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Sep. 23rd, 2004 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI think Take Back the Night marches, those anti-rape cooperative efforts involving marching and chanting and flashlights and candles that take place on college campuses when the weather's still fit enough for the flowers of young womanhood to be tromping around after sunset and shouting about how empowered they are, are silly. I do. I know it's politically incorrect to think that these marches, what with the anti-rape aspect and the empowerment of women aspect and all like that, are silly. However, I still think they're dumb as hell. Probably some day soon, the gender police will show up and take away my cunt because not only I am not marching and chanting in proper systerly solidarity, I am openly mocking the marching and chanting. The open mocking would be because the marching and chanting is silly.
Look. I'm not pro-rape. Rape is a heinous crime of violence against (mostly) women and we should have less of it. I'm pretty firmly in the anti-rape camp, here. I expect that I could only be more firmly in the anti-rape camp if I'd been raped, which I never have.
I'm also not anti-empowerment for women. I'm a big fan. Honest. I do not know very many women who are more empowered than I am. While I've not asked everyone, I do not think anyone who knows me frets even the slightest about my empowerment, though they occasionally worry that I'll trample less-empowered folks (without noticing) on my way to getting what I want. I do not suffer from a shortage of empowerment and I don't particularly act to deny other women their own empowerment.
Rape: bad. Empowerment: good. Wandering around in the dark over dew-wet grass, marching and chanting: dumb as hell.
People who are empowered don't "take back the night" by marching and chanting one night out of the year. Empowered people go about their business, going where they want, when they want, alone or in groups, as they please, on all nights of the year, without marching or chanting. That's empowerment. It's not marching or chanting, but going about your business as if you've a perfect right to be doing so and no fear about doing it.
Look. I'm not pro-rape. Rape is a heinous crime of violence against (mostly) women and we should have less of it. I'm pretty firmly in the anti-rape camp, here. I expect that I could only be more firmly in the anti-rape camp if I'd been raped, which I never have.
I'm also not anti-empowerment for women. I'm a big fan. Honest. I do not know very many women who are more empowered than I am. While I've not asked everyone, I do not think anyone who knows me frets even the slightest about my empowerment, though they occasionally worry that I'll trample less-empowered folks (without noticing) on my way to getting what I want. I do not suffer from a shortage of empowerment and I don't particularly act to deny other women their own empowerment.
Rape: bad. Empowerment: good. Wandering around in the dark over dew-wet grass, marching and chanting: dumb as hell.
People who are empowered don't "take back the night" by marching and chanting one night out of the year. Empowered people go about their business, going where they want, when they want, alone or in groups, as they please, on all nights of the year, without marching or chanting. That's empowerment. It's not marching or chanting, but going about your business as if you've a perfect right to be doing so and no fear about doing it.
