JBrown72073 at cs.com wrote:I "In my women's liberation group we sometimes use the term 'prison guard' for women who are pushing / enforcing perfect female behavior on other women. That is, they don't run the prison of male supremacy but they're doing the bidding of those who do--telling other women to calm down, be nice, shut up, wear makeup, tone down, be genteel, don't strive, whatever it is (or firing them, ratting them out, etc.) Their actions have power because they have the weight of male supremacy behind them, so it's not just one woman criticizing another. And it's an extra mindfuck because they're women so, as you point out, our expectations are higher. 'Sexism' doesn't quite capture it, you know?
If "sexism" implies an act of oppression consciously perpetrated by a male against a female, then sure: "'sexism' doesn't quite cover what women do to eachother."
To me 'sexism' is the cultural poison precipitate that affects all (men's/women's) perception of women and men. Having brought up a boy, I can witness that 'sexism' distorts the development of males as much as that of females. The only difference is that it starts much earlier with males.
To the degree that we remain unconscious, we carry forward all the sexism and racism of the society that has shaped us whether we are male or female, white or black.
Joanna
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