I tend to be way too literal for my own good. To give a recent example, when I registered for a feminist conference, it never occurred to me that “feminist” would translate into “all-female.” Now I have received the program and was shocked to discover that, save for two token males, there will only be female scholars at the conference.

Because of my literal thinking, I will now end up spending three days in a gender ghetto.

9 responses to “Literal Thinking”

  1. David Gendron Avatar

    So this is a non-mixed conference about feminism, which is different.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar

      If they defined it this way, I would have simply avoided it. I don’t like ghettos in any form.

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  2. el Avatar
    el

    May be more men weren’t interested. What should one do in such a case? Not have a conference at all?

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar

      I’m sure that was the case. And people should have any conferences they wish. I’m not saying it should be canceled, or anything. I’m just saying that I would have preferred to go to a more diverse conference.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        But how can you have a more diverse conference, if men aren’t interested? Were there ever times, in which many men were interested in feminist conferences about voting rights (in the past), workplace discrimination (past and present, unfortunately), etc?

        Hopefully, the conferences did & do contribute something positive to the world. I don’t know since have never visited one, so can only hope. If all women decided they didn’t want to visit (almost) all female places, there would be no many places of activism, exchanging ideas, etc.

        Want to make clear that, of course, you and any private person has a right to visit what s\he wishes. “gender ghetto” sounds very bad, so I wanted to explain the other view, my view, of the situation.

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        1. bloggerclarissa Avatar

          This is a conference on Hispanic literature. There isn’t any political activism involved.

          As we all know from this blog, “mainstream feminists” have no affinity for my ideas. I just can imagine how out of place I will be at that conference. And just when I decided to be sociable at a conference for the very first time ever. This probably means that God doesn’t want me to socialize. 🙂

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  3. Ol. Avatar
    Ol.

    Be sociable at a conference… Brrrrr… My greatest fear. You are probably better at this than I am.

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  4. el Avatar
    el

    Just now read this:
    http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2012/09/26/facebook-and-the-12-year-old-slut-meme/

    Do you think the FB page should be removed?
    What about the two 10-year-old stupid boys, who moderate it?

    And, in general, do you have any thoughts on children and Internet?
    Some commented with stories of the toll online harassment may have on adult’s psyche, let alone that of a child / teen.

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  5. Titfortat Avatar

    At least you can console yourself with the fact that feminism isnt a monolith, I think. 😉

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