This is a post about racism, feminism, and privilege. You have been warned. ^_^;

Last night I went to a lecture by Peggy McIntosh; many of you probably recognize her as the one who wrote "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," which is usually one of the first essays people learning about racism and privilege tend to read, and one that gets a lot of people thinking about racial issues in ways that are essential in resolving them.  I was surprised when I heard she was coming, since she's very well-known because of that particular essay and her work as a feminist and anti-racist activist -- and just as I expected, the room was packed; there were people who had to sit on the floor or the steps, or stand.  (It wasn't a great venue to begin with, but then again I suspected no one expected that many people to come, LOL XD)  Everyone came out expecting a excellent lecture, and she didn't disappoint.

( Cut for length... )

Ironically enough, I also found a lot of interesting material online regarding racism, sexism, and ableism, which have a lot to do with some of the themes McIntosh touched upon:

Liberal Sexism

When liberals are called out on their sexism, they get defensive, and usually quite offensive in the process. Amanda Hess recently called the Huffington Post on the rampant sexism on their website, providing a number of concrete, elegant, clear examples of sexism in their coverage and sexist content on their website (like the multitude of celebrity wardrobe malfunctions which litter the sidebar). The response? A dismissive comment which totally missed the point of the criticism and attempted to denigrate Hess, while arguing that the issue shouldn’t be “viewed through a political prism.” 

Except that it should be, because conservative and liberal responses to charges of sexism are so different. Conservatives ignore such charges, and occasionally are goaded into making dismissive comments which totally miss the point of the criticism, call the author an uptight bitch, and argue that politics has nothing do with sexism. Liberals respond by marginalizing critics, suggesting that they are stepping out of the liberal lockstep, and that charges of sexism against liberals don’t hold water because, wait for it, liberals can’t be sexist.

[...]

Despite the fact that numerous feminists of all colours (including me) denounced sexist language about Sarah Palin, conservatives (as usual) ignored feminist critiques of sexism, and liberals attacked the feminists because the feminists were calling them out on disgustingly sexist behavior. They defended themselves with charges that people crying foul were being “too PC” and that feminists were saying that no one could even talk about Palin’s gender or looks, when in fact that was not what was going on at all. It’s fascinating to see both conservatives and liberals using “PC” as an insult which is designed to dismiss someone’s point without acknowledging it, addressing it, or implying that the author’s opinions have any kind of value.

[...]

Can we not see that a key part of progressivism should be a commitment to the idea that women should be treated like human beings, not objects for consumption?

( More articles, excellent quotes, and commentary beneath the cut.... )

So yeah, lots of interesting and relevant information that seemed to coalesce all in one day.  Thoughts?

......OK, I need to get dressed and get to work now.  It took me long enough to write this, but it's way more important than reading up on environmental policy theory.  :P