When I first read about Shulamith Firestone's behaviour, I was kind of appalled. I thought that, at times, she acted insanely immature-- she threw temper tantrums that seemed awfully childish to me. When she stood on a desk and ripped up papers, I thought that she couldn't sink much lower. I've always been taught that if you want to be treated with respect, you should treat others with respect. It's the golden rule, for crying out loud, Shulamith! 'Get your act together,' I thought to myself. 'Blowing up on other people because you disagree with them is no way to get what you want.' That may be the case today, but maybe it wasn't the case back then.
Shulamith and I live in different time periods. In the 20th century, nobody was listening to women and treated them with disrespect when they voiced their concerns about inequalities. It may have been the only way to bring attention to her cause at the time. It's hard for me to truly say what I would have done and what I would consider appropriate, were I in her shoes. Nowadays it's easy for me to post on Facebook or tumblr or twitter how I feel, and hundereds of people can see. It wasn't so easy back then.
The situation then reminded me to consider how I act when someone says something I disagree with. I may have been known to over react in my day (NOT because I am female). Sometimes, it just really makes me upset when someone is being ignorant and rude.
For exapmle, I have a male friend, who, for the sake of his reputation, shall remain unnamed. We'll call him David. So David and his friends were hanging out with a group of ladies. david's friend was showing David some pictures on his phone. The two were giggling and laughing as they scrolled through what we later found out to be photos. Curious, I asked them what they were laughing at. "Just some slut's profile pictures," David said.
My blood was boiling. I tried to stay calm, but it was to no avail. "WHAT MAKES HER A SLUT, MIGHT I ASK?"I gritted through my teeth. My roomie, also in the room, backed me up. "Yes, David. Please share."
"You can see her tits in like every single one of her profile pictures!"
"She can't help that. Are you serious?"
David laughed and my roomie & I lost it. We began ranting and yelling at him.
In retrospect I wonder if that was really the right way to go about arguing my point. Obviously there are a million things I thought David did wrong, but should I have been so immature about arguing with him? Shulamith would have yelled at David & co. She would not have tolerated their behaivor, as my roomie and I did not. Maybe I over reacted by yelling and calling him a mysoginist (this was not the first sexist remark I'd heard David utter). Maybe I should have kept calm and reflected. Is it okay for me to make such an outburst to get my point across? Will it make David reconsider his actions, or will he just laught at me and talk to his friend about me being an emotional woman? I have to reconsider how I go about fighting my battles in this day and age, where I could channel this emotion into a more positive outlet (like this blog post).
Don't be sexist.
