engendering equality

[LadyHawkAZ]

1. "[tolerance] is a rare flower, that grows in few places

and withers too easily" ~M.M. Kaye

and there you have it. There are so many personalities, so many groups, so many differences in lifestyle in a female population of over three billion and so many schisms within feminism itself, that it's difficult to bond on a large scale. Cultural thinking divides people into "us" and "them", and there is an infinite variety of "them" out there. Tolerance is a difficult thing to learn.

And yes, I'm guilty of it too. Anyone who's seen me go off on prostitution abolitionists knows this. It's hard to form a bond of sisterhood with people you consider to be enablers at best and murderers at worst.

There's a radfem on my Facebook who blames patriarchy for everything but the lunar eclipse, considers any sexual interest/contact between men and women to be oppressive and/or coerced, and thinks the world male population should be reduced to 5%. Frightening on many levels, and not at all what I consider to be empowering or promoting equality. I have trouble bonding with people like this as well.

I'm not going to share the thoughts that go through my head when I see Mormon women around here with 7 or 8 children. They aren't nice thoughts.

So yeah, I'm still working on the idea of universal sisterhood myself, and not always succeeding. Sometimes it's pretty near impossible. I have to remind myself that we are all human before we are men or women, and "human" is the most important label. I find it easier to bond on the level of "human" than on any other, divisive, description. I find if I'm going to be tolerant, supportive and accepting, it can't be based on any group. Groups, by their very nature, exclude.

It's late and I'm rambling. YMMV as usual.