Eleanor Arnason's Blog, page 8

Thinking Out Loud

I have been trying to figure out what I don't like about a lot of contemporary political ideas. This is an ongoing process, and I've written about it before. I am talking about sexism here. I could also be talking racism, with the caveat that racism does not precede capitalism and colonialism. These three come together. I could be talking about class, how the 1% rips off everyone else. I could be talking about all kinds of prejudice and oppression, how they influence and reinforce each other. But let's stick with women.

I.

Sexism is a world system. Men as a group oppress women as a group. This true everywhere, though details vary. There are more and less oppressive societies, societies that allow men to assume female roles and women to assume male roles, societies that allow for more than two sexes. But most women in the world (it seems to me) deal far too much with poverty and violence, work too hard and get too little, especially too little freedom. I don't think we can ignore them. As Solomon Burke sings, "so long as one of us is in chains, none of us is free."

We have to oppose the entire system, and the only way to fight it is to see it as a system. It precedes capitalism, though capitalism has put it to good use. Women are more likely than men to be poor, badly educated, badly paid, abused, enslaved... Some individual woman have always been able to make space for themselves: Elizabeth I and Hatshepsut. (It helps to be royal and lucky enough or ruthless enough to be the heir.) But most cannot. The problem of sexism -- like the problem of capitalism -- cannot be solved by individuals.

II.

The categories that the system uses cannot be waved away. If categories such as male and female are ignored, then it becomes much more difficult to see the oppressive system. This does not mean such categories are real. It means they are real within the system, and system is real. In the same way, in order to see the system of racism, one has to see race as the system defines it.

III.

Solidarity is essential. In order to struggle against sexism, women must recognize their common problems and the strength they have when unified. Sisterhood is powerful. My favorite surly political scientist, Adolph Reed Jr., calls identity politics the neoliberal form of progressive politics, because it focuses on the individual: the struggle of single people to self-actualize and to confront other individuals who are oppressive. This is not enough. People working together must change the world system.

IV.

Action is necessary. Words are important, but so are picket lines and demonstrations, passing new laws, electing new governments, changing social structures... Endless arguments about the right names for oppressed groups does not constitute adequate political action, though names do matter. I remember when women made a big deal about not being called girls, and black men made a big deal about not being called boys. But changing names is not enough. If your preferred weapon is words, then write to educate people about the world, humanity's past and what the future might be like. Develop an analysis of the human condition that helps people understand their lives and helps them to change their lives.

Right now I am cheered by Black Lives Matter, the struggle for a $15 minimum wage and the Native American demonstrations against the pipeline which threatens Lakota land and water at Standing Rock. All these people have their bodies on the line.

PS:

Obviously people should work on their own lives. There is no reason for you and I to suffer, if we can make personal changes. But that is not politics, and that is not struggling for systematic change. I realize I am arguing with the famous Feminist slogan: the personal is the political. In a sense the slogan is correct. We experience prejudice and oppression personally. But solving your own problems does not solve larger social problems. As far as I know, Elizabeth I did little for women's rights in 16th century England.

Second PS:

This is very much a work in progress. I am thinking out loud. I don't know how to handle gender fluidity, except I think -- at least at present -- fluid people remain within an oppressive system. It's possible that capitalism, a very flexible system, can adjust and come to terms with sexism and racism, homophobia and transphobia while continuing to oppress and exploit most people. But this hasn't happened yet. It's important to remember that any oppressive system needs ways to divide the people who are oppressed and to distract them from the reality of their situation. Prejudice works in the service of oppression.

Worldcon

I have not published for two and half months, and the blog's readership is way, way down. My bad.

What have I done in the intervening time? Gone to the World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City. This involved a long, long drive through Iowa, not the most exciting state in the union. Patrick and I did not see much of KC, though we did get to the Nelson Atkins Gallery, an art museum I have been hearing about my entire life. The European galleries were closed for renovation, but we had a nice time in the Chinese galleries. My favorite works were Tang Dynasty tomb figures, especially a wonderful horse, full of energy, and a pudgy Central Asian woman, nursing her baby while on top of a Bactrian camel. I also liked a group of contemporary Chinese paintings. One was a scroll, so big that it went up to a high ceiling. It showed a mountains-and-rivers landscape, done with a brush so wide you could have painted walls with it. Very handsome. There was also a calligraphy scroll, done in the seal script, and -- like the landscape -- larger than traditional works, though not as huge as the landscape. And there were two paintings of stones, that were quite lovely.

The con was fine, though I am too much of an introvert to fully enjoy cons. I did three or four panels and a kaffeklatsch. I didn't go to any parties, since they are too late and too loud. I didn't find out where the official con bar was, till the end of the con, so I never got there. I saw a bunch of friends, bought a couple of books and a scarf. Then Patrick and I drove home through the endless corn fields of Iowa.

Weather

We've been having very hot and humid weather with heat advisories, which used to be called livestock warnings when I was a kid, and Minnesota was a farm state. Last night we had thunder and lightning and some rain. North of us there were funnel clouds, one confirmed tornado and hail the size of tennis balls.

Today was bright and coolish, and the next few days are supposed to be pleasant. There's a full moon tonight, not yet visible from our windows. A bunch of stuff I ordered online arrived: three DVDs, tea from Harney and Sons, a new messenger bag and a tote for me, and a Game Developer Barbie for Patrick. The doll is brand new. Patrick thought it was a wonderful idea and wanted it. Barbie is still in her box and hanging on the living room wall. I don't know how long she will stay there. She doesn't entirely match the decor.

