A Profound and Hopeful Workshop
I attended the April Contemporary Women’s Issues Workshop. It was amazing to feel my brain get sharper about sexism all weekend long. And I loved grounding my workshop with the seventeen other powerful young and young adult females who were there. I have so many highlights, but here are a few:
Rape culture: Diane [Balser] talked about the sexism that normalizes, glorifies, and romanticizes rape. I got to talk in front of the group about how rape culture has permeated and shaped my generation’s norms for sexual and intimate relationships. I have these distressed things in my head when I try to form relationships with men. The culture has become so normalized that it feels hard to challenge or question it, both with men and with female friends. Part of the difficulty is the “liberalism” that is endemic to my generation: “Anything is okay, and anything can be a liberated option as long as you want it and ‘choose’ it.” Liberalism and the idea of individual choice obscure the sexism that each of us has been targeted with. I was reminded that the choices presented to my generation, along with the myth that sexism is over, were driven by capitalism and profit and are not our fault.
Early sexual memories and sexism: Joan Karp led a great group on sexism and early sexual memories. She asked us to think about a “stupid” sexual decision we had made as a female teenager and then to recall where the early sexual hurts had made us vulnerable in that situation. She made clear that our material [distress] had not caused such situations; it had just left us more vulnerable to them. She talked about the multi-billion-dollar sex industry and how we’ve all been affected by it. No woman who is caught up in it deserves blame. Also, everything about the sex industry is completely antithetical to RC. For example, the industry promotes pseudo-reality and acting on distress, whereas in RC we fight for rationality and challenge distress.
Prioritizing the fight against sexism: Diane led a fantastic class on the importance of prioritizing women’s liberation. One point was that we need to take on the “smaller” battles against sexism in our personal relationships in order to successfully fight it at a systemic level.
It was a profound and hopeful workshop. I am grateful to everyone who put their work and intelligence into making it happen.
Washington, D.C., USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of women
(Present Time 204, July 2021)