I agree with what you're saying, but I wish there were more of a distinction between 'safe spaces' and 'venues for rights discussion.'
Edit: Hmm, to clarify, I suppose what I mean is, discussing rights in the safe spaces is perfectly fine, but it seems like the majority of places out there that are for rights discussion kinda get this 'must be safe space' thing thrown on. Which is valid a lot of the time, but it ends up being that if someone wants to discuss some point that's not necessarily in line with what's appropriate in a 'safe space,' there's no room for it.
Not just in the internet, but I think a lot of "women's studies"/"gender studies" departments at various universities tend to be this way too. I don't have a whole lot of supporting evidence to that, though, I will grant.
To put it another way, women (and any minority, or even majority!) definitely deserve spaces where they can exist/talk about stuff without fearing repercussions from the other, but I feel that such places as gender studies departments--which are primarily supposed to exist to further discussion and study, and not to provide a safe space--should not preclude or even discourage participation from anyone.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-09-21 05:34 am (UTC)Edit: Hmm, to clarify, I suppose what I mean is, discussing rights in the safe spaces is perfectly fine, but it seems like the majority of places out there that are for rights discussion kinda get this 'must be safe space' thing thrown on. Which is valid a lot of the time, but it ends up being that if someone wants to discuss some point that's not necessarily in line with what's appropriate in a 'safe space,' there's no room for it.
Not just in the internet, but I think a lot of "women's studies"/"gender studies" departments at various universities tend to be this way too. I don't have a whole lot of supporting evidence to that, though, I will grant.
To put it another way, women (and any minority, or even majority!) definitely deserve spaces where they can exist/talk about stuff without fearing repercussions from the other, but I feel that such places as gender studies departments--which are primarily supposed to exist to further discussion and study, and not to provide a safe space--should not preclude or even discourage participation from anyone.