds that they are not dedicated workers. They are paid a fraction of what men make for the same work. They are sexually harassed in the streets and online. Men continue to use their female relatives as punching bags----when they are treated as less than men in the world outside, they can always come home and put their woman in her place and feel like a man again. When men decide that life is not worth living and that it is now time to check out, they are much more likely to turn the gun on their wives first, before taking their own lives. Because what are women here for if not to serve and suffer for their men?

Sexism is the disrespect that starts at home. As Yoko One said "Woman is the n----- of the world." Households very often contain men and women. Gender roles in our society are so screwed up that men are taught they must always be strong. Women are taught that their job is to make their man feel strong. A woman who says "What about me? What about the special needs that I have as a woman?" is a threat. She is deserving of ridicule and abuse. Her needs are frivolous needs---

There is absolutely nothing frivolous about the millions of women in this country who are sick to death of being sex toys, punching bags, goods to be bartered, underpaid sweat shop laborers and voiceless. I am woman, and whether you like it or not, this year you will hear me and my sisters roar, because we know that only someone who has walked in our shoes--our ridiculously uncomfortable and impractical shoes---understands our pain, our frustration, our anger---

Hillary Clinton is a feminist icon, whether you like it or not.

"Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights."

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/09/05/20-years-later-hillary-clintons-beijing-speech-on-women-resonates/







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PatrickforO

(14,573 posts)
1. Hmm. Regardless of gender, Clinton is not the right candidate for the now.
Thu Mar 3, 2016, 03:28 AM
Mar 2016

Warren would be, but she's silent.

Response to McCamy Taylor (Original post)

Live and Learn

(12,769 posts)
4. Hillary is the worst possible women you could pick to support the meme of your post.
Thu Mar 3, 2016, 04:22 AM
Mar 2016

Good grief, she protected Bill against the women he abused. And WE enabled him and defended him. And SOME are still doing it. UGH.

zazen

(2,978 posts)
5. and HRC is using batterers' tactics to win this election and will govern that way
Thu Mar 3, 2016, 08:28 AM
Mar 2016

I'm a lifelong radical feminist and I agree with much of what you say up until you talk about this candidate.

There is nothing that disgusts me more than narcissistic women who hijack the fight against patriarchy--the suffering of millions of battered women, of sexually abused women, of impoverished women who cannot leave exhausting situations who are working multiple jobs and caretaking children and elders--for their own aims. I've personally experienced these women in the academy and non-profits and I think the visceral repugnance of many feminists against Hillary is due to this kind of experience.

The tactics of HRC, Debbie, and the whole Clintonian establishment are those of abusers. I'm seeing it here on DU. It is enraging.

Ever since I got involved in the anti-pornography movement in the late 80s I've come to see how some liberal women get all sorts of credibility for being pseudo-feminists while leaving poor women behind to, among other things, be sexually used in prostitution, trafficking, and the making of violent pornography. Careerist feminists entered the academy and other high-end jobs and don't seem to give a shit, or have any comprehension of, the life of destitute women, particularly minorities. To them feminism is about "leaning in" and breaking the glass ceiling to get salaries that are 100 times more than most women will ever make. It's a shallow, Cathy-cartoonish level understanding of sexism that leaves the deep daily suffering of millions of women untouched and unarticulated.

I've seen feminism in the academy get co-opted to the point of utter ridiculousness where it has nothing to do with real women's lives and suffering and just pointless chatter about cyber-this and identity-that.

Clinton is PART OF THE PROBLEM. Her and her husband's welfare policies made it more difficult for women to leave abusive situations and control their own reproductive health. Their war policies have brought misery to millions of women overseas (and some here, with PTSD among soldiers).

For her to claim that her election, while her campaign acts like an abusive husband, has anything to do with elevating women SICKENS me.

CharlotteVale

(2,717 posts)
6. Shaming younger women? Ever heard of Gloria Steinem and Debbie
Thu Mar 3, 2016, 08:34 AM
Mar 2016

Wasserman Schultz? Both of them did that recently on behalf of Hillary. Oh and Madeleine Albright took a swing at women on her behalf too.

RiverLover

(7,830 posts)
7. And the worst sexism? Saying we should vote for a person who is corrupt & disingenuous &
Thu Mar 3, 2016, 08:35 AM
Mar 2016

could do serious harm like her husband before her because she is a woman.

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