Dear Editor:
Since the term "feminism" has been wrapped, almost intimately bound, with the catch phrase "feminazi," it is refreshing to see an unloathing, individual, representative voice for the female population. Marleen Troutt, author of the The Femme factor writes to present issues from a different vantage point, one that is not harsh or vindictive, labels often associated with feminists.
Undoubtedly, whenever I ask my students what feminism means to them, someone blurts "feminazis," and a majority of their classmates laugh. I don't think it's funny. Nazism is concerned with hatred. Feminism is concerned with equality. That's it. In fact, the two ideas are opposite when they are stripped of social implications and biases and looked at in their rawest forms. Unfortunately, because of bitterness and misrepresentation, learning from word of mouth rather than research, the definition of feminism has been twisted. And perhaps rightly so.
Sometimes it is embarrassing to me to look on racks at supermarket checkouts. It seems the media has catered toward extremes, where most women are not. Whether it's the hard, thin, capitalistically successful and sexually manipulative women (i.e. Cosmopolitan) or the crocheting, baking, wholesome, motherly type who wants recipes and weight-loss tips (i.e. Good Housekeeping), it doesn't matter. Are these extremes who we really are? No. Are they who we want to be? Perhaps that question is more poignant.
Perhaps it is time we, as women, stop trying to fit some mold, some extreme, we are not meant to - no one is meant to. What's wrong with staying somewhere in between the liberal and conservative ideal, with wearing a size 12 and being proud of it? What's wrong with loving men; or wanting a career; or wanting to stay home to