We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains.
~ Ursula K. Le Guin
UPDATE
When PG inserted the OP, he thought it a nice sentiment of empowered womanhood.
In a comment, DaveMich suggested that (PG rephrases) while experiences may be real, they may not always express a universal truth or be especially useful for others or be a basis upon which the understanding of humanity may be altered.
PG comments on this because he has observed a particular habit of our age which treats the experiences of an individual as a basis for understanding the experiences of all.
More specifically, the rage of an individual must always be respected and the injustices perpetrated on an individual must be regarded as more than specific to that individual, that they are at least to some extent universal.
PG suggests that the resulting sentiments of group victimhood and group guilt are both inaccurate and dangerous to the welfare of all people.
While PG agrees that one injustice is one injustice too many, in our present world, injustices of various types, large and small, occur. While “No More Injustice” is an excellent aspirational goal, in a world nearing 8 billion people, injustice will occur. Making this observation of fact does not imply an endorsement of injustice or those who oppress others, but is simply a statement of the condition of humankind from the distant past to the present to (unfortunately) the future.
Back to the quote from Ms. Guinn, if a woman has experiences with an abusive spouse, while those experiences might be truth for women similarly situated, they won’t be truth for women whose spouses are not abusive.
“While PG agrees that one injustice is one injustice too many, in our present world, injustices of various types, large and small, occur. While “No More Injustice” is an excellent aspirational goal, in a world nearing 8 billion people, injustice will occur. Making this observation of fact does not imply an endorsement of injustice or those who oppress others, but is simply a statement of the condition of humankind from the distant past to the present to (unfortunately) the future.”
I find it interesting and dismaying that any time I or anyone else says something like this, we are often accused of some sort of prejudice or racial/cultural privilege. It does seem to me to be a statement of fact.
I’ve been reading the speeches of Edward H. Levi– law school dean, university president, and Gerald Ford’s Attorney General– trying to ground myself more firmly in the meaning of the rule of law.
Levi was a bit of an equivocator, but I copied out these phrases to think about: seeing society as “individuals with talents and rights” versus “a series of groups vying for power.” Both perspectives have merit.
Ms. Le Guin combines the two: volcanoes with talents and rights and their force in a group fighting for power.
UPDATE
There’s a reason ‘mansplaining’ has entered the vernacular…
LOL
What if your experiences are just bull-s***? I mean, that happens, and it can happen even if you’re a woman. People really need to watch out for claiming the ‘truth’ as their own territory.
Point made, DM.
Maybe your interpretation of your experiences, or the ‘meaning’ of your experiences, is somehow b.s., but your experiences are your experiences.
Don’t tell me something didn’t happen, when I was there and it did.
That’s called gaslighting.
On the other side, don’t tell me something happened when I was there and it didn’t happen.
That, too, is called gaslighting.