Listen
Of tonights readings I most enjoyed that of Tiya Miles, “Lessons from a Young Feminist Collective”. It immediately sparked my interest because during my senior seminar today we were discussing how infrequently college-aged men and women read about college-aged men and women. The bulk of the literature we’re required has to do with very old dead people or young adults in the real world. So the fact that I could relate to the environment Ms. Miles is discussing made the reading more intriguing to me.
That being said, I think the importance of articles such as this one frequently goes under the radar. It displays many crucial points, namely that,
1. Young people are not as apathetic as everyone thinks we are, efforts are made but go unnoticed
2. We all need to start learning from out mistakes
I think one of the main reasons we don’t learn from our mistakes is because people don’t listen to one another. I’m willing to bet a considerable number of intro to WMST students who were assigned this reading will barely glance over it and the information they do process will go in one ear and out the other. I’ve seen many start-up projects like this one be attempted at my college and high school campuses, only to fail for similar reasons. The same mistakes keep happening because no one is listening. This is also evident within the “Rag” group at Harvard. As much as they all had similar goals and were trying to achieve them collectively, they mainly had their personal interest in mind. The white women weren’t really listening to the other members of the group. “The opportunity to voice and share these feelings motivated us to produce the journal and bonded us as a group. But this foundation of individual desire and need crumbled as time went on. Once we had expressed the thoughts that we had bottled up inside, our task seemed less urgent and our energy level waned. This static focus on our individual experiences and problems deterred us from seeking out and listening to other women’s experiences”(p.175) How can we expect the world to listen if we can’t listen to each other?
I believe Ms.Miles is espousing a similar viewpoint to that of the Johnson article we read for Tuesday’s class. When we view our experiences as individualistic, we inadvertently shut out potential common ground that can be empowering. If we brush off someone else’s similar experience just because they are, as an individual, different from us, we’re closing the door to an important opportunity. By listening to each other, and really absorbing what the other has to say, much can be done.
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Audre Lorde, Peggy McIntosh, and Tiya Miles, all examine important as well as controversial topics within their respective articles. In society, men are “born” with certain rights, referred to as “male privileges.” These liberties often elevate them above many women for no particular reasons other than gender biases. Although numerous men agree that women should have equal rights, few are willing to relinquish their own “male privileges.” A hierarchy of privileges has been identified: male-to-male, male-to-female, and female-to-female. Sometimes these differences may be ignored because no one wants to be placed at the bottom. These authors explore how women often ignore privilege gaps within various feminist groups. Women consist of people of varying race, sexual preference, economic class, and age. Therefore, certain women already have specific rights and privileges that other women don’t have. Minority groups are often overlooked and omitted.
ReplyDeletePeggy McIntosh explores the idea of unacknowledged white privileges. “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks” (McIntosh 1). A problem amongst feminist throughout generations is the lack of acknowledgement that certain women are allotted privileges that others are not allotted. Therefore, the wants of feminist groups are not always similar. The majority or “white women” often continue to dominate popular feminist groups. It remains unclear how to resolve this problem of inequality. One needs to notice the gap, hear voices of the oppressed, and take action.
Cait raises an excellent point in her post. Young people are often viewed as apathetic to others as well as reluctant to learn from past mistakes. What causes a group’s inability to hear? When one is not directly affected, it may be difficult to gain one’s attention. Even women, who are fighting for equality, often do not hear the inequality of the women in the room with them. People too often focus on their own struggles instead of simultaneously focusing on both themselves as well as others. Until individuals begin to be more accepting to others and willing to listen, separation will continue. Third wave feminist must understand that they are at an advantage. Not only do they already have certain rights for which previous generations vehemently fought but they also have the opportunity to examine struggles from the past. Similar mistakes can be avoided. Equality can be achieved when we ensure that all participants in the room have equal rights. This will begin to weaken the hierarchy of privileges.
Nice posts, all. Alex, you've done a great job of connecting the various readings to one another, and to Cait's original post. Cait and Emily, great thoughts about Tiya Miles's experience, and activism generally. These questions about perceptions of apathy are good ones, and ones that I hope we'll discuss in class today!
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