Comment

Comment by Kristin Rafferty on February 27, 2012 at 12:07pm

You know Britt, that's what one of my best friends (another female) said after I mentioned this whole story to her on the phone last night.  I do not think any sexism was ever overt or on purpose, but like you said; if others came forward to me, then this is not a one person issue.  I was flattered and humbled to click on the livestream and by HAPPENSTANCE see myself and a wonderful woman I know from the movement on camera, but clearly that doesn't resolve EVERYTHING, such as wondering why for example a particular event (what turned out to be a Mic Check at the Capitol) was never publicized on any official website (had to rely on two friends; one to his credit is a male and said something on Twitter, the other is another female who mentioned things informally on Facebook; I in turn copied, pasted, and credited content on my own PERSONAL blog so as to have a link to tweet out to the Twitterverse) and that is kind of sad that in order to have a link to use to tweet out content, I had to utilize my own blog.  That is fine, I don't mind doing that, but because my blog is of course NOT an "official" Occupy link, I feel a tad strange having to use a personal blog (with a lot of editorial as opposed to AP Style writing for content) to be the sole source of information for an Occupy event.  I do not have admin/editing access to any official Occupy sites and am totally FINE with that, but I do think that issue needs to be addressed.  Either people who initially planned this event/action have no posting access (or perhaps are uncomfortable with computers or perhaps had no time/ability to do so); or they were unable to get in touch with those who do have such access; or perhaps there is a need to allow a couple other individuals such access.  Like I said, I by NO means need to be said individual, but SOMEONE does or if not SOMEONE needs to be more available to say, "Email/Call me anytime you need xyz posted to the site and I will need xyz amount of time to post this content to the site in order to proof for AP Style Guidelines and have our press release team proofread it."  <= If that's the case, GREAT!  I just don't know.

Comment by Britt Hysen on February 27, 2012 at 11:03am

That's so crazy that you would turn on the stream right as they were airing you!!! The universe delivering an answer ... but if other women were agreeing with your argument then it's probably not a dead case and might exist a lot more than we both think. 

Comment by Kristin Rafferty on February 26, 2012 at 5:11pm

LOL!  Despite my comments about "sexism", I was looking through stuff, happened to click on www.livestream.com/occupymn (well, actually I clicked on www.occupyminneapolis.mn first) and WHOA...there I am (and friend LIZ) lecturing at my dad's Occupy themed class.  Okay.  So much for THAT rant on sexism.  Hmm.

Comment by Kristin Rafferty on February 26, 2012 at 2:18pm

Britt...woops.  Part of my comment got cut off.  Though if you're curious, I wrote many SIMILAR things in my follow up comments to someone named "AnonFemale" in my original blog.

Comment by Kristin Rafferty on February 26, 2012 at 2:10pm

Thanks so much Britt for your comments.  I am so sorry you had such an experience with such a rude individual.  I am sure this individual had reasons for having such an opinion, but obviously the response to you could have been crafted in a kinder and more adult manner.  As one who is part of the Occupy movement, my only guess with why you received the response you received is that there are some in the movement uber paranoid about co-opting.  (I will have to write more about co-opting and plants and infiltrators in a future blog...LOL!)  I really doubt YOUR intention was to "co-opt" the movement, but my intuition is saying that MIGHT be why you got the response you did.  A better way to respond would be for this person to CALMLY explain why although she thought in theory it was a great idea, PERHAPS there would be a different approach that might line up more with Occupy.  Again, I am not her, so I do not know, but this is just a hunch.  

I would say any sexism I have felt/witnessed PERSONALLY is more subtle as opposed to overt, and likely not even intentional.  I absolutely adore most of my fellow Occupiers; male AND female.  However, subtle or perhaps I should say "systemic" sexism does seem to happen in this movement.  I wondered if it was JUST me, but I am getting responses from other women that are reinforcing it might NOT be "just me" wondering these things.  I am sad to hear for example about at least one such woman in my area who LEFT the movement COMPLETELY due to such issues.  

I am really fortunate to have the parents I have to bounce these ideas off of.  First of all, my parents are COMPLETELY in support of and in solidarity with Occupy.  They have not had the opportunity to be AS involved as I have, but they sure try.  Both of my parents have made in person appearances to Occupy.  My dad more so than my mom, mostly because my mom has a back even worse than mine (I know, so pathetic a youngin' like me has a crappy back...LOL) and could only stay for so long.  My dad early on did things like showed up with a suit and tie and U.S. Constitution to LOBBY with the PEOPLE against the Hennepin County Commissioners regarding tents/heat/etc.  (Unfortunately our Occupy lost and ALL 7 County Commissioners voted AGAINST us, but we tried, and my dad was part of that.)  My dad also teaches a Public Policy On Aging course (my mom teaches the same type of coursework) and on TUESDAY, I brought in a team of fellow Occupiers (self included) to give a guest lecture on the topic of Occupy.  It was great!  (My mom sat in on the class and asked some interesting thought provoking questions.)  The other thing however, is that both of my parents lived through and were a part of the LAST movement.  YEARS before THIS movement EVER started, my mom always told me stories about how although that movement was so very important, there WAS sexism.  I heard stories about how most of the leaders of the last movement WERE men, while the women were expected to do the NOT glamorous work such as making coffee or boring "secretarial" type work.  I always figured this was simply part of the TIMES then; sort of like the television show Mad Men.

I do believe this movement has much LESS sexism than the LAST movement, but I can't deny it exists on some level.  One AnonFemale commented on my original WordPress blog (link contained above) and I had a very long winded response.  I think it's SYSTEMIC perhaps.  As in women face sometimes different challenges THAN men do.  If we're single and lacking in a vehicle, we must worry perhaps about RELIABLE and SAFE transportation.  Obviously some women live closer to certain meeting sites and consequently don't have to worry so much.  Perhaps other women happen to have a car, but still safety might be an issue.  This lovely young woman who was on our Livestream a lot often talked about being frustrated for example that the Minneapolis Police would randomly drop OFF (sometimes drunk) homeless peopl

Comment by Britt Hysen on February 26, 2012 at 12:05pm

I'm also very happy you brought this our attention. I would have had no idea there was sexism in the Occupy movement. Seems a little hypocritical provided that they are trying to unite everyone. Did you have a personal experience that made you realize sexism existed? Were your points of view squelched in public or just online? I find this to be a very interesting issue.

I actually covered Occupy LA's first week celebration and found no signs of direct sexism, however, I witnessed many male speaker, and I only found 2 women willing to go on camera to state their views. I also became very discouraged with Occupy a few days later when I went back to follow up on the positive experience I had that first weekend. I had this brilliant idea of turning Occupy LA into an Occupy Your Heart movement that would create a donation facilitation system for community rebuilding. I thought "how powerful and amazing would it be if every day or week Occupy helped a different charity in their community and made their location the drop off center for city residents to bring their donations to then be facilitated out by the Occupiers."

I decided to propose this idea to Marianne Williamson, a motivational speaker and Occupy LA influencer. After unveiling this idea to her, she became very cold and sharply insisted, "This isn't about helping private organizations, it's about fighting social injustice." At that point, I lost all respect and support for the movement. 

How do you feel about this!? Especially because it came from a woman. 

Comment by Kristin Rafferty on February 26, 2012 at 11:34am

Thank you Marni!  I do also want feedback from other women (young, old, doesn't matter) on this issue.  If you are currently part of Occupy, if you were part of the last movement, or both.  Even if you disagree with me, I'd enjoy hearing that too.  If anything, I would love to be proven WRONG.  I simply wrote that original blog entry and started getting responses to it.  That is why I felt compelled to bring it up here as well.  Thank you Marni for your comments and for what you do on this site.

Comment by Marni E. Goldberg on February 26, 2012 at 11:30am

Not digging hearing this...we should be WAY past sexism in our generation. Please keep this string going, Kristin. We are not afraid of discussions here at Gen Y Hub. As a matter of fact, we actually like bringing attention to issues commonly swept under the rug. Don't let up. Don't be anonymous, ladies. Speak up. Let your voices be heard. It's a new dawn and a new day.