"The struggle for women's equality was the core of her life..."(Levy, 47). I read this line several times before I could really understood the meaning of this statement. Declaring something the "core" of one's life is one of the most powerful things a person can do. The essence, the heart, the most important part of Susan Brownmiller's life was the struggle for women's equality. That being said, the reader is well aware that she has a passion for protecting women's rights. She wanted nothing less than the overthrow of the patriarchy. After reading merely the first couple pages of this piece, I became well aware that the ferocity in these women was like a fire that wouldn't go out until they got exactly what they wanted; equality. From the early 60's and on through the 80's we have seen a lot of change in a positive direction for women's suffrage beginning with the birth control pill being approved in 1960, books being published like
Sisterhood in Powerful in 1970, edited by poet and feminist, Robin Morgan, and of course the ruling of
Roe v. Wade in 1973. Unfortunately, the fight for feminism did come across some minor speed bumps--one being the introduction of
Playboy in 1953.
I must say that after reading about Hugh Hefner and his "sexual revolution", I no longer
think of him as a cute, old man with a lot of money and his own television show. I found
myself disgusted with him and his ideas that women are not real; that they are like bunnies.
How is it possible that someone like this is the "hero of the sexual revolution"(Levy, 56)? Sure he attracted
people (mostly men) into the lives of women and opened up a new world of openness to sexuality
and the sacredness of a woman's body, but how on earth is this helping the struggle of women in
the work place? In education? In real life?
I started seeing a major change from the beginning of this piece to the end and I have to admit I
found myself angry after reading it. The great strides made my women like Susan Brownmiller, having her
entire life dedicated to this movement, is suddenly masked by people like Hugh Hefner and organizations
like CAKE throwing parties with half naked women pillow-fighting and grinding on one another. Maybe I didn't read
the article correctly but to me, the struggle for women's equality is far from being achieved.
I agree that equality between the sexes has not yet been achieved. You see this in our media daily. Advertisements and commercials aimed for men tend to portray women in sexual ways and outfits. To me that just feels degrading; that a man, for example, will only get a sexy woman if he wears a certain cologne.
ReplyDeleteThough we did make progress in the 1960s but we still see women in "traditional women roles," such as nurses, teachers, secretaries, and even housewives. And as quoted in Echols article, "Evans claims that '[w]omen were effective, but men were the stars'" (Echols, 28). We still see this today where men get the promotions or acquire the higher paying careers. I know that my mom before she had kids worked as a secretary and then used to be a stay-at-home mom once she had kids. Then she went back to work once my younger brother and I were old enough to take care of ourselves and each other. But women working in my town was seen as different. Most of the moms stayed at home while the dads worked long hours.
And the Hugh Hefner situation described shocked me too. I always thought of him to be a little disgusting because he was so old and surrounded himself with half-naked women all day. Because they surrounded him because of his money, I feel like they are being portrayed as being "gold diggers" and "sex toys" to men who look at / read Playboy.
I definitely agree with both Erica and Courtney. I think that the major message that I took away from these readings was the fact that although society has been lead to believe that we have made great progress with the equality of women and men, that we cannot just stop there. Although the struggle for women's liberation is not taking on the traditional form that we were used to seeing with women burning their bras and refusing to shave their legs, the fight for women's rights is still continuing, just in a very different fashion. I think that Friedan brings up a good point when she asks the question of "Why is this the 'new feminism' and not what it looks like: the old objectification?" (81). Instead of women taking on a conservative persona, they have almost reverted back to doing the opposite. Which is supported in the Ariel Levy piece in which women have abandoned their educations in order to fulfill a responsibility to their families which is completely unrealistic in terms of their personal satisfaction in life.
ReplyDeleteI do think that it is important to remember that although there are people in today's society who do contradict everything that the original women's movement worked towards, there are still events taking place that are for the betterment of women. For example, Friedan mentions the march Take Back the Night, which actually happened here at Colgate last semester. The focus of the march was to raise awareness on sexual assault and to help people better understand the severity of it. Events like this I feel are much more beneficial for the women's movement than some CAKE events, but that is just my personal opinion and it would be unrealistic to believe that all women are going to view the issue and potential solutions the same way.