If You're Not One of Us Then You Are One of Them?

I like to sit on fences a lot, metaphorically more than for real ... whatever real is, that is.

Thoth (god of writing)/Ibis

Libra/Virgo? Library?-)

Maybe it's because I'm a Libra/Virgo (I was born on a fence for heaven's sake;-) that I can't help but sit on fences.

Ibis at the last day of the Byron Bay Writers Festival

In fact, when I was looking for an image in Google search for Libra the auto-correct asked me if I meant "library".
Maybe I did, as I love to read, and libraries are my idea of geek heaven (that must be the Virgo side of the fence I sit on;-). 

This post all came about as I was finishing Tracey Spicer's book that I picked up at the Byron Bay Writers Festival after hearing Tracey talk on the Friday of the festival -
Apart from the Acid on the Road I Had a Good Trip
I liked the book, as there was a lot of food for thought, but it was this passage that really got the wheels turning in my head -
"These days hubby and I couldn't be happier with our work-life imbalance.
Frankly, it's never in balance.
Show me someone who says it is and I'll show you a UNICORN.
We're all ducks, seemingly calm on the surface, paddling like mad through this bloody big pond.
Our challenges are different, but they're on the same spectrum.
All around us the fourth wave is rising, driven by
'intersectional feminism'."
I had no idea what "intersectional feminism" was until I Googled it.

WTF is Intersectional Feminism???

"Intersectionality is a term used to describe how different factors of discrimination can meet at an intersection and can affect someone's life.
Adding intersectionality to feminism is important to the movement because it allows the fight for gender equality to become inclusive.
Using intersectionality allows us all to understand each other a little bit better.
At the end of the day, we might all experience discrimination and gender inequality differently and uniquely, but we are all united in our hope for equality."

Watching the 'WTF is Intersectional Feminism???' video above and the section on "intersectional street harassment" made me think of a scene out of one of my favourite all-time movies, 'The Matrix' (which is a movie directed by women who used to be men, oddly enough).

Were you looking a the woman in the red dress...

... or the sailor ...

... or the traffic cop Neo?

The Wild Ride of Fiona Johnson in this Earthly Matrix?
Oh ... and I'm not sitting on the fence when it comes to my own sexuality, as I'm straight, but I respect Gay rights movements and the like.

I also couldn't stop thinking about the spoon bending scene out of 'The Matrix'  movies when Tracey mentioned the duck on the water appearing calm on the surface, but paddling like mad underwater.

And I also couldn't help thinking about the glass (made out of old TV screens) duck on a bent spoon made by an artist named Luna Ryan that I bought down in Canberra last year, which I wrote about in this post -

Anyone for TV Dinner Duck?

Especially when Tracey was writing about the 'Women in Media' organization that she is a part of with Caroline Jones.
I love the little duck made out of recycled TV screens swimming on a bent spoon (there is no spoon?) seemingly calm while its little feet are probably going like the clappers underneath the imagined spoon.
There is certainly a lot to think about when it comes to media, life, gender equality and art.

I also thought it was rather ironic that Tracey writes on page 333 of her book about her schoolmate Sandy who told her that there is a sketch of her alongside Mel Gibson and William McInnes in the Redcliffe (where they all lived at one time in their lives) hall of fame.
I'll have to check that sketch out for myself and get a photo next time I'm up Redcliffe way.
A Walk of Art and Synch in Redcliffe

If you are not one of us then you are one of them?!

Like Groucho Marx says above I refuse to join most clubs that would have me as a member (except the Sharks, Brisbane Lions and Spurs;-), but I'm happy to sit out on their fence, if I like them.

I think it is also ironic that agent Smith in 'The Matrix' trilogy is also out of 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. 

So, I'm just gonna keep sitting on my fence as life parades past my eyes, whether people say I'm just being de-fence-ive, or not:-)
But I will occasionally hop off to be on one side, or the other now and again.

But I like to look at both sides first.
And I think Tracey's book is a great read, no matter which side of the fence you are on, or even if you are sitting on it.
She certainly has more balls ... and ovaries than I do.