August 25, 2011
‘What I saw is how splits in consciousness can undermine our capacity to resist false authority by silencing the voice of the core self, and how gender norms that align reason with masculinity and emotion with femininity encourage and enforce these splits’
But in dividing human qualities into masculine and feminine, sexism separates everyone from parts of themselves, creating rifts or splits in the psyche. This fragmentation of the psyche links patriarchy with trauma and explains its deleterious effects on everyone. Boys in becoming men or men wanting to be seen as “real men” will separate their thoughts from their emotions, which are regarded as weak or feminine. As in “boys don’t cry”. And girls will be torn between wanting to be seen as “good girls” or “good women”, meaning not masculine or self-assertive, and wanting to align themselves with the so-called masculine qualities that are privileged and socially valued. In sexist families or religions or societies or cultures, both men and women are pressured to render themselves half-human.
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Yes! I was listening to an interview on the radio the other day, in the car so I didn’t catch enough to be happy about it. But an author was talking about how our work culture penalizes people for, say, crying there. But the fact is that when you remove emotion from the decision-making process, you are making faulty decisions that end up costing everyone, including your business.
I’ve been thinking about this pretty consistently since you posted it. I’ll say more when I find what it is I’m thinking to say.