Masculinity Must Be Minimized in Ukraine Support (or, Ukrainian Heresies and Himesies)
I know, I know. Several of you have quietly asked me about how to deal with the upsetting, patriarchal, oppressor statements coming out of Ukraine, which, unless countered, could undermine all the truths we’ve been teaching our students for years.
Like, “Men must stay and fight for their country and for their families.” Or “Women and children should seek safety in the West.”
No one even disputes these stereotyped statements! Not even our own government spokespeople. They just accept them and go on. Terrible.
And Ukrainian mothers and fathers are actually acting like they may have different roles in the midst of this crisis, when we of course know that men and women are interchangeable, with no differences. Equity in Everything.
I get it. And, worse yet, the statements by some in the Old School media that Ukraine is the “Bible Belt of Europe,” with “traditional values” that are holding their country together despite the worst aggression in eighty years. As if faith, beliefs and values could stand up to tanks and rockets. Crazy, I know.
But, look, I think we’ve got to let the current focus cool down a bit before we come back with the truth, or we’ll be unfairly criticized by our own know-nothings.
So, I suggest you begin working now on talking points for, say, next fall, when presumably the war will be over, and we can point our students back to Equity, and away from these antiquated gender-stereotypes.
Hopefully by then our friends in the media will have developed footage of Ukrainian women killing Russians, and of Ukrainian men taking care of their children, both of which we’ll emphasize in our classes.
So, please, just be patient. These Stereotyped Oppressor Lies will pass, and Equity will again reign. After all, what good would it do for Ukraine to win the war, but then lose the important principle of Equity in Everything?