Feminism Then and Now
By PAULA ROTHENBERG
Empowerment, we are now asked to believe, is not about getting an education, not about becoming economically independent, not about taking control of our bodies, not about saving the environment, not about working toward social justice, but dressing a certain way and wearing the newest version of what ever t-shirt or body piecing we choose. And whose interests does this serve? Today cultural practices continue to occur within the context of unequal power relations. Racism, sexism, and class privilege are still alive and well. They frame our choices and define the meaning of what we choose. The women's movement of the Second Wave talked, not about "equality," but about liberation, because believe me, equality is not enough. We have gone from seeking to challenge and change the ways in which institutionalized privilege and hierarchy limit and coerce our choices to the illusion that the battle for women's rights and civil rights is over and done. We have been duped into trading social critique and collective action for a vision of feminism that offers us personal choice without social responsibility and without social context. We have exchanged the possibility of genuine change for feminism light and designer water.` And in the end, we know whose interest that serves.
So how does a good feminist resolve the tensions between being successful as the system defines it, and the destructiveness of that system? After all, what would a feminist say if the economy that makes her education and job possible is founded upon the exploitation of many? That the end, her personal enlightenment and consequent ability to "do good for others" justifies the means, the exploitation?
How many would be willing to adopt the humble agrarian lifestyle?
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