At a meeting held to discuss sexual abuse in the church, Pope Francis called feminism “machismo in a skirt”. Obviously, His Holiness (Holy Father?) has not worn a skirt, because he’ll then know how difficult it is to have the sort of masculine aggression that he suggests feminists have. By the time you keep the skirt down, wonder whether it is too short, pull on shorts underneath, then change because hey, ‘What was she wearing?’, you’ve lost the machismo, even if you had it to begin with.
Privileged (white) men who have the money (and the blind faith of the world) will, unfortunately, never understand the deep cries of people who have been put down for centuries. There’s something about disrespect that gnaws at your soul, so when you do cry out it’s sharper, more painful, and makes people uncomfortable. Like the cry of a dog in pain on a cold, rainy night — you wish it would go away so you can go back to eating caramel custard and pretend the world’s a wonderful warm place.
Many, many women will talk about humanism over feminism. I was one of them. Until I saw how, in thin, light layers, patriarchy begins to settle on us — at first so lightly we don’t realise what’s happening. And then, as the layers grow, we become as crusty as overdone baklava, crackling when our sons have to pick up a broom or change their surnames. We turn around and realise we’ve become the victims and the perpetrators.
Feminism isn’t about who shouts louder. It’s about looking at the words we use, the thoughts we think, who we glorify, and how much nonsense we take — yes, we do take a lot. The women at the Vatican showed up to talk. Machismo is Trump building a wall; it is a war cry when there is no war at all.
Billy Porter wore a tux-gown to the Oscars and defied gender stereotyping. Sadly, the Pope never will. Nor will all the millions of men and women who say that there are no glass ceilings, no pay differences, no fights.
Published - March 04, 2019 02:14 pm IST
