Saturday, May 26, 2007

Floundering Feminist: When Jones Aren't Enough and the Genes are Missing

This summer, I'm taking a class on feminism and despite what most would assume about me, I'd actually like to ally myself with these bra-burners. Throughout the years, "women's libbers" have gotten a pretty bad rap--especially from those in the white supremacist capitalist patriarchal neocolonialist Western society in which I was raised. (Yeah, say that five times fast--the book I'm reading loves to refer to this demographic as such.) From the moment my parents gave me my first baby doll, mommy-training seemed the most natural vocational route for me. I cook. I sew. I clean. And I love all of it. Domesticity is more prominent in my blood than antibodies.

My freshman year at SC, I was in a philosophy class that focused on social/moral issues, which was linked to a writing class that encouraged us to further research and explore those ideas for ourselves. Here I met Alli, who would be my roommate for the following year and a half as well as the primary feminist voice in my life. I think that Alli and I became friends because we were mutually intrigued by one another. I was inspired by her passion and enjoyed getting into debates with her about the class's hot topics: abortion, death penalty, etc. Alli knew her stuff, which made me want to solidify mine. If I want to be anti-abortion, for instance, I need to know why. So in the same way, if I plan to claim that feminists are manish, hairy work-a-holics, I need the proof to back it up. Which of course I haven't found. Actually, I'm discovering the opposite: the feminist mantra is anti-sexism, not anti-manism or anti-femininity. In fact, I wrote one of my favorite papers from that year about the value of homemakers (see next post)--and how feminists who demean homemaking are actually undermining their own cause by taking from their sisters the freedom to choose staying home. I think what scared me off from feminism initially was that I made the false assumption, which so many people continue to hold on to, that feminism just wants to pick a fight. In truth, well-studied feminists discourage stereotyping on a grander scale. No, women are not made for the home, but that doesn't mean that they are solely made for the workplace. It means just that we don't fit into neat little categories--which is great. So if I want to be married and stay home with my children, then feminists should be (and are) behind me all the way.

All this being said, the class reading has been very discouraging to my budding feminist beliefs. Though I am pleased by the definition of feminism that the book (Feminism is for Everybody by Bell-Hooks) and my class provide, I still find that many feminists are unwilling to allow just anyone to join their cause. They don't want any half-hearted supporters--which I do applaud. There's nothing more irritating that a person who is lukewarm about their beliefs. But what I can't figure out--and I hope I learn by the end of the class--is why I must believe certain ideas about certain issues in order to have any clout among feminists. I feel betrayed by my birth status--as a white, upper-middle class woman, I'm already disadvantaged because, according to Bell-Hooks, I don't understand the plight of most women in America. And the fact that I support capitalism may the last straw to trigger the demise of my inner-feminist. How could I support women's equality if I also support a economic system in which people "unfairly" gain because of their hard work? How dare I suggest that I support equality when I give favor to those that, for their efforts, deserve it? I'm willing to give everyone a fair shot (read: opportunity to work hard for their own success) regardless of gender, color, class and so forth. But I just can't see how it would benefit anyone involved to start handing out free stuff, free advancement, free acceptance to people. Communism, anyone? The theory sounds fine and dandy until you try to put it into practice and we all become lazy slobs.

If being a feminist simply means being anti-sexism, I'm ready to join the bandwagon. Unfortunately it's those little disclaimers that might get me. Equality? Yes. But not if it means closing my eyes to the realities of human nature and the way societies function.

I can't wait until I start dissecting these theories in light of the Bible...

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