Post by Beth on Mar 7, 2013 15:04:55 GMT -5
I spent today at a union learning conference, and one of the (many) things we talked about there was how the trade union movement has opened up learning, especially among women. The retiring chair of learning at the union gave a speech, and in it she talked about how growing up in a trade union family meant that she was never told she couldn't do something because of her gender. She was encouraged to go out and do whatever she wanted to, and that encouragement made her the person she is now.
That speech was important to me for lots of reasons, but it really resonated with the 'why do we need Cat' thread I posted this morning, and the Toward The Stars interview the team have done. It led me to wonder whether Cat can be a role model for young girls (or young women, or older women) and how us Cat people feel about that, and/or her place in popular culture.
Fictional characters as role models are nothing new to me - I spent my teenage years and beyond watching Scully, and so many of my friends have used Scully to shape their lives, either in terms of their careers, or in terms of their attitudes. And already I find myself thinking of Cat and MSCSI when I need to remind myself that, yeah, I can talk about the things I'm passionate about and I don't need to dumb things down. Do you think it can or will go further than that though?
That speech was important to me for lots of reasons, but it really resonated with the 'why do we need Cat' thread I posted this morning, and the Toward The Stars interview the team have done. It led me to wonder whether Cat can be a role model for young girls (or young women, or older women) and how us Cat people feel about that, and/or her place in popular culture.
Fictional characters as role models are nothing new to me - I spent my teenage years and beyond watching Scully, and so many of my friends have used Scully to shape their lives, either in terms of their careers, or in terms of their attitudes. And already I find myself thinking of Cat and MSCSI when I need to remind myself that, yeah, I can talk about the things I'm passionate about and I don't need to dumb things down. Do you think it can or will go further than that though?
