What I'd like to know for today's question, though, is... what do you want for the world, in terms of gender issues, feminism, etc. ?
I'm asking this because it strikes me that many people care about issues that relate to gender and sex, but often two very dedicated and well-meaning people have very different ideas of what an ideal world would be like. I'm interested in general answers, so "World Peace" will do if that's how you feel, but I'm also interested in hearing more specific descriptions of what you want. Does world peace involve blowing up the people you don't like, for instance?
Three words: subsidized child care. My favorite paradox is that of the "welfare mom": people say she's lazy, she should go out and get a job, even though the jobs she's qualified for pay about what it would cost for her to send her children to daycare. But they also say that mothers should be at home with their children! Only *bad* mothers send their kids to daycare!
ReplyDeleteAlso, if a woman says she was raped, nobody questions it--regardless of her sexual history, how much she drank, previous relationship with the accused, the way she was dressed, etc. But while we're on that topic, my ideal world would also be a place where the rape myth doesn't exist, where kids are raised to understand that other human beings are *human beings* and not sex objects, where consent is not assumed just because someone doesn't fight tooth and nail to get away.
Also: a world in which men are expected to be nurturing just as much as women are. In which reproductive labor (i.e. care work, the second shift) is willingly (not resentfully) shared.
And finally: good access to effective birth control, for both men and women. Moreover, men would be expected to take more responsibility for it. A couple of years ago, I read that a pharmaceutical company had developed a male contraceptive similar to the Pill. They hadn't worked out all the kinks yet, but they stopped development because they felt there wouldn't be enough interest in it. Sad.
In my ideal world, rape, domestic abuse, pornography, sexual harassment, and eating disorders would not exist.
ReplyDeleteIn the mean time, my goal is to help other people understand the world and one another, so that we can use our deeper understandings to treat each other with more respect. General, I know, but it's the truth.