First, a political outworking of what I am sharing here feels secondary to the task at hand, which is to distil a worldview that places greater value on people than on ideology.
And second, I'm more comfortable with the part of the process that says 'this is where I stand and why' than I am with the part that says 'now let me tell you why I am right and you are wrong.'
The language of patriarchy tends to play that very same zero-sum game - 'if you win, I lose. Therefore I must win before you defeat me. And not only that, if I force you to fight and compete with me then I have won anyway because I have forced you to accept the language of violence.'
Fuck that for a game of soldiers. Now let's move on.
So, following yesterday's post my second foundational ethical principle is where I get a teensy-weensy bit theological with your collective asses. And that is to share my view that we all - by virtue of our humanity - contain and reflect something of God. Bear with me here, because starting from this place has profound implications for the way we treat each other.
If all men and women share two characteristics above all - our humanity and our essence in God - then the biological and cultural gender differences that can be debated forever are subordinate at a fundamental level.
In considering gender in this way I seek to avoid prescriptive labels for both men and women - while still understanding that differences can exist for any number of reasons. Some of those reasons will be explored here in the coming days and weeks.
To conclude for today, I appreciate that the last two posts have been rather esoteric so tomorrow I will change gears and discuss why feminism is indispensable if we want progress for both women and men.
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