Such a moving account of how cultural shift can help shape us. It demands answers to the critical question of how we can counteract the toxicity of current cultural shifts. I can't suggest answers on how to stop regression except to keep communicating and advocating for understanding and compassion in the face of arrogant ignorance.
And thanks for the references. Angela Davis' article is earth-shakingly good. I own a copy of the very first (Spring 1972) issue of "Ms.," joyfully received by young women in my circle. At my first job as a college graduate in Manhattan, I still remember buying it at a newstand on my way to the subway home. Among the articles, some of which stood as minor classics of U.S. feminism, there was indeed no mention of rape or violence against women.
That is phenomenal. Did you just look that up in the magazine?
I remember when it first came out, too. I noticed how was "triggered" (or whatever word stood in for that at the time) by the term "Ms." and, as a kid, I know that I was not impressed by their unwillingness to accept the term, and how they thought the magazine was some sort of subterfuge that would break down society, which - to my reckoning of what they were arguing - depended on women being either a Miss or a Mrs. which seemed, well, childish. I am just not getting a sense of first-wave and second-wave feminism. I'm bad with labels. As a guy, even as a little guy, I instantly latched onto the virtue of Ms. as a term for its power to relieve me from having to think things through. Just say Ms. and - just like Mr. - it works for everyone, you're not going to be wrong, and the brain can coast along without turbulence.
The VAW report I link to in the "Further Reading" has some content suggesting measures to take. Again, that article's from 2011, so it does not account for social media. Smart phones were still new, and there are probably better places to get ideas on how to stall (if not reverse) this regression back to male chauvinism.
Such a moving account of how cultural shift can help shape us. It demands answers to the critical question of how we can counteract the toxicity of current cultural shifts. I can't suggest answers on how to stop regression except to keep communicating and advocating for understanding and compassion in the face of arrogant ignorance.
And thanks for the references. Angela Davis' article is earth-shakingly good. I own a copy of the very first (Spring 1972) issue of "Ms.," joyfully received by young women in my circle. At my first job as a college graduate in Manhattan, I still remember buying it at a newstand on my way to the subway home. Among the articles, some of which stood as minor classics of U.S. feminism, there was indeed no mention of rape or violence against women.
That is phenomenal. Did you just look that up in the magazine?
I remember when it first came out, too. I noticed how was "triggered" (or whatever word stood in for that at the time) by the term "Ms." and, as a kid, I know that I was not impressed by their unwillingness to accept the term, and how they thought the magazine was some sort of subterfuge that would break down society, which - to my reckoning of what they were arguing - depended on women being either a Miss or a Mrs. which seemed, well, childish. I am just not getting a sense of first-wave and second-wave feminism. I'm bad with labels. As a guy, even as a little guy, I instantly latched onto the virtue of Ms. as a term for its power to relieve me from having to think things through. Just say Ms. and - just like Mr. - it works for everyone, you're not going to be wrong, and the brain can coast along without turbulence.
The VAW report I link to in the "Further Reading" has some content suggesting measures to take. Again, that article's from 2011, so it does not account for social media. Smart phones were still new, and there are probably better places to get ideas on how to stall (if not reverse) this regression back to male chauvinism.