The newspaper must be desparate for features. Over two pages of the Weekend section (well, half a page and alot of graphics and white space) were devoted to the "Pirate Cheerleaders," six 22 to 24 years who are "getting the message across" about their strong feelings about women's rights and racial injustice.
You'll forgive me if I yawn.
The cheerleaders, attired in cheerleading outfits and the required Riot Grrrl accessories of boots, leather belts, tattoos, etc., perform before concerts and plays, "warming up the crowd and taking on the establishment" with cheers such as "be aggresive/b-e aggressive/b-e a-g-g-r-e-s-s-i-v-e/be passive/be really passive/b-e p-a-s-s-i-v-e/be passive aggressive!"
Oh for God's sake. Do you want to act on your strong feelings about women's rights? Racism? Domestic violence? Then try doing something besides pretending you're taking on the establishment by standing in front of a crowd of synpathetic listeners and proclaiming that you think sexism is bad.
Need some ideas? Volunteer at a battered women's shelter. Provide respite childcare to poor working mothers. Tutor a disadvantaged child. Work to pass legislation that furthers your cause. Vote. Raise money for microcredit banks in the Third World, like Grameen, that use absurdly tiny, low-interest or no interest loans to give women both economic and ultimately reproductive independence. There's a boatload of ways. But please, don't delude yourself that self-important grandstanding is doing jack shit for the cause. What, do they think that after seeing them cheer, a viewer is going to smack her head and confess "My God, racism and sexism are terrible things! I never really realized that before!"
Yeah, I consider myself a feminist, too. And I think that implies expecting a little more from people than vague claims that they are "raising awareness" or sticking it to the establishment. I'm tired of self-promotion and posing taking the place of accomplishment and action. And I think it's terribly condescending to women to essentially pat them on the head and applaud them for doing something, when that something is nothing more than self-congratulatory back-patting.
Guess I'm just getting old and cranky. But you already knew that.
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