@Emily: “unnecessary and misleading” – agreed. And also so, so typical that someone feels the need to rush in and reassure everyone that this isn’t reverse sexism or something equally fallacious.

@Kate: I think it’s important for people with privilege to do something to combat the oppression from which they benefit. But doing something is different from deciding what to do. I don’t know how important it is to me that dominant, privileged voices be a part of the discussions around dismantling prejudice. This is not to say that these voices are never helpful or never provide good insight or ideas, but I just wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re important or necessary to the discourse.

@Kara: “To a certain extent, by helping girls and women we are literally destroying the culture and values that already exist, and that is similar to Westernization.” That’s a scary thought – that we might be “destroying culture and values.” I hope the process of eradicating sexism doesn’t have to be so violent, you know? It’s a tense line to walk – fighting against sexism while also not enacting Western privilege and perceived cultural superiority. That’s why it’s always ideal for such struggles against feminism to come from within a culture rather than from without.

@Lauren: Hopefully it’ll be coming tomorrow!

To a certain extent, by helping girls and women we are literally destroying the culture and values that already exist, and that is similar to Westernization. The goal, though, is not to impart to them our superficial culture, like “be white and skinny”, instead passing on, “use your voice and love your body”.

the trouble is that the point of privalege is that you can’t see, you don’t know, what is and isn’t important or possible to those without your privalege. The idea of using the internet is all well and good – but if you have poor literacy or no electricity, it’s not so helpful, is it?

I strongly feel that white people and men shouldn’t be left out of the conversation because we can’t understand. But we shouldn’t be left alone to do it – that smacks of imperialism, colonialism, all those horrible -isms.