- a personal situation
- a historical situation
- a global situation
Personal situation is the easiest - I have a housemate who doesn't care whether he does his contributions to the housework, and is perfectly happy to say he doesn't because other people (mainly us female housemates) do his share of the cleaning before he has a chance.
Not only is it insulting since we have only done 'his cleaning' after he clearly had no intention of doing it, but utterly disrespectful to neglect the agreement to share out the work we made when we moved into the house.
Fuelling these feelings has been the topic of my politics module this week, which was feminism. Why does it fall to women to do the domestic work? I'm wary of generalisation, but the specific guys I live with didn't know how to make sure the bathroom floor was dry after they got out of the shower - they don't think! And of course it's not just them who don't think, but when you're the one turning off the lights, the tv, putting the bins out, dealing with the letting agent and any maintenance issues and they keep pointing out to you that they (unlike other housemates) have done their chore for that week, it's hard not to scream all the extra things they don't think to consider that you've done (and then point out that they really didn't do their job that well anyway...)
So feminism is in fact the global situation (crossing over into historical) that has been on my mind. Mainly the male bias in society, and the injustice done to women throughout history that has not be corrected. Why are there still so few women in parliament, and why do the men shout and scream and jeer like animals in a place where decisions are made that shape the lives of everyone in the country? Why are women forced to fit into roles biased towards a typical males life, and obstacles such as maternity leave that will NEVER effect a man (until the time men can also grow babies?) be so limited in terms of duration and paid salary during the maternity period.
Why has our society developed in a way so that earning money is valued higher than caring for another person and ensuring there are a decent bunch of people to become the next generation? Who would choose to rescue a suitcase of money over a baby from a burning house? In such a situation most of society would condemn a person who would not save the human life. And I'm not implying that women who choose to work rather than be a full time mother should be blamed - I'm blaming the whole structure of society that was designed, without any input from women, to suit people who don't have raising the next generation as a biologically integral part of their lives.
My historical (and also partially global) situation stems from watching The Imitation Game. Bio-epic has to be my favourite genre of film - to think that it is based on true events is remarkable. To think that homosexuality was treated in such a disgusting manner, and that a man who saved millions of lives ended up committing suicide due to legal 'punishment' for his feelings is horrific. It's fascinating because it seems so unreasonably unfair (to put it mildly) that anyone could think that anyone deserves 'hormonal castration' no matter what there personal background. The isolation and loneliness of Turing is poignantly portrayed, it really struck a chord with me. It is unlikely anyone has gone through their life without feeling lost or alone at some point, and although perhaps not on the same level as Turing, the humanity of these feelings invokes deep empathy and connection to Turing.
So in all, at the moment I have a strong dislike for society and the way the world has turned out. Humans are awesome, but we also suck. I want to change something. I also want to smash something first, then I'll do the changing part.
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