now i have been considering the differences in gender roles as constructed by my own society and this one since my ass got here, and actually quite a bit before that since i have long been of the opinion that things just look different from the outside...just as corseted short of breath british bitches liked to talk shit about the inhumanity of womens treatment in the east, where harem inhabiting no men alone with being muslim women were shocked to discover that women were expected to be continually undergoing some form of garment torture and in the company of other women and men...
all im sayin is its easier to criticize from the outside and i personally think that a loud critique of machismo masks a hidden rascism...
that our shit is just as bad in some ways or worse, better in others...
that cultures are like people, there are areas in which they got some major growing up to do and areas where they hella advanced...
that said...initially i found that the most difficult thing about being here is that this culture lacks some of the advances in conprehension of gender, gender roles as they are constructed by society, the posibilities of queer and genderqueer culture that i take for granted in the bay area, along with the understanding of women somewhat common to my country, as people, not necesarily people who are ruled by thier biological gender in terms of opportunities and desires...
heres what..in this country women gained the vote in 1949. the work force is about 30% women despite the fact that women actually outnumber men in the universities...up until last year there was nothing legal that resembled divorce...and there continues to be no legal abortion...
women are not treated like men, they are treated differently, like...well like this societys conception of women...
women my age in general dress hella femme, outnumber guys in schools but usually study humanities..seem pretty independant and outspoken but seem to take gender roles for granted in certain senses...they seem accostomed to being addressed and treated differently...
heres what.
dudes be hella hollering up in here, i mentioned this yes? that every man who sees me feels pretty free to openly stare and/or comment...the difference is that its pretty respectful...i mean generally they whistling, they might be like like i love you or marry me or ay mi hijita o oye muñeca o moreno o que rica or they might just make kissy sounds...heres my point, its obviously a certain kind of dude who will yell at you on the street right? and here its seemingly much more common...but they dont really say violent or even overtly sexual stuff...
and then theres the continual elbow holding door opening drink foya pouring seat on the bus giving that goes on all the fuckin time...
even in a gay club gay men make room for me to get by cause im a chick...
you can imagine how much this confuses me...now add that i kinda dig that girls wear a lotta skirts and i personally like to do so as well and its hot as fuck so you have some kind of hyperfemenine rach happening here and then folks be waiting for me to walk through doors first and putting me into cabs and buses and buying my drinks and its just oughtta control...
and then theres this genuine feeling of respect for women, dudes here seem to actually like women...my theory is that this part can be traced to religion...
i feel like even though theres some crazy misogynism inherent in all aspects of christianity, catholicism has always been a little more influenced by and for idigenous beliefs and has mantained a tiny tiny goddess aspect in the form of mary, i mean yeah shes only ok cause she gods mother and a virgin, which is a pretty tall order...chicks are cool, like if they the mother of god and a virgin...still, she more than cool...they love some mary..
now consider the crazy repressed woman equALS sin puritan freaks who settled our country...heres the deal, the most machisto sexist freak i could meet here would have nothing on actually hating women like they got back home...yeah hed be convinced that her mission in life is poppin out puppies and whatnot but as for considering her very substance vile? nope you gotta hit the good ole u s of a for some real misogyistic action...
so heres the deal right off the bat i noticed that i had been defined by this culture as a young woman and that this meant certain things like how i was to be treated and whatever...and that unlike in the bay area i never get to take a break, i can never be a boy here..never...
but i also started to notice that they dont have that underlying violence and hatred that permeates american machismo in my opinion...that i am always a woman here but thats a pretty cool thing to be...
next week my thoughts on sex and the catholics...stay tuned..
