Feminist Praxis

Throughout our daily lives, if we pay real close attention, we are able to see and understand what goes on a lot better if we look at it through a feminist lens.  My grandparents and other family came over Thanksgiving, and we were all sitting at the table, and my grandma tells a story.  It was about how her son was traveling with this woman with disabilities, and they stopped to grab food, and he told her that she could order whatever she wanted and he would take care of it.  Later on, when they were driving, this woman got very emotional because no one ever treated her as nicely, and she had a lot of problems with domestic abuse when she was growing up, so this was a change for her.  At first, this story was obviously very touching, but looking back now, I view this differently.  In class, we watched a TLC video about marriage and disability, and there was this quote; "The agencies are supposed to provide them with adequate housing and counseling...but their response was that they don't care and don't want to."  This shows the oppression that certain people face because of their situation.  The woman in my grandma's story was treated significantly differently growing up because she had a disability, and people didn't seem to really think she deserved better.  The abuse is a different story, which relates to male dominance, but I also don't want this to be an invasion of privacy on her part with me explaining.

 Later on that day my family went to church, and I never really focused on this before, but now that I think of it, it's pretty interesting.  So, the priest was up there doing his job, but it got me thinking; there are no female priests.  Women can only be nuns and men can only be priests.  But, it is the man who is preaching about Catholicism, which is the dominant religion.  "Women are often also excluded from leadership positions.  Female ministers, bishops, priests...remain relatively rare or nonexistent in many religious traditions" (TC, 34).  This goes to show that women are perceived to not be able to handle being in a position of power, which excludes them from a lot to be able to participate in.  I would say this is definitely something that would be socially constructed, but also could be part of patriarchy, where the man is in charge and in this situation, it is being dominated by a man.

That whole week, my sister was home to visit, but she ended up getting sick and stayed in bed for like 2 days,  Anyway, my mom was the one who would constantly check up on her and try and get her to eat something.  I'm not saying anything negative about my dad, but it was my mom who really tried to care for her.  This connects to biological determinism.  It is in a woman's nature to help care for her child, but this concept is also socially constructed because it shouldn't have to be only the woman who cares for the children because the man obviously isn't helpless.  We watched an ad about Huggies diapers, and it was the dads who were taking care of their kids.  "We put them to the toughest test possible: dads."  This is assuming that dads aren't able to take care of their kids because it's always the mom doing that job, and these dads are also assumed to be somewhat 'stupid' because they are normally portrayed as manly, so changing a diaper isn't going to be something they know how to do.  There is a list of stereotypical gender qualities in the TC book that reflect this as well.  Even in my family, in this scenario, my mother fits some of the stereotypical gender qualities by taking charge and taking care of my sister. 

By taking a closer look at my family and my life, I noticed a lot that I never would have thought twice about.  I am now able to understand what's going on, and if possible, let others know too.  There are some things that go on around me that I'm unable to change, but for instance, if either one of my parents does something that reinforces what society wants us to do, I am now able to stand up for them and tell them they don't have to be doing that.  Also, it makes me understand that everyone should be treated equal, obviously, but all of this helps me be able to treat others better and more fairly.