I write this as a male-identified radical who has witnessed a number of his female-bodied friends leave or consider leaving many of the organizations I have been a part of. There is nothing new about this - since I started seriously organizing with Students for a Democratic Society over two years ago I have seen many women leave. In many ways this post is long overdue, but I hope by writing it that we can begin to create positive change within SDS and the broader community of youth and student radicals.
No profound insights here - I'm always skeptical of privileged folks who read a zine or a blog post and think they're the shit when it comes to fighting patriarchy, racism, classism, etc. In fact, I think all of us who consider ourselves anti-sexists would do well to keep in mind that we cannot grade ourselves on how good of allies we are to those who do not have privilege. We will know we are doing something right when women stop leaving organizing and social spaces they share with us because they're sick of being talked over, disrespected, attacked, etc.
In a way, I think starting the process of fighting patriarchy is both incredibly easy and ridiculously difficult. I think it starts by taking seriously the fact that there's a problem with patriarchy within SDS, and that problem is the result of our actions and the actions of our fellow male organizers. This is a problem that can make attending meetings, planning and participating in actions, being in social spaces, etc. actively uncomfortable for female-bodied folks, and out of this we see people (male and female-bodied) leaving our groups en masse. Few people want to be in an organizing or social space which makes them feel unpleasant - those who do put up with it often don't put up for long. This is an immediate problem in our organizing - I would call it an emergency - and those with male privilege need to do their part to step up and change things before we find ourselves with the same empty shell of a group that the previous SDS ended up with.
I don't know about you all, but I'm tired of seeing my friends leaving SDS because the men in this group can't treat them like equal human beings. I want to see us get serious about fighting patriarchy at the upcoming NE SDS Convention, because I think we as a collective body can create a radically different world if we put our backs into it. If you're planning on coming, I would strongly suggest checking out the following links and definitely participating in any activities around gender!
Dan the Dude - Do's and Dont's for the Dudely Organizer
SDS Womyn's Caucus blog
Onwards!
Friday, October 2, 2009
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