The following statement was read by members of the Occupy Boston Women’s Caucus during the General Assembly on Saturday, November 18:
We, the women of Occupy Boston, are here to tell you that two months is far too long to have occupied without a feminist perspective.
Downwardly-mobile middle-class white men are finally realizing what women and people of color have known for too long. Capitalism is destructive. Capitalism oppresses and exploits. If you’re not talking about sexism and racism, you’re not talking about economic justice.
“A few bad apples” can’t exist without a community that condones their attitudes and behaviors. Oppressive language and behavior are an effort to limit our participation and silence our voice.
We chose to disrupt the GA because those with privilege have avoided spaces devoted to anti-oppression, when they are the ones who most need to hear this.
As the 99%, we must actively break down the systems which divide us.
Women have historically been the spine of social justice. We are the 52%, without us, revolution is impossible.
61 Responses to “Women’s Statement”
I don’t get it… Womyn are actually over-represented due to the progressive stack. If you want to break down the systems that divide us then stop being sexists and come the GA as humans rather than as womyn
I am not sure we need to eliminate capitalism completely, but it needs to be regulated and involve higher taxes for the 1 percent, the elimination of the Bush taxcuts for the rich, public health insurance options, and more money going into social security and Medicare. The 1 percent need to pay heavy taxes in proportion to their income level.
on November 20th, 2011 at 6:36 am #
[…] from: Womyn’s Statement This entry was posted in Boston and tagged #occupy, attitudes, been-the-spine, boston, […]
Yay! I am a male in full support of this! The return of the feminine in the making of our world is absolutely crucial. To any of my fellow men out there who might feel threatened by this: Do not worry. Step back and let the womyn do their unique and powerful works, and be amazed. You will not regret it.
What really disturbs me about this and about the Occupy Boston movement in general is the lack of people of color. I’m not pointing fingers or blaming anyone, but it makes me uncomfortable. 42 percent of children in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury are living in poverty, which has an enormous impact on their future. I think the best thing that people in Boston can spend their time on at this point is supporting leaders of these communities, NOT by speaking for them, but by listening and making an effort to seek out and include them.
How about we shelve Feminism along side Racism, Jingoism, Chauvinism, Facism etc.. If you must side with an ‘ism’ go with Humanism. The principal everyone is equal and everyone should work for the betterment of all. Putting ourselves in little boxes with labels to support our pet-cause divides us. People divided are easily repressed. No one group’s perspective as any more valid than another. Work together not apart.
While I am supportive of the Womyn’s caucus, I think this statement speaks down to the masses and needs to be rethought. First off, the past two months have not existed without a feminist perspective. I hear it when speaking with friends, individuals I meet at the protests and various others involved with the movement. To say this has not been addressed is untrue. To recognize that it is a dialogue that needs to be brought to the forefront of discussion would be more accurate. Also instantly categorizing white males is completely unnecessary and only plays back into the hands of classism. If there is oppressive language being used in the movement express that more fully because that is something I would be interested in hearing about.
I agree with Erika. Take this as constructive criticism as opposed to lack of support for the working group. But OB should note that there are too many working groups. Tweak the message and there will be less reaction (i.e. add the word Extreme in front of capitalism; get rid of the divisive ‘white males’ and all the ‘isms’ cause yes, we are all human)
“.”
As a working mother, I do believe women’s issues are important to be discussed and brought to light. MATERNITY LEAVE should be standard 6 months. Not two years like in other countries, but not 3 months either. Babies can’t even hold their head and you have to drop them off at daycare for someone else to take care of them. Paternity leave could be be discussed. PROMOTIONS / PAY – Women should be promoted through the ranks of corporations and paid equally to men.
Once you get the group clear on what it is trying to accomplish as related to women’s issues (which we understand best let’s be honest) – then quickly feed your proposals through the proper forums. What is most frustrating about the movement is how fragmented it is becoming that nothing can get accomplished. As someone who is not very patient and totally results focused, well…as a supporter of the movement, I do occasionally have to vent and these blogs is where I provide my constructive criticism.
