Power Discussion - Men vs Women
All this discussion about men and women and power has raised lots of hackles as well as interesting points. I think this primary season has really brought the concept of power to the forefront and many people do not even realize it. The following excerpt is very explicit:
I think that there is substantial misogyny in the MSM, in the Right Wing, and every where you can find a group of people. I also think that to limit the focus to "wo/man hating" is to miss what really happens at the inter-personal level. Social constructs are a two-way street and require both parties to accept the valuation derived therein.
Hence the term: Shake it off.
Power is not something limited to power-hungry individuals or organizations; it is part of every social interaction where people have the capacity to influence one another's states, which is really every moment of life. Claims that power is simply a product of male biology miss the degree to which women have obtained and wielded power in many social situations. In fact, studies I've conducted find that people grant power to women as readily as men, and in informal social hierarchies, women achieve similar levels of power as men.You see power played out all day long in the comments section of blogs. I think you also see the success of Obama's ground game as a demonstration of power - individuals motivated to actuate their own power in the name of hope.So power is not something we should (or can) avoid, nor is it something that necessarily involves domination and submission. We are negotiating power every waking instant of our social lives (and in our dreams as well, Freud argued). When we seek equality, we are seeking an effective balance of power, not the absence of power. We use it to win consent and social cohesion, not just compliance. To be human is to be immersed in power dynamics.
I think that there is substantial misogyny in the MSM, in the Right Wing, and every where you can find a group of people. I also think that to limit the focus to "wo/man hating" is to miss what really happens at the inter-personal level. Social constructs are a two-way street and require both parties to accept the valuation derived therein.
Hence the term: Shake it off.
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Women do have great personal power, and I think both your quote and your argument have merit. But women don't always have much institutional power (for instance, where they can control the happenings of institutions such as government and private companies) and certainly not much structural power (for instance, where they are economically equal across the board, in pay and in all other economically-measured ways, with men).
So it's not so much about having power as it is about having certain KINDS of power. And we all know that different kinds can yield different levels of control and influnece.
February 25, 2008 8:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
A big part of me believes (to paraphrase KRS One) do not just say, one day I will be the CEO, rather be the CEO.
Obviously there is always a path to actualization, but every step along the way has to be taken under that impression. This drives everything I do, from father to worker. Is my success because I am a male?
It is not a presumptive thing either, rather a confidence. Hillary had that confidence (some call it presumptive) but she did not plan her long term path very well. The real lesson from Kerry, Gore, Edwards, and Clinton, is that you have to ride the news cycle like never before. Each step, each drop of sweat, will be scoured for the Hook. Ratings, ad revenue, etc. It is the plight of 24hr media. Baggage echoes like a cannon if you do not catch it in time. A slip of the lip (the more juicy the better) can haunt you if not volleyed just right.
I did not finish the article yet, but I think it is actually saying that all power is boiled down to the same thing. The grander picture of institutional power structures is an accumulation of the micro-power relationships (we only really have time to interact (moderately intimately) with approximately 50 people on a regular basis (no link) Any non-resistance to the larger power structures perpetuates them.
One could easily argue that subset X is not proportionally represented, but the system draws a limited selection of participants, so your results will be skewed by personality type rather than gender or color (ahem - that would be a perfect world mind you).
While I fully agree that there is much work to do in the fight against bigotry and ignorance, the time has come for all of us to say Yes I Can to whatever challenge/desire/dream we face, and go forth as if what they really mean is Yes I Will.
February 27, 2008 2:40 AM | Reply | Permalink