Caitlin Johnson describes herself as a “utopia prepper”. I’m not sure I share that level of optimism, though maybe I should cultivate it — but I do agree with the basic premises of this article, including the idea that we live in a patriarchal rape culture, and that our lifetimes are presenting us with the perhaps unprecedented (or at least not since a very very long time) opportunity to transform this, or at least to begin to shift it.

But this requires often painful introspection from each of us and a willingness to speak about our experiences. This can be incredibly hard, and the trauma so deep, that just approaching it feels self-annihilating. I still can’t bring myself to do it, even now, in this post. But I can ask:

How are we victims of this system? How have we perpetuated it? How have we victimized ourselves in response to intense trauma, or a lifetime of oppression? How then, in turn, have we traumatized others, or oppressed them? To what degree can we free ourselves of this dynamic, and still participate in mainstream culture? Can we seek happiness for ourselves without oppressing others? When we seek liberation for others how much must our own lives change? Old, old questions.

Another post today about the Irish genocide brought Sinead O’Connor’s album “Universal Mother” to mind. She weaves together so many of these threads in that album. Worth going back for another listen…