July 2002
Posted July 4, 2002
Seth Mydans - All men are rapists? June 8, 2002 -
"All men are rapists, that's all they are," is a long-standing feminist battle cry taken from the pages of Marilyn French's classic feminist novel, The Women's Room. Susan Brownmiller, author of Against Our Will, takes this one step further to state rape is the means "by which all men keep all women in a state of psychological intimidation."
Sadly, sometimes the news can make it seem as if this were truly the case: When Zafran Bibi accused her brother-in-law of raping her, the court presumed she was guilty of adultery and, while he got off scott free, sentenced her to death:
"No charges were brought against the brother-in-law because under the Islamic statutes in use here, rape can only be proved with the testimony of four male witnesses, a standard that is almost impossible to meet."
In the past, feminists have offered such cases as clear evidence that American women are oppressed. While none of the feminist groups have made that assertion in this case, it won't hurt to point out one telling fact: It ain't America:
"The fact that Zafran was convicted of adultery as a result of being raped was not unusual in Pakistan. Human rights groups say that as many as half the women who report a rape are charged with breaking the laws of zina, which forbid any sexual contact outside marriage."
Of all the women on Earth, those of the English speaking countries are among the least oppressed, if they are oppressed as a sex at all.
- Seattle P-I.
Posted July 4, 2002
Laura Miller - Women vs. Women Redux? March 29, 2002 -
In her 1987 book, Women Vs. Women, Tara Roth Madden observed that, in the work place, "Women seldom make much of an effort to support one another." She then proceeded to demonstrate how other women, not men, pose the greatest threat to a woman's career-success. Back then, such a suggestion was viewed as heresy. But that may be about to change:
"Phyllis Chesler...has produced a mammoth volume, based on 20 years of research, arguing that other women can often be a girl's worst enemies. The supporting evidence in Woman's Inhumanity to Woman comprises primate and anthropological research, workplace studies, sociological data, original interviews, memoir, even literary criticism and fairy tale analysis -- all documenting the usually underhanded and often devastating ways that women attack each other."
Her book is significant not so much for the insights, many of which could be found 15 years ago in Madden's work, but for the fact Chesler wrote it:
"Like most of her cohorts, she subscribed to the idea of sisterhood, the belief that women enlightened by feminism would live and work together in perfect, nonhierarchical, mutually supportive solidarity. Later, theories about women's superior skills in communication and forging relationships (spearheaded by Harvard professor Carol Gilligan) burnished that notion, and this idealized vision of how beautifully women get along seeped into all sorts of corners of American society, many of which would hesitate to call themselves feminist."
In one sense, this is a remarkable demonstration that the tide is turning. If, starting in the 1960s, the sweeping sea change in social attitudes toward men lifted all feminist boats regardless of merit, the retreating tide will leave many of them stranded on the spitting sand of social sentiment, withering like beached whales beneath the scorching glare of an unforgiving sun.
This is the backlash against women writ bold. What will it look like? For that, we need look no further than the past 40 years: what happened to men will happen to women.
Unless, that is, we as a society consciously choose to break the cycle of sexism, and work together to project a better possibility and create for ourselves and our posterity a good society in which the best of our humanity in all its guises is evoked and entertained.
- Salon.
Posted July 4, 2002
Feminism's 17th century roots? April 22, 2002 -
A recent find could set the women's movement back 300 years. In history, that is:
"A 370-year-old book discovered under a pile of documents in a town hall vault in north-western England could change the history of the women's movement. ... In it, an unnamed woman author set out her beliefs in the 1630s or 1640s that women were better than men at everything."
Prior to this discovery, Mary Wollstonecraft's 18th century works were thought to mark the beginning of Western feminism. Other, earlier works on the subject were all written by men.
- Sydney Morning Herald.
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