If you hear my voice as a woman please stay focused on the core message, formulate a quick vision statement and move on to actions.
I personaly believe that the only difference between Males and Females is, One (More or Less), (X or Y) Chromosome.
(From Wikipedia)
Females have two of the same kind of sex chromosome (XX. Males have two distinct sex chromosomes (XY).
P.S. This is not meant to offend anyone……
Wow
I don’t agree with any part of this statement for a variety of reasons. First of all, Occupy is a leaderless movement, you are as involved as you want to be. If you feel like you are on the sidelines of the movement, then you are choosing to be there. I also believe that this statement propagates female sexism implying that women are socially more moral then white men. I always believed that Feminism is the belief that the sexes are equal. One can speak about sexism without glorifying women as the superior sex. Furthermore, I believe that occupy is an extremely feminist friendly movement. In fact I believe that it goes beyond the feminist ideal by creating a space where gender truly does not matter, and that you should only be judged by what you contribute and not based on the genitalia between your legs.
Thank you to all the womyn of Occupy Boston- so proud of what you are doing!
Huh. Didn’t we do this a long time ago? Stay on point people. Corporate greed economic justice.
Did you not read the statement / are you blind? OB should just be renamed “privileged-white-males-too-lazy-to-get-jobs”. You’re a good example of why this “movement” is going nowhere, because you’ll just keep continuing to marginalize the Other, consciously and subconsciously – before, during, and after your “movement”.
Well, I didn’t even consider myself part of this movement before reading your post. I am like the father of this movement though and all the campers are my children. After all I go to work all day to pay for their protection, sanitation and power. I do like to post rants to help guide my kids in the right direction and to stay focused. I’m not sure what you think I’m marginalizing. Can you clarify? Sage, we get it-your behind every protest movement and every hippie fantasy out there. It’s not helping the main occupy message. Yesterday it was build more bridges. Today it’s feminism. Tomorrow it’s save the belugas. Stop muddying the waters with this nonsense
No, we didn’t erase sexism and harassment and abuse of women a long time ago… these things are sadly very durable. Stay on point? I agree about focusing, but there are many important points and important issues. If you hang around the OB camp, heck if you live in the world, you can see every day the abuse and derision of women. It makes me so sad to see, wherever it is, and the last thing that people need when they make a stand against it, is resistance from behind. Come on, this is a movement for economic justice, but we MUST have room for fighting oppression within the movement as well as outside. I fully support and am proud of OB for making this stand.
Feminists rock! We must all unite in solidarity to convert/overthrow the corrupt 1%.
Of course the assumption is that the majority of People With Vaginas (PWVs) actually care what so-called womYn have to say in the first place. Please give an example of a “feminist perspective”… Hillary and Condi, Nancy Pelosi, Thatcher, Ms Bachman and company aren’t the kind of womyn you’re crowing about. They’re of the 1%… so I’m sure you’re not implying that if womYn ruled the world it would be a more pleasant and peaceful place…
In my experience the only womYn who go out of their way to misspell womEn are educated, economically pampered, and privileged. Of course there are some naive souls out there who think that radical feminism is something new. So, please, sketch out what the feminist perspective is…
And fill us all in on what happened at the GA. Not all of us can attend and not all of us know how pernicious the oppression of womYn and minorities has been in OB.
I went to a GA last month and just as many womYn spoke as mEn and I didn’t notice a substantial difference in what each gender put forth. So, please, educate rather than generalize about white men finally getting it…
they interrupted the GA because not enough white guys went to their meetings so they could be blamed for all the evils of the world? we get it already.
Facetious, a parody or true-ish?
For what it’s worth, men are not allowed at their meetings. So it’s not that.
What the hell is ‘Womyn’? I can see it on FoxNews now… “They can’t even spell!”
