One of the goals of feminism is to push back against the patriarchal system that has regularly subordinated women and elevated men. In this system, straight, white men have the most power. This power can be seen in many ways including how society privileges their voices in the literary canon and, more often than not, in the workplace. As a woman in this system, I experience things differently. I have to assert my voice in areas where men’s voices are privileged. I have less time to make a point and a much smaller margin of error for my actions. I have to constantly fight to make sure that my thoughts, my voice, my opinions are not dismissed because I am a woman.
Even though I know this, I still find myself doing things a certain way because society has taught me that my voice matters less than men’s. This is seen in the way, that I, like many young girls, was praised for giggling or smiling cutely instead of boldly answering questions. I was told to keep my voice down and sit in a lady like way whereas people would look at my brothers and say “boys will be boys.” While these statements may seem innocuous, they create a society in which I, as a woman, have to work to be seen, heard, and appreciated. I have been taught that I can’t make mistakes and that I can’t take up space or make too much noise.
As a way of pushing back against this sexism, I want to try manslamming. Manslamming, also known as Patriarchy Chicken, is an exercise where a woman refuses to step out of the way of men who are walking towards her. Ideally this should be done in an area of high traffic. There a couple of ways to play it. For one, I could just plow through and avoid eye contact, or I could intentionally look and even smile as I refuse to move. Personally, I would like to do a mix of both. Other women who have done this have had men run into them. Honestly, I am interested to see how this would play out in the environment here at Andrews University. First of all, it isn’t as high traffic of an area and secondly, it seems to be a generally polite environment. Nevertheless, I would like to intentionally do this and see what results I get. Maybe no one will run into me. Maybe no one will notice. Even if they don’t, I still think it’s a great opportunity to check my natural tendency to step out of the way.
Overall, I think this is a subtle yet physical push back against the way that women are often confined to the margins, whether intellectually, physically, or otherwise. In this way, refusing to step to the side is a refusal to concede. While getting out of people’s ways isn’t something that I was raised to consider a traditional feminine behavior, it is something that seems to regularly happen, especially to then apologize if my refusal to move ends in someone running into me.
To read about other women’s experiences with this, check out these women’s stories:
Notes in the Margins 