Monday, December 6, 2010
Response to 12/7 Readings
After reading the two opening chapters of Enloe's book, I think I really appreciate the later chapters even more. The way she sets up the entire set of essays with describing first her own experience, the lack of natural curiosity in the world and finally the surprise that so many local and global events cause in her mind and in others'. Although people have the tendency to hear bad news and think "Well here we go again...nothing is ever going to change", I agree with what Maria mentioned in her post: that people do not care enough to take action to bring about change largely due to laziness. The system of patriarchy that almost entirely defines our society will not change unless people genuinely try and change it. As Enloe discusses the overwhelming presence of patriarchy, I was reminded of one of our first readings of the semester by Johnson. Enloe describes how important it is to be a curious feminist instead of simply a complacent one, and I believe this idea should apply to everything we do. Maybe many of the issues that have existed in the world for centuries could start be solved by a shift from laziness and ignorance into one of curiosity and action. By asking questions about everything we hear in the news, from friends, from colleagues, we can start to make a difference in how we perceive the world around us and thereby potentially be more effective in our attempts at change.
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I definitely agree with Shannon when she was referencing our potential to change. She brought up the point that just because we complain about a "patriarchal" system it does not mean that we are doing anything about changing it. The only way that we are going to see that change happen is if we have a shift from complacency to action. I also, agree with Shannon about how Enloe's introduction helps me better understand Enloe's views in the later chapters. The introduction helps explain why it is that Enloe feels to adamantly about encouraging change and how her thoughts can be applied to so many different aspects of society (as is evidence in the variety of issues that she addresses in the rest of the book).
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