Where do people get these cockamamie ideas?
And why, if they don't know what they are talking about, do they open their mouths?
It is particularly pathetic that women who now take for granted the right to work outside the home, the right to own property, the right to vote, the right to custody of their own children, and many other legal rights that women did not have even 100 years ago, do not recognize that it was feminists who fought for these rights. It was not women who were satisfied with the status quo and were happy to be the legal property of their fathers, husbands, or even brothers. It was women who had the guts to stand up and take the crap that was flung at them for insisting on being treated as full human beings under the law and not just chattel or, basically, domestic servants.
"If you are not a feminist, what the hell is wrong with you?"
Kate, I hear you. Good women have done excellent work in enhancing the lives of women in Canada. To be ungrateful or dismissive of their efforts is a form of self-hatred on the part of women, in my view. Young women are not taught their own history, which is a shame in my view.
ReplyDeleteBUT, there are those women identify themselves as feminists, who are not to be counted among the fine feminists who fought, and fight, for a world where women are treated with respect. These "faux feminists" are women who are ambitious. These women seek success by almost any means, they talk feminism but walk the ways of male privilege. They exploit other women, in the same way men exploit women, while publicly expounding feminist theories, sometimes even building careers based on feminist theory. In their public persona they are personable, and very well spoken. In their private lives another reality exists, and that reality is where a different story plays out.
In talking to many farm women, I was surprised by the disinterest in being called a "feminist". I was also taken aback at the automatic distrust the word "feminist" engendered on first contact. Their reasoning was not one of ingratitude towards feminists with integrity, it was one of disapproval for using "feminism" as a platform for a high profile, lucrative career. The women I talked to were strong, independent, hard working, entrepreneurs. They lived their values in all aspects of their lives. They would not refer to themselves as feminists.
I respect/ed their decision to decline the label "feminist", and I would not diminish their contribution to the lives of women in Canada because they will not wear a label that has been tarnished and partially coopted by a system of greed.
"Words are cheap." Not everyone who waves the feminist flag, male or female, is concerned about the well being of women.
"a form of self-hatred on the part of women"
Deletea sort of disdain for women
Amen sister, that is all. It's a word I've claimed in spite of those, still bound to patriarchy, who would despise it. I honour those women who fought for it and I continue the protest.
ReplyDeleteXO
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