I was running in the park when i made the association: third sector, third way, third sex. You might wonder what I think, see or take while I run but I see a connection.
In Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex) Simone de Beauvoir wrote: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”. it was 1949 and Men controlled society. Women were the mysterious ‘Other’ fabricated by men to controlled them. I sometimes feel that I am that woman!
I leave in 2009 and work in the third sector. Do you understand what it means? I still don’t know my place in society because the others don’t recognize it. When someone asks about my job I get into an endless explanation. At the end I clarify I don’t work for government or in a corporation. I’m one of the others! The reaction is a silent commiseration: ‘oh dear, the guy doesn’t have a proper” my interlocutor thinks.
Do I exist or i’m just a fabrication of the others? I’m a gap between the state and market? I feel like a ping pong ball in a game played by the 2. i would be easier if i eventually end up in the camp of one or the other.
Simone revolutionized the way women look at themselves and their place in society. who’s the Simone de Beauvoir of the third sector? Blair tried making us cool. it called it the third way but it didn’t last. perhaps because the socialnazionalism called themselves the third way between liberalism and communism!
I was so depressed about my social situation that I thought about changing gender but wasn’t convinced at all because you can’t really change gender. you just loose your to become a third non-well defined other sex. You just get all the hassles without advantages. Moreover, I hate high heels and shopping.
I was still looking around when i found the solution. I realized i don’t have to change gender or follow Tony because the solution is in the third sector. As the visionary Robin Murray – who will speak at our event in London on 18 September (a bit of propaganda) – wrote in last essay Crisis and the New Social Economy this crisis has shown the limits of state and market. The innovation comes from the third sector and networks of peer-to-peer cooperation.
Finally, I’ve found my Simone. Now I need to spread his verb to get my place in society… and keep my gender!
Cosa fa VITA?
Da 30 anni VITA è la testata di riferimento dell’innovazione sociale, dell’attivismo civico e del Terzo settore. Siamo un’impresa sociale senza scopo di lucro: raccontiamo storie, promuoviamo campagne, interpelliamo le imprese, la politica e le istituzioni per promuovere i valori dell’interesse generale e del bene comune. Se riusciamo a farlo è grazie a chi decide di sostenerci.