A Broad View of Feminism So Far
This is a response to the first question of the prompt. It is a more broad focus on feminism than a specific passage from our readings.
After I signed up for GWSS 1001 I was a little bit nervous to be honest. I was nervous about how the professor and my classmates would be. I had imagined man-hating women that I would constantly be arguing with in class discussion. I believed a lot of the stereotypes about what feminism was. Fortunately, my opinions on feminism and feminists has changed drastically in the past couple weeks, and I would even go so far as to say proudly that I AM a feminist.
At this point in the semester, I agree with nearly all aspects of what feminism is. There are some issues I am continuing to struggle with such as whether or not feminists need to be pro-choice, as well as certain portions of sexual liberation that bell hooks describes in chapter 14 of her book. Coming from a family that was torn apart by an affair, I had a hard time reading that chapter. I’m sorry, but to me, the mere proposal that “marriage is another form of sexual slavery” (bell hooks) was troubling to say the least. I don’t care if you are a man, woman, heterosexual or homosexual; I don’t think that it is too much to ask for your partner to be sexually exclusive with you. I hope that we have further discussion as to what sexual liberation entails within the class because the way it came off in bell hooks’ book, it seemed like having great orgasms was more important than family.
I have also been questioning the first part of feminism that I mentioned in that feminists must be pro-choice. When we talked about this in class, I started thinking about all the systems in our country that work against feminism. If feminists must be pro-choice, you’ve just eliminated at least half of the country that is pro-life from the movement. In addition to political and religious beliefs, the feminism movement is further hindered by our national education system not teaching feminism to everybody, as well as social norms for parents giving daughters dolls and sons G.I. Joes. Further, pop-culture from advertising to well-known female figures such as Britney Spears or Jenna Jameson hurt the feminism movement. Finally, shifting demographics to an older, generally more conservative traditional population undermines the feminism movement as feminism is an extremely liberal movement.
Based on what I have learned so far in this class. As far as I can tell, feminism is nothing more than love, and love cannot truly exist without feminist ideals. Feminism and love must coexist in order for each to prevail. With a focus on equality amongst men and women as well as non-violent households and shared responsibility at home, feminism is truly a great thing at its base.
Why study it? I think there are so many misconceptions of what feminism is, that it needs to be taught and studied. We have a semester devoted to learning about feminism in hopes that we will be able to overcome our own misconceptions as well as helping clear up the misconceptions of others. Also, feminism is an important part of history. In our readings, it was evident that all the injustices that existed and still exist in our society affect feminism, and feminism affects them as well: racism, elitism, etc. Finally, as far as I can tell, feminism is not fully defined yet. There are aspects of it that are under debate. The reason we study it, also has to do with the fact that we can continue to mold and shape what feminism is to us and to each other. Maybe one of us will propose something about feminism that nobody has ever thought of.
Comments
I also had a difficult time reading Chapter 14 when Hooks describes certain aspects of sexual liberation. I agree with your idea that a partner, no matter what gender or sexual orientation, should be faithful in the relationship. A woman should be able to make her own decisions when it comes to sex because it is very personal but there is a big responsibility that goes along with that. I believe our society takes sex too casually and I hope there can be some time in class to discuss this further.
Posted by: Kate | January 27, 2007 06:08 PM
I really appreciated how honest and open your post was. I have always considered myself an ally of feminists and a feminist myself, but I must admit that I definitely had many reservations in taking a course in this study. I have been really surprised and impressed by the amount of respect everyone has for each other.
Posted by: Kevin | January 28, 2007 10:32 AM
I really like how you define feminism as love. The misconceptions that trail feminism really bother me because in my opinion, the ideas behind it aren't angry or violent but instead that of unity. I've always been a firm believer in love and I agree with you when you say that feminism and love have to both exist in order for either to be true.
Posted by: Kirsten | January 28, 2007 05:12 PM
Derek- I agree with you as well as Kate, I also this that sex is too casual. Not saying that you need to be a virgin until you're married, but isn't a relationship about commitment. To be committed to one person means being sexually exclusive with just that one person..no one else. I think bell hooks' theory of marriage and "sexual slavery" is a little overboard!
Posted by: Kari | January 28, 2007 10:19 PM