Pacific Views

Feminism Benefits Everybody

Everybody who isn't part of the very tiny minority who has most of the wealth and most of the power. I linked to this post by Mr. Shakes sidewise earlier today, but this particular point about how patriarchy hurts the men it uses as enforcers deserves much repeating, particularly if it gets you to click over and read the entire post. Emphasis mine:

... Men need to get it through their heads that they, too, are under the heel of power structures that have no interest in promoting their welfare. They must understand that the rights and privileges that they have hitherto been enjoying fall far short of the privileges they could enjoy were they to try and achieve them. The internecine warfare that occurs between women and men, people of color and white people, straights and gays, as they all squabble like schoolchildren in an attempt to gain or deny rights, is exactly what those in power want. They promote it, they foment it, they do everything they can to aggravate it, because they know that if we were all ever to get our fucking shit together, and demand that the society we all live in and contribute to should be fair and decent to everyone, then the egregious wealth and power that they enjoy would finally meet its end. ...

As the union folks lament, everybody's organized except the people. Can you imagine what could be accomplished if we didn't have to spend so damn much time arguing about how many rights could still be withheld from people of color, gays, women, immigrants, the trangendered, etc.? The freed political capital from that alone could probably buy us universal healthcare with a side of energy efficiency, maybe some nice emissions control for dessert.

Also, Ilyka Damen explains to men who find that sometimes feminist discussions make them uncomfortable, and make them want to shout to the heavens that they would never do those kinds of things, they don't have to identify themselves with the kind of men feminists complain about. Because really, feminism is all about not having to have your entire life and identity defined by what kind of genitalia you happened to be born with. It's just that, as things go, the identity society tries to force on people with female genitalia happens to bite harder.

Both excellent links can be found on Twisty Faster's patriarchy-blaming Dear god, what about the men?! page.

Posted by natasha at April 5, 2007 09:29 PM | Women | Technorati links |