"Kvinnekampen"

This is probably going to be the shortest entry I have ever written. Unfortunately, my internet access is currently very limited... sporratic... and goodness gracious my "spelling instincts" are completely crooked because I am thinking in Norwegian at the moment, and all spell checkers on the computer are in NORWEGIAN, so forgive me forgive me.

I just wanted to make some comments about the state of feminism here in Norway.

Dead.

No, seriously. Dead. The bad sort of dead. Sexism is rampant and not a word is said. Kvinnekampen er slut, they say. The battle is over; won. The only thing they are even remotely vocal about is the problems being caused by a relatively new law that states 40% of all persons employed in high up boards or something of the like must be women. The problem being that they simply do not have women to fill that requirement because there are no women further down in the system climbing that high. So they're complaining about the law... with absolutely ZERO understanding of where the problem actually comes from, which is of course the societal structures, circumstances, and frankly time passed since women could even enter the system at all. They see that a lack of women in the system is a problem, but they don't grasp that a lack of women in the system is a problem! The entire feminist understanding in all of Norway seems so PRIMATIVE!

"Yeah, it's fine, women here do not really meet discrimination in the workplace. So we're way ahead on that feminism thing; we accomplished it."

There is of course buttloads of the same attitude to be had in America, for example, but here it is truly a national SILENCE. Norway only has 5 million citizens, and they all tend to run in a similar trend. And the trend seems to be that it is dangerous to talk about ANY sort of oppressive or divisive issue. I was trying to have a conversation about race and had to ask what the Norwegian word for a black person was (it would obviously not be "African American"), and everyone shyed and glanced amongst each other and said, "In Norway we're afraid to use any such words that divide race."

...WOW.

I cannot stand this apathy! I can get an abortion without question if I want one, and the govornment will usually pay for it; I can casually walk into an "apotek" and buy a morning after pill the way I would buy a soda; sex education begins in 3rd grade and continues all throughout the educational experience with big plastic penises and condoms and all; but NO ONE. TALKS. ABOUT. WOMEN.

We fixed it. Leave it be.

And yet this society is RIDDLED--positively SMEARED--in ALL of the unhealthy gender dynamics that support the continuation of sexism and oppression of women.

Hell, it's riddled with ALL sorts of disgusting prejudice. I'm ashamed. The sorts of things that you can "get away with" on television and that is "everyday" and normal and that the children look at and laugh at with their parents... I want to throw up when there ARE words for ethnicities, but only UGLY ones. When old childish rhymes making fun of Chinese immigrants are sung on the television by adults as part of evening family entertainment. This isn't the land of 800 channels: the whole country watches one small selection of Norwegian entertainment together.

The other night the "big skit" was... basically a handicapped man, and drawing humor from his handicap. Really, in the most demeaning, disgusting manner. And of course that is done anywhere and everywhere, but it is the WAY it is presented and the relative BLINDNESS with which it is done. When you do something like that on American television, you KNOW what you are doing and you might even advertise how politically incorrect you are. But here it was truly just presented as, "Aren't handicapped people funny to look at? Hahaha.", with zero insight as to how completely inappropriate that humor was.

I. am. choked. by. this. SILENCE.

I know it sucks to drag things out of the dirt when you've already laid them to rest, but this is ridiculous. OH am I going to make. some. noise.