men bad, women good / women good, men bad, and other flawed arguments reinforcing partriarcy

In my opinion, the problem with Elaine's statement that "Women Have Always Stood for Peace" is that it simplifies the destructive powers of partriarchy into a "Women good" and "Men bad" gloss-over. It's one of the problems I have with the label of feminism and the cloudbursts of meanings and understandings attached to that word.

The truth is that men suffer just as much under partriarchy as women do.. Their kind of suffering is different. But not of less value. Not less in pain or consequences. Men and women pay for patriarchy with their souls, often with their lives.

And Matriarchy is no better. Get that idea right out of your head.

It's the "Archy" that's the problem. Not the mater or pater.

I generally shy away from gender discussions because there are so many more layers to humans than gender. I like to write *from* the place of being a woman/mother/40-something/writer, but not so much *about* that place. That I'm a women informs my voice, but it doesn't have to be my primary utterance.

Funny, huh? Me, the one with the big idea to start a women's weblog saying that she has problems focusing on gender?

Well not really. I never intended this blog to be a women's issues blog. It's cool that it has become mostly that. This blog is whatever its members want it to be. The life of the team weblog is fluid, this I know from experience. It winds its way through many voices over time, it's tenor rises and falls, sometimes it's all jokes, sometimes it's all serious.

The important thing for me was having a place where women could voice *anything* at all. Pets, sex, kids, jobs, dreams, fantasies, realities, and more. Not just writing about women, but writing from that place of being you, you who happens to be a woman.

I've been wanting to come on here for some time to shake things up. And I will have more time to do just that now that I don't have a job. And just for the record, I feel lucky that at least under patriarchy I'm not expected to want to be a CEO. Can't think of a worse job in the world!

Hey, there's one bonus!

more later...