Quote:
Originally Posted by MechaSaya
You would THINK that this sort of thing would be addressed in public education systems like high school so that everybody has a stronger back ground in it's relevance.
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This is pretty much the only approach that I could see working. The article's assertion that many people don't really encounter feminism until university, thereby inherently skewing it in terms of class and education from the get-go, was certainly true for me. And I'll confess that I even spent my first couple of years at university rolling my eyes at the number of Women's Writing and feminism-centred classes, despite the fact that these were, in retrospect, only a very small proportion of the sutided material. My attitude used to be that women would get a lot further in life if they got over their victim complex, performed well at what they were doing, and gave as good as they got
should conflict arise. I would have identified as a feminist if asked; but honestly, it wasn't until I got out in the world, encountered
actualworkplace sexism & silencing, and had my proper 'feminist click' that I realised what a hopelessly naive and sheltered view that had been.
From what I can see, it's become one of those chicken/egg circle jerks: feminism is inherently skewed in terms of class/education because it's not really part of 'mainstream' identity politics (a racist or homophobic comment will usually generate far more anger, and "just a joke", be seen as a far less valid defence of such a remark, than with your average garden-variety sexist comment); it's generally (in my opinion & experience) more of an academic niche, than a part of everyday public consciousness. Yet it's hard for it to
go truly mainstream so long as feminist debates are dominated by educated, privileged voices. Earlier and more prevalent education would be a good way of addressing this.