Brownfemipower slams it right out of the park in
Wht that Police Brutality Stuff MattersAs the news of the protests at the RNC spreads through the blogosphere, I wanted to slow down my thought process here for just a minute and address a huge segment of reactions that has really bothered me.
What were those protesters expecting?
What did they think was going to happen?
Why were they even there?
Who cares?
It’s just a bunch of old hippies and troublemakers looking for excitement!
And of course, there’s the normal feminist rhetoric, why does this police brutality stuff matter? It’s not a feminist concern!
Only, I would argue it is.
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I’ve heard all this before. I’ve heard all this before over and over and over again.
What was she thinking?
What was she expecting was going to happen?
Why was she even there?
Who cares, it’s her own fault for causing trouble!
It’s just some fat bitch looking for some attention!
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The answer to male violence against women is to eliminate the patriarchy. That is, male control over the world=abolish. If we could just get women into positions of power, wife abuse wouldn’t happen. Right?
But I wonder–how do you tell a woman to resist and reject the abuse of a man in plain clothes, while at the same time, tell her to accept and accommodate the abuse of a man wearing clothes of a state apparatus? How do you tell a man that abuse and violence is not ok while wearing plain clothes, but once he puts on an official uniform, it’s not only ok, but expected?
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I think that for violence against women to end, violence on all levels must be questioned, challenged and interrogated–violence on all levels regardless of who is committing it, must stop making sense. Police brutality at protest events matter because it exposes where violence makes sense to us, or where power makes sense to us.
It exposes were victim blaming begins, and exactly how those in positions of power write themselves into power by using victim excuse making (honestly, what threat did the Code Pink woman present to Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton? Why did they need to be “protected” from her? What threat did the flower girl present to our war hero who took a gun in the groin John McCain? Why did he need to be ‘protected’ from her?). Our officials feel they need to be protected from us–and that makes sense to us because we are inherently untrustworthy. We just might be a terrorist or a gun wielding radical. And what would happen if our officials had to deal with that?
We understand and are complicit in perpetuating our own untrustworthiness and guilt.
Is it any question then, that it makes sense to a woman when she is told by an abusive husband that she must be monitored and beaten up because she can’t be trusted?MORE
Black Amazon has been hitting the high notes as usual.
Best ServedPalin is what you get when no one believes you want anything more than to be indulged and fettered , rather than engaged and responsible. Palin is what you get when teh way you wield and identify power is observed and handed back to you. Poorly executed ( as Sylvia so adroitly and in a fashion that had me spitting grapefruit juice out my nose points out) but in essence a nice and succinct way for the way essentially we have treated women who are not able to boost the cachet/profile blah blah.
But the hew and the cry of " We're NOT THAT GULLIBLE" and how could tehy think we're so dumb?!?! THEY DON'T RESPECT US
Um ,
We don't respect us. We don't respect the multiple varied views we have , and when Hillary was running we were OK with that because a symbol for us was about to be in POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We don't respect us because when I went to talk about womens UNITY I had to listen to the head of the organization that RAN the thing , say to my face that sexism was more okay than racism, and call my ideas ( read 24 years life experience of being black and having boobs ) interesting, and demonstrate no follow up after well it looked like I wasn't gonna affect her work anymore.
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Sara palin is what happens when we SAY becomes radically and entusiastically different from what we do.Sarah Palin is what happens when we use the rhetoric of change and unity , to ADVERTISE our selves rather than change our worlds. Sara Palin is what happens when we make sure to ignore the ramifications of trying to constantly rewrite history and sweep shit under the rug.
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( More Actual Straight Talk )