There are questions of choice of policy, and subjects whose better understanding aids policy decisions. What does it usefully mean (i.e. aside from historically-formed taxonomy, a sense where “should” questions become relevant) for a subject itself to “be political”?
What does it usefully mean (i.e. aside from historically-formed taxonomy) for a subject itself to “be political”?
I guess that, as used in this thread, a subject “is” political means that a good way to solve problems within the subject is to acquire greater power via political methods (public demonstrations, party building, lobbying, etc), while a subject “should not be” political expresses a preference (perhaps based on altruistic considerations) that fewer people think that about the subject.
ETA: It seems that historically “personal is political” has more to do with the causes of the problems than the solutions, but with that interpretation it’s harder to make sense of “should not be political”.
In feminist terms, the ‘personal is political’ refers to the theory that personal problems are political problems, which basically means that many of the personal problems women experience in their lives are not their fault, but are the result of systematic oppression. [...]
The theory that women are not to blame for their bad situations is crucial here because women have always been told that they are unhappy or faring badly in life because they are stupid, weak, mad, hysterical, having a period, pregnant, frigid, over-sexed, asking for it etc. The personal is political proposes that women are in bad situations because they experience gendered oppression and massive structural inequalities.
In feminist terms, the ‘personal is political’ refers to the theory that personal problems are political problems, which basically means that many of the personal problems women experience in their lives are not their fault, but are the result of systematic oppression. [...]
Women have a higher need than men to belong to small groups (in mean and distribution, but the difference is so great that there is not a lot of overlap) I am unaware of any statistics or studies on this topic, but everyone knows it, just as enthusiasts for diversity are reluctant to visit certain highly diverse parts of town, such as for example, all those diversity lovers at the Democratic Party Convention who found themselves assigned to residences in the wrong part of town and then immediately put John Derbyshire’s recommendations into effect. An infertile woman without a family is sarcastically called a cat lady. We have no similar jokes about men Women tend to hang out in small groups markedly more than men do.
At the same time, women have a higher propensity than males to break their groups up. The general cause of divorce (usually observed by relatives of the wife, but blissfully unseen by the husband) is that the wife is screwing a high status male, divorces her husband, perhaps in hopes that the high status male will spend more time with her, but instead, upon hearing the of the divorce, the high status male takes off like a startled jack rabbit, never to be seen again. A husband, on the other hand, will attempt to keep both the wife and the mistress, and if he cannot have both, will retain the mother of his children. The viciousness of women to other women is legendary. Most women who has had a female boss will tell you that she does not want to work with female bosses, something men cannot say for reasons of PC.
Thus female personal problems are indeed political in that they are frequently evidence for the seventeenth century view that females innately need male supervision over their lives: for example workplace problems and fatherless children.
And now here comes the part that will result in this post being massively voted down, and accused of making claims without evidence:
asking for it
2005 US Crime victimization survey, file cv0513.csv
Rape/sexual assault rate for wife of male head of household 0.1 per 1000 (which is one in ten thousand, which zero within the margin of error)
Rape/sexual assault rate for children over 18 of male head of household 2.3 per thousand
Rape/sexual assault rate for female heads of households 1.6 per thousand.
Notice how quickly political correctness marches on. Today, using the survey category “wife of male head of household” is apt to cause outrage and indignation. Today, households supposedly have no heads. Indeed, for a household to have a head, and that head be male, is arguably criminal, something that is supposedly only practiced by rare extreme right wing fundamentalist extremists.
Are there any subjects that should be political?
There are questions of choice of policy, and subjects whose better understanding aids policy decisions. What does it usefully mean (i.e. aside from historically-formed taxonomy, a sense where “should” questions become relevant) for a subject itself to “be political”?
I guess that, as used in this thread, a subject “is” political means that a good way to solve problems within the subject is to acquire greater power via political methods (public demonstrations, party building, lobbying, etc), while a subject “should not be” political expresses a preference (perhaps based on altruistic considerations) that fewer people think that about the subject.
ETA: It seems that historically “personal is political” has more to do with the causes of the problems than the solutions, but with that interpretation it’s harder to make sense of “should not be political”.
Women have a higher need than men to belong to small groups (in mean and distribution, but the difference is so great that there is not a lot of overlap) I am unaware of any statistics or studies on this topic, but everyone knows it, just as enthusiasts for diversity are reluctant to visit certain highly diverse parts of town, such as for example, all those diversity lovers at the Democratic Party Convention who found themselves assigned to residences in the wrong part of town and then immediately put John Derbyshire’s recommendations into effect. An infertile woman without a family is sarcastically called a cat lady. We have no similar jokes about men Women tend to hang out in small groups markedly more than men do.
At the same time, women have a higher propensity than males to break their groups up. The general cause of divorce (usually observed by relatives of the wife, but blissfully unseen by the husband) is that the wife is screwing a high status male, divorces her husband, perhaps in hopes that the high status male will spend more time with her, but instead, upon hearing the of the divorce, the high status male takes off like a startled jack rabbit, never to be seen again. A husband, on the other hand, will attempt to keep both the wife and the mistress, and if he cannot have both, will retain the mother of his children. The viciousness of women to other women is legendary. Most women who has had a female boss will tell you that she does not want to work with female bosses, something men cannot say for reasons of PC.
Thus female personal problems are indeed political in that they are frequently evidence for the seventeenth century view that females innately need male supervision over their lives: for example workplace problems and fatherless children.
And now here comes the part that will result in this post being massively voted down, and accused of making claims without evidence:
2005 US Crime victimization survey, file cv0513.csv Rape/sexual assault rate for wife of male head of household 0.1 per 1000 (which is one in ten thousand, which zero within the margin of error)
Rape/sexual assault rate for children over 18 of male head of household 2.3 per thousand
Rape/sexual assault rate for female heads of households 1.6 per thousand.
Notice how quickly political correctness marches on. Today, using the survey category “wife of male head of household” is apt to cause outrage and indignation. Today, households supposedly have no heads. Indeed, for a household to have a head, and that head be male, is arguably criminal, something that is supposedly only practiced by rare extreme right wing fundamentalist extremists.
Politics?