A fellow lonely martian.

wildmissingnoappeared:

she-hulk-smash:

velocicrafter:

queernonymoose:

gaypocalypse:

First gif set.

From The Angry Eye. Relevant transcript.

I am keeping this mostly in part to get Jane Elliot gif saying out.

the more I think about this scene, the more I think how fucked it is that this young woman willingly came to this workshop, presumably to learn something. Here she is, crumpling under the weight of her own bruised privilege & trying to tell the instructor something, like she knows more than this woman who has been doing these workshops for literally decades.

I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised, because 99.9998% of the time when I’ve tried to comment on racism in real life, a white person (& the occasional POC) has tried to tell me that race wasn’t really the issue & racism couldn’t have been happening.

You need to watch this. Everyone needs to watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPtzS7-H7J4

“You don’t come back in here until you’ve apologized to every person in this room, Because you just exercised a freedom that none of these people of color have. When these people of color get tired of racism, they can’t just walk out, because there’s no place in this country where they aren’t going to be exposed to racism. They can’t even stay in their own homes and not be exposed to racism if they turn on their television. But you, as a white female, when you get tired of being judged and treated unfairly on the basis of your eye color, you can walk out that door, and you know it won’t happen out there. You exercised a freedom they don’t have. If you’re going to be in here you’re going to apologize to every person of color in this room. And do it now.”

“I’m sorry there’s racism in this country—

“BULLSHIT! No, you’re not going to say ‘I’m sorry there’s racism.’ You’re going to apologize for what YOU just did.”

“I will not apologize because it’s not a matter of race always—”

“OUT.”

And, you know, I’ve been thinking about Carrie*. When Carrie* gets up and Jane Elliot starts the comparison between her and Rasul*, she does so from a very cissexist POV. I don’t think it was the place for Carrie* to bring up sexuality/gender oppression because it’s an exercise that focuses on racism; and while Carrie* might suffer prejudice and discrimination and hurt in other forms, Carrie* still has white privilege and does need to check it.

This is also from 2001, and cissexism was not as debated then as it is now (heck, it’s still barely debated even now) so I can sort of understand why there is some essentialist talk going on (such as when Jane Elliot asks Rasul* if he’s ever been pregnant, everybody laughs and that’s okay because how the fuck could a man ever get pregnant amirite?).

The thing is, I felt VERY uncomfortable once the essentialist affirmations about male/female started. The difference in privilege when you’re perceived as male and female? Yes, that’s very real. Implying that your AAB gender is essentially who you are and thus defines all of your experiences with privilege? No, that’s not quite right. Also, the way Carrie* moved, their posture… I felt extremely uncomfortable for them, too. I felt extremely uncomfortable that right after Jane Elliot defined Carrie* as female, even though Carrie* said their gender didn’t matter, she went on to say that “People don’t have the right to say to a person ‘I do not see you as you are. I want to see you as I would be more comfortable seeing you’”. Then Jane Elliot says, “We live in different realities. But when you deny what this person is going through, or what this person is going through, you’re denying their reality”.

Like I said, I don’t think it was the place to bring up other experiences of oppression, because they had limited time in that exercise and issues of racism were the main focus of it, so it’s not the time to make that about you and your experiences when you’re not a PoC, like Carrie* did. However, I did feel uncomfortable with the discourse that followed and dabbed into themes of gender. I think Jane Elliot is fucking amazing, humane, genius and an incredible human being. I just think some of the things that were said in this particular situation ended up being cissexist… and, I guess, that is the whole deal with Intersectionality. It’s tough to be able to talk about discrimination, especially when you have to do so in such an emphatic way, without committing some type of discoursive violence as well.

*I am not sure about the spelling of their names, I tried to write them as I heard them, so I apologize if I was mistaken in my interpretation of how their names are written and please let me know if that is the case so I may correct them.

I couldn’t see it as clearly as missingno did. And thinking about it right now, what he said makes perfect sense.

I’m trying to find words to express how I feel about discrimination and oppression, but as a white middle class man, I think, somehow, I might have never lived it. But, I simply can’t stand idle as once I did. It sickens me.