Sexism #1: Introduction

It is difficult for me to write about sexism.

There has been so much in the news about sexism, sexual violence and misogyny over the past couple of years – in Nova Scotia, in Canada and around the world.

The stories in the media are stirring up conversations. We're talking about it and this is a good step. 

I've been trying to keep my responses reasoned and measured. I managed it with Jian Ghomeshi, I managed it with the Dal dental students, I've managed it here on my blog, though often at the cost of simply NOT posting about certain events and the feelings and thoughts I have about them.

I woke up this morning to more bad news about sexism (and racism) in Canada, this time an article about a mountie who arrested an aboriginal woman and then, the following morning, had her released into his custody and drove her to his apartment to pursue a relationship with her. As a consequence for this totally inappropriate breach of trust and ethics, he was suspended from duty for 7 whole days.

Something in me snapped this morning and I shared the link on Facebook with a wild, innacurate, knee-jerk rant.

I think that's a sign that I've been holding too much back. I have been taking the easy way out – not writing, not expressing what I'm thinking.

Part of the difficulty is that what I'm thinking is changing and developing all the time. I'm considering many different aspects of sexism both in reported stories and in my own experience. I'm having conversations with people that are making me think and question my own beliefs and behaviour.

I feel very non-objective about sexism and misogyny. It's part of the fabric of my life and always has been. I am deeply uncomfortable with it. I am at various times a victim, a perpetrator, a by-stander. And in the sense that there is one big hierarchical system encompassing sexism, racism, classism, agism, heterosexism, etc, and that I am a white, university-educated, cis-gendered, middle-class person, I both benefit from and am oppressed by the same system. Frankly, for me, the benefits outweigh the oppression. And that makes it all the more difficult to confront, to write about, to stand up, to own up and to try to do it all without getting defensive or self-righteous or just plain stupid.

And I'm going to try. Stay tuned.