Friday, March 2, 2012
Why I don't talk in English
This past unit has been all on Gender Studies. Being one of the few guys in the class many of the females in the class have asked me my opinion saying that they think I do not agree with them as I do not speak. I can say that without a doubt in my mind I do not speak because I do not care at all. I think it was wrong the way women were treated but now-a-days I do not care whats so ever what women do. They can be stay at home moms, they can work (where ever they want), they can be as slutty as they want, or as innocent as they want. As long as it has no immediate/direct connection to me they can have fun doing whatever they want. In nearly every book we read for this unit the woman was repressed in some way. In The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper the women had to deal with husbands who really didn't know their wives and treated them poorly which is wrong. These men were wrong in that they didn't care about their wives when they were directly connected to them. As someone who has dated, has female friends, and a mom I can say I care about females close to me, but I do not care how they go about what they want to or what they want to do. What kills me more than anything is that women often think that not caring is wrong too. I feel I cannot win when I open my mouth in these arguements so I choose to not talk. In no way, shape, or form do I feel men are better than women, but for some reason, most likely because I am a man, women think that I do, which in a way is sexist just as much. As many times as I say it, it doesn't get across, I do not care at all. So in conclusion, speaking for women being treated equally results in many thinking I just am doing it to shut them up, arguing against fair treatment is wrong so I can't do that, and saying I do not care results in anger as well because it matters to them so I choose not to talk. That is my answer to this problem and I shall stick to it.
Actually Alex, I think you are saying something good when you say you do not care at all. We will know that equality has been achieved when no one "cares." When men don't care, it will be because they have no prejudice, and when women don't care, it will be because they feel no prejudice. So when you say you "don't care," what I hear you saying is that women have as much right to choose their own actions as men do, you don't see them as being any different than men.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe the reaction you are getting when others are telling you that it's wrong not to care is because of this: they feel the world is not treating them fairly, and they want you, as their friend and as an intelligent, non-prejudiced, man, to fight with them for that fairness. It's possible that when you say, "I don't care," to a female friend... she is hearing that you don't care if she is treated unequally by others, and if she cares about you and thinks you should care about her, it probably hurts her that you don't care if the world treats her differenly than it will her.
But wait... why didn't you talk in English class from September through December???
AND you will probably be more likely to "win" if you stop telling women jokes to Meghan Harvey ;-)
Thanks for your blog :-)