General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Battle of the Sexists [View all]Zorra
(27,670 posts)are wholly based in and on at least 2000 years of extreme continuous Judeo-Christian religion derived patriarchy, it is almost impossible for men to recognize the nuances of entitled superiority that are sometimes expressed by even the most enlightened, egalitarian men.
Women, particularly thoughtful intuitive women, as recipients of chronic, intentional and unintentional insults that result from a score or more centuries of enculturated, institutinalized male authority, dominance, and abuse, are naturally a great deal more sensitive to the numerous nuanced insults of our centuries of violently enforced submission which we have had to endure.
We have every good and valid reason to speak out for equality, and the fact that far too much of what we try to get across about nuanced, and sometimes blatant, manifestations of oppressive institutionalized patriarchy is dismissed by men rendered clueless about sexism as a result of centuries of unchallenged male dominion over females (ie - "because that's the way it is, and the way it has always , so I don't understand what in heck you women are complaining about") has a tendency to sometimes make us resentful.
Especially combined with the sad fact that until fairly recently on the historical scale, women were considered the legal property of their husbands, and less than 100 years ago men did not permit us to vote. This patriarchal mindset of the absolute inferiority of women did not disappear on the day we got the right to vote, and it will probably not disappear altogether for another century of hard core work by women trying to make the concept of essential gender equality understood and made an institutionalized reality.
"If you want to change the world, change yourself". Fine. I've changed myself into St. Zorra, pure hearted archangel of equality. What does that do for me, and other women, as far as the genuine end of patriarchy and the resulting genuine essential equality of women is concerned? If I/we don't open our mouths, we are never going to eat. Social change generally does not occur unless the oppressed speak out and take action to force the issue.
I know that I have a certain small lingering resentment toward men, exacerbated by occasional minor or major manifestations by men of their assumed entitled superiority and my imposed and unjustly designated inferiority that still lingers in in this waning patriarchy.
But this resentment is not hatred; I like both men and women, and try relate to each as individuals to the best of my ability, and I try to recognize the place that men come from. I do not live there, but I believe that I understand that, because men have historically been the culturally dominant gender, it is difficult for them to fully empathize with women in order to feel and understand how we really experience the manifested and non-manifested ramifications of past and present male dominance and entitlement. And, of course, there are still far too many ignorant men out there who believe that a woman's place is barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, (and not driving cars!) listening to them condescendingly read to us from their "rightful place" as men at the head of the dining table, in their well practiced authoritarian style, the dour and silly ancient passages of their Poisonwood Bibles and Korans, which prove to them beyond doubt the superiority of men, and proves once and for all that women are dimwitted inferior creatures not to be taken seriously in their man's world.
Because their unseen great all knowing bearded patriarch god in the sky has decreed that it is so, and this decree has been made obvious, and is manifested by all that has been created.
Or not.
Please try to understand, we women are still dealing with that type of ignorant shit on a mass scale, and it's not going to magically go away overnight.
So...I will continue to speak out and strive for an end to patriarchy, in the hope that someday, a balance between patriarchy and matriarchy will be achieved, where women will be equal, in all aspects of reality, to men, and hope that my efforts are not perceived as hatred by good men, and that these men will see my efforts not as gender warfare in a male vs. female construct, but as a sincere effort to attain genuine gender equality, and more understanding and equality for everyone.
Peace.