why wealthy white men can't be feminist leaders (or can we?)
In short: they can.
Yes, this is a radical revision of my previous post, which was written in haste in the wee hours of a long day.
The point I wanted to make in that post is that any kind of deep critique of mainstream culture requires a lot of work to truly understand and embody in one's own political/personal life. When one comes it it from outside of the group that's making the critique, it's all the more difficult. It's rather easy though to *claim* to support equality, while still holding onto one's own privileges. If one truly wants to empower an oppressed group, and one belongs (or can pass for belonging) to the oppressor group, one must work harder than others to not bring enculturated and systemic tactics of oppression along with one's good intentions. One must be careful to see that one does not use the power (money, influence in the mainstream world) that one has to rise to leadership at the expense of those with less power. And that's a really hard thing not to do.
The critique applies inwards to self-organized movements as well as outwards. As those within a movement rise to leadership positions, especially ones that require forging power relationships with mainstream groups (media, lobbyists, politicians, corporations...), they risk being infected with opressive ideas and tactics.
How does one avoid this? I personally have no idea. I *don't* avoid it. I use the class privileges I have (money, education, sex) to get by in life. Given more personal dicipline and rigor, I could obviously mitigate my reliance on un-earned and oppressive privilege, but as yet I lack the will to do so. I'm stuck at the level of being complicit in some of the stuff that irks me -- but does not yet fill me with sufficient outrage: wholesale incarceration, systemetized sexual brutality (rape, assault, & gender normativities), and an economy that thrives on wars, starvation and poverty.
I'm OK that 2 million Americans are incarcerated, as long as the people who pan-handle me on the subway are polite, don't smell too bad, and take "no" for an answer. I'm OK that 1/5 women are sexually assaulted, as long as I can whack-off to youPorn videos. I'm OK that the Congo is war-torn as long as I can text my friends on my cell-phone.
I'm ok, man. I really am.
Yes, this is a radical revision of my previous post, which was written in haste in the wee hours of a long day.
The point I wanted to make in that post is that any kind of deep critique of mainstream culture requires a lot of work to truly understand and embody in one's own political/personal life. When one comes it it from outside of the group that's making the critique, it's all the more difficult. It's rather easy though to *claim* to support equality, while still holding onto one's own privileges. If one truly wants to empower an oppressed group, and one belongs (or can pass for belonging) to the oppressor group, one must work harder than others to not bring enculturated and systemic tactics of oppression along with one's good intentions. One must be careful to see that one does not use the power (money, influence in the mainstream world) that one has to rise to leadership at the expense of those with less power. And that's a really hard thing not to do.
The critique applies inwards to self-organized movements as well as outwards. As those within a movement rise to leadership positions, especially ones that require forging power relationships with mainstream groups (media, lobbyists, politicians, corporations...), they risk being infected with opressive ideas and tactics.
How does one avoid this? I personally have no idea. I *don't* avoid it. I use the class privileges I have (money, education, sex) to get by in life. Given more personal dicipline and rigor, I could obviously mitigate my reliance on un-earned and oppressive privilege, but as yet I lack the will to do so. I'm stuck at the level of being complicit in some of the stuff that irks me -- but does not yet fill me with sufficient outrage: wholesale incarceration, systemetized sexual brutality (rape, assault, & gender normativities), and an economy that thrives on wars, starvation and poverty.
I'm OK that 2 million Americans are incarcerated, as long as the people who pan-handle me on the subway are polite, don't smell too bad, and take "no" for an answer. I'm OK that 1/5 women are sexually assaulted, as long as I can whack-off to youPorn videos. I'm OK that the Congo is war-torn as long as I can text my friends on my cell-phone.
I'm ok, man. I really am.