Saturday, January 22, 2011

3 Types of Feminism

Ok, so I was talking to a friend, and we were joking about a points system for feminism, how if you like cooking, its minus one, if you hate vacuming, its plus one, etc. But then, in the middle of working on the Dostoevsky paper that I seem to be constantly in the middle of writing, I started wondering: Is this what feminism should mean? Why should it be considered anti-feminist to like cooking? I confess: I love cooking, and I love feeding people, and I don't mind doing laundry, and I find something comforting about handwashing dishes. (Machines, while more efficient, don't have the soothing power of water running over your hands as you scrub.) I also like kids, I enjoy babysitting, and I plan on one day marrying and having kids, beezrat Hashem. (Yes, the secret is out - I clearly don't hate men as much as I pretend to.)

So what should feminism be about?I think that there are three tracks:
1. A woman's right to choose whether or not she wants to have a career. A woman should have the right to inherit roles not typically associated with women, and society should redefine its method of role association - 'CEO" should not automatically conjure up images of men in black suits. Also, it is ok for a man to like cooking, and depending on family's situations, a more equitable of distribution of household chores and childrearing obligations should be arranged. The onus of obligations associated with wife-hood should not fall automatically upon the woman, nor should the onus of obligations associated with husbandhood fall automatically upon the husband. Each couple should have the freedom they need to figure out what works best for them.
2. At the same time, society must learn how to respect women for who they are and de-objectify their bodies. Unfortunately, society seems to be headed in the opposite direction, and objectifying the bodies of men in some sort of misguided road towards equality, but the hyper-sexualization of society ultimately disadvantages both genders. Also, let's get rid of the myth of sexual liberation: Women in secular society can now engage in pre-marital sex without shame, but more often than not, this is simply an excuse for men to take advantage of women. Studies show that women are more likely than men to develop emotional attachments to people they're physically intimate with. Furthermore, secular society often puts reverse pressure on women: If they want to wait until they are in a committed relationship, then they are prudes or old-fashioned. Thus, the sexual revolution has merely brought about more opression of women.
3. I beleive that gender stereotypes become self-fulfilling prophecies: Women, from an early age, are taught that as women they are (fill in the blank) thus they become (fill in the blank), beleiving that they have no option, and internalizing the stereotypes subconciously, so that they do not even realize that they have the ability to be people who do not conform to those stereotypes. I beleive most of the differences in gender roles/behaviors can be interpereted this way, and society must now engage in a process to socialize women and men in a gender-stereotype-free enviroment. I do beleive however, that there are some natural differences that can not be combatted, that are biological - and that is ok. Different does not mean worse, and by implying that being different from men is bad, we are elevating men and demeaning women, thus going against what feminism stands for: Why should it be bad to be different from men - are they really that worthy of emulation? We should be proud of our womanhood. (which does not mean liking domestic chores - women are entitled to hate cooking and cleaning, etc.)

To sum up, both feminsim and society seem to have taken turns in the wrong direction, and we need to take a step back, see where the turn was made, and forge a new path. (sorry about the cliche - i have to get back to my paper, and have no time to search for words that are creative enough to not make me cringe)

No comments:

Post a Comment