The reading for Tuesday explored different aspects of the feminist movement from the 1960’s to the present day. While each sought or seeks to increase female equality and rights, the various feminist positions vary quite significantly. The Future that Never Happened, by Ariel Levy, begins by examining staunch feminists, such as Susan Brownmiller. Brownmiller and her radical comrades set out to completely transform societal views and roles of women. Reproductive rights and career equality were issues on their forefront. Levy also goes into great detail about the sexual revolution. Despite his influence over the reimaging of sexuality and sexual mores, Brownmiller and other feminists are quick to scorn Hugh Hefner. They argued that he objectified women and only gave women ornamental value. This group of feminists was strongly opposed to pornography and compared it to offenses such as rape. Levy makes is clear that not all feminist are anti-porn or sexually repressed. She then divulges about groups like CAKE, which promotes sexuality and capitalize on femininity. Levy concludes by stating that despite the disappearance of radical feminists, the focus on excess sexuality can distract women from the original intentions of the feminist movement and make them lose consciousness to the ways our male driven culture demeans women.
Then, The Re-emergence of the “Women Question” follows the transition from women’s involvement in the civil rights movement to the creation of their own feminist movement. Female members of the SNCC and SDS played a subservient role to men. Issues of race also affected the groups. White women often got caught up in complicated relationships between the black male members of the groups and black female group members. Riffs between the white and black women soon began to form not just over the competition for the men, but also over pursuing their best interests in fighting for rights. With the outbreak of the Vietnam War, women felt even further detached from their group activism, as the subjects they protested did not directly affect them. As a result, women slowly began focusing on their own rights and trying to fight to promote them. Incidentally enough, the men who they fought besides for civil and war rights were not as supportive of the fight for feminist rights.
Finally, Betty Friedan, in the first chapter excerpted from The Feminine Mystique sheds light on the dissatisfied lives of housewives during decades following World War II. During that time period, women retreated back to their homes and pursued careers as housewives. They dedicated all their time to their husbands, children, and housework. Women no longer attempted to have careers outside of the home. After some time women became unfulfilled by their lives and developed depression. Experts were unable to pinpoint its cause. Friedan claims that women yearned to do something more with their lives, but were unable to identify what it was that they wanted. Matters were made worse by image the media and men portrayed that women were left up to their own freewill. This time period was a dark age for the American female population, but set the foundation for the feminist movement to build on.
The Future that Never Happened grabbed my attention the most. At times, I was shocked by what I was reading and at other times disgusted. There were three specific points that I disagreed with the most or found the most offensive. The first was Brownmiller’s hypothetical comparison of pornography to propaganda for gassing Jews or lynching blacks. I think that she is being overdramatic and her argument devalues the severity of those acts of hatred. Secondly, I was disgusted by Hugh Hefner’s double standard of women. The fact that he openly admits that women are nothing more than ornamental entertainment and have no intellectual simulative ability is absurd. And thirdly, I was definitely surprised to learn about CAKE. With its overtly sexual parties, to me, CAKE displays women in a way that most women and especially feminists should take offense to. The fact that they parade practically naked women around a party where men are welcome to ogle over them goes against the ideology of feminism.
I agree with Sara in that The Future that Never Happened was certainly shocking. I agree that Hugh Hefner’s double standard is appalling, but as the leader of a pornography empire that revolutionized America’s sexuality, I don’t find this particularly surprising. What I did find most surprising about Hugh Hefner was his involvement in the feminist movement. I feel that Levy was fair and outlined Hefner’s various involvements in the feminist movement. He invested a great deal of money into court cases, organizations, etc. and felt that women should be allowed to be more open with their sexuality. It is possible that Hefner may have had his own agenda for increasing American women’s sexuality but he did aid the movement regardless. I also agree with Levy in that CAKE, or the idea of CAKE, may not be a blow to the feminist movement but in practice there are certain pratfalls. I feel that feminists should not attempt to pigeon hole women into a particular form of sexuality. Therefore women should be proud of their bodies and their sexual drives and whichever form they come. However, it appears that the mold for CAKE models is that of a certain stereotypical body type similar to that already established by a male population. CAKE is merely a strip club for women thinly veiled by a feminist ideal; the hypersexual atmosphere distracts women from the actual cause.
ReplyDeleteI found The Feminist Mystique also very interesting. Friedman approaches the elusive problem delicately and with an almost scientific approach. She explains how women from all walks of life feel similarly despite differences in age, education, home location, etc. I particularly enjoyed the excerpts she included that were brutally honest. Various women questioned their relationships with their husbands, their mundane home routines and asked “Is this really it?” Friedman also delves into the various ways in which women had changed themselves to fit the so-called perfect housewife mold. They lost weight, went to school only to meet a husband, married younger and younger, and had increasingly more children. I also liked that Friedman did not assume the solution to every woman’s problem. She left the solution open to interpretation and simply stated that women needed something more. Every woman is different and a one size fits all approach to problem solving would not be appropriate. If the mothers, wives, and daughters of America were to ever be satisfied in life something would have to change drastically. Friedman did an excellent job exploring the depth, seriousness and commonality of the problem to force people into taking notice.