random ponderings
Oct. 13th, 2010 07:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luckydipdaysthis has been floating around in my head for a while, it will probably be hugely rambled and disjointed but it my blog and i'll ramble if I want to.
I'm a feminist and most people know this. It is only recently (as in since a book I ordered arrived yesterday lol) that I have started to read about it and be able to define and clarify my thoughts a bit.
It disturbs me that even with my awareness of feminism and the patriarchy how much of it is so ingrained in my mind that I don't notice it. Things that seem small, but because of their smallness are actually huge as they lay the groundwork for larger patriarchal "truths". If I think of doctor my automatic assumption is man. Nurse = woman. Mechanic = man. Teacher = woman. It worries me, although I know that just my awareness of it is the first step in counteracting it. Still it presents a challenge - I want to raise people. I have a son and a daughter but I want them to grow up believing that their possession of a penis or vagina isn't what defines their roles in the world as people.
Which leads on to patriarchy. The book I recieved yesterday was "Restoring the Goddess" by Barbara G Walker and one of the points that it makes in the first couple of chapters is that the patriarchal model of society is one that depends on power over. It is a recent construct and before the patriarchy there was matriarchy and the matriarchal system is not just the patriarchal system reversed which is what so many seem to think it is. The matriarchal system was one of power with. and that is a huge difference
And I will have to make do with 2 random ponderings because the small people are awake now so deep and meaningful thought has to make way for breakfast.
I'm a feminist and most people know this. It is only recently (as in since a book I ordered arrived yesterday lol) that I have started to read about it and be able to define and clarify my thoughts a bit.
It disturbs me that even with my awareness of feminism and the patriarchy how much of it is so ingrained in my mind that I don't notice it. Things that seem small, but because of their smallness are actually huge as they lay the groundwork for larger patriarchal "truths". If I think of doctor my automatic assumption is man. Nurse = woman. Mechanic = man. Teacher = woman. It worries me, although I know that just my awareness of it is the first step in counteracting it. Still it presents a challenge - I want to raise people. I have a son and a daughter but I want them to grow up believing that their possession of a penis or vagina isn't what defines their roles in the world as people.
Which leads on to patriarchy. The book I recieved yesterday was "Restoring the Goddess" by Barbara G Walker and one of the points that it makes in the first couple of chapters is that the patriarchal model of society is one that depends on power over. It is a recent construct and before the patriarchy there was matriarchy and the matriarchal system is not just the patriarchal system reversed which is what so many seem to think it is. The matriarchal system was one of power with. and that is a huge difference
And I will have to make do with 2 random ponderings because the small people are awake now so deep and meaningful thought has to make way for breakfast.
