turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) (05/31/90)
------ In my readings, I came across a passage by a feminist writer who is disappointed with some of the trends in the "new" feminism. Because it succinctly raises important issues about the direction of the feminist movement (and also because it expresses so well some of the things that have been percolating in the back of my mind) I am offering it here for further discussion. Without further comment by me, the remainder of this post is an excerpt from an essay by Gayle Rubin. ----- "Feminists in 1970 were angry because women, the things women did, and the female personality traits were devalued. But we were also enraged at the restrictions placed on female behavior. Women were not supposed to engage in a range of activities considered masculine. A woman who wanted to fix cars, get laid, ride a motorcycle, play sports, or get a PhD could expect criticism from the society and support from the woman's movement. The term 'male identified' meant that a woman lacked consciousness of male oppression. "By 1980, the term "male identified" had lost that meaning (lack of political consciousness) and has become synonymous with 'masculine'. Now, women who do masculine things are accused of imitating men not only by family, church, and the media, but by the feminist movement. Much contemporary feminist ideology is that everything female -- persons, activities, values, personality characteristics -- is good, whereas anything pertaining to males is bad. By this analysis, the task of feminism is to replace male values with female ones, to substitute female culture for male culture. This line of thinking does not encourage women to try to gain access to male activities, privileges, and territories. Instead, it implies that a good feminist wants nothing to do with 'male' activities. All of this celebration of femininity tends to reinforce traditional gender roles and values of appropriate female behavior. It is not all that different from the sex role segregation against which early feminists revolted. I, for one, did not joint the women's movement to be told how to be a good girl. There are many labels for this brand of feminism, but my preferred term is 'femininism'. "Femininism has become especially powerful with regard to issues of sexuality and violence, which it not surprisingly links together. Sexuality is seen as a male value and activity. The femininist view of sex is that is is something that good/nice women do not especially like. In this view, sex is not a motivating force in female behavior. Women have sex as an expression of intimacy, but orgasm is seen as a male goal. The idea that sexuality is most often something men impose upon women leads to the equation of sex with violence, and the conflation of sex with rape. These were the sexual theories I was taught growing up. I never expected to have them rammed down my throat by the women's movement. Man the Id and Woman the Chaste are Victorian ideas, not feminist ones. "The reemphasis on feminine values, especially sexual chastity, has led to a shift in the mode of argument for feminist goals. Instead of arguing for justice or social equality, much feminist polemic now claims a female moral superiority. It is argued that we should have more, or total, power in society because we are more equipped for it, mainly by virtue of our role in reproduction, than men. I did not join the women's movement to have my status depend on my ability to bear children. "I fear that the women's movement is repeating the worst errors of a century ago. The nineteenth century feminist movement began as a radical critique of women's role and status. But it became increasingly conservative and similarly shifted the burden of its argument onto a reconstituted femininity in the form of alleged female moral superiority. Much of the nineteenth century movement degenerated into a variety of morality crusades, with conservative feminists pursuing what they took to be women's agenda in anti-prostitution, anti-masturbation, anti-obscenity, and anti-vice campaigns. It will be an historical tragedy of almost unthinkable dimensions if the revived feminist movement dissipates into a series of campaigns against recreational sex, popular music, and sexually explicit materials. But this appears to be the direction in which feminism is moving." ----- End of excerpt. Russell