Piece up on the Independent today, iznit.
Whereas a man’s public failings or achievements are seen as belonging to him personally, a woman’s are taken as inherent gender traits. No matter what we are – no matter our job role or interests – we are always seen as a woman before we are seen as anything else.
Reblogged this on Note To Self and commented:
I think even people who believe they love and respect women easily fall prey to this assumption. Hell, I’ve fallen prey to it and I’m the one it’s built around. We’ve all gotten so used to writing off certain behaviors as a result of “woman-ness” that it doesn’t occur to us to treat women like people first, and our gender second. I have also seen this applied to men–if they behave badly it’s just “boys being boys” or “all men are dogs”.
We need to stop fighting over our differences and embrace them instead. We need to celebrate them, and use them to enrich each other’s lives. We need to work together. And most of all, we need to see ourselves as human first, gender second.