Politics and me
May 10, 2008 by littlegemsession
Since the Hand Mirror started up in March 08 (hat tip Art & My Life) I’ve been slowly (and happily) pulled into online politics. It’s not that I wasn’t political before, on the contrary, I have a Women’s Studies degree (among other qualifications) it’s just that I seem to have missed emerging political sites online. Deborah’s post at In a Strange Land lead me to read a very long thread starting from this post at Public Address, which in turn had me thinking – why don’t I hang out there and comment? Actually a couple of pages into the thread I knew already but I woke up about 5.30 this morning and thought about it some more.
Firstly I don’t really enjoy debating politics; I always seem to end up getting more stressed out than it’s worth. Either you are preaching to the converted or debating with someone who doesn’t want to be swayed. I enter into debate with the expectation I can “convert” someone. I’m guessing that people who enjoy political debate just enjoy the debate and don’t necessarily expect the other person to won over.
Another reason I don’t hang out there is that I didn’t actually notice it was there. I had been out of the country since 1997 and when we came back to New Zealand in 2000 I was pregnant. Okay so being pregnant should not stop me from being political (and it didn’t) but what it did do was turn my attention inwards towards the domestic and personal realms. What became relevant were issues like my reproductive health, my choice to keep the baby, to home birth, how I was going to parent my children. These issues were quickly joined by how I was going to survive on little to no sleep, how hard it is to return to work after the second child, how all my part-time wages went on childcare and transport, how I struggled to keep up with the washing, how I couldn’t read more than one page of a book without falling asleep.
I could barely follow a thought through to its conclusion, let alone have an intelligent debate with someone who would tell me I was an unreasonable harpy (not that Public Address seems to have personal abuse problems).
Parenthood was also the beginning of my concerns about affluenza and more focused concerns about ecology. As a new parent you are bombarded by advertisers telling you how much crap you need for your baby and how it all has to be brand new. New parents are so vulnerable and desperate to be “good parents”.
And so, as I fumbled about in my sleep deprived state, when I invariably found my way to an online forum it was The Nappy Network. Hidden in this apparently domestic women’s forum is a hot bed of political debate, some of the liveliest threads were about climate change, peak oil, sustainability, religion, reproductive rights and women’s health. Of course, as a writer it was only a matter of time before I began blogging in 2005. Did I choose to write about politics? Well, not directly, as you will know if you’ve read any of my past posts.
Most of the women bloggers I know are blogging about craft, again, an apparently domestic topic. However, like many of these women, I see craft as political statement. It places value on “women’s work”, it promotes sustainability, it’s used to help women and children in need and to raise awareness of important issues. It’s often dismissed as a time waster for white middle-class women and, at it’s worst, I guess it can be. At it’s best it’s much more than that.
The reality of my life at the moment is that I need to be a mother, I need to cook and clean and sew and garden (and for my sanity; write) so my politics need to work in around my daily life and what is relevant to me. I try and choose my moments. I try to speak out when I witness sexism, racism and homophobia because silence is as good as agreement. I try to live in my community actively. I needed to work from home (like a lot of other mothers) so I started a cottage industry that is good for women and the environment. In other words I’m trying to live my politics on a daily basis and it seems to me that there are many more women like me doing the same thing. It’s not that we aren’t thinking about politics or interested, we are just busy living it!
GREAT post!!!!! Living your politics is the best. I need to think about that
Marvelous post. I just identify with your sentiments so much. I’m not much into debating politics either these days–my politics is my job as a teacher. I don’t mean that I’m trying to indoctrinate my students! I mean that I have a job which allows me to make a difference and put give something back to the community. And that feeling is a lot more positive than the feelings I’ve felt whilst working at more business related jobs (although we do need businesses and entrepreneurs!) Racism and classism (the idea that people from low income homes are less intelligence, less worthy, and constitute a ‘problem’
are still very much a part of our society. I don’t need to tell you anything about sexism! I just like your idea that we are politically engaged not through argument (which is important) but through daily life.
PS: Where did that smiley come from in my comment? No smiley intended!
Wow this is a fantastic post! I particularly like your last paragraph as it reflects where my life is currently shifting to, as a new mum. I often think that I’m so slack, not doing enough political stuff these days after dripping with activism in the past. But actually now I am more focused on making it a part of my life, in the everyday sense, rather than having to be a joined-up, meeting-attending, minute-taking, political junkie.
The main reason I set up The Hand Mirror was because I was sick of women being so marginalised in the political blogosphere and Make Tea Not War had pointed out to me (although it took a few times for me to soak it up) that there were actually heaps of women out there blogging, and often discussing politics, just not on blogs overtly tagged as political. I realised that if I wanted to see more women writing about politics I needed to find those already there, join them, and work to highlight their stuff.
I find the crafters totally inspiring. So often your work has at root a strong philosophy about rejecting materialism and consumerism, and still loving beautiful things. It’s a conflict I’ve struggled with as someone who wants to reject consumerism, but really likes to buy a little piece of wondrousness from time to time (often to give to someone else). Craft is a great resolution to that problem. Plus you crafty types always have beautiful pictures of your work, which I love to look at and sigh over.
Thanks for the link too
Thanks for the feedback everyone, I especially appreciate it since I have a high opinion of all your collective work.
I totally agree! The personal IS political.
I feel, too, that as the mother of two boys I have an important job to raise them to be respectful of women, to grow up learning the ‘domestic arts’ and to grow up able to express their feelings (NZ has the highest male youth suicide rate in the OECD). It is hard work and it happens every day in tiny increments.
x Helen
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