Another thing about that party
Jun. 22nd, 2008 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheT. clearly was interested in me, so we talked quite a bit last night. At one point, a woman, M., sat next to us and joined in on our conversation. We were talking about politics and society.
Before M. came up, T. and I had started talking about Hillary Clinton and the nature of the Democratic primary. We talked about where she grew up (apparently Hyde Park), and he said that she had to work for all that she had. I asked him, "Don't you think that she started out from a position of privilege?" His response: "Inasmuch as anyone from the middle-middle class does."
He went on to say that he thought that Obama's primary win and possible WH victory meant more to him than if Hillary (he never used her full name) had won. I tried to ask him to clarify his position, but M. jumped in and said that she had been hopeful that Ms. Clinton had made it, it would have shown that sexism wasn't so much of a problem. T. was very dismissive, saying that since he got to where he was without much of a problem, he didn't see the issue with women (read: white women), but the fact that Obama could come up to do what he has done was amazing to him. Throughout much of this, I was nodding my head with M.'s arguments.
It seems important for me to state that I identified with my sex far earlier than I ever did with my race. (I still don't identify as black as far as my self-image goes. But I recognize that race is a reality in American culture, so I must attend to how race is observed.)
Minority status is a lived reality. Identity is established every day. I was and am identified by society as a female first. All oppressed groups have large struggles, terrible obstacles to overcome. Power implies imbalance.
Before M. came up, T. and I had started talking about Hillary Clinton and the nature of the Democratic primary. We talked about where she grew up (apparently Hyde Park), and he said that she had to work for all that she had. I asked him, "Don't you think that she started out from a position of privilege?" His response: "Inasmuch as anyone from the middle-middle class does."
He went on to say that he thought that Obama's primary win and possible WH victory meant more to him than if Hillary (he never used her full name) had won. I tried to ask him to clarify his position, but M. jumped in and said that she had been hopeful that Ms. Clinton had made it, it would have shown that sexism wasn't so much of a problem. T. was very dismissive, saying that since he got to where he was without much of a problem, he didn't see the issue with women (read: white women), but the fact that Obama could come up to do what he has done was amazing to him. Throughout much of this, I was nodding my head with M.'s arguments.
It seems important for me to state that I identified with my sex far earlier than I ever did with my race. (I still don't identify as black as far as my self-image goes. But I recognize that race is a reality in American culture, so I must attend to how race is observed.)
Minority status is a lived reality. Identity is established every day. I was and am identified by society as a female first. All oppressed groups have large struggles, terrible obstacles to overcome. Power implies imbalance.