Comments on: Uniting on the War Against Women https://www.mgyerman.com/2012/04/30/uniting-on-the-war-against-women/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=uniting-on-the-war-against-women  Reporting.   Reviewing.   Reflecting. Wed, 27 Dec 2023 19:43:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.4 By: National Organization for Women (NOW) key organizer in Unite Women marches nationwide https://www.mgyerman.com/2012/04/30/uniting-on-the-war-against-women/comment-page-1/#comment-88629 Sat, 05 May 2012 20:48:01 +0000 http://www.mgyerman.com/?p=2467#comment-88629 […] Marcia G. Yerman website […]

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By: MadamaAmbi https://www.mgyerman.com/2012/04/30/uniting-on-the-war-against-women/comment-page-1/#comment-87786 Wed, 02 May 2012 14:33:24 +0000 http://www.mgyerman.com/?p=2467#comment-87786 Marcia–and then what? Where’s the leverage? Where’s the strategy? The test of unity is whether women can organize collectively, implementing strategic leverage.

Longterm, strategic leverage is what the War On Women IS. This explosion of bills turning back women’s rights to the 1800’s or earlier isn’t coincidental–these have been in the planning for decades. See Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism by Michelle Goldberg and Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement by Kathryn Joyce.

Why were we blindsided? What are we doing wrong? Yes, we’re doing something wrong. We need to critique our own movement, our assumptions about what constitutes activism, what worked then and what isn’t working now.

Who will come together to do the really hard work? Getting a good rally together does not a movement make. Where’s the unity when the rally is over? Where’s the think tank? Do we need a think tank? Why are conferences still held in bricks-and-mortar spaces and not online where “the rest of us” can be a part of the movement?

Where’s the plan for united women to use their leverage? Are we brave enough to face our historical divisions and really work together? What will it take for black and white women to work together? We’re seeing a rise of “identity feminism” right now. How do we integrate that? Can we face our class differences and still unite? Will young feminists learn from mature feminists without feeling matronized? Will all feminists do their homework and know what came before? How can we know what we’re up against unless we know the shoulders we stand upon, the chronicity of the problem, the money trail, the religio-economic machines benefiting from the exploitation of women?

Women’s movement–to the extent that it exists–is reactive. I don’t think this works. Women’s movement is now a long list of organizations who plan conferences, hire fundraisers and PR personnel, have glossy blogs, have programs in place, crunch the numbers to satisfy funders and the press. I don’t think this works. People sign petitions or whip up some attention on Facebook and, if you’re lucky, someone on TV will cover it. Does this work? A tremendous amount of people are making careers out of activism and/or “empowering” select populations both in the U.S. and globally–is this a movement? I don’t think this comes from unified strategy.

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