Cursing in the DS. Thoughts, edits, etc please. Forum

[Anonymous User]

“Fuck feminism,” a former friend of mine once said. My natural response was to rearrange my face into a look of disgust. He tripped over himself explaining, “I mean... we don’t need it.” I exploded in a furious monologue about wage discrimination and violence against women that I now realize was ineffective. He stared blankly at me and we moved on to a new topic of discussion.

Most sexism I encounter is not so direct. Most sexist people I have met have no idea that they are promoting sexism. Sexist, ideology is so ingrained in many people, including myself, that we do not even realize we are adhering to it. I believe the key is to recognize and question how that ideology is affecting our perception of the world.

I recently had a conversation with a friend in which he revealed that his friend had been raped. He explained that even though she had said “no” and struggled against the rapist, what she experienced was not rape. As evidence of this, he claimed that she should have expected the rape, because he was a man, they had been drinking, and she had allowed the rapist into her room. Instead of launching into a furious monologue about consent, I asked further questions and created a dialogue about the topic. I explained to him that his belief that she should have expected to be raped relied on the assumption that all men become rapists when intoxicated. At the end of the discussion, he admitted that his friend had been raped. I am sure I did not change any of his views about gender roles but I did provide him with a clearer definition of rape.

I still have much to learn about the subjects of sexism and heterosexism, and I am still learning how to address those issues in an effective way. However, I get better each day at contributing a valuable womanist perspective to most environments as I seek to further educate myself and my peers.

[hawkeye10]

“Fuck feminism,” a former friend of mine once said. My natural response was to rearrange my face into a look of disgust. He tripped over himself explaining, “I mean... we don’t need it.” I exploded in a furious monologue about wage discrimination and violence against women that I now realize was ineffective. He stared blankly at me and we moved on to a new topic of discussion.

Most sexism I encounter is not so direct. Most sexist people I have met have no idea that they are promoting sexism. Sexist, ideology is so ingrained in many people, including myself, that we do not even realize we are adhering to it. I believe the key is to recognize and question how that ideology is affecting our perception of the world.

I recently had a conversation with a friend in which he revealed that his friend had been raped. He explained that even though she had said “no” and struggled against the rapist, what she experienced was not rape. As evidence of this, he claimed that she should have expected the rape, because he was a man, they had been drinking, and she had allowed the rapist into her room. Instead of launching into a furious monologue about consent, I asked further questions and created a dialogue about the topic. I explained to him that his belief that she should have expected to be raped relied on the assumption that all men become rapists when intoxicated. At the end of the discussion, he admitted that his friend had been raped. I am sure I did not change any of his views about gender roles but I did provide him with a clearer definition of rape.

I still have much to learn about the subjects of sexism and heterosexism, and I am still learning how to address those issues in an effective way. However, I get better each day at contributing a valuable womanist perspective to most environments as I seek to further educate myself and my peers.

I would not send this in. It makes you sound like you are constantly accosting people about their views, which is something that no one wants to be around.

If you are going to talk about this - explain why you care about sexism/heterosexism. Have you been personally affected? - if so pick a moment(s), and spin off of that to explain why you believe that fighting those things is valuable.

Also don't use "womanist" - if people aren't really knowledgable about gender studies or African American studies they aren't going to know what it is.

[Anonymous User]

I would not send this in. It makes you sound like you are constantly accosting people about their views, which is something that no one wants to be around.

If you are going to talk about this - explain why you care about sexism/heterosexism. Have you been personally affected? - if so pick a moment(s), and spin off of that to explain why you believe that fighting those things is valuable.

Also don't use "womanist" - if people aren't really knowledgable about gender studies or African American studies they aren't going to know what it is.

Thanks! I didn't think of it that way. I assumed admissions officers would know the term "womanist" though. Back to the drawing board.

[Neff]

.