Women’s History Month wrap up
Every February, I think “oh, I ought to do some blogging for Women’s History Month,” but I tend to forget about it until March 15th or so. At that point, it feels like I’d be half-assing it, so I tell myself I’ll wait until the next year. February rolls around, and the vicious cycle repeats.
This year, I was adamant that I needed to do something. As much as a lot of folks gripe about “marginalized group’s history month,” the truth is that these months and days are no less “real” than any religious holiday. (Before you get all pissy and miffed with that statement, remember the whole ATHEIST thing.) I’ll celebrate a variety of holidays mainly to keep the peace, but I really couldn’t care less about most of them; even when I do celebrate holidays for personal reasons, my celebrations are about as secular as you can get. For me, a lot holidays are just “days when nothing is open” or “days when I to expose myself to way more stress than is ever necessary in my life.”
Before I took time off from school, I was a Women’s Studies/US History double major. Even on the collegiate level, a lot of professors forget to acknowledge or discuss the roles of women, racial/ethnic minorities, the LGBT community and the poor/working classes in relation to whatever topic the course discusses. Anarchist Boyfriend and I took a course during our last regular semester in school (American Military Culture with Greg Urwin at Temple University). To be fair, the course was horribly run and was more of a “military history” course than one that focused on military CULTURE; however, it even fell horribly flat for being a straightforward “military history” course. With the exception of two lectures (given by guests), Anarchist Boyfriend and I can’t recall women being mentioned once throughout the course. I’m racking my brain here, but I don’t even recall any significant discussion about war cliches like Rosie the Riveter or Civil War nurses; if there was any discussion, it was likely in passing and mentioned as an afterthought. Basically, even as a military history course, the material was lacking and far from inclusive.
Ignoring the contributions of marginalized groups gives us a skewed view of history. It’s bad enough at the elementary, middle or high school levels, but it’s even more infuriating at the collegiate level. Would you really want to take a college course that only addressed the material from such a narrow point of view? I don’t. Personally, I’m a little pissed that I’ve thrown away money I don’t have on courses that don’t incorporate all viewpoints into the material.
I realize that listing off one woman a day for thirty-one days doesn’t even come close to righting that big ol’ academic wrong, but it was a start for me. (And hopefully, this will be a project that I keep up on every year.) I don’t agree with every belief held by every woman on this list. From an ideological standpoint, Anarchist Boyfriend has more in common with me than anyone I’ve ever met, and we still occasionally have major disagreements with one another over opinions. This list was never about ideological purity for me. It was about using my little corner of the internet to expose more people to the contributions these women have made to society and the world around us.
My primary goal was to educate people, but my secondary goal was to bring some much-needed positivity in my life. Sometimes, it’s a little difficult to shake that feeling of general ineffectiveness, especially when you’re stuck in a giant sausage party where it seems like your opinions aren’t valued as heavily as your looks are. That garbage is disheartening, to say the least. Knowing the bullshit I’m up against doesn’t make me want to jump up and take the world by storm; doubly so when it comes from folks who “hate collectivism” until it’s convenient for them. Fuck that noise, man.
You’ll never hear me arguing that every woman is infallible, intelligent, or has positively contributed to society. But you know what? I’m sick of being treated like we’re just whiny bitches whose primary job is to serve our menfolk and look good doing it. If I’ve dispelled that idea once over the past month, I’ve been successful.
