Blog Post #1

Madison Kemnitz

26 January 2017

Blog Post #1

The sentence “There seems to be an active investment in sameness as evident in the “me too” that we may insert into this or that conversations a way of commiserating, creating common cause, and building alliance” (Russo 40), from Between Speech and Silence, Reflections on Accountability by Ann Russo. Upon reading this sentence, I immediately thought about something I say and do every day. Rather than standing up for myself, or truly exposing my ideas or thoughts, it is often time much simpler to agree with the masses, whether or not you say “me too”, or just nod along throughout the conversation. Seldom is the phrase “me too” adequate to add to a conversation, and there is almost always a way to dig deeper and add a new perspective to the conversation rather than just following along and agreeing. As Russo iterates many times, this phrase can be used to “deflect attention” (40) which many women or people of a minority race, may say to avoid the attention being on themselves. When looking back on recent conversation that I have had, most especially in large groups, I have seen myself retracting my will to speak, and instead agreeing with the other around me, even if I do have something to add to the conversation. This has been more dominant recently, as I am in all new classes, and am surrounded by so many people that I am unfamiliar with.

When reading this sentence, it was obvious to me that this is something that I am guilty of doing, and is a predominant issue in the American society, most specifically in women. According to the Debuk WordPress, and the idea that women are often times judged by a double standard. This is a great example of how women often times do not share their ideas, as they are afraid of being “ostracized by their peers” (Debuk Par. 15).  Debuk also goes on about speaking time in the classroom, and that often times boys get much more speaking time in the classroom setting. Language: a feminist guide, continues to explain that it is common for men to call out in the classroom, rather than raising their hand, or waiting to be called on to speak out in front of the class or a group of people. I am so grateful that I was able to read Debuk’s article relating the inhabited silence, although it does not directly relate to the phrase “me too” that Russo referred to, it certainly relates to the inhabited silence that many women have developed.