The Personal Is Political - Meaning and Origin

The Personal Is Political - Meaning and Origin The personal is political was a frequently heard feminist rallying cry, especially during the late 1960s and 1970s. The exact origin of the phrase is unknown and sometimes debated. Many second-wave feminists used the phrase the personal is political or its underlying meaning in their writing, speeches, consciousness-raising, and other activities. The meaning has sometimes been interpreted to mean that political and personal issues affect each other.  It has also meant that the experience of women is the grounding of feminism, both personal and political.  Some have seen it as a kind of practical model for creating feminist theory: begin with the small issues with which you have personal experience, and move from there to the larger systemic issues and dynamics which may explain and/or address those personal dynamics. The Carol Hanisch Essay Feminist and writer Carol Hanischs essay titled The Personal is Political appeared in the anthology Notes From the Second Year: Womens Liberation in 1970. She is therefore often credited with creating the phrase. However, she wrote in an introduction to the 2006 republication of the essay that she did not come up with the title. She believed The Personal Is Political was selected by the editors of the anthology, Shulamith Firestone and Anne Koedt, who were both feminists involved with the group New York Radical Feminists. Some feminist scholars have noted that by the time the anthology was published in 1970, the personal is political had already become a widely used part of the womens movement and was not a quote attributable to any one person. The Political Meaning Carol Hanischs essay explains the idea behind the phrase the personal is political.  A common debate between personal and political questioned whether womens consciousness-raising groups were a useful part of the political womens movement. According to Hanisch, calling the groups therapy was a misnomer, as the groups were not intended to solve any womens personal problems. Instead, consciousness-raising was a form of political action to elicit discussion about such topics as womens relationships, their roles in marriage, and their feelings about childbearing. The essay came in particular out of her experience in  the Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF) and as part of the womens caucus of that organization, and out of her experience in the New York Radical Women  and the Pro-Woman Line within that group. Her essay The Personal Is Political said that coming to a personal realization of how grim the situation was for women was as important as doing political action such as protests. Hanisch noted that political refers to any power relationships, not just those of government or elected officials. In 2006 Hanisch wrote about how the essays original form came out of her experience of working in male-dominated civil rights, anti-Vietnam War and left (old and new) political groups.  Lip service was given to womens equality, but beyond narrow economic equality, other womens issues were often dismissed.  Hanisch was particularly concerned about the persistence of the idea that womens situation was womens own fault, and perhaps all in their heads.  She also wrote of her regret at not anticipating the ways in which both The Personal Is Political and the Pro-Woman Line would be misused and subject to revisionism. Other Sources Among the influential works cited as bases for the personal is political idea are C. Wright Mills 1959 book The Sociological Imagination, which discusses the intersection of public issues and personal problems, and Claudia Jones 1949 essay An End to the Neglect of the Problems of Negro Women. Another feminist sometimes said to have coined the phrase is Robin Morgan, who founded several feminist organizations and edited the anthology Sisterhood is Powerful, also published in 1970.Gloria Steinem has said that it is impossible to know who first said the personal is political and that saying you coined the phrase the personal is political would be like saying you coined the phrase World War II.  Her 2012 book,  Revolution from Within, has been cited as a later example of the use of the idea that political issues cannot be addressed separately from the personal. Critique Some have critiqued the focus on the personal is political because, they say, it has meant a focus more exclusively on personal issues such as family division of labor, and has ignored systemic sexism and political problems and solutions.

Using a Semicolon in Spanish

Using a Semicolon in Spanish The semicolon, or el punto y coma in Spanish,  is used and misused in Spanish much as it is in English. However, the rules for its application in Spanish can be more subjective than for the other punctuation symbols (signos de puntuacià ³n) and lead to a larger range of common mistakes. Still, there are two main utilities of the semicolon when writing in Spanish: joining independent clauses or detailing a list of items with multiple names in each section of the list - in both of these cases, the semicolon acts much as it does in standard English, separating thoughts into a neat, organized form. Be aware t;hat the punto y coma is invariable between singular and plural. In other words, the plural of el punto y coma is los punto y coma. You can also use los signos de punto y coma as a plural form. Using Semicolons Instead of Periods As its Spanish name suggests punto y coma means period  and  comma, which emphasizes its primary use as being to represent a break between independent clauses (a part of a sentence that could stand alone because it has a subject and verb) that is stronger than what a comma would stand for but weaker than what a period would stand for; the two clauses should be connected as part of a thought or relate to each other.   Note in these examples that separating the clauses with periods would not be wrong, but the use of a semicolon suggests a stronger relationship between the two clauses than making them into separate sentences would: Cuando estoy  en casa, me llamo Roberto; cuando trabajo, me llamo Sr. Smith. (When Im at home, Im Robert; when Im working, Im Mr. Smith.)Esta tarde vamos a la playa; los museos estn cerrados. (This afternoon we are going to the beach; the museums are closed.)En 1917, se inaugurà ³ la Estacià ³n de la Sabana; à ©sta funcionà ³ como punto central del sistema fà ©rreo nacional. (In 1917, the Sabana Station was put in service; it functioned as the center of the national railway system.) If the clauses are especially short, a comma is preferred in Spanish, such is the case with the sentence Te quiero, eres perfecto or (I love you, youre perfect), where it is grammatically acceptable to separate these two short ideas into one cohesive sentence. Using Semicolons in Lists Another use for the semicolon is in lists when at least one of the items in the list has a comma, as in English. In this way, the semicolon functions as kind of a supercomma. In the first example, the semicolons act as separators in the list of countries with deceased populations to provide clarity to the sentence structure. Encabezan la lista de los paà ­ses americanos con ms decesos Brasil y Colombia con seis cada uno; Mà ©xico con tres; y Cuba, El Salvador y Estados Unidos con dos. (Leading the list of American countries with the most deceased are Brazil and Colombia with six apiece; Mexico with three; and Cuba, El Salvador and the United States with two.)Los nominados son El ngel, Argentina; La noche de 12 aà ±os, Uruguay; Los perros, Chile; y Roma, Mà ©xico. (The nominees are The Angel, Argentina; 12-Year Night, Uruguay; The Dogs, Chile; and Roma, Mexico.)Mis parientes este verano viajan a todos lugares: mi madre, a Santiago; mi padre, a Sevilla; mi hermano, a Nueva York; y mi hija, a Bogot. (My relatives are traveling everywhere this summer: my mother, to Santiago; my father, to Seville; my brother, to New York; and my daughter, to Bogota. Semicolons can also be used in vertical lists at the end of each item other than the final one, such is the case with the following. Although the English example uses periods, commas (but not semicolons) can also be used in English: Tenemos tres metas:- aprender mucho;- amarnos;- vivir con autentididad. (We have three goals:- To learn a lot.- To love each other.- To live authentically.) Key Takeaways Semicolons in Spanish are used much as they are in English, as a punctuation mark that combines uses of the period and the comma.One common use of semicolons is show a connection in meaning between two clauses that would otherwise be made into separate sentences.Another common use of semicolons is to provide clarity in lists.