I'm speaking of Norah Vincent. She posed as a man and went out to discover what it's really like to live in male culture here in the US. There is a wikipedia article, a story from ABC News and a video segment of the ABC Program 20/20. There is a book even a video review of the book.
I bring all this up now because I am of two minds. One is that I'm convinced that we all need to give plenty of space for women to speak out. Women who have held their silence out of fear, embarrassment, or post traumatic response for years, even for decades. All about unwanted advances, abuse, or attack by men, especially men in positions of power. There is a vast reservoir of pain among millions of women that needs to find an outlet and now seems to be the time.
On the other hand, I'm convinced that this public outcry is only the first step in a process where men can and must be included in making the changes in society that we need to make, in my opinion. And I have no doubt that we are on the road to making them. There is an entire area of abuse of power, here, and in the long run we will see how people of all genders have abused power, once they have obtained it, not just men. And likewise, people of all genders have been victimized by such abuse, including men. The same pain, shame, and post trauma response applies to everyone. That's why I think we have heard so little about this so far.
However, in order to make the progress we need, I'm convinced that we need a much better understanding of how patriarchy and the restricted roles we expect men to occupy has been a major factor all along. We need to see how much men have been seriously hurt (or have been attacked, injured, or even were killed), especially when they dare step "out of line" from the limited definitions of what it means to "be a man" in society up until now.
I implore you to either watch the video, read the interview, or read the book. Even if you don't read my book, please read this one. Then let's discuss.
Note: Sadly it's not obvious how to leave a comment on this blog (Weebly still hasn't fixed this, in spite if my requests). If it says "0 Comments" below just click on that. If it says "1 Comment" or "2 Comments" etc. that will still work. Alternatively, if you are viewing my entire Gender Blog (where you can scroll down to see previous posts), just click on the title of this post and that will isolate just this post on your screen, where you can then see the comment entry fields and all previous comments.
I bring all this up now because I am of two minds. One is that I'm convinced that we all need to give plenty of space for women to speak out. Women who have held their silence out of fear, embarrassment, or post traumatic response for years, even for decades. All about unwanted advances, abuse, or attack by men, especially men in positions of power. There is a vast reservoir of pain among millions of women that needs to find an outlet and now seems to be the time.
On the other hand, I'm convinced that this public outcry is only the first step in a process where men can and must be included in making the changes in society that we need to make, in my opinion. And I have no doubt that we are on the road to making them. There is an entire area of abuse of power, here, and in the long run we will see how people of all genders have abused power, once they have obtained it, not just men. And likewise, people of all genders have been victimized by such abuse, including men. The same pain, shame, and post trauma response applies to everyone. That's why I think we have heard so little about this so far.
However, in order to make the progress we need, I'm convinced that we need a much better understanding of how patriarchy and the restricted roles we expect men to occupy has been a major factor all along. We need to see how much men have been seriously hurt (or have been attacked, injured, or even were killed), especially when they dare step "out of line" from the limited definitions of what it means to "be a man" in society up until now.
I implore you to either watch the video, read the interview, or read the book. Even if you don't read my book, please read this one. Then let's discuss.
Note: Sadly it's not obvious how to leave a comment on this blog (Weebly still hasn't fixed this, in spite if my requests). If it says "0 Comments" below just click on that. If it says "1 Comment" or "2 Comments" etc. that will still work. Alternatively, if you are viewing my entire Gender Blog (where you can scroll down to see previous posts), just click on the title of this post and that will isolate just this post on your screen, where you can then see the comment entry fields and all previous comments.
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