The Vegankid blog annointed today “Blog Against Sexism Day.” Looks like 170 blogs are participating, which is a terrific response and promises a lot of great reading (see also the Tenth Carnival of the Feminists).
Now, here is a personal observation. About a year or so ago I read the novel, “The Known World,” by Edward P. Jones, which is an amazing book that I highly recommend. One of the characters is a man with Native American ancestry, which sets him apart from both the white sphere and the world of the slaves. In one scene, he is present when a group of white man badly abuse a free black man. He’s happy to be socially included on the side of the oppressors for a change, rather than suffering once again for his skin color and heritage, but the omniscient narrator rather ominously warns that if things go a certain way, he could rapidly find out that he isn’t quite as white as he thinks he is.
When I read or hear a woman criticize another woman for her clothing, or hair, or body size, or general lack of femininity or sex appeal because it helps her curry favor with powerful men, I always think, if things go a certain way, she is going to find out that she isn’t as much “one of the guys” as she thinks she is. The men may laugh with her when she amusingly derides her sisters, but they will not trust her any more than the women she mocks will.
–Ann Bartow
Update: See also this article.
Update two: You’ll never go wrong by reading I Blame the Patriarchy.
