The Women Warriors

[MessiahMews]

What is Feminism, and Why Are People Saying So Many Bad Things About It?

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In the last decade especially, feminism has received some very bad press. A fundraising letter from Pat Robertson as reported in The Washington Post on August 23, 1992, states: "The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft and become lesbians." If people weren’t so afraid of women, and of what feminism represents, this would be funny. I like the definition of feminism that appears in Andrea Dworkin’s 1993 book, Letters from a War Zone:

"The women’s movement...creates ways of understanding the world in which women live, ways of understanding the social construction of masculinity and femininity, ways of understanding what prejudice is as a social construction, how it works, how it is transmitted. It creates ways of understanding what the hatred of women is, why it exists, how it is transmitted, what function it serves in this society."


We hear from feminists that women are oppressed, but what does this really mean? Psychologist Miriam Greenspan defines patriarchy as follows: "a system of male domination of economic, political, religious, cultural, and family life in which women’s experience, authority, and powers are systematically denied, distorted and subjugated." There is no question that men have been deeply wounded by patriarchy: they are mandated to be able to perform at all times no matter how bad they are feeling, and to subordinate many of their emotions to the task at hand. In this regard, the ability of women to exercise a greater range of emotional expression may seem enviable to men, and it is understandable that many men find it hard to believe that the difficulties women undergo are as bad as women say they are. But people sometimes forget that men as a class are sanctioned and encouraged by patriarchal society to oppress women as a class. Webster's Dictionary defines "oppress" as to "tyrannize, repress, subdue, control, dominate." The use of the word "oppress" takes on a very real meaning if we remember that most women are reluctant to walk alone at night for fear of being attacked or raped by men--and that if men have similar qualms, it is because they generally fear the tyranny of other men and not women.

Nevertheless, both men and women (and especially those whose sex is considered transgendered) suffer under sexism. The essays in this section are meant to illuminate and enlighten. Several, such as "In Search of the Real Man/Real Woman" and "The God Box" are also humorous. As we move from a Polarity Consciousness to Unity Consciousness (discussed on the Home Page), we will no longer need feminism. People will simply treat each other with respect and love. I look forward to that time.

NOTE: The essay, "A Radical Feminist Guide to Holistic Health," can be found in the Holistic Health section.
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