Thursday, June 22, 2006

OLd Fears (and Hates) Die Hard

As I have been following some of the discussions and fallout surrounding the election of a female Presiding Bishop by the Episcopal Church in the US I have had reason to reflect on some of these old feelings about what is "proper".

I was born in 1969, I grew up in what was largely a post-feminist world. Or so I always believed. I honestly never saw reason that women couldn't do what men could do and vice versa. (As a male who worked for years in a job that many considered a "woman's position" I know that the sexism sword cut both ways.) The first time I remember being confronted with overt sexism was when I was working in a restaurant kitchen. And that was mainly one person who was just generally boorish anyway.

But as I got older I started to realize how strongly some of these old biases hang on. I know that for some people gender makes all the difference in the world. And I know that there are some roles that will forever be typecast as male or female in some minds. What I don't understand is why?

3 comments:

  1. Over the years, I have begun to think that one's personality is a key factor in such attitudes.

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  2. I was born ten years earlier Gord, but I'm in the same state of bewilderment. Gender inequity and prejudice against women (as well as GLBT's) is mind-boggling to me. I struggle even more with the fact that the church in many ways perpetuates these unhealthy dynamics.

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  3. Anonymous24/6/06 09:57

    Makes no sense to me, either. Especially when you look at the past. Slavery: people used to think that was OK, but we were SO WRONG. Not allowing women to vote, the same. Injustice to African Americans in the US, the same. Why can't we learn that inequity and oppression are wrong for ANYONE!!??

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