Sexism at Rocky?

[asavitzk]

Jimmy made a post recently http://jrising.livejournal.com/25259.html that others have linked to which is how I found it (since he's not on my friends list - it's too long as it is). It honestly shocked me. Much like the complaint we got about a couple of preshows from an audience member.

Comments

[transparencies]

i think that it's not always obvious, though. a lot of it is in good fun and a lot is actually very empowering. we have a lot of very strong women at the show and that comes across often, both onstage and off. but i think there is a tendency to assume that a woman should be showing a lot of skin, should be exuding a sense of the kind of sexiness which is widely accepted by our society (and i apologize for using the word "society" because it sounds cliche but it is what i actually mean here). some, maybe most, of the women at the show are very comfortable with that. and once you know the people involved and understand the spirit in which it's all done, it seems quite harmless.

the problem is that some people are offended by it. some women are made to feel pressured. some feel really terrible about speaking up and asserting their objections. and not many other people know about it because it's not talked about. as i said in one of my responses in jimmy's journal, i've been asked to help safeguard fbc members against some of this before. and it is upsetting. even more so because i don't believe that, in most cases, it's intentional.

peer pressure is a bitch.

[asavitzk]

If someone is doing it unintentionally then it should be brought to their attention - not sheltered. It should be brought up and shown to that person so they can either change their behaivior or at least acknowledge it and others would be aware.

Rocky is extreme. Not in the Mountain Dew way, but in the way that it brings out the most extreme personalities and ideas. Some people flourish in that environment and others get pushed down. Unfortunately that's how it works and I'm sorry, but I've seen it make more people strong than weak.

[transparencies]

don't be sorry, i agree with you on that. it is a great environment for a lot of people. and the argument could, should, has been made that anyone who doesn't thrive there should leave (case in point: a certain former crew head who joined the show at a time when she really needed to and did do much better in life than she would have without it. then it became a setting which wasn't helpful to her and she left. though she's not left the *people* because she loves them and they continue to help sustain her, only outside the confines of the show). but i think the pressure some people feel at the show is being underestimated or denied. and yes, it should be brought out into the light when it occurs but that doesn't always feel like an option to people who already feel pressured.

i'm not saying the fbc is a cesspool of misogyny (or racism or any other kind of bigotry) and it certainly attracts people who already possess a certain attitude, but sometimes personal boundries are ignored or intentionally smashed down. i don't think it's a bad thing for us to be reminded of that every once in a while.