Block Rockin' Beats and Radical Feminism

Have you ever been to a concert and had a moment of epiphany? I was at a Le Tigre show not too long ago, dancing and singing and having a great time, and had a satori moment during the song "On Guard," which is about street harassment- of women, mostly, but also anyone different enough to catch the unwanted attention of (usually male) harassers. There I am, listening to the song, thinking about the lyrics but also staring at the lead singer, just about head over heels over her beauty- the raw attractiveness of the gorgeous, talented rock star. We've all been there. But something in me clicked at that moment, and I had to wonder: This woman is singing about how oppressed she feels at being objectified, how horrible it feels to have her physical beauty valued above all else. How complicit am I in her suffering? How does my conception of her as a woman affect my conception of her as an artist? When I look at her, which identity comes first, rock-star/poet or beautiful girl? And in general, how quickly am I able to see through gender into the simple humanity of a person?

I'm still thinking about these questions, but while I think, I want to expand the conversation by spending a minute talking to other men out there. If you're in college, like me, you're part of the first generation to come of age out from the shadow of the sixties. Identifying forms of social oppression is no longer controversial- no one bats an eye at America's sexist and racist history. Sure, some say, things were bad in the past, but haven't we solved our problems by creating equal opportunity under the law? If people still feel oppressed, don't they just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps? I'd like to explore that; in particular, some of the ways that patterns of sexual oppression set in motion by our parents are still with us today, albeit in different forms, and what we as young men can do to claim our role as agents of change when it comes to gender equality.

Statistics are the easy part: women make up to forty percent less money than men and perform dramatically more unpaid work, even into old age. Two thirds of the world's illiterates are women. Women outnumber men, but compose just eleven percent of both the world's parliaments and corporate executives. Worldwide, women generally eat last and least.

Even so, things aren't as bad as they used to be. Women can now vote, own property, initiate divorce and be educated- all strides nearly unthinkable a century ago. The past fifty years saw even greater gains in the West with the adoption of legislation mandating gender parity in the workplace, school, and the home, and the onset of women into executive positions, elected office, and public life in general. University Women's Studies departments are not uncommon, and civil society has spawned hundreds of non governmental, often highly influential organizations devoted to raising the status of women worldwide. But is this the whole story? Recently, an increasing number of voices have been raised about some of the deeper, more insidious problems facing today's women:

During the past decade [1981-91], women breached the power structure; meanwhile, eating disorders rose exponentially and cosmetic surgery became the fastest-growing medical specialty. During the past five years, consumer spending doubled, pornography became the main media category, ahead of legitimate films and records combined, and thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal. (The Beauty Myth, p10)

[Girls] today... are coming of age in a more dangerous, sexualized and media-saturated culture. They face incredible pressures to be beautiful and sophisticated, which in junior high means using chemicals and being sexual... They know that something is very wrong, but they tend to look for the source within themselves or their families rather than in broader cultural problems... Studies show that [in early adolescence] girls' IQ scores drop and their math and science scores plummet. They lose their resiliency and optimism and become less curious and inclined to take risks. They lose their assertive, energetic and "tomboyish" personalities and become more deferential, self-critical, and depressed. They report great unhappiness with their own bodies. (Reviving Ophelia, pp. 12 and 19)

The French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir wrote an entire book detailing the way "Young girls slowly bury their childhood, put away their independent and imperious selves and submissively enter adult existence." This is the dark underbelly of gender relations in the educated, liberated West. Something has gone wrong not just in how women feel about themselves, but how they are encouraged to see themselves as permanently deficient in both body and mind. The rise of the beauty industry- cosmetics, diet books and drugs, magazines, fashion, and advertising- none of which really existed before the 1950's, is part of what's been called the "backlash" against the feminist movement, a way of making women internalize their own oppression. If, guys, during college you have had ten girlfriends, chances are six of them is or has been bulimic, and two anorexic. Five of those women will be battered at some point in their life, and two raped. Even worse, you may not even know about it- rape is the most underreported crime.

Let's be honest: men don't understand Cosmopolitan magazine. We've flipped through copies in doctor's offices, maybe on a sister's bedside table, and put it down amused, sometimes perplexed. We certainly never identified with it, never felt like it was speaking to our concerns. But take a look closer at it; try to figure out why men find it and magazines like it so confusing. Are men and women really that different, or is something else happening? Isn't there something off about such a single-minded focus on weight, makeup, clothes, hair, sexual technique, dating etiquette, and most importantly, how to attract and keep the sexual attention of men?

Think about the women you love, not just your girlfriends but your sisters, aunts, even your mother. How do they relate to their bodies, education, and careers? How do they relate to men? How much of what they desire- what they spend time and energy striving after- is mandated by society, and how much by self-determined, higher values? Recent years have seen a dramatic rise in the number of Cosmo-type magazines aimed not just at women in high school, but in junior high. When you begin raising your daughters, will you tell them that the most vital thing they can learn is how to snag a man? Most likely not. Why should adults be any different?

So here's my proposal. The Pentagon recently announced a program to influence global public opinion regarding the United States, as a way of counteracting the messages sent by unfriendly governments and groups. The government recognized that negative messages need not to be ignored, but attacked if they're not to become dominant. In the same way, men- regular guys, like you and me- have a responsibility of counteracting the negative messages that women receive every day, all day, generally from the media. We didn't ask for this responsibility. We may rather live without it, but the stakes go beyond what we've imagined. If we want to be with women who love themselves, are empowered, educated, and truly happy, we have to, man for man, make conscious, and deliberate efforts to turn the tide. If we want to raise daughters and families in harmony with themselves, able to be simultaneously intimate, strong, nurturing, and successful, we have to create such families in what we must acknowledge to be a cultural environment unfriendly to women and their happiness.

But don't take my word for it. Watch the commercials and music videos on TV; read a few women's magazines; read mainstream magazines too, looking especially at the advertising. But even better, talk to the women in your life. Ask them to identify what they feel are misogynist elements in our society. You may be surprised. You may want to disagree with some of what you hear, but the point is not to say with perfect certitude, "This piece of advertising, or law, or behavior is or isn't misogynist," it's to dive beneath the surface and see what the real emotional and mental effects are of society's messages, and to explore what, together, we can do about it. Feminism isn't just for women, it's for humanity.

(all content Copyright National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, 2000-2003, do not use without permission)