Incrementalism, amongst other things

For the past few years I’ve used March as a time of self-reflection, as the seasons change (hopefully) and it’s coincidentally Women’s History Month as well! This year, I found myself extra reflective.

A key concept on my mind this year? Incrementalism.

Recently, the concept of incrementalism was explained to me and it made me wonder where the line between complacency and incrementalism is drawn? It is, without a doubt, a near impossible line to draw with certainty.

I founded the Fisher Feminist Alliance this fall, and we recently held an event that the school did not necessarily agree with. Emphasis on school, rather than individuals. I’ve had more conversations than I can count where individuals within the institution will say “Well, it’s not my personal belief but it is that of the institutions”. This begs the question in my mind, to what degree can we separate our professional roles and actions with our values? Not that I’m saying politics should be commonplace at work (or discussed at all), but conceptually I think it’s important that your actions align with your own values. Who wants to work full time for 40 years and look back and say “well, too bad none of that actually reflected who I am”. Personally, I always aspired to find a career that I felt not only approved of my values but embraced them.

In my mind it's 2023, and while I recognize that sexism is very real and alive and well, I like to think it's a little more taboo than it is. Farther from home and more systemic. But, when you experience a blatant example of it -- you start to realize how close to home it is. An ugly monster hiding under your bed, and you may not even realize it.

I find myself surrounded with strong women in so many avenues of life – professionally, personally, academically. I draw so much inspiration from them, and I do draw a sense of inspiration from these people kind of working “behind enemy lines” if you would. In difficult times when I'm not sure what to do, I'll find myself researching what strong women have done in the past. Throughout history, someone has always had to do it. As we've seen, progress takes years and policy change often takes longer.

I do understand the concept of incrementalism and I absolutely believe that it is a valuable tool in change – but I also believe it can be mislabeled to cover complacency. True incrementalism is founded in changing minds and changing hearts, with the end goal of changing policy. And yes, it may not always rock the boat or create problems, but I do think it’s important to watch ourselves. Are we being incrementalists, or are we taking the “easy way out” (it’s never actually easier).

A good comparison that I can think of is me training for a half marathon. I started running with 5k’s in September, and then slowly moved to 10k’s and longer practice runs, etcetera. Now, running 3 miles feels really easy, but in September it was just as much work that running 7 miles is for me. It’s not that the runs feel any different, but the work changes. Because we get better. And in feminism, the world gets better when we get better.

Admittedly, incrementalism is a concept I’ve always struggled with. It can be difficult for me to understand why things that feel obvious to me can seem so foreign to others. However, different experiences have given me more perspective on that (even though I frequently have to remind myself of them).

It's most definitely not up to me to decide where that line can be drawn -- but as someone who holds strong to trying to "live my values" it did make me sweat a bit. How do we know when we are being true incrementalists? I don't think any of us can truly have the answer to this. Trust me, I'm all about playing the long game and I do understand that radical activism is not the answer in every situation. But, when does it become patronizing? And how can we, as humans and thus as activists, know where we stand. I recently had it explained to me as a dance, but you often won't realize that you overstepped until you're standing on your partners feet.

This is a concept that extends far beyond the realms of feminism, and into many social and cultural struggles that we face in modern (and have faced in non-modern) society. And, unfortunately it has been weaponized in the past as a way to hold groups back. A sort of "be happy with what you have -- don't rock the boat" with the promise of changes that never come. I've been thinking about it conceptually and how it can be applied in many ethical dilemmas.

Also in my reflections, is the concept of femininity and how absurd it is. I’ve learned that there is rarely one party involved that is completely right, and the truth is nearly always in the middle. Femininity often gets a bad rap because people associate it with certain traits, values, etc. But, who decided on that? By definition, femininity is “qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls.” In essence, any woman can be feminine and inherently is. Just by being a woman, and nothing else. So feminism is anything and everything done by any female identifying individual. It only becomes a bad thing when we prescribe to the values assigned to women by popular culture.

Other life updates:

Life is good! I will graduate in May pending any major academic disasters(THANK GOD), and then I get to take my NCLEX. After that, I'll start my job as a low and high risk labor and delivery RN. Yay! Speaking of the long game -- I still want to go on and become a midwife.

I'm happy with where I am and life is good :)

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