I've been throwing around ideas for posts for a few days, but have had little motivation to complete a thorough post about any of these ideas in their potential entirety with all the holiday business (busyness? Huh?), so I thought I'd throw out some discussion-starters:
I've been thinking about the post I wrote about prostitution, and how I was so adamantly anti all sex-for-money actions. I realized that my anti position was contradictory to my pro-legalization position when I considered many women's opinion of abortion.
Many women say that they could never have an abortion, and therefore they are against it. But every woman's circumstances are different and women who have had abortions haven't done it for the same reason. It's okay to say you'll never have an abortion, but support other women's right to legal and safe access to abortion.
So, I realized that, ultimately, even though I don't see myself entering the sex industry, I support giving other women the legal option of doing so if they want or need to. And that's really all I needed to know to realize that I was supportive of sex-worker's rights, and that I didn't need to preface the argument or add a disclaimer.
I have been seeing many ways in which feminism and environmentalism et al mirror religions, namely the evangelical Christian movement. I allow the "tenants" of feminism and anti-oppression ideology to frame my behavior and filter my actions in many of the ways a person might make decisions within the framework of the teachings of Christ. This creeps me out quite a bit, but I don't really know what to think about that. Do all passions or schools of thought have the power to become evangelical? Is it inherently bad to be evangelical, or am I just feeling this way because of the associations with evangelicalism and anti-progressive legislation and rhetoric? I don't appreciate being evangelized at, so I'd hate to be associated with the same behavior. What does this say about claims that all humans naturally seek out an idea of a higher power or purpose? If we don't follow a mainstream belief system like Christianity or Judaism, do we replace it with something else, like astrology or feminism or yoga? Or is spiritual belief a learned trait?
I'm personally conflicted about the "tone argument." It's apparent that tone is important when attempting to educate people and pass legislation, but is one ever required to mind their tone when addressing or engaging with a group of people about the ways in which they suffer oppression? Is it ever appropriate to require "good manners" or the dreaded reasonable, logical approach when having a discussion with someone about (a) ways(s) in which they experience oppression, especially if you can identify with the oppressor in question (i.e. black woman discussing racism with white woman)?
