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Feminism for EveryoneOne of the main problems with feminism is that most people, even feminists themselves, assume that it's a concept that only applies to women's equality. Instead, gender based inequality affects all of us and, consequently, is an issue that we all should champion. I don't agree with all of the points of the following article; however, I think its important to remember that not all men should be painted with the same broad brush.
I come from a family full of strong, smart, bad a** and frankly scary women who are completely unafraid to own their power. I was raised to understand that we must all keep adding up or tearing down until the playing field is level. Most of all, I was taught that we're all in this together and, even though life is not fair, we have an obligation to help one another. This means using your privilege to extinguish it. Our culture is rife with examples of the dehumanization of women by men, but the response should not be a corresponding dehumanization of men. Instead, we should work together to change what being human means.
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Music’s Power Explained: How you listen may determine your mental health
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How to Tell Whether You've Got Angst, Ennui, or Weltschmerz BY ARIKA OKRENT
I'm not a child. You're the child! ~Jaedon, the child |
The Whole Teen ThingOne of the hardest bit of writing I have ever done was in developmental psychology. I am a big fan of Piaget, despite his limitations, and we were assigned the task of writing a profile of someone based on a developmental theory. I decided, numskull that I am, to write about myself. "How hard can it be?" I asked myself. Besides, my professor told me that no one in his classes had ever done it before. Well, that was just like waving a red flag in a bull's face. I was all in. I like to think of myself as a uniquely complex person, but what I discovered is that I fit my developmental phase. Piaget could have been writing about me when he wrote about the formal operational stage. I didn't like it. Not one bit. You see, my parents are always telling me about how eventually I will come to grips with all of my ponderings, and that this is a normal part of teenage development. They say my interpersonal struggles are "drama" and insist that one day it won't be important to me. Now, I'm not going to go so far as to say they're right, but Piaget seems to agree with them.
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Gender, Romanticism, Sexuality and Occam's Razor
In spite of the fact that most individuals think of themselves as incredibly complex, there is a tendency to view humanity as a whole in very simple terms: good vs evil, male vs female, black vs, white. Nevertheless, in spite of the general desire to reduce life and human identity to a binary, the truth is that even the shades of gray have shades of gray. I grew up believing that people came in three sexual orientation "flavors": homosexual, heterosexual, and bisexual. I have recently discovered that the world is a lot more complex than I thought it was. I've been able to meet a lot of UU kids and online friends who, fortunately, helped to complicate my viewpoint. I think that inclusivity is important, but is there a point where, in an attempt to include every difference, we make the categories of difference meaningless? How do we balance simple truths against complex realities?
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Romantic OrientationsAlloromantic: someone who experiences romantic attraction in a consistent, predictable, and regular way.
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In the final analysis, the principle of Occam's razor assumes a logical, linear simplicity to the world which may not line up with the complexity of human identity and desire. On the other hand, too much complexity can render the categories meaningless. The tension lies in the difference between self and group identification. I think I would like to know more about social and cultural identity in order to figure out how groups decide to self-identify vs individuals. What kinds of processes determine the size and composition of a group?
“The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanation of complex facts. We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest. The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be “Seek simplicity and distrust it.” – Alfred North Whitehead
