I'm seeing a lot of dumdum shit from progressive White guys in the last couple of days since Hillary Clinton secured the Democratic nomination. It occurred to me that this election might create an opportunity for feminists/womanists/women from the future to educate misogynist progressives (ha). I'm going to (try to remember to) keep a running list here of the "teachable moments" I encounter. Sometimes I get so astounded by something shitty said to me that I forget to throw a little knowledge back at the shit-sayer.
(Note: A lot of times, I'm going to say "we," "us," "girls," and "women" knowing full well that I cannot and do not speak for all women, particularly not women of color, women with disabilities, queer women, transwomen, poor women, immigrant women, incarcerated women, etc.)
(1) Don't tell us that Hillary's nomination is an important thing for women and girls (and trans folk, but I'm not seeing trans folk come up in the rhetoric at all. [Shocker.]) First, don't tell us anything about what's good for us. Further, it's a great thing for men and boys, too. Figure out why.
(2) Related to (1), but definitely it's own thing: Especially because Hillary is a White woman, you should learn something about the history of feminism because saying something is important for women and girls is just a super White thing to say.
(3) Code words! There are so many code words! For today, I'll do shrill. A personal example: When Rachel and I first started teaching, she was advised by a dude teacher that she should raise her voice when necessary to assert her authority in a class where she had some rowdiness. Yeah right. When a dude raises his voice, it's most of the time commanding. When a White woman raises her voice, it's most of the time received as either ridiculous or annoying or both, but definitely not authoritative. Y'all get to raise your voice, and we don't. Don't call us shrill.
(4) Don't ask us to teach you this stuff. Do your own work because you're exhausting me. And insulting, but the insulting is kinda whatever. It's just tiring to talk you through things from step one. Read something.
(Note: A lot of times, I'm going to say "we," "us," "girls," and "women" knowing full well that I cannot and do not speak for all women, particularly not women of color, women with disabilities, queer women, transwomen, poor women, immigrant women, incarcerated women, etc.)
(1) Don't tell us that Hillary's nomination is an important thing for women and girls (and trans folk, but I'm not seeing trans folk come up in the rhetoric at all. [Shocker.]) First, don't tell us anything about what's good for us. Further, it's a great thing for men and boys, too. Figure out why.
(2) Related to (1), but definitely it's own thing: Especially because Hillary is a White woman, you should learn something about the history of feminism because saying something is important for women and girls is just a super White thing to say.
(3) Code words! There are so many code words! For today, I'll do shrill. A personal example: When Rachel and I first started teaching, she was advised by a dude teacher that she should raise her voice when necessary to assert her authority in a class where she had some rowdiness. Yeah right. When a dude raises his voice, it's most of the time commanding. When a White woman raises her voice, it's most of the time received as either ridiculous or annoying or both, but definitely not authoritative. Y'all get to raise your voice, and we don't. Don't call us shrill.
(4) Don't ask us to teach you this stuff. Do your own work because you're exhausting me. And insulting, but the insulting is kinda whatever. It's just tiring to talk you through things from step one. Read something.
3 comments:
Thanks for sharing this, Ellen. One of the things that bugs me is that she is accused of moving left because of Bernie and abandoning Bill Clinton's moderate policies. No one even considers that she could have always been to the left of Bill Clinton. They are not one and the same. This election is a shit storm of epic proportions.
I've been wondering about that! I wasn't really old enough to have a sense of what was happening in the Clinton administration, but I've been a little confused as to why HIS presidency conflates with HER work? I looked around a little bit, and it said that she went around speaking to help get support for Tough on Crime. It's like, I do think that having been married to the president DOES matter in terms of experience with what the job entails, but also, she wasn't the one signing bills into law, etc. Like I said, I don't really get that.
Shit storm of epic proportions is right. Truth be told, I'm keeping myself pretty ignorant of the ups and downs of the campaigns because it makes me too anxious to read the news.
The podcast Another Round did a really good interview with her in which they called her out on the Tough on Crime stuff. She definitely was a surrogate for Bill as he tried to pass the 3 strikes you're out laws. She's not an easy candidate to support. Sooo flawed.
I've taken to reading/listening to the podcast 538 because the writers are math nerds, and they analyze the election through statistics. I know that sounds boring as all get out, but it's actually interesting and has helped me to stay informed AND sane. We're about to go on a one week trip to Vermont where we barely have internet access. I'm looking forward to taking a break, too.
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