Learning As I Go

I initially began this blog so as to offer commentary on the media and women. I had envisioned witty posts deconstructing advertising and scathing rants taking on society's unrealistic expectations and spotlights on positive role models in pop culture. But, you know what? Fuck that shit, there are way more issues that women face everyday then airbrushed models telling us that our fine-lines are unacceptable.

The past two weeks, I have been reading as many womanist and feminist blogs as I possibly can in order to be well-versed to write this blog. To say I've been humbled would be a vast understatement. Reading and learning about womanism for one has been an eye-opening experience. Never before have I thought of the privilege bestowed on me by my skin colour, 'normal'-ness, class.

At first, denial struck me and I had to really examine those feelings and ultimately discover the oft-buried shame at the treatment of my fellow women, fellow humans at the hands of my race and that for that reason my interest and righteousness in regards to sexism and even racism can come across as patronizing at best. Accepting that we women are not all the same; that my personal experiences of sexism are so minute, so trivial that they barely warrant mention when ranked with the 500 missing Aboriginal women or FGM or AIDS or the billion other gross injustices women face worldwide.

I do not want to appropriate WoC's experiences or women who are differently abled or women who are of a different socio-economic bracket; nor do I want to insist on being a part of every single human rights movement simply because I feel entitled. I will never fall into the ready-made trap of calling reverse racism (wtf does that even mean? Doesn't it stand to reason that reversing racism would equal canceling it out?) that Rush Limbaugh and the neo-conservatives are so fond of crying.

What I want, is to learn and to teach what I learn so that we all might work together to make the lives of women, everywhere, better. The reason I identify as a feminist is not because I want to be represented by the media, warts and all, but because I want to help make the world a place of equality where women are people first.