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Blogs by Jean Sheldon
Make some Room for the Rest of Us 7/12/2007 7:12:50 AM
I’ve noticed something unsettling of late in the magazines I pick up. They want to tell me about only one group of people—white males. Writer’s magazines, intellectual snob magazines, you name it. High tech magazines, forget about it—white males.
Don’t get me wrong, I read to learn and I can learn from anyone. What bothers me is that if I were to have access only to these magazines I would believe that no one else did anything of worth. What kind of message is that to young women and men, particularly young women and men of color?
I read articles by women these days that preface a stand for their gender with ‘now I’m not a feminist’. What does that mean? More and more words have become ‘dirty’. Feminist seems to be one of those words.
Activist is another. Not that there aren’t activist’s on both sides of every issue, but activist seems mostly to apply to those who involve themselves in issues left of center. As we know, left of center means almost a terrorist.
Why am I writing about this? I suppose because I remember a time when magazines made an effort at least to include ‘tokens’. I believed adding these little reminders of the rest of humanity would eventually become the norm. It looked good for a while, and during that time, I learned a great deal. Now, we seem to have returned to our old bad habit of exclusion. I feel fortunate to have lived in a time that taught minorities that possibilities were theirs. I’d like kids now, who have much greater weights on their shoulders than I did, to know that.
No offense guys, I’m not saying you should be entirely out of the picture, but make some room for the rest of us.