And they’d be right. That’s idiotic. Spending too much time in the cold and getting brain freeze? You are living in a microcosm of society and you have to CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTS so that the core message goes forward. Get this – It’s not about YOU, it’s not about your camp and it’s not about your ‘right’ to occupy.
You’re starting to turn on youselves, and publicizing your infighting does you no good. You MUST go forward with the focused message about economic injustice and keep the rest of it private.
Capatalism, by the way, is what we have and what we will continue with. Do you women, (I’m not going to use your moronic 1960’s flavor spelling), think that equality would improve under socialism or communism? Ever read Orwell? Have you read a little bit about North Korea? I don’t think you have, or you wouldn’t be saying such things as “Capatilism is destructive, etc.”
Here’s something you should be concerned about…
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/11/19/occupy_wall_street_a_new_target_for_the_banking_lobby.html
Don’t destroy yourself from within, like a cancer. You will never make your little camp a Utopia. Focus on keeping the core message fresh and fighting attacks from without, like this one described in the Slate article above.
they spell it with a y because they can’t make any meaningful impact on the world =(
People are making a space for themselves to form the relationships and associations that THEY want, to passionately devote themselves to discovering and speaking out about what truly matters to THEM. That these women are so able to, and have the space to, articulate what really matters to them, including their views on capitalism, is far more important than the fact that their views differ from your (very narrow) views. The fact that you think Orwell and North Korea are somehow a “case closed” on capitalism is proof that these women need the space they have created for themselves. And what you call cancer?Internal dialogue, open disagreement, holding each other accountable, not being afraid of speaking truth to power, being willing to fight hard to make things better for yourself and your community: these are the antidotes to the cancer which is destroying our society. Why should we start a witch hunt which will make us just as ugly as what we fight?
Zack, you paint a very self-centered picture. Everyone’s really out for themselves and their communities after all… You have confirmed that what people are really after is to attain Power. That’s all it comes down to. For them and their community. Somehow justice is supposed to come out this tangled web of leftist hogwash?
Because I disagree with your flimsy defense of segregating one’s interests, doesn’t mean that I don’t have a clue. There is inequity across the land but it’s not going to be solved by branching off into little militant divisions. The statement above is filled with presumption and seems steeped more in emotion than anything else.
And, don’t be fooled by your own allegiances… you are as ugly as what you fight. That’s why Power is the motivator for so many in OB. That and envy, resentment, and self-righteousness.
Even so, I’m with you guys when it comes to the main message of corporations and their evil influence, etc…
Hurray, Arnie! This is exactly what I am talking about. Passionate, unpretentious, authentic discourse, outside of circus mainstream politics. Of course these women standing up for themselves and what they believe isn’t any more “power hungry” then you trying to do the same above. I see a huge difference between power and empowerment; maybe you don’t, yet.
In any case, this “leftist hogwash,” which is actually people shedding their fear and speaking about their beliefs and their visceral experiences (emotional? of course) is going to spread, and is going to get more impassioned, so get used to it. The days where white men of a certain class are the only ones who get to be mad and get to say what they think are coming to an end. And just so you know, one hallmark of misogyny is dismissing what a woman is saying off an assumption that you know why she is saying it instead of LISTENING to what she is saying.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=womyn
And suppressing marginalized voices in the service of the movement and its all important unity has been a historical tactic for many so-called progressives to ignore racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression. How can they expect the rest of society to rise to the level of reform they demand if they can’t even address it themselves.
I agree. Don’t make us look like idiots by printing the word ‘womyn’ everywhere. If you want to change the language go picket the English dept. But, let’s keep this fight about the real issue: keeping money out of politics.
Paul, I’ve agreed with most of your extremely thoughtful posts in the past. Here, I also agree with your point about the word “capitalism” — I find it counter-productive that it is used in the protest movement so blithely … it’s interpreted in different ways and it’s just a stupid word to toss around like this. Some people mean “I have an idea and I want to start a small business” in which case I support capitalism. Other people mean “a system of massive flows of unaccountable money that controls our world undemocratically” in which case I am against capitalism. So i wish people would get more specific on it.
