If I can’t make a panel on my own merit, I don’t want to be there. I do not believe in feminism as it is sold to the public. I believe true equality comes from earning your way, not to “balance the books” so to speak.
I think this is key. Women shouldn't demand to simply be token representatives. They should be there because the host wanted their views and they can contribute.
The women who do that are way more powerful than those who insist on simply being a tick in a box.
I hate the fact that men feel that dealing with women can be a mine field, although I accept that in some cases this can be the case. Conversely, as with men not all bring elders, not all women are a mind field.
As I said, it was partly driven by the recent interaction I had. In a few weeks something else will be the most important thing that I think needs to be talked about (like when the Subway person doesn't tesselate the cheese slices properly and puts them all on the same direction, c'mon people, are we apes?!)
Not all people who make ignorant, careless or uninformed comments are racist, bigots of phobics.
Not all men are misogynistic and not all women are emotional basket cases.
It is my opinion that the whole world, and this community included, needs to take a chill pill and either agree to disagree, ignore behaviour that doesn’t fit the values and beliefs, (yes it is possible to scroll on without commenting!) hear others opinions with curiosity rather than “prepare for rebuttal or attack”, be quick to apologise when we are wrong, not readily compare others behaviour to traits of the cult, and realise that just like other people, we have faults.
The world is becoming ever more polarized, especially online, and people think they can talk to people anyway they want and throw out serious accusations such as "bigot" or whatever "...phobic" is the current word of the day.
We all make mistakes and none of us like being called names. Perhaps there is merit in the saying “treat others the way you would like to be treated”.
It's not nice to be accused of what most people think is something serious and most people's reaction is to defend themselves against such accusations, which is natural to want to "clear your name", but we have to remember that no one cares or remembers what some nobody says about us online. Most people see that they are crazy. Increasingly, no one cares about the labels either because they are so over-used.
Now let me get off my soap box and go and find my pitch fork
Oh no, Aussies are tougher than me, even the women. Time to head to the hills and hideout!
Seriously, Kim, you seem like a perfectly balanced, easy-going person that is non-scary to interact with.
