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FEMINISM_OF_CHOICE
December 23, 2014
February 19, 2015
February 20, 2019
In the 150th anniversary issue, _The Nation_,
April 6, 2016, there was a piece titled:
"Spreading Feminism Far and Wide" a conversation
between Betsy Reed and Katha Pollit.
I thought these remarks by Katha Pollit were particularly striking:
"Just try suggesting, however, that highly educated
women who give up interesting, well-paid work to stay
home with their kids embody a dependence on men that
feminism has critiqued since forever (and, not
coincidentally, make it easier for their husbands to
advance over working-mother colleagues, who rarely have
househusbands to free them from domestic duties), and--
well! Then it's choice feminism to the rescue. If a
heart surgeon wants to abandon the operating table to
raise heirloom chickens in Brooklyn, that's her right--
and how dare you raise an eyebrow? You might as well
say that Miley Cyrus isn't just a free spirit who
happens to enjoy fellating a giant inflatable penis."
I would think that if you're going to
set about empowering women and so on,
you might actually try to have some At another point in the interview she
respect for the choices they make. regrets some things said in an early
piece of hers ("Why did I make fun of
quilts as an art form?").
Old habits.
Particularly interesting is the
suggestion that female solidarity Another interesting shift is that in the
demands you live in a particular 70s, feminism was big on demanding that
way or else be accused of assisting men share housework duties-- here it's
the enemy. just presumed it doesn't happen and will
never happen.
I might even suggest that activist social-critic
types should beware setting themselves up as the
authorities on all that is right and proper-- the
finger-waggling at Miley Cyrus, inane though her
schtick may be, is all too familiar. Myself I Girls just want to have
wouldn't want to rule out the possibility that fun, and mothers want to
Miley Cyrus (or someone like her) might've hector them: "no one will
gravitated toward exhibiting themselves because have any respect for you
they're exhibitionists. if you dress like that".
But then, while Katha Pollit doesn't spell out
the case very well, in context I gather she's
trying to make the point that these individual
choices are made under the contraints of present
social conditions, and some other institutions
might be set up that increases the range of How working your
choices, making it easier for for all parents to eyebrows in
maintain their careers and also raise children. disapproval at
other women is
going to help get
Both Reed and Pollit criticize young there escapes me.
net.feminists for not going after
"structural" issues, i.e. they should
be working on the economic angle.
Actually, I wonder if that's quite right:
that's essentially Bernie Sanders' beat.
Wasn't he popular enough with young women (Maybe they weren't
back in 2016? women who count as
internet feminists?).
Speaking of which there was a funny slip by one of
the elder gods of the Second Wave, Gloria Steinam
(she did a retraction soon afterwards). Hilary
Hanson wrote about it at the Huffington Post:
[link]
"The feminist icon made an alarmingly sexist
remark on 'Real Time with Bill Maher' Friday
night, suggesting that young, female supporters
of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie
Sanders only support him because dudes do, too."
"Steinem was discussing Democratic presidential
candidates Hillary Clinton and Sanders. When
Maher noted the Vermont senator's popularity with [link]
young women, Steinem responded with her theory
that women get more 'radical' as they get older."
"'When you’re young, you’re thinking, "Where
are the boys?" The boys are with Bernie,'
she said." The remark is doubly
peculiar when you
consider that Bernie
is arguable more
radical than Hillary
on feminist grounds:
[link]
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