Originally written October 2011
My plan was to take the day off yesterday, unfortunately that also meant a day off from writing. At first I felt guilty that I couldn't keep my "post a day" goal up for even a week. But when it comes right down to it, days off are needed.
As I've thought about what I'm going to write about today, a lot of things have come (and gone) from my mind. I'd considered not writing today because nothing really came to me. Then I started thinking about the zoo. My sweet man and I are going to the Minnesota Zoo tomorrow.
About a year ago I took a course entitled "Gender, Race, and Popular Culture." I know, it sounds interesting. It really was, but the truth is. . . I took it because it's required for my degree. Luckily for me it was taught by Pattrice Jones. While I didn't know it when I started the course, she's actually pretty famous. For several weeks we talked about ecofeminism, which was really awesome. The main theory behind ecofeminism is that the reason we treat the planet so horribly is because it's viewed as a woman (Mother Earth). So yes, our planet is a victim of sexism too.
And yes, this is going to be tied back into the zoo, right now. One thing that we talked about in the course was how zoo's have become necessary because of urbanization. Animals are basically in cages because of the need to save them from us. Ms. Jones tried to impress her anti-zoo attitudes on us in the class. I'm afraid that she didn't necessarily succeed with me, but I still think a lot about her points whenever I go to the zoo. Am I supporting humanities apparent need to use resources un-wisely by going to the zoo?
There is a feminist stance that the personal is political. Usually I agree. The fact that I may only make 75% of what a man makes for a similar job is very personal and I will try to do something about it in my own life. I don't really think going to the zoo make anybody a bad person. There's a lot people can do to be environmentally responsible (driving a fuel efficient vehicle, recycling, turning off lights, etc.)
What do you think about the zoo?
