(no subject)

[labellementeuse]

I took The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer down from the shelves today, which I have always meant to read but never have, and I started reading it (I should be reading Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine, but I am not). I was most relieved by this passage, right at the very beginning:

After the ecstasy of direct action, the militant ladies... settled down..., while the main force of their energy filtered away in post-war retrenchments and the revival of frills, corsets and femininity.... Evangelism withered into eccentricity.

The new emphasis is different. The genteel middle-class ladies clamoured for reform, now ungenteel middle-class women are calling for revolution.

Germaine Greer wrote that in 1971, about second-wave feminism. Today, now, everywhere are the post-feminists, women who want equal rights and equal pay but shy away from the word "feminist", roll their eyes at the mention of oppression, insist that just everything is fine, argue happily that women are paid less because they have the children (and that's O.K., because mothers aren't productive and don't deserve to be paid), are enthused about the sexual revolution but missed the part where it said that you shouldn't have to fake it and that it's still O.K. to say, actually, no, I don't want to do that with my body, are happy to beg their boyfriends to fix their computer, don't speak up when they feel uncomfortable, don't say it's not O.K. to say that, don't think female genital mutilation is their problem, don't think the education of women in the third world is their problem, don't think it's part of feminism, don't think it says anything about women today, don't think there's any difference between the way men and women are treated, don't think the media portrayal of women is a problem.

I want, in ten years' time, I want someone to be writing a book about my feminists, the feminists of today, and say that now we are calling for revolution. I know it can happen. I know it needs to. I hope it will.

Comments

[dryadwoman.livejournal.com]

Well said!

[rewihendrix.livejournal.com]

...i'm sorry but i really disagree with you. i'm not saying that sexism doesn't still exist, but i don't think that there are that many women who act like you describe in that huge sentence. What's the problem with getting their boyfriends to fix their computer? only someone who is insecure themselves would have a problem with that, a confident women wouldn't feel degraded by asking her boyfriend to fix her computer. Lot's of people don't speak up when they feel uncomfortable about anything, just like the media portrayal of pretty much everything is a problem.

"(and that's O.K., because mothers aren't productive and don't deserve to be paid)", what, are you saying that mothers should be paid seperately on top of their maternity leave? Because that's just ridiculous. If any payment should be done, it should be to the mother and the spouse, because each partner has equal rights to the spouse's pay. Or are you saying that women who choose to be full time mothers rather than go back to work should be paid?

The very fact that you're attacking women with that paragraph is almost like you're saying it's women's problem, not society's problem, and that is sexist.

[claystarling.livejournal.com]

:D

[kitsunerei88]

I also disagree with you. I would consider myself a feminist, but I think that certain members of that particular group exaggerate things and make up problems that just don't exist. An example would be the "WE NEED MORE WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING!" mentality that we have in Canada, because clearly, women do not comprise 95% of the student population in Science and Engineering, and this is somehow a problem (because women dominate in science with 60% of the student population, and there's about 25% women in engineering).

What's wrong with getting my boyfriend to fix my computer? I don't know how to fix it, and it's cheaper to ask him to do it. Furthermore, it's as if you're saying that it's somehow wrong that I DON'T know how to fix my computer. Is it wrong when my boyfriend asks me for help with math and essays?

Both men and women don't speak up when they feel uncomfortable with something, and personally, I think people do it to avoid problems. Kind of like how I fake that I'm an idiot so stupid people won't beg me for tutoring and help. I call it being "nicely useless." As for media portrayal of women? More like media portrayal of LIFE is wrong and problematic.

I agree with you on some points, but I think that in many cases you're making a problem out of something that's not a problem.

[eavanmoore.livejournal.com]

That first paragraph could have been written now. This gives me hope for our generation.

More when I'm coherant

[angry-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Right on! I don't agree that you're making problems were none exist; these are very real issues that get swept under the rug. And the 'feminist' thing annoys me. Show some respect for the women who got you the vote, kthanks.

Media representation of women really gets my hackles up. Ever notice that guys can be on the 'homely' side but less than pretty girls get reglagated to comic relief (NOT talking about Ugly Betty here, as she's even kinda pretty with the glasses and braces.)The whole 'makover' show concept. Beauty Pagents (Why are we still doing this crap?)

Another issue:
1) fashion industry. Teaches women to consume, consume, consume. Tells them to be happy they have to be thin, wear make up and have perfect skin.

[bad-mushroom.livejournal.com]

I agree that it's really sad that so many women today think that all of those things aren't their problem, but I will admit that I shy away from the word feminism and always have, and probably will continue to shy away from it. But that's just my personal preference.