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History of Feminism
Related: About this forumDefending One’s Position As The Token Looks Bad, Like An Unwashed T-Shirt
Ive been watching with interest as Harriet Halla doctor, a skeptic and a blogger at Science-Based Medicineflails around in her very determined but bizarre effort to denounce Women in Secularism (where Ill be speaking, so come on out!) and all other efforts to improve womens participation in atheist/skeptic movement stuff: Its an amusing performance that veers between embracing deterministic arguments (shes fond of the women-just-arent-as-into-that-rationality-thing-and-thats-just-how-it-is-and-why-question-it argument) while insisting she is too a feminist, and, in the grand tradition of internet rabbit holes, getting into a long, digressive, but admittedly interesting debate about the meanings of words like gender, sex, identity, and orientation with Will at Skepchick. Hall has an interesting pedigree as a pioneering pilot and flight surgeon, which has been wielded to exempt her from criticism for her ideas, but to which I say means that its important to be even more careful when examining her biases.
Why? Well, its not a given that if someone is used to being one of the few or even lone woman in a group of men that her instinct is to kick down doors and try to get more women involved. On the contrary! It might end up reinforcing a belief that men are braver/smarter/more logical/etc. for ego-flattering reasons. If youre the lone woman, you can tell yourself, Most women arent cut out to play with the big boys, but Im the exception. Im spectacular! Admitting that there might not be more women because of institutional bias and discriminationand working to get more women into the gamewould mean you lose your place as the Special Lady Who Is Better Than All Other Ladies Because She Is One Of The Guys.
It doesnt strike me as a coincidence that Hall went from being the special lady in the boys club of the Air Force to being the special lady of the skeptical world, one of the rare female faces in a sea of men. Being the token woman makes you feel powerful, after all. Ann Friedman wrote an awesome piece about tokenism and how being a token is a privilege that I want to quote:
...
I confess, in the early days, the temptation to not participate in all this and instead to enjoy being one of the few women in a sea of men was strong. But I also knew it was bullshit, because I know in my heart of hearts that men are not smarter or better than women, and thus being one of the boys was no more an honor than being one of the random people picked off the street. So I threw myself into the project of linking women, doing panels on women in blogging, promoting womens work, highlighting smaller blogs written by women, etc. The story is a lot more complex than that, but this post is getting a little long already, so Ill leave it at that. Ill just say that in the end, women banding together and helping each other out paid off way more than trying to grab the Token Lady spot; the thrill of being one of the guys cant hold a candle to the pleasure of living in a world where women actually get respect.
...
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/22/defending-ones-position-as-the-token-looks-bad-like-an-unwashed-t-shirt/
Why? Well, its not a given that if someone is used to being one of the few or even lone woman in a group of men that her instinct is to kick down doors and try to get more women involved. On the contrary! It might end up reinforcing a belief that men are braver/smarter/more logical/etc. for ego-flattering reasons. If youre the lone woman, you can tell yourself, Most women arent cut out to play with the big boys, but Im the exception. Im spectacular! Admitting that there might not be more women because of institutional bias and discriminationand working to get more women into the gamewould mean you lose your place as the Special Lady Who Is Better Than All Other Ladies Because She Is One Of The Guys.
It doesnt strike me as a coincidence that Hall went from being the special lady in the boys club of the Air Force to being the special lady of the skeptical world, one of the rare female faces in a sea of men. Being the token woman makes you feel powerful, after all. Ann Friedman wrote an awesome piece about tokenism and how being a token is a privilege that I want to quote:
Are there benefits to being a token? The workplace provides a helpful analogy: Think about your experiences with older women in male-dominated professions, women who are used to being the lone female in a pack of bros. Theyve earned their spot in the social order both despite and because of their gender. Its both a badge of honor and a rarefied role they have to protect which may be why, in my experience, they can be cold to young female newcomers who stand to threaten their status as an exception.
And I get it. At least, I think I do. Sometimes people (almost always men) will tell me that Im not like other women meaning Im aggressive, I make dick jokes, I drink whiskey, stuff like that. I usually roll my eyes and say something like, Lots of women are witty (true), or All of my lady friends drink Jameson (mostly true). But I confess that, deep down, I get a little thrill to be distinguished from the pack.
...
I confess, in the early days, the temptation to not participate in all this and instead to enjoy being one of the few women in a sea of men was strong. But I also knew it was bullshit, because I know in my heart of hearts that men are not smarter or better than women, and thus being one of the boys was no more an honor than being one of the random people picked off the street. So I threw myself into the project of linking women, doing panels on women in blogging, promoting womens work, highlighting smaller blogs written by women, etc. The story is a lot more complex than that, but this post is getting a little long already, so Ill leave it at that. Ill just say that in the end, women banding together and helping each other out paid off way more than trying to grab the Token Lady spot; the thrill of being one of the guys cant hold a candle to the pleasure of living in a world where women actually get respect.
...
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/22/defending-ones-position-as-the-token-looks-bad-like-an-unwashed-t-shirt/
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