Tomorrow I plan to exercise, run errands and maybe get some writing done. Hot weather takes a lot out of me, even when I am mostly inside with air conditioning. Now I feel better.

Dislikes

I really dislike the comments that say, "I love your blog; it's fabulous; and here is a service I offer..." It is preying on the need that most bloggers have for some kind of feedback and even (maybe) emotional support. I delete those comments, of course, but they leave a bad feeling. Someone was trying to con me. I was being offered lying praise.

Sticking with Your Raising

A facebook friend suggested that he is intellectually radical, while having a conservative temperament, and he thought I might be the same. (His actual statement was more complex, but this will serve.) I wrote this in response about myself:

This is a complicated topic. I believe this society is badly effed up and needs a radical change, as in it needs to be torn out by the roots and remade. As the old union song says, "We can bring to birth a new world from the the ashes of the old." This is not a belief that I came to through reason. This is the way I was raised. I was also raised to challenge ideas about art, since my father hung out with avant garde artists, who were very interesting people. I grew up in a house of the future, and this is not a metaphor. So what does this make me? Radical or conservative? As far as temperment goes, I'd say I am timid, which is not the same as conservative. (Remember that I grew up in the Midwest in the McCarthy era, which was also the height of the Cold War. That does not lead to a lot of confidence, though it does lead to believing ordinary middle class American life is poised above an abyss, and you cannot trust the neighbors. No wonder I loved SF.)

If you are true to your raising, are you conservative, even if your rising is in many ways radical?

Update

Weather here is gray and very humid. I have two stories and an essay to get out the door. That's it for now.

Wiscon

Patrick and I went to Wiscon over Memorial Day weekend. Traditionally, it has been a feminist con -- the only feminist con I know. However, there was a change of administration last year, and now it is an all-purpose identity politics con.

I am not entirely comfortable with the changes or the new, brash, young con members with their new issues and their new ways of dealing with issues. However, I figure this is my problem. Change happens. I can still go to the con and see friends and do a little non-political programming. The drive down is pleasant. We take Highway 12, a two-line which parallels the Interstate, going through small towns, farm land and some forest. Patrick and I both like Madison.

I figure I need to detach myself emotionally from the con and appreciate things like the drive down and the city of Madison -- and the friends I meet at the con.

Writing

This is from a facebook discussion:

Why does one write? I loved stories when I was a kid, and I told madeup stories to my brother before I could write. When I could write, I wrote stories, and I have kept doing it.

I guess I think archy the cockroach's answer is the best one: "Expression is the need of my soul." Though I would add a love of stories.

I lose my passion for telling stories fairly often. I continue either because I have something to finish or because I get an idea that strikes me as neat and funny, and then my interest in writing is back.

Thinking about it, the story of mine that best expresses my attitude toward writing is "Telling Stories to the Sky," published in F&SF and reprinted only once -- in Chinese. There's a wish fulfillment element, because the heroine gets a powerful patron: the North Wind, who lives in a cold and windy palace in the sky. She can visit there in dreams, but she can't stay, because her body back on earth would die; and because the palace -- though very splendid -- is too cold and windy and uncomfortable. She needs her life on earth to stay alive and to get material for her stories -- as well as good meals that aren't cold, the way food in the palace always is.

More Cleaning

We are doing more housecleaning. Three days ago, Patrick and I took apart the two bedrooms and vacuumed everywhere. I actually opened a box that I haven't opened in ten years and began going through it.

It's been a lovely spring, mostly cool and bright, though with some nice rainy days. A good time for spring cleaning.

Back when I had a job, I rode buses a lot and wrote poems about my rides. Here are a couple of examples, with flowers in honor of spring:

21 A East

“Let a thousand flowers bloom .”
Mao Tse-tung

Che smokes a cigar
on Lake Street posters,
but the scent
entering the open bus windows
is flowers.

Oh, week of perfect blossoming!
When lilacs, tulips, apple trees, irises, poppies
all open together,
arguing for a new agenda
with a thousand colors.

6/3/02


94 D West

All along the freeway, lilacs --
blooming, blooming!

Bless the bureaucrat who decided to plant them
twenty years ago or more.

If he’s alive, may his yard or window ledge
be full of flowers.

If he’s dead, may his spirit be as sweet and pure
as a whiff of lilacs on the cold June air.

6/4/02

Writing and Landvaettir

This is from facebook. Why use a post only once?

It's a bright, lovely day outside. I have exercise this morning and a grocery run this afternoon. Aside from that. I'm going to work on writing. I lay in bed last night and worked out plot problems. Now I have to hope I can remember the solutions. I'm going to have go through the story after it's done and fill in emotions and motivations. Right now I mostly have an outline of the action, with some ideas of why people act the way they do. I have to explain my hero/villain.

I figure I will use the Iceland landvættir in the final magical battle. These are the four spirits that guard Iceland. They are on the Icelandic coat of arms and present-day Icelandic coins. A dragon, a griffin (or eagle), a bull and a mountain troll. They ought to be impressive when conjured up.

I ended meeting friends at the local coffee shop, while Patrick did the grocery shopping. After the friends left, I worked on the current story. I am pushing ahead as quickly as possible and don't intend to type the scribbled first version until it's done. I'm afraid if I type it, and thus read it over, I will decide it's awful. The energy I have going now will vanish. I'm not sure I'll use this technique -- a handwritten first draft -- again, though I used it for decades. What I usually do now is compose on the computer, then print out sections and edit on paper, then input the changes and make more changes as I input. So it's a looping process: I write, then go back and revise, then go forward again. It means I never read the entire story until it's done. Then I print it out and make final revisions on paper. This means I don't give up in the middle.