You don't have to know the cause to feel the effects...

On a post of Ragnell's a few days ago, she makes a point that gets an interesting response in her comment section. This is what she says re: sexism in comics:

"And if you are saying "Its always been this way," you're being an ass. If that's true, then how did all of these people who are so "easily offended" by the "natural state of comics" ever get to the point of being regular fans?"

The interesting response is by "Monroe" here:

Because they started as kids and most kids don't give a shit about feminism or even know what it is?

Now, I'm going to hazard a guess, just a guess mind you, that this Monroe person is male. I may well be wrong about this, I admit now.

Okay, I can't speak for all women, because I know we all have different experiences, but me personally, as a girl growing up, I was NEVER not aware of sexism or feminism.

I didn't know the names or the concepts of course. I wouldn't have been able to tell you who Betty Friedan was or understand why the heck someone would burn their bra, I didn't know about privilege or glass ceilings or sexual harassment.

But I knew that girls were different than boys. But more than that, I knew that girls were treated differently than boys. I noticed that while I could play Ninja Turtles or He-Man or Thundercats with my male next-door neighbors at home, none of them wanted to be seen playing with a girl like that at school.

I noticed my mother, herself a very feminist woman, frown when I'd be more interested in climbing a jungle-gym, chasing kids with sticks than in playing house. I remember the odd looks my father got when he brought his eight year old daughter to computer club meetings and let her play Hillsfar on his Tandy while they talked about whatever it was they talked about.

Now, some of that might have been more obvious to me because I had generally more "boyish" interests. I did like dolls and girly cartoons too. But I was happiest with "boys' stuff" and seeing the girls fight alongside the men.

And I noticed when the girl was always the one in trouble. I noticed when the girl was the one who always fainted and had to be carried. And you better believe I noticed when the girl was only interested in clothes or hair or boys, when all the male characters had their own pursuits.

I noticed the Pink Ranger's skirt-thing and her shallow dialogue. I noticed that there was no female Ninja Turtle (on the cartoon, at the time), I noticed that talking Barbie never said anything INTERESTING.

I noticed that Troi was the only crewman of the Enterprise not in a uniform and that all of her outside interests could be summed up by the word: Chocolate. I noticed that Dr. Crusher never got to do much of anything besides have romantic tension with Picard or be Wesley's mom.

I noticed that Jesse Spano was treated as a neurotic freak for caring about grades, when Kelly Kapowski and Lisa Turtle got into shopping and dating mishaps. And a lot of the time, only the guys got to do all the fun schemes. Believe me I noticed when two of the girls weren't there anymore, replaced by some new hot girl for Zack to lust after and NO ONE SAID ANYTHING about it.

I noticed these things. I cared about these things. They made me angry, defiant, ashamed, without ever really understanding why. And I noticed that none of the neighborhood boys I played with ever had a clue.

Now again, I have no idea if other girls' experiences matched with mine. I know my interests were fairly atypical for my gender. But I bet you ten to one they noticed SOMETHING. Boys being called on more in class, booksmarts and boyfriends treated as constantly irreconciliable forces, being told to act ladylike when in the middle of a mild argument, while the boys across the room are practically fist-fighting...

I'd imagine that we all have some sort of experience in this matter. For that matter, I would not be surprised if the men out there have their own experiences relating to gender issues that are very relevant to the discussion, but I don't know, not being male. I do know however, that I do not remember a time when I wasn't at least somewhat aware of sexism or feminism, even if it would be a long time before I'd ever heard the word.

You don't have to know the medical terminology for an injury to know that you hurt.