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On the other topic … I agree there is often a danger of becoming unfocused, but on the other hand, it’s really important for everyone’s voice to be valued, and there is serious sexism at OB as well as in the world at large … I see it every day even with my male eyes and i wince. I don’t know what i don’t see because i am not so tuned in. I am really happy for this statement and this group. We do have dirty laundry, but you know what, we’re washing it the best we can. I am proud of that. I don’t want to hide our faults, but to show that we’re aware of them.
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I agree on the focus, though … we need to keep the focus of the movement on the main points that resonated with people to begin with. In my mind that is real democracy (not a government controlled by money) and the crime of poverty amid plenty.
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I think unrestrained capitalism — like we have in the U.S. — where money == power == control of policy is pretty bad. I also think state control of everything is pretty bad. I like the market as a tool. I also think humans have the ability to think outside the market and agree to solve common problems. Call me a common sensist, maybe.
By the way, I’ve contacted OBmedia before about this and have gotten no response –
How hard would it be to format this discussion page so that when you seperate your thoughts into PARAGRAPHS, it comes out that way after you submit?
I notice that YOUR posts, OBmedia, are in paragraphs, but submitters find their longer comments in one almost unreadable block of text.
Being able to seperate your thoughts and points into PARAGRAPHS is an important thing that we learned about in grade school.
Fix this, please.
I agree … but until then try using a single “.” between paragraphs.
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Like this …
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It works … in the interim … until we have a perfect world 🙂
The “don’t destroy yourself from within” line of reasoning translates into “Shut up about your oppression because we will never reach our goals unless women & other minorities take second place”. You’ve just demonstrated exactly why women need to speak up.
Exactly right. We should not allow ourselves into being scared into silencing each other. No one gets to define the movement.
Wow. These comments really suck ^
I agree Steph. Some have stated that they want OB to stay on point about the corporate greed, but seem to be unwilling to look at how corporate greed has affected, in this case, women. Now that I am a women of a certain age, when I talk to potential employees the question of do I plan to have a family comes up, and with that a host of questions. If I were to have a kid, would I still want to work full time or would I want to be moved into a part time position, in other words how much might I cost them in the future. We should all care about this as it in the very least affects our mothers and our sisters if not our wives/partners and daughters. How can we truly affect change if we ignore the problems set before us be it for all, for women, for race, for veterans, or the disabled. We are all apart of the 99% and should be allowed to voice our concerns and views in a safe place instead of having an onslaught of demeaning remarks. We are all the 99% and shouldn’t expect to agree on everything, or anything, but hopefully we can agree to be kind to each other instead of degrading what we each have to say.
WE KNOW. You keep telling us, but no one ever says anything about these issues we need to pay more attention to, just that we need to pay attention to them. Be kind to me too, even though I’m a white male. I’m getting really sick of being blamed for all the problems of the world. No one ever seems to want equality when it comes to working physically demanding jobs where you have a good chance of becoming permanently injured after doing it for 30 years. No one ever seems to demand equal gender representation on the lists of dead soldiers. We all need to empower each other instead of assigning ourselves to caucuses where, if we are to be honest with ourselves, we’re basically just making excuses to look out for the needs of ourselves or people very much like us while ignoring other things that don’t concern us as much personally.
I didn’t blame you or white males. You seem to be trying to put words in my mouth, and those of others. Yes times are bad for all, and we should have equality for all in all types of jobs, and women have been fighting to be allowed in the arm forces at all levels and ranks. What we need now is to listen respectfully to all sides and how they are affected by the economic crisis and their ideas, even if they are focused on a specific group, on how things could be made better.
i’m listening but i don’t hear anything.
Wow. These comments really suck.
I propose OB recruit hot chicks. Maybe even some volunteer go go dancers for additional entertainment at the drum circles. This will bolster morale and get more media attention. Centerfolds is down the street I’m sure that industry is impacted by the economy as well. We should see if they would like join.
