Maggie gushes:
A new book's out that's tailor-made to warm this red-hot, leftist, feminist heart: Virginity or Death! by Katha Pollitt.
I'm an unabashed Katha Pollitt groupie, she of the right-on Nation columns that sear through me with their wit, bite, and humor. Pollitt can cut to the quick of an issue - particularly when it's gender-related - like no one else. I can't say how many times I've been sitting with something that outrages or depresses me for reasons I can't quite explain coherently, and I open The Nation and there she is, nailing it in every way I wish I could. I connect to Pollitt mostly because despite everything in our world that can be so mind- and heart-numbing, she's an eternal optimist, like me. And she delivers that witty optimism with the most seething critiques I've ever read.
Pollitt's book is a collection of some of her best Nation pieces - many of them about issues close to my heart (read: "issues I've bitched about on m-pyre"): women's health policy, the hypocrisy of the right, male "ownership" of female sexuality, and more.
In this Salon article, Pollitt talks at length about something I've often pined for: a discussion of modern feminism that's less "what's been lost" and more "what we are." Pollitt isn't issuing top-down, dour lectures here; she's telling girls to be all they can while understanding that much of that's possible only because of the women's movement. That said, every choice is not necessarily an "empowering" one. That distinction is crucial. And yeah, I'm talking to you, Miss Thang at Age 15 wearing the "Who needs brains when you have these?" Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt.
There's this huge backlash going on involving women's bodies and appearance, and the immense pressure to be beautiful and thin and complacent and alluring. That's what Linda Hirshman and others call "choice feminism" comes out of. Which is just saying, "I'm a free agent. I'm making my own choices, so we don't have to talk about them. In fact, it's insulting if you want to talk about them. Don't judge me."
So is the real problem that to many young women, feminism just isn't cool anymore? Pollitt calls this the culture of "backlash cliché."
What is this "girls just want to have fun" feminism? It's a very shallow approach to life. And I can't think of another social movement where "strident" is a bad word.
It could be that feminism seems too disconnected from what matters to young women on a daily basis. And then there's the contingent who think they'll always be able to get an abortion if they need one, but won't vote to help ensure that. Too much of today's feminism, according to Pollitt, is "timid and deferential and also Beltway-oriented... it seems to revolve so much around electoral politics and abortion rights - those are the two big deals."
I think that there has been a real retreat from the day-to-day presentation of feminist issues. Think of all the women who won't identify themselves as feminists. Why is that? One reason for that is the word "feminist," but it's also a lot of the concepts around feminism. The basic idea of women being self-directed creatures as opposed to only being there to help some man through life and stay with the children and do the cooking -- that idea has been delegitimized; you just don't hear it that often if you live in much of the country.
This strident feminist is happy as a clam that Pollitt's stuff is all together in a book that I can grab from the shelf when I need inspiration, insight, or a laugh. And - optimist at heart that I am - I want to dedicate it to the women in my life who make each day richer, warmer, and more worth living. You all know who you are, and you know why.
To women: because what we share is ours and ours alone.
|