Enloe brings up a lot of thought-provoking ideas in the first 2 chapters of The Curious Feminist. She actually explains what it means to be a curious feminist, and why being curious is actually a very advantageous quality. What I found most intriguing was her analysis of how being uncurious is actually something that people in power take into consideration and take advantage of. She says, “I’ve come to think that making and keeping us uncurious must serve somebody’s political purpose”(3). And I agree with that—maintaining uncurious, uninterested people in society is something people in power, want. Patriarchy, for instance, has been overlooked as a major problem for centuries. It’s the “structural and ideological system that perpetuates the privilege of masculinity” (4). Now, when Enloe said this, she made things a much more understandable. She went into detail about how patriarchy as a system is not just made up of men and of the masculine. But society, the public, people in general all serve some purpose in this system. And the battle between men and women continues within it. Why is masculinity privileged? Why, in order to sustain gender hierarchy do you need the “feminized feminine”?
"Seeing patriarchy, even misogyny, is not enough. In each instance we need to know exactly how it works and whether, even if continuing, it has been contested"(18). We can hear so much about what happened at Columbine High School or women getting raped in Bosnia or Kosovo--it isn't just about hearing these stories, these realities. It's about acknowledging them and being curious about them. Asking questions about patriarchy, about misogyny, and why or how it works can lead to eye-opening discoveries. The Curious Feminist must continue to learn and ask these questions so we can continue discovering new ideas and create opinions. If WE don't...who will?
Enloe says that keeping people uncurious must can be a propaganda. Her statement makes me thinking about Adolf Hitler. So I searched his quotes and the results surprised me. Because in just 3 pages of his famous quotes (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/adolf_hitler.html), almost 1/3 of them are about controlling a large group of people by making them deeply believe lies and never question these lies. Because many of the Nazis that followed Hitler and committed crimes during the last century actually were not "curious" about why Hitler made them to commit crimes, they were used by Hitler and killed a lot of lives. It is so obvious that how dreadful incuriosity can be. Therefore, if we do not keep our curiosity, we may be used by others can commit crimes too.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of bringing in Hitler in the conversation is very interesting. While in the political spectrum, Hitler definitely was very effective in his manipulation of information and individuals. During his time, he was actively able to convince people to get behind his cause and hate who he told them to hate. I also think this is indicative of our society that we look for people to blame. Too quick are we to blame a "lesser" group or in our dealings with society deem them impossible to change because they are the status quo.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with what Courtney said about people in power wanting to keep people "uncurious." It is almost as though we are under the assumption that we are content with the systems in place if we do not ask ourselves what the reasons for their existence are. We have been conditioned to not question our authority because otherwise it will cause a disturbance to our society. This reminded me of Meyer's article about women in the military. The women who are assaulted are not encouraged to question or speak up about what is happening to them, in fear that they will dismantle the traditional organization that has been in place in the military. I really liked how Enloe started the "Being Curious about our Lack of Feminist Curiosity" by listing off words that we all are guilty fof having used at one point or another as justification for inequality. Just because something is considered a tradition or is always that way, does not mean that it is right or equal. It is those situations that feminists should be aware or and proactive in combatting.
ReplyDeleteThere has always been the saying: "curiosity killed the cat." And I think that this in a way applies to what Enloe is talking about. Those in power keep the rest of us uncurious. Questions aren't allowed to be asked and we (mainly women) are told to remain silent. I think it's ok to be curious. Isn't that how science and medicine work? Don't people in those fields ask questions and then search and experiment for results? If it's ok in certain fields of study why shouldn't it be ok in everyday life?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Courtney's interpretation of Enloe's readings because we must not become complacent when hearing about these stories of atrocities done to women and the negative affects of masculinity on countries as a whole we must be curious and find out why and how patriarchy is functioning and contest it. The fact that we silence ourselves for fear of being ostracized is a problem that helps fuel patriarchy and we must move past this fear.
ReplyDelete