Racism and Misogyny
What do you do when you're confronted with blatant racial slurs/gestures... by another person of color?
I usually get along very well with the security guard at school, but a few weeks back she was asking me why there were so many "Orientals" at this school, and commenting on "Oriental girls" and their styles. Mind you it was in a more-or-less positive context, since she was admiring their fashion sense, but Oriental? Really? I am NOT a rug. And she was saying this to me without blinking an eye.
Then came the real kicker. She proceeded to describe one particular student who she felt was very beautiful, with lovely eyes. And she demonstrated this by prefacing it with a nervous laugh and a, "You know..."
And made the slanty-eyed gesture.
Really? Really? She was talking to me. I'm Asian-American. And she had that nervous laugh so she KNEW it was not entirely appropriate. I was appalled, but too stunned to say anything, and now a week has passed and it's just awkward to bring it up again. I talked to a few classmates, and the Asian ones were pretty outraged. A few urged me to report her.
But the white ones, one and all, merely sighed and said, "Yeah, I know it's bad, but you're just going to have to put up with it."
Fuck you. Fuck you and your white privilege. It's easy enough to shrug it off when you're not the one who is on the receiving end of it. Would never, in fact, be on the receiving end of it. I lived with it all through school and now you're telling me still to grit and bear it? And these were students in my Global Inequality class. We'd studied inequalities and prejudice and how acts like these was a kind of symbolic violence. They should have known better.
Ugh. White people.
On top of this I've finally decided to leave the facebook group that was against routine infant circumcision. I had joined it a while back since I am against the practice of hospitals routinely circumcising infants for what amounts to cosmetic surgery (unless it's religious, I don't see why people can't wait to let their sons decide). My mother told me how horrified she'd been when the doctors pretty much did it to my first brother without her permission, or at least, without her informed permission. According to her, Terrence and shrieked in a way he'd never cried since and there had been a lot of blood. I've since heard that the procedure has become more humane, but it's still a permanent procedure that is totally unnecessary. So I'm against it on those grounds.
But the rest of the people in that group are annoying, privileged, disgusting people, and I couldn't stand it anymore. Today the top thread had a person complaining about how male and female circumcision are TOTALLY THE SAME YOU GUYZ with only a few "technical" differences. Right. Really. How about you google some images and tell me how "similar" they are. Not to mention that the two are done for totally different reasons. Ugh, I was so disgusted I finally decided to leave the group. I'm still against routine infant circumcision, but I don't want to be associated with them. Absolutely disgusting.No wonder nobody takes them seriously, if they're going to be wailing about little boy penises when women are systematically tortured by the practice of FGM.
What about the MENZlittle boy penises... seriously.
I usually get along very well with the security guard at school, but a few weeks back she was asking me why there were so many "Orientals" at this school, and commenting on "Oriental girls" and their styles. Mind you it was in a more-or-less positive context, since she was admiring their fashion sense, but Oriental? Really? I am NOT a rug. And she was saying this to me without blinking an eye.
Then came the real kicker. She proceeded to describe one particular student who she felt was very beautiful, with lovely eyes. And she demonstrated this by prefacing it with a nervous laugh and a, "You know..."
And made the slanty-eyed gesture.
Really? Really? She was talking to me. I'm Asian-American. And she had that nervous laugh so she KNEW it was not entirely appropriate. I was appalled, but too stunned to say anything, and now a week has passed and it's just awkward to bring it up again. I talked to a few classmates, and the Asian ones were pretty outraged. A few urged me to report her.
But the white ones, one and all, merely sighed and said, "Yeah, I know it's bad, but you're just going to have to put up with it."
Fuck you. Fuck you and your white privilege. It's easy enough to shrug it off when you're not the one who is on the receiving end of it. Would never, in fact, be on the receiving end of it. I lived with it all through school and now you're telling me still to grit and bear it? And these were students in my Global Inequality class. We'd studied inequalities and prejudice and how acts like these was a kind of symbolic violence. They should have known better.
Ugh. White people.
On top of this I've finally decided to leave the facebook group that was against routine infant circumcision. I had joined it a while back since I am against the practice of hospitals routinely circumcising infants for what amounts to cosmetic surgery (unless it's religious, I don't see why people can't wait to let their sons decide). My mother told me how horrified she'd been when the doctors pretty much did it to my first brother without her permission, or at least, without her informed permission. According to her, Terrence and shrieked in a way he'd never cried since and there had been a lot of blood. I've since heard that the procedure has become more humane, but it's still a permanent procedure that is totally unnecessary. So I'm against it on those grounds.
But the rest of the people in that group are annoying, privileged, disgusting people, and I couldn't stand it anymore. Today the top thread had a person complaining about how male and female circumcision are TOTALLY THE SAME YOU GUYZ with only a few "technical" differences. Right. Really. How about you google some images and tell me how "similar" they are. Not to mention that the two are done for totally different reasons. Ugh, I was so disgusted I finally decided to leave the group. I'm still against routine infant circumcision, but I don't want to be associated with them. Absolutely disgusting.No wonder nobody takes them seriously, if they're going to be wailing about little boy penises when women are systematically tortured by the practice of FGM.
What about the MENZlittle boy penises... seriously.