In order to provide a much-needed dose of warm fuzzies to the blog and combat Gender Warrior On The Internet Does Nothing In Real Life Syndrome, I’ve decided we ought to have a probably-weekly thread about what people have done for gender egalitarianism or social justice this week.
This can be anything, no matter how big or small. “Came out to my parents” counts; so does “gave twenty bucks to RAINN,” “wrote a letter to my congressperson,” “smiled at some guy with his kids,” “marched in a Slutwalk/Pride parade,” or “asked my friend not to tell rape jokes.” Or something else I haven’t thought of!
Positive comments on other people’s comments are encouraged. However, anything that criticizes what another person did will be deleted. This is the warmfuzzies thread, remember?
Yesterday, we hosted an interracial couple and their kids. Grilled and chilled. Lay on the beach. Got their kids into kayaking. And I get social justice points, too! I have also gone to Mississippi in the Sixties, two summers, doing civil rights stuff. Mod Note: I pulled you out of the spam filter because you did, in fact, do awesome stuff. 🙂 However, I edited out the negativity. The important part is not whether someone does something big or small: the important part is whether they do something at all. And a task that seems small to you might be… Read more »
I privately commented to a work acquaintance that was complaining publicly about some stuff her boyfriend does or doesn’t do at home that a more effective approach might be to address the issues with her boyfriend directly, at a neutral time and in a “let’s see if we can clear this up” sort of way. I really hate the tired “Vent, vent, disrespectful vent…you KNOW how men are” song and dance…
Inspired by the sexual marketplace article, I talked to my boyfriend about his own body image issues and have set out to remind him that I think that he is beautiful, sexy, gorgeous, hot etc more often than he tells me.
It’s nice to know my writing had some kind of positive effect. 🙂
he said to tell you thank you 🙂 It also sparked a wonderful 4 hour conversation where he opened up to me about things that he’s never told anyone before. He also managed to explain to his sister why it’s important and she is now spreading the message on to her bf and her girlfriends to say it to their SO’s as well. So, you can definitely feel confident in the shockwaves emanating from that
I spent a couple hours with one of my girlfriends analyzing the concept of the “strong female character”, what that consists of, whether Lady Macbeth counts, and eventually just listing some of the genuinely strong and excellent female villains in fiction. We’re talking Princess Azula of the Fire Nation kind of good villains here, the cream of the crop.
Lady Macbeth totally counts. Lady Macbeth is badass. (This opinion has been formed by the English class in which I got to read Lady Macbeth’s lines and was entirely put out when I discovered I died off-stage.)
If you’re into horror, Narcissa Snow from Low Red Moon. Jesus fuck that woman is scary.
I gave encouragement to a woman at work whose husband can’t find a job. She said she felt weird being the only income earner in the house (we get paid really well in our office, and she outranks me and is younger than me!)
I told her not to feel weird – as long as her husband is OK staying at home with the kids and they have enough money, she has nothing to feel “weird” about.
yah! It’s so awesome to be able to help someone else feel good about their role in the world when no one else is telling them so!
Reminded one of my kids that the fact that our male cat is a meathead does not mean that all male cats are meatheads, nor that his meatheadery is a result of his being male.
Not only is that awesome, but it’s a really cute story. 🙂
I called out someone at work for being sexist.