On claiming an identity and exploring arrogance

[rainsavannah]

So, Alexandra said something interesting the other day, and then again on a recent post of mine.

I was talking about how I feel really embarrassed and inadequate sometimes because I didn't choose to pursue math, engineering, the sciences. I am a feminist; I am supposed to be breaking boundaries and proving girls can do all kinds of manly things too

Comments

[onerodetoasabay]

I love all of this

[rainsavannah]

I definitely think more women need to be in math, science, and engineering! I think it's a serious problem, and think you're totally in the right. It's because I think we need more women in these fields that I often feel guilty-- like I'm letting down the team, and like I generally not as badass as I would like to be-- about going into more traditionally female fields. And I feel like not helping prove that women are smart too. But--why do I think that pursuing social sciences and language makes me less smart

[hatmakersophie]

we build a lot of our self-worth on how much we AREN'T associated with anything to do with girls.

I wrote something very similar in a goodreads review--I tore this book up that everyone loved, because it had such a "strong" female lead. Except the thing about her was that every strength of hers was traditionally male, and was defined by maleness in the book. She wasn't strong because of her gender, she was strong in spite of it. So I completely agree (and it happens to be my most popular review!) I agree with everything you've said, because we still define strength and self-worth based on how manly we can act, and how un-female we are. It makes me sad to see other girls devaluing traditional "female" things rather than finding the strength and equality in them. Instead, I try my hardest to define my own self-worth and my gender perception of others based on how gender neutral I can appear or they appear. Which is really hard if you think about it

[onerodetoasabay]

I just realized that lj never sent me notifications for this and I was wondering what the hell was going on... bah, it's too late to think and formulate a reply now. More thoughts on this forthcoming--

[thisisvienna]

I used to feel similarly about WGS. For me, that was largely misdirected bitterness due to having been painfully treated as an object by a male; it seemed to me that if that kind of thing was still happening, then WGS must not have really been accomplishing anything. It also irked me because it seemed that WGS just promoted gender inequality - after all, there's no Men's Studies program, so the presence of a Women's Studies program just added to the idea that women are not like men

[hatmakersophie]

A very subjective way to look at things, but a cynical person could argue that the regular subjects ARE men's studies, because they usually focus on white males, and when others are added into the canon or academic research or what have you, it is with great effort and with a lot of pointing out: oh, we have a Woman of Color writing this article for us. Lookie here!