Oh yeah if I hear another mic check I may projectile vomit.
Here, knock yourself out LOL
Another Mic-Check – on Karl Rove:
http://www.baltimorebrew.com/2011/11/16/video-occupy-baltimore-mic-checks-karl-rove-during-johns-hopkins-speech/
Well played sir.
m’am
I really wanted you to ‘projectile vomit’ – you deserve it…
And just to clarify Yo – you ‘deserve’ it for the go go dancer, centerfold, hot chicks comments, but – as a woman, I still agree with Paul, Arnie and even Yo on the need to focus. As Yo says ” It’s not helping the main occupy message. Yesterday it was build more bridges. Today it’s feminism. Tomorrow it’s save the belugas. Stop muddying the waters …” — so yes, everyone has a point, just a funny way to express it.
Got it.
Yeah…there are a bunch of useless “working groups” at OB…and that’s what really sucks, not the comments above Steph. Arnie and Paul are supporters it seams when it comes to as Arnie said “I’m with you guys when it comes to the main message of corporations and their evil influence”
How about an Actions Working Group to stand for something, to do something related to what people initially got behind this movement about. I hate to see this main message get diluted with a bunch of blah blah. Capitalism is destructive (jeez!)
Here is something to pass at the GA – have ALL working groups stay on point and express a point of view that the masses, the 99% can embrace – stay away from radical views like the capitalism is destructive, keep on promoting this as a nonpartisan, nonviolent movement, and stay on point with the message of fighting against corporate greed and getting money out of politics.
The sad part is that I am posting here AND on the working group lists and NO ONE IS LISTENING , hello, mic-check ?
By the way, anyone know anything about who is running this petition ?
Money out of politics:
ARTICLE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/30/lobbying-dc-lobbyists_n_744878.html
ACTION – Sign petition here:
http://www.getmoneyout.com/
The commentary I am seeing here fucking disgusts me not only as a man trying to overcome the patriarchy and white privilege that has favored me in the pass, but also as a human being. With such thought patterns as you reflect through your posts, this shows me that this movement doesn’t give a shit about changing anything. Rather, it shows me that all this movement is accomplishing is bullshit neoliberal reform with no actual change. But don’t listen to me because I’m a man saying all this, I ask that you hear me out as a fellow human animal. Let these womyn speak for themselves, they’ll do it better than I ever will. P.S. Study up on cis-sexism.
*past
Don’t be disgusted and quick to react. I truly think that people are reacting to just a couple of sentences here…
If they only dropped this part “Capitalism is destructive. Capitalism oppresses and exploits.” — all would have been good. OR maybe re-worded as “Extreme capitalism”…is destructive (aka extreme greed)
I am a woman. One who once lived under communism. If one of the areas of focus of this working group will be to seek equality for women in corporate America so that women can climb the corporate ladders as quick as men do and that women are paid the same as men for performing the same job (yes, that discrepancy still exists) – then SIGN ME UP…
All working groups should FOCUS on the CORE MESSAGE and the fight against extreme corporate greed. There has to be a common thread among all working groups.
Don’t be discouraged! Shitty thought patterns or no, revolutionary activity is afoot. Of course the most threatened by this mic check will flock to this page, but there is room for everyone, even the hateful, in this movement…there has to be.
I am so glad for this statement. I don’t really get the 2nd paragraph but that could be my failing, as well as it could be that it doesn’t make much sense. But the rest of it .. I have seen and heard so much sexism, derision of women, objectification of women, loss of women’s voices, men talking to men while women look on after their words are ignored, women assigned by default or by assumption to the “clerical” and “housekeeping” roles, while men debate the “big ideas” … so much of that going on… though there are also a lot of very strong women’s voices, and there are a lot of men who i see valuing women as equals … there are many signs of hope amid the signs of our failures. We have dirty laundry and i am happy we’re getting it in the open and doing our laundry.. and hopefully we will not leave it up to the women to do all the laundry, so to speak … a movement united is stronger … i notice the slow attrition of women in camp … there are many strong women’s voices but some fall away probably in part due to the sexism, especially in the day to day camp living.
If a “feminist perspective” means that women should be listened to and taken seriously, then I’m a feminist, and hopefully we’re all feminists.
Well, one thing that I’m happy with is that you’ve censored yourselves by changing the spelling of womYn to womEn. Now if you can just iron out your ire, that would be even better. The statement seems to condemn People With Penises (PWPs) and focuses on White PWPs in particular. Is it possible that Black PWPs cannot be sexist? Or aren’t sexist? (Can anyone say “Bitch”?) And why are most of the People With Vaginas (PWVs) white? What does this say? That the so-called 52% are supremely white?
Please note that the statement is more comical and dated than thought provoking or challenging… It only elucidates the fact that Occupy is pre-occupied with itself.
As mentioned:
If a “feminist perspective” means that women should be listened to and taken seriously, then I’m a feminist, and hopefully we’re all feminists.
Give ma a break. I was the only one to speak out questioning the so-called General Assembly’s ruling to kick out and excommunicate a woman.
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https://www.occupyboston.org/2011/11/03/paul-fetch-carnes-sydney-sherell-banned/
“We chose to disrupt the GA”? So these people disrupted the General Assembly? Who about those who are so intimidated by the whole General Assembly situation they won’t even speak in turn there? What about standing in defense of those of us who are feminine? I don’t blame anyone but myself for my timidity but I don’t even like to be on that end of the camp when these public meetings are going on. I am sure I am not the only one. Why can’t we at least acknowledge this problem?
This anonymous internet posting is so unhelpful I wish we would just do away with it. 95% of the comments here are just mean-spirited and do nothing to enhance our movement. A civil dialogue about the women’s statement would be energizing; this comment thread is just demoralizing. Isn’t this whole thing about respecting humanity more than money? How is that ever going to happen when we don’t respect each other’s humanity?
Thoughtful questioning is productive. Posting obnoxious comments is not.
Respectfully, and not anonymously,
Maureen White
This anonymous internet posting is so unhelpful I wish we would just do away with it. 95% of the comments here are just mean-spirited and do nothing to enhance our movement. A civil dialogue about the women’s statement would be energizing; this comment thread is just demoralizing. Isn’t this whole thing about respecting humanity more than money? How is that ever going to happen when we don’t respect each other’s humanity?
Thoughtful questioning is productive. Posting obnoxious comments is not.
Respectfully, and not anonymously,
Maureen White
PS- If you think talking about feminism is not related to wealth inequality, please research the feminization of poverty.
The thing is that if we don’t fix the economy, both the government and the people are paralyzed – unable to help invest the funds necessary towards important human issues. All I am saying is focus, fix the economy, get money out of politics so that the voices of the people are heard. If the economy improves and the system changes so the voice of the people rather than the voice of corporations is heard (STEP 1) , then…we can fund a lot of the programs that we all want to see funded. How much disposable income do you have in this “Great Stagnation” where our wealth/incomes are stagnant – how much money are you able to devote to causes that help women in poverty, sexual exploitation, abused , battery or any cause of your choice related to the human side. I hate to break it to you but we have to have a strong economy and a socially responsible country which allows for socially responsible programs. I say focus to fix our political system and our economy, and the rest WILL come. Why? Because only when the political system is changed will our voices be heard so that our politicians implement policies that are important to us. Don’t you see my point? Being against capitalism is point blank wrong. What’s the alternative? This is what the people on this thread are responding to.
Does this always have to boil down to men arguing with each other about how worthless or evil women are?
Yes, we should remain focused on the economics but …. don’t lose sight of the fact that women are at the bottom of the economic heap the world over, despite doing most of the world’s work. Still they own only 10% of the world’s resources. You can’t argue with the United Nations figures which were mostly compiled by men.
The Feminists are DESTROYING the Movement. I thought we were about equality. No ISM is EVER about equality.