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malthaussen

(17,066 posts)
16. Being a child of white-boy privilege...
Wed Jul 23, 2014, 11:54 AM
Jul 2014

... the most difficult thing I have had to learn is the need for affirmation that is inherent to feminism. This applies not just to feminism, of course, but to the need for affirmation of all oppressed groups. Since I already stipulate the applicability of rights to all, to me the question was always a done deal, so why were we wasting time on it? It took awhile to assimilate the reality that for the "other" the deal wasn't "done" at all, but one that even the most enlightened fighter often still had to struggle with. I think that this may be one of the reasons there are so many problems with MRAs and their ilk -- the basic inability to comprehend that talking about injustice is not whining or special pleading, but a means of affirming to the oppressed individual that yes, you are not imagining things, you are really being fucked with. It is not a failing of intellect or will, but rather a failing of experience. For as many times as my old man told me to shut the fuck up, I never questioned (as that child of white-boy privilege) that I had a right to be heard. It is really hard to grasp that others might have a whole different reality.

-- Mal

"But here's the thing: you're not." JTFrog Jul 2014 #1
it is easily recognized whent he person is actually given the info, chooses to ignore the info, to seabeyond Jul 2014 #2
This comment from the replies there spells it out well. redqueen Jul 2014 #4
what is relly the hoot is the demand of all women to educate adn the voicing crying feminists are seabeyond Jul 2014 #7
this^ so much^ this .... and especially this = Tuesday Afternoon Jul 2014 #11
point. as they yell... i am a woman and i say, i feel sorry for men. lol. oh vey. lol. hear me seabeyond Jul 2014 #12
So tired of it all. And watching it happen in HoF is really just wearing me down. It can happen ALL Tuesday Afternoon Jul 2014 #14
"Post-sexist world?" malthaussen Jul 2014 #8
An excellent observation nt redqueen Jul 2014 #9
Which stresses the need for education... malthaussen Jul 2014 #13
Well there's an assumption there that the ignorant want to learn. redqueen Jul 2014 #19
Mmm, I was thinking from the top-down rather than bottom-up. malthaussen Jul 2014 #22
And my view is that if they think so, they have not been listening to feminists. redqueen Jul 2014 #25
i have to tell my boys, i was raised in a time i could not get a credit card in my name. it was seabeyond Jul 2014 #10
Being a child of white-boy privilege... malthaussen Jul 2014 #16
Great post ismnotwasm Jul 2014 #18
Yeah, kind of ties in with yours downthread.:) malthaussen Jul 2014 #20
Aside from ass kissing or kicking though, there is listening... redqueen Jul 2014 #24
I'd say that goes without saying... malthaussen Jul 2014 #27
See, I am a member of the new younger generation. F4lconF16 Jul 2014 #31
i have to believe that also. it is such in your face. everywhere. seabeyond Jul 2014 #32
A third alternative would wilfully ingenuous. malthaussen Jul 2014 #39
Being disingenuous is often the opening to a Socratic line... malthaussen Jul 2014 #3
Bingo! redqueen Jul 2014 #5
thats it. that is the different approach. those that are immediately trying to seabeyond Jul 2014 #6
This message was self-deleted by its author Tuesday Afternoon Jul 2014 #15
Damn that was good ismnotwasm Jul 2014 #17
"They haven't learned because they haven't bothered to learn." redqueen Jul 2014 #44
The thing that struck me in a subthread conversation on that last thread was this: imagine saying Squinch Jul 2014 #21
I've often thought the same thing, Squinch. malthaussen Jul 2014 #26
What is shocking to me is that I have never quite put two and two together and thought that before. Squinch Jul 2014 #28
That's what makes epiphanies so much fun. malthaussen Jul 2014 #30
i would rather live ina kind of fake than the brutal reality. why? cause the more people show seabeyond Jul 2014 #33
A lot of the rules of common courtesy were designed to keep us from ripping each other's lungs out.. malthaussen Jul 2014 #40
And that is why it is insulting the way things Tuesday Afternoon Jul 2014 #34
Well that I've always known. The fact that feminists here have to constantly justify their Squinch Jul 2014 #35
Amen Tuesday Afternoon Jul 2014 #36
you are so right on. and you point there in the initial post. nt seabeyond Jul 2014 #37
... or you have something invested in not understanding it. nt redqueen Jul 2014 #45
Thank you for the "Derailing for Dummies." ancianita Jul 2014 #23
My pleasure redqueen Jul 2014 #43
This explains it well JustAnotherGen Jul 2014 #29
I'm glad I went ahead and posted it. redqueen Jul 2014 #42
thank you for restating your concerns in this post awake Jul 2014 #38
I'm so glad to know it was helpful. redqueen Jul 2014 #41
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