Solutions, not criticism
When I was younger and I thought about feminism, I associated it (of course) with angry women who stopped shaving and hated men. I didn't really see this as negative, though. I thought they were just tired of having to clean up after every one and wanted actual jobs. But I also thought that this was a movement only associated with the '70s - one that was long gone.
I'm grateful that I had a fairly neutral perception of feminism because otherwise I might not have been as receptive when I took Intro. to Women's Studies last summer. After experiencing my "click," I came to realize that I had always been a feminist without realizing it. I truly think this is the case with most younger girls, especially because childhood/early adolescence is when a girl's self-esteem is the highest. The problem here is the feminist label. So what do we do about it?
I remember previously discussing (I think in Third Wave) instituting Women's Studies classes at an elementary/middle school level. The problem was that feminism is too "political" for public school. As much as that sucks, I think we need to focus on ways to get around it.
A lot of the reading was so focused on why and how girls aren't feminist - the "generational debates," the divide between the waves, the harm done by "Girl Power," etc., and I found that really frustrating. I realize that not all of it was, but I felt more barraged by the negative than anything else. In "Young Femininity" in the section called "Acknowledging but Criticizing Young Feminism" (what the hell?) there is something that I think is notable:
I don't think we need to analyze this passage to realize that it is problematic in many ways. However, this is merely one example.
I just think it sucks that there is so much negativity coming from the previous wave(s). Like this sentence: "...This argument is consistent with the broader attack on young women for being 'ungrateful', in that it claims feminism as something that is owned by the previous generation and can only be passed on to appropriate heirs." What the hell is that? The worst part of this is that it's kind of like victim-blaming. How are little girls supposed to stand up and call themselves feminists when they're surrounded by anti-feminism at every turn and have no mentors to teach them otherwise?
What I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't focus so much on a generational gap. The truth is that times have changed and feminists aren't fighting for the same things they once were (for the most part - hey, still no ERA!). Instead of criticizing little girls for wanting to wear make-up and not spouting feminist rhetoric, let's take what we can get and help them in ways we can. We can't put Women's Studies classes into public schools? Well at least we have awesome programs like YWLP. Girls spend too much time reading harmful teeny-bopper magazines? Maybe we can spread the word about (or start up!) magazines like New Moon. Girls don't appreciate the hard work of their feminist foremothers? They why can't we work to alter the history programs/books in schools to include more HERstory so girls learn what it was like to have no rights at all?
When it comes down to it, we're all people and we all want equal rights. So why not focus more on solutions than criticism?
*This passage reminded me quite a bit of stuff we had read in Third Wave about Kaitie Roiphe. Everything we read about her was really negative but there's a passage about her on page 202 of Young Femininity that makes her sound really positive. Now I'm just confused. I guess I should just read The Morning After for myself, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed this and what you had thought.
My example of Girls Doing Feminism is the All Girl Army!
- Bianca
I'm grateful that I had a fairly neutral perception of feminism because otherwise I might not have been as receptive when I took Intro. to Women's Studies last summer. After experiencing my "click," I came to realize that I had always been a feminist without realizing it. I truly think this is the case with most younger girls, especially because childhood/early adolescence is when a girl's self-esteem is the highest. The problem here is the feminist label. So what do we do about it?
I remember previously discussing (I think in Third Wave) instituting Women's Studies classes at an elementary/middle school level. The problem was that feminism is too "political" for public school. As much as that sucks, I think we need to focus on ways to get around it.
A lot of the reading was so focused on why and how girls aren't feminist - the "generational debates," the divide between the waves, the harm done by "Girl Power," etc., and I found that really frustrating. I realize that not all of it was, but I felt more barraged by the negative than anything else. In "Young Femininity" in the section called "Acknowledging but Criticizing Young Feminism" (what the hell?) there is something that I think is notable:
Garnet writes that young women's feminism represents the 'creation of a political position based on the virtue of helplessness.' She suggests that when they enact feminism by pressing charges for sexual harassment, for example, they demonstrate the problematic development of a feminist identity based on priggishness, a fear of sexuality and disempowerment." She argues that this kind of activism is a misunderstanding of the politics of feminism, as laid out by the second wave.*
I don't think we need to analyze this passage to realize that it is problematic in many ways. However, this is merely one example.
I just think it sucks that there is so much negativity coming from the previous wave(s). Like this sentence: "...This argument is consistent with the broader attack on young women for being 'ungrateful', in that it claims feminism as something that is owned by the previous generation and can only be passed on to appropriate heirs." What the hell is that? The worst part of this is that it's kind of like victim-blaming. How are little girls supposed to stand up and call themselves feminists when they're surrounded by anti-feminism at every turn and have no mentors to teach them otherwise?
What I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't focus so much on a generational gap. The truth is that times have changed and feminists aren't fighting for the same things they once were (for the most part - hey, still no ERA!). Instead of criticizing little girls for wanting to wear make-up and not spouting feminist rhetoric, let's take what we can get and help them in ways we can. We can't put Women's Studies classes into public schools? Well at least we have awesome programs like YWLP. Girls spend too much time reading harmful teeny-bopper magazines? Maybe we can spread the word about (or start up!) magazines like New Moon. Girls don't appreciate the hard work of their feminist foremothers? They why can't we work to alter the history programs/books in schools to include more HERstory so girls learn what it was like to have no rights at all?
When it comes down to it, we're all people and we all want equal rights. So why not focus more on solutions than criticism?
*This passage reminded me quite a bit of stuff we had read in Third Wave about Kaitie Roiphe. Everything we read about her was really negative but there's a passage about her on page 202 of Young Femininity that makes her sound really positive. Now I'm just confused. I guess I should just read The Morning After for myself, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed this and what you had thought.
My example of Girls Doing Feminism is the All Girl Army!
- Bianca
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