After reading Kevin Powel’s article “Confessions of a
Recovering Misogynist” I initially thought it was nice to see him to own up to
his past mistakes and want to change his ways so much so that he’s confessing
to us. As I continue to read it over and over, something just doesn’t feel
right. It’s like he’s forcing us to feel sorry for him so that we can
appreciate his “progress.” Which I don’t know how to interpret his said
progress; he’s constantly saying “he could easily relapse” or fall back into
his sexist ways. I get that he is human and that as humans we all make
mistakes, but to be a recovering misogynist that means he knows his issues, his
triggers, his influences, etc. so he should be able to overcome the urges to go
back to his old ways, right?
I do appreciate that he brought up several good points about
conformity and peer pressure in school. Growing up, we tend to place our own
expectations of gender into a bubble and then eventually model it around this
fictional character or kid from TV shows, movies, books, etc. or maybe even
someone else in our class or grade or school, and then tell ourselves this is
how we are supposed to be. That is who I am striving to become. He says, “… at
school boys were encouraged to do ‘boy’ things: work and build with our hands,
fight each other, and participate in the most daring activities during our gym
time” (p.56, Powel). Even as we get older, we continue with this mindset to
push ourselves to become better than others or to constantly prove ourselves to
other people we may hang around just for approval, which could lead to
misogynist behavior or homophobia.
No comments:
Post a Comment