Monday, January 16, 2012

Relevant quotations are relevant:

"But that's part of women being expected to bear the burden of empathy; the last thing you should do is be a person who doesn't TRY to care, so even when people act in an uncaring way, you try to figure out motivations or whatever instead of just dealing with their actions." -Sady
(http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/2010/01/15/sexist-beatdown-guys-who-grab-butt-edition/)

That's definitely an expectation I've encountered. Wish I could think of an example suitable to share with the whole internet.

"I was fully aware that gender injustice against women was pervasive in politics, religion, and sports long before I took my first women's studies class. I just didn't yet have the words or confidence to articulate it." -Fannie
(http://fanniesroom.blogspot.com/2012/01/privilege-of-oppression-being-novel.html)

She really hits the nail on the head! I can think of so many times in my life when I could sense the incorrectness of a given situation, but didn't yet know how to express that frustration- times like clothes shopping with my aunt, who only wanted to dress me in pinks and yellows when I wanted the blue version of a shirt. These instances weren't exactly few and far between, even begin raised by second-wave feminists as I was. I'm glad that I can now look back on that feeling of discomfort and realize that I was identifying an injustice, instead of just being "crazy" or "weird".