Ever wonder why American women don't call themselves feminists?
I think I might know why and it is exemplified in the premise of this
new book, The Terror Dream. Meghan Daum of The Los Angeles Times
writes this in her commentary of the book:
Citing changes such as the sudden and precipitous drop in the presence
of female print journalists and news anchors right after 9/11, or what
she saw as a marked upsurge in trend pieces about educated women
choosing motherhood over careers, Faludi laments that we have responded
"to real threats to our nation by distracting ourselves with imagined threats
to femininity and family life" and have "base[d] our security on a mythical
male strength that can only measure itself against a mythical female weakness.
Here what the author of the book, Susan Faludi, said in an MSNBC interview:
"The Terror Dream" is not a diagnosis of where feminism stands today. It's not
about what 9/11 did to women, or to men, for that matter. The problem wasn't
that women went back to the home, or men decided to put on ten-gallon hats.
The problem was what that myth did to the political sphere. It had terrible
consequences to our moral standing in the world. It was introduced to the cultural
bloodstream as a domestic story, but the toll it took was in the erosion of our civil
liberties, the endorsement of torture.
The main problem I find with the modern feminist movement is they have their
priorities all wrong. Faludi is worried about issues like the drop of the number
of female print journalists and female roles in society but says nothing about the
millions of women in Afghanistan that have been freed from the oppression of the
Taliban by America's military actions. Of course she doesn't want to talk about that
because that might mean that a Republican administration actually did something
good for women. And we can't give those chauvinistic Republicans any credit. I think
talking about the 'honor' killings happening all over the Muslim world is a much more
important topic than discussing American women choosing (feminists should like
that word selection) to take time off from work to raise families. Feminists say nothing
about impoverished single-mother families here in America. Why? Because that might
mean that marriage might actually have some societal use and is not the oppressive
institution they want us to believe.
I realize that women rights activists have done so much throughout history. But
modern feminists seem to focus on things that seem unimportant in the big scheme
of things. Are reproductive rights more important than human rights violations like
'honor' killings? No, not to me. Is having a woman elected president of the United
States more important than the millions of girls not being educated around the globe?
Not in my book. So pardon me, feminists, if I don't listen to what you have to say
anymore. It's the women's issues that you all aren't discussing I find telling.
4 comments:
Awesome post.
Is it possible that celebrating more conventional choices -- like choosing to be married and raising families, instead of pursuing one's own career -- would be seen as a negative choice by the majority of feminists, who (like any "minority" movement) traditionally can only gauge effectiveness through demonstrable change?
Briana- Thanks.
Justin- There has has been a change in the past decades of more woman choosing not to get married and having a career. I don't see a problem with that. What I see as unfair is when women who don't take the career oriented path get judged by feminists. Let woman decide for themselves what they want to do. If a woman wants to stay home and raise their children, sobeit. If a woman doesn't want to have children and wants to focus on a their career, sobeit. If a woman wants a career and children, sobeit. As long as they do what is deemed the best for their life and their family.
Well said. May I add one that I've observed?
Feminists decry that women are tired of being treated like sex objects and only valued for their looks...
Yet watch them go to the nearest beach. Chances are they're wearing some incredible disappearing swimsuit!
Why the contradiction? Because regardless of the venomous anti-male rhetoric they spout while the cameras are on, most still want to attract a guy because they like getting attention from one! And the easiest way to do -that- is to show off 'the goods' in public.
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