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Topic: Self-Actualization Through Macramé
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steffie
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3826
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posted 24 January 2005 04:40 PM
A woman I consider to be a second-wave feminist (she is 65) gave me an old piece of text** that is the hard-copy equivalent of an email "Fwd: Fwd:..." Here.Written decades ago, it lists a number of fictitious "Adult Education Courses", and what I think is important about this text, to me, is that it speaks of the time in which it was composed. For example: quote:
Home Economics 403: How to Convert Your Electrolux to a Fully Automatic Rifle
I do not view my vacuum cleaner as a tool of oppression. Rather, it is a tool that enables me to live independently. I cannot imagine a life whereby my worth was measured by the cleanliness of my carpets. Besides expressing the frustration of homemakers, the piece seems to mock the then-new trend towards self-awareness/self-empowerment in SE107 “Dealing With Self-Realization Depression” and C101 “Self-Actualization Through macramé”. While they are “amusing”, these snapshots of the psyches of women living and working during the sixties and seventies really help one such as I place herself within the framework of the "waves" of feminism. It helps me figure out: To whom am I beholden? Alongside whom do I struggle for equal opportunities today? Where (if anywhere) is feminism going next? What will my contribution be? **I changed the text in 2 places (so it is more topical) when I retyped it. "Career Opportunities in Cuba"(BC104) used to read, "Career Opportunities in El Salvador", and back then I really only made $100 "In Real Estate" (BC101). An online friend of mine explained it to me this way:
quote:
The way I read this is that we currently have a fight to the death between gender feminism and equity feminism. The gender feminist either are second-wavers, or third-wavers who still have one foot deep in the second wave. They accept oppression, they accept male/female essentialism and deny it at the tops of their voices.
I have been thinking alot about this since that thread about 2nd-vs-3rd wavers – what kind of feminism do I subscribe to? So, I tally up all the times I have felt oppressed, and all the times I had the same opportunities for success (and achieved success!) and which "side" do I feel closer to? I wonder, why do I have to choose? Is it naiive to think I can identify with both groups? Can I combine my mother's feminism with what I see around me today? I mean, are my struggles now a result of gender inequality, or just an oversaturated job market? Somebody, please: help me sort this all out.
From: What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow / Out of this stony rubbish? | Registered: Mar 2003
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Timebandit
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1448
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posted 25 January 2005 11:28 AM
I think that's the problem with gender feminism/second wave feminism to begin with -- for my generation, it doesn't feel real, and in many ways, just doesn't make sense. And there are many self-identified 3rd wavers who still embrace the principles and methodology of the 2nd wave, which I, personally, and some of my cohort, find mystifying.Beyond FEELING, though, I also have to wonder just how useful the nodding and back patting we do over our "oppression" is. Does this change anything, or do we just feel better for being supported and nurtured? Does this just mire us back into the stereotype we're trying to kick? I don't want my successes to be viewed as positive "in spite of" my sex, but "because" I am who I am -- female is only part of that. (btw, I'd identify myself as an equity feminist -- not, however, as defined by Hoff-Summers, who is a crank and a quack)
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001
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Timebandit
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1448
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posted 25 January 2005 12:56 PM
I think you're taking it a bit personally, skdadl, and I'm not sure that's the intent. Certainly, I think we can say that 1968 was a different time and that our culture has changed quite a bit since then, can't we? It isn't that the second wave was wrong or bad -- they needed to identify and spell out some very real oppressions -- simply that it's a little out of step with where we are at this point in time. And yet, in the academic and arts circles that I find myself, personally, traveling in, I often find that the second wave is alive and well. I don't think that helps us move forward. So no, I don't think it's gobbledygook, it's another generation's (or part thereof's) experience, and no less valid than your own.
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001
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Timebandit
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1448
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posted 25 January 2005 01:12 PM
 Sorry, skdadl, I don't see the logic. What does that mean? Who's asking you to lie? If some of us have got us wrong, could you be a little more specific? (edited because it was written in haste and frustration, and I was more sharp than I should have been. My bad.) [ 25 January 2005: Message edited by: Zoot ]
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001
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Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
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posted 25 January 2005 01:42 PM
Yeah, truthfully I didn't even really UNDERSTAND the first post, and I've taken enough women's studies and feminist theory courses that I probably should be able to. I really don't get where your friend is coming from, Steffie, or even really where you're coming from. I definitely have "one foot in the second wave" and I don't think that's anything to be ashamed of, even though I realize that age-wise I should probably consider myself "third-wave". I refuse to pigeonhole myself and conform my opinions to the pigeonhole. I try to think through the issues myself, read lots of other feminist opinions, and come to my own conclusions. And a lot of my conclusions fit into "second wave" feminism, and a lot of them fit into "third wave" feminism. And a lot of them fit into both, because one grew out of the other.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
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steffie
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3826
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posted 25 January 2005 07:42 PM
Maybe it's just one big wave, always moving forward and driven by different forces at different times. As one who was born in '67, who grew up with the "women's movement" ever present, I never really felt a part of "it". Therefore, it affected how I grew to perceieve/construct my own sense of femininity. I have come across women in my life who are the "We were there and we fought the fight and you'll never understand" feminists. These attitudes, while deserving of admiration, only make me feel left out of the whole process. I guess my main question is something like, what remains for women my age to call our own "women's movement?" It feels kind of fake and pretentious for me to identify with a mindset of a generation ago. If I had had a daughter, I'd have no bloody idea how to explain feminism to her, except to cite instances from the "good old glory days" of the past. When asking for equality was something scandalous. Now it's just expected. I never meant to insult anyone; I'm just trying to sort out where I fit in, if indeed I fit in at all.
From: What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow / Out of this stony rubbish? | Registered: Mar 2003
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Email this thread to someone!
Thanks - it helps to hear that there are others like me.
