two sides of feminism

Feminist club.  The idea has been bouncing around EMU recently, particularly among a few freshmen girls.  I started thinking about it while I was vacuuming the other day (it's a good time to think, in case you didn't know).  Mostly I was wondering what shape it will take.  I suspect it will follow the pattern of old-school feminists, protesting male chauvinism and female passiveness, with loud and in-your-face feminine power.  I'm not against that kind.  In fact, I would probably go to their meetings.  But in some ways, the need for that kind of feminism is past.


Not that everyone in the U.S. sees women as equal to men or treats them as such.  There are certainly situations where women (and men) need to stand up for equal rights, especially when you consider the blatant inequalities in the salaries of many American job positions.  But in general, gender equality is more or less assumed, and while it may not be perfected, it's come a long way.


But.  I can't help but think of another kind of feminism.  The kind that stands up against sexism in the media, against objectification of women, against valuing us for our bodies alone.  My heart aches for every woman and girl who believes her only value is in her appearance.  Inner beauty is continually brushed aside in favor of this plasticized, unattainable, deceptive mask that we call beauty, and the truth is that living up to it is a fruitless, frustrating, life-draining journey.  Every woman in the world was created in the image of God, exactly as she is.  And we must stand up against exploitation of women who, by no fault of their own, are helplessly trampled under the feet of War.  They become victims of rape and war violence; they see their children fall to the weapons of soldiers or wither away from hunger and disease.  


These are the kinds of gender inequality that happen all around the world, every day, and we have not done enough to stop it.  I cannot be silent in the face of such injustice.   Because every time I see injustice and objectification toward any woman, anywhere, I feel it toward me.  We must stand in solidarity with our sisters and mothers and daughters - even the ones we have never met.


Feminism is dated? Yes, for privileged women like my daughter and all of us here today, but not for most of our sisters in the rest of the world who are still forced into premature marriage, prostitution, forced labor - they have children that they don't want or they cannot feed.  ~Isabel Allende


Beauty deprived of its proper foils and adjuncts ceases to be enjoyed as beauty, just as light deprived of all shadows ceases to be enjoyed as light.  ~John Ruskin