Our time with Bill Lepp last week tells
me that if I get offended on behalf of others, I have liberal
tendencies. If I don't, conservative leanings. Uh oh. Am I going to
have to turn in my liberal card? Based upon my reading of Rodenburg,
maybe.
Just when I get into Rodenburg and find
myself on a similar wavelength, she throws out something that grinds
my gears on behalf of me. The section entitled “Male and Female
Differences” (74-85) is exhibit A. Harkening all the way back to
the second day of class, when we discussed binary understanding in
relationship to spectrum understanding, I find that much of this
section is the forced binary of modernism.
I understand that she is
well-researched. She has many active students in the arts today. I
get that. I wonder if her sample pool is too small to be writing such
reinforcement of stereotypes. Perhaps I was indicted by what she had
to say of “buffs.” She writes: “Male 'buffs,' too, those hobby
enthusiasts who wring your ear with arcane bits and pieces about
their work or recreation, like railways or computers, hardly ever
seem to have to catch their breath but can go on and on. Hmm...
Maybe we still really do have a lot of
reconciliatory work to do. I just hope that work is on a spectrum and
not a binary.
-Bob
Yes, of course she (rodenberg) is speaking in generalities. But if you want to look at the spectrum of voices in our class, I think you will see the spectrum is not balanced. I'm going to observe this closely in class, now, to check out my impressions, but I am going to risk stating that the majority of men in our class - not all, but the majority - tend to have stronger, more supported, less blocked voices. A minority of the women do. Should we make this our "project" tomorrow, to check this out?
ReplyDeleteI am wondering how many of the men in class, as children, were "shushed" by their parents or corrected for speaking (or behaving) in a way that was "unman-like". I was forever being told my loud voice was "unladylike", my laugh was "unladylike", even the way I walked was, yes, "unladylike". And fuggedabout the way I sat ... MOST "unladylike". I realize little boys are discouraged from crying like "a girl" but were you chaps scrutinized and corrected for "unman-like" speech and movements the way little girls are? Being told to stop speaking, moving, being the way you are shuts you down awfully fast.
Hey Bob! Coming from a conservative background I might be able to interpret what Bil said, because its something I myself have noticed as well. The thing is that many "liberals," at least the loudest ones who get our attention, aren't really liberals. They're not actually liberal-minded, which basically means to be open and respectful of a wide variety of opinions, perspectives, and beliefs. And many so-called liberals (or, once again, the loud ones we see on tv and whatnot) are not. To these people anyone who disagrees is a hate-monger or a chauvinist or a racist or homo-phobic. These types of "liberals" make it their life's work to be offended about everything and on everyone else's behalf. Folks like this have indeed become more conservative than conservatives, they're just trying to "conserve" a different mindset or worldview. That's what Bil meant, or at least thats what I think he meant. So don't throw away your liberal card if you are indeed open to, and respectful of, a variety of perspectives, if you are liberal-minded. If you are, then you're not what Bil was talking about.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Cathy, to a large degree I agree that our culture tends to try to pidgin-hole the genders into very specific and superfluous archetypes. And while I disagree with the fluidity with which genders are being redefined, I disagree with these superfluous ideas such as girls have to like pink and be demure while boys have to be tough, etc. I do not doubt that this is what you went through as a child, being called "unladylike," and it is a tragedy. I can tell, though, now, that you do seem to have your voice back if it was taken from you, for which I am thankful!