A Refreshing Voice

(Gentle Reader Sarita has asked me to talk about what Gloria Steinem said the other night. I started to write in the little comments box, but figured this was a better place to put my response.)

She was great! She didn't say anything that was "new" to me, but I'm quite sure there was a number of folks in the audience who took something new away with them. (Always a good thing!)

She spoke about how historically, patriarchy and racism have gone hand in hand; how the notion of race is a bunch of bullsh*t (because it is); how women's history has been relegated to the "backburners" of our collective history so to speak, along with African-American history and the history of the rest of the world. Think about it -- whose story gets told? Benjamin Franklin's? Yes. The Iroquois Tribe's? No. (Why do you think it's called Pre-History?! A major clue to the notion that something is being purposefully left out.)

She made much mention of the "memory" and "empathy" of humans -- how everyone on this planet comes from common ancestors and have physically adapted to our environments over time (thus the differences in our appearance, cultural traditions, etc). The problems of inequality we have today started when offspring became seen not as wonderful gifts and the continuation of a respect- and equality-infused community, but instead as property or trophies. The men in power wanted to know that their offspring were theirs and that those offspring were "untainted," i.e., not the spawn of someone of a different "race." When women and people of color were made subservient in our societies, empathy was lost, memory was forgotten, history was rewritten or obscured all together. Race and gender were used as reasons to take land from native cultures. The institution of marriage became a way to control women's bodies and create children to take over the properties of the father or marry a certain person to gain their properties. (As you probably know, marriage didn't start off as the loving commitment that most people think of today.)

Now, I have nothing against marriage or men. I want to make that perfectly clear. I was raised by a loving caring mother and father (who are still together after 30 yrs), have three loving caring brothers, and have many male friends who I respect and adore. I do have a problem, however, with the notion of a patriarchal system in which women and people of color are treated as second class people. We also can't forget gays & lesbians, disabled people, and transgendered people...they too lose out in our current patriarchal social system. Love, Equality, and Respect have been taken over by certain people in the names of certain governments and certain religions so that those people can control others and gain power. There's no balance. Not between peoples, not between people and the environment, not between people and governments.

We don't currently have a societal system of support and tolerance. We don't have a nationwide system of healthcare, we don't recognize parents who want to stay home to raise their children (neither socially nor through tax benefits), we don't recognize the dignity of our elders (we shut them away in nursing homes), and we still have a seething underbelly of racial discord threatening everything our country claims to stand for (you know, freedom, equality, justice...etc).

Ms. Steinem's main point was that all this can change. The good parts of history CAN repeat themselves-- even history that's been buried away. Humanity can return to a time of giving, caring, and empathy. A time of equality and respect. A time of acceptance and love. People are not property. Women have the right to make decisions for themselves and choose how many children to have. Communities should support children and provide nurturing care for them. Everyone should get equal pay for equal work. The notions of race should melt away to reveal our overwhelming similarities--our innate human qualities.

I felt so good after she spoke. I felt a tinge of sadness, too. If only everyone could see the world the way she does. If only everyone could revel in their humanity and share that love of life with their fellow human beings --- not men, not women, not white, not black or brown, or yellow, but human. Until the day when everyone is taught that they are a whole individual and a meaningful member of their community, and that lesson is then actually and honestly exemplified throughout our communities and nations, then no one is really free: everyone will continue to be a slave to the boxes and labels that the patriarchy puts them in.

Whew. That was a mouthful. Thanks for reading.