“How have you tended to define feminism in your own life, and how does thinking about feminist theoretical perspectives and approaches affect your personal definition?”
I recognize that my understanding of feminism on a personal, social, and enigmatic level has greatly changed during my life. When I was in my elementary years my understanding of the opposite sex was dominated by my conscious/unconscious need to “other” them. I played with boys almost exclusively. It was us and them as I’m sure it was for all of us growing up. As I got older I was beginning to approach the “logic” behind why we treat women and men the way that we do. Why were men privileged? “They just are.” I couldn’t help but give in to what I had been living inside of for my entire life. I gave in to the patriarchal hegemony that catered me so well. It was hard not to. It wasn’t until my high school years that I began to think about feminism on even a rudimentary level. I sympathized with the girls I went to school with when they discussed women’s issues on a national or global level. However I am not sure for which reasons. I had begun understanding women’s plight in a male dominated world but only in a physical sense. I thought their problem was that they were weaker then men and thus could never really overpower them or even be equal. I thought they were screwed for the rest of their lives and there was nothing they could do about it. And those reasons that I had for why women are oppressed are an example of me trying to think about feminism through a masculine discourse. I was trapped and I didn’t even know it. I was blind to the deep-seeded patriarchal influences that that exist in the social and the political. It consumed my entire perspective on the opposite sex. Since then I feel that my understanding has grown a fair amount but I am still far from getting it. I can now look back on my younger years and see that I too am oppressed by this masculine discourse. How can I really know what I am or what I like about myself and others if I have a model of what I am supposed to be, reinforced in all aspects of my life, acting almost like a stencil with which I am told to construct my identity?
I drew this in class the other day while thinking about this post:
I feel it visually demonstrates the way in which I think about feminism. I have made a mistake in the diagram. If you can, imagine a layer of “masculinity” under the “masculine discourse” layer. I should pay more attention to what I write. That aside, the socially constructed ideas of gender have molded us in the image of what we think we are or must be. Those false models are 4th order simulacra of the sexes. Our identity is lost in the hyperreal.
2 comments:
I like your drawing, I saw you drawing it in class, but couldn't really tell what it was. Do you think that the media, advertising, television, etc., has anything to do with your idea that our identities are lost in the hyperreal?
You are at a point where you can look back on your younger years, yes? Do you see yourself opening up? I guess I'm just curious as to where you see this going, especially after a class like this.
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