I always thought feminism was about being annoyed if a man
offers me a seat on the bus. All I ever hear about feminists
is that they refuse to allow men to buy them dinner and open their
own doors, thank you.
Personally, I like to sit on the bus, I don’t want to pay
for dinner and, well, I don’t really care about the
door. I always thought that meant I wasn’t a
feminist.
I was wrong.
As the month wound to a close, the Senate passed a resolution to
officially declare April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. At
the same time, however, the Massachusetts House Ways and Means
Committee released its 2004 budget proposal eliminating funding for
rape-crisis and domestic violence centers in the state. During the
fiscal year 2001, these solely state-funded centers provided 13,498
sessions of counseling and advocacy to 2,726 individuals. They were
the last resort for people who placed 13,397 hotline
calls. That’s a lot of abused women, men and
children. But the only place you’ll read about the
extent of these services is on feminist news sites.
When it comes to equal pay, domestic violence, breast cancer
awareness, reproductive rights, childcare and welfare reform, or
the reform of unconstitutional adjudication of sexual assault cases
on college campuses, I’m on the feminist ticket.
Still, in recent years, women like myself have begun to
disassociate ourselves from feminism. To identify oneself as a
feminist carries a wealth of baggage with which many women do not
sympathize. Feminist stereotypes, rather than feminist legal and
policy issues, have earned media popularity. Media stereotypes
latch onto the radical feminists who attempt to regulate social
behavior and dictate how women and men relate.
I’m tired of it.
It’s time we reclaim feminism from the radicals, eschew
the stereotypes, proudly wear our lipstick and reestablish the
original definition of feminism as a doctrine demanding equal
rights for women. But equal rights is a far cry from equal
behavior. Feminism should not be about petty control over the
intricacies of male/female relationships. Men and women are
not the same and will never be able to relate to one another as if
they were. Forget homogenization. Feminism should respect
the differences between men and women and teach that those
differences do not imply that one gender is better than
another.
One of the problems with feminism is the lack of tolerance many
radicals have for other women’s life choices. For
example, former NOW president Karen DeCrow wrote: “No man
should allow himself to support his wife ““ no matter how much
she favors the idea, no matter how many centuries this domestic
pattern has existed, no matter how logical the economics of the
arrangement may appear.”Â
Well, money is not an automatic equalizer. Talk about devaluing
what many women feel is the most meaningful experience in their
lives ““ motherhood. The idea that a woman (or a man, for
that matter) is only valuable in a relationship if she (or he) can
financially contribute is ludicrous and insulting. This kind of
rant just puts different wallpaper on the cage of
“womanhood.”
I have no interest in being in a cage. I refuse to let feminism
become just another way of limiting women.
But I also refuse to ignore the issues that still plague women
socially, politically and legally. The good work of feminists
““ radicals and moderates alike ““ cannot go
uncelebrated.
Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, feminists were working to aid the women
of Afghanistan and garner international support. It was the
feminists who raised awareness of rape on college campuses and who
are fighting to reform campus policies with regard to reporting and
punishing sexual offenders. It was the feminists who shed light on
the gender-biased salary gap. It was the feminists who
initiated the campaign for birth control and reproductive
rights. It was the feminists who demanded legal recognition of
marital rape. Domestic violence, sexual assault and welfare reform
are all traditionally feminist issues.
Many young women, however, believe that feminism is passé.
The radicals can have feminism, they claim. We don’t need it
anymore ““ things are pretty good now. We can vote. We
can work in whatever field we desire. We have protection under the
law. We can have sex when and with whom we want. We have control
over our bodies. We have choices.
To some extent, that’s true. But there is work yet to
be done. For example, according to data complied from the
Current Population Survey, a full-time working woman receives only
73 cents to every dollar received by a man. African American
women only receive 65 cents, and Latina women make only 53
cents. Furthermore, between 1995 and 2000 the pay gap between
full-time working men and women managers actually increased.
Moreover, one in every six women has been the victim of rape or
attempted rape during her lifetime, according to a 1998 study by
the National Institute of Justice and Center for Disease Control
and Prevention. Hostility is still rampant in the workplace,
as evidenced, for example, by the recent discrimination lawsuits
filed against Wal-Mart and Smith Barney. And, with the
impending retirement of two Supreme Court justices, Roe v. Wade has
never been closer to being overturned.
It is time we reclaimed feminism. Wear lipstick and high
heels or patchouli and Birkenstocks, but don’t assume your
life choices will work for everyone. Do not allow your
perceived security or your distaste for the more radical ideologies
fool you into complacency. Assume responsibility for your
rights. If you believe in equality, proudly call yourself a
feminist, and stand up. If you don’t, no one will.
Sutton is a third-year classical civilizations student. You can
e-mail her at jsutton@media.ucla.edu.