I agree, and would add that under the structure/system of patriarchy and
guided by racism are the (neo)colonial efforts of Western feminists who in
the name of "global sisterhood" feel they must raise the consciouness of
"other" women (eg "Third World Women" of color and women of color in the
US) who must be "saved" by (white) Western feminists from thier oppression
because they lack the knowledge and agency to "save themselves". Racism is
alive and well...even among feminists....
Jessica
At 02:47 PM 3/8/99 -0500, you wrote:
>What is it?
>
>Patriarchy. Trying to find solutions to patriarchy by patriarchal means.
>That's my opinion.
>
>> ----------
>> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED][SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>> Reply To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Sent: Monday, March 08, 1999 1:18 PM
>> To: STUDIES IN WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT
>> Subject: What is it?
>>
>> All:
>>
>> What is it that allows people to decide that their crystal healing
>> "rights"
>> should override the need of indigenous americans (indians) to protect
>> their
>> ancestral lands, holy sites?
>>
>> What is it that prevents such people from seeing the amazing disrespect
>> that
>> these people of been slaughtered and unseated from control of their own
>> lands,
>> but people who look just like the ones who did the slaughter now imitate
>> the
>> culture and assert rights?
>>
>> What is it that allows Voguish designers to see African traditional
>> clothing,
>> copy it but then call these designs their own?
>>
>> What is it that makes western feminist groups decide that a woman covering
>> her
>> head is oppression of women, but "freedom" of women is to dress as
>> sexualized
>> as possible and be used both for advertisement of cars to beer and to be
>> valued for only looks and sexual pleasure of men?
>>
>> What is it that makes missionaries feel that only they know how to worship
>> God?
>>
>> What is it that makes on generation of a culture eradicate a peoples sense
>> of
>> their own culture and their later generations return to study and
>> "reinterpret" that same culture?
>>
>> What is it that makes people think that they have "created" something new
>> when
>> the simply record the traditional songs of a people, or bring in some
>> traditional musicians to add something to their music - and then think
>> they
>> they are innovative not just cultural leeches?
>>
>> What is it that makes women date men of another race, and at the same time
>> dismiss the women of that race - yet feel that they are not racist because
>> of
>> who they date?
>>
>> What is it that makes you forget that you do not become the race or
>> ethnicity
>> of your husband?
>>
>> What makes people forget the Salsa, Samba, Jazz, Reggae, Gospel, Blues,
>> Merengue are all overwhelming based upon African musical traditions
>> brought
>> into the Americas by enslaved Africans?
>>
>> What is it that makes a person with the left point of their tongue express
>> out
>> rage at men not respecting their right to self-determination and identity,
>> yet
>> with the right point of their tongue express outrage that people of color
>> want
>> their own right to self-determination and identity respected?
>>
>> What is it that is so upseting when African descendants in the Western
>> Diaspora and Africans born in Africa want to bond in familyhood without
>> the
>> control of Europeans?
>>
>> What is it that blocks the mind to understand that perhaps we DON'T think
>> it
>> is so wonderful when you imitate our hair styles, wrap your heads like we
>> do,
>> braid your hair the same way, imitate manner of dress (sari to kimono to
>> sarong to etc.), our jewerly, our body markings (henna to bindi), our way
>> of
>> cooking and then claim you "know" us and decide to lecture us on how and
>> what
>> we should be - in your effort to look "ethnic".
>>
>> What is it that makes feminists feel they cannot be racists?
>>
>> What is it that makes "donor" nations support corrupt leaders of a "third
>> world" nations, yet use the existence of those leaders as proof that the
>> people of that nation can't govern themselves?
>>
>> What is it that makes some people mourn the threat to gorillas of a
>> region,
>> but ignore the deaths of millions of people in that same region?
>>
>> What is it that makes some people think that Columbus discovered America?
>>
>> What is it that some people imitate (weakly) the musical style of another
>> people, marginalizing the creators as tokens of entertainment while they
>> pat
>> themselves on the back for "saving" them, build the house of blues, and
>> then
>> be suprised why the creators of that music aren't attending in droves?
>>
>> What is it that prevents some from seeing that indentured servitude is not
>> the
>> same as slavery?
>>
>> What is it that makes some want to redesign Malcolm X and Martin Luther
>> King
>> Jr. in the image most suitable for them to define the movement of a
>> people?
>>
>> What is it that confounds some in understanding that we can be both
>> emotionally and personally attached to our issues while at the same time
>> being
>> highly intellectually knowledgeable on such topics?
>>
>> What is it that some people think that academic study always overrides
>> someone's first hand experience?
>>
>> What is it that passing a series of tests in a class, turning in a series
>> of
>> assignments, makes some decide that they "know" how it feels to experience
>> life as a native american, a black person, an asian person, etc and
>> experience
>> racism as such.?
>>
>> What is it that is so strange that we want to lead our on our own issues?
>>
>> What is it that so many people don't see the frightening similarity
>> between
>> the "borg" of star trek and a group of people who seek to assimilate the
>> cultural traditions of others, destroy the place of the people, and claim
>> those traditions as their own "innovations" and "cultural trends" and
>> can't
>> understand why that would be at the least,irksome?
>>
>> What is it that some do not see the implicit disrespect in wishing that
>> they
>> had pretended to be something they aren't, to assert their greater
>> knowledge
>> about those issues over people who are?
>>
>> What is it that some find so unacceptable that people speak on their own
>> experiences in their own voices?
>>
>> What is it that keeps some from being so offended that someone dare tell
>> them
>> "NO!, I do not accept your dominance over my cultural, racial issues?"
>>
>>
>> Nicole
>>
>>
>
