Book 1 Post 2

My Life on the Road - Chapter 2 Talking Circles

I was reading chapter 2 of My Life on the Road and was intrigued by Gloria's experience about how she collaborated with Dorothy to speak to women as a group of talking circles. I really felt resonated with the part when Gloria talked about the separation between women themselves. The difference in class, race, sexual orientation would generally bring women different perspectives in terms of feminist topics. And when it comes to the feminist movement, be able to recognize that we as women are together is very critical. 

"Eventually, these more conservative women came to agree that feminism had to include all women—lesbians, women on welfare, the intertwining of sex and race for women of color; everyone—and the

more radical women of diverse races and classes no longer turned up their noses at the idea of making the change from inside the system as well as outside. Though the starting places of these various activist groups had been very different and had created pain and misunderstanding, by the end of the 1970s they came together as fractious, idealistic, diverse, and effective parts of the same movement."

The reason that I strongly agree that while also felt resonated is that there is a similar movement happening previously in China and women there are fragmented as well. On social media, there was a raging post about a beautiful lady who was burnt by her husband. She suffered deeply in domestic violence and finally decided to divorce and then was killed by her angry husband. Right after the news went viral on the internet, lots of radical women in China jumped in online to express their indignation. They all talked about how women should immediately stepped out from a domestic violence at no hesitation. They tended to think that if the victim can walk away from the relationship sooner, she wouldn't be killed then. However, to my opinion, things are more complicated than their suggestions. In fact, in China, there are weaker girls, lots of them that don't have their economic power, decision rights at home, but most importantly, the mindset or value that they could live without the help from their husbands. Simply neglecting the fact that current women in China are extremely polarized. Women with enough education and power are advocating for change and blaming other parts for not being brave enough in the movement. This is no good if women ourselves don't unit together for better results. With recognition, understanding, and enough sympathy for the reality, women then could work together at the movement to improve our status quo.