On moderation and the middle(wo)man [View all]

[kjones]

I'm the first to admit that, given only the description "liberal," most of my positions and beliefs aren't
too hard to figure out even if you don't know me. Still, there are always some things I feel pretty moderate
and "in the middle" on. All this gender business is one of them.

I feel quite a way away from either those throwing things from either side of a fence or those who
simply choose to tune the whole thing out. (Everywhere, I mean, beyond DU and by which I mean,
real life). I find myself very extremely...in the middle. I absolutely want what is best for both sides.
Things which, by the way, I do not think are mutually exclusive. I get about equally confused and
annoyed by the to the bone, to hell with women misogynist as I do with the condescension of the
phrase "not a zero sum game" followed by reasons why complaints are invalid. But lets be serious,
neither of these two people are really that common. Most people are somewhere in the middle, and
most people can see that both sides of the fence could be a lot greener if we'd get to tearing down
fences instead of tearing down each other.

In a world that tends a lot more towards towering bell curves, we seem all too eager to divide into camp,
invert everything, and lob shit at each other over a canyon.
I guess my point is that, in this case, the middle isn't a very pleasant place to be and it really
doesn't matter where you stand, because it's raining shit and you're going to get hit.

In the context of the "two camp" gender manure, and as a man, I'm faced with being identified
(falsely, and the same with many others) as some sort of misogynist pro-rapist, or being faced with
conceding that, while I can be a useful ally, I don't actually have any serious cultural problems facing
me because of my identity (or worse, being labeled some kind of "white knight&quot . Well, let me tell you,
I'm a white, male, and I'm still seeing a few problems, and all the other facets of my identity have some
problems as well. Nonetheless, I can see a lot of other peoples' problems too (even people quite
unlike myself), and yes, I do care.

Because, to pull out and put to good use that old phrase, this isn't some zero sum game.
So why don't we pull ourselves out of our various shit pits, get to work, and start putting
some points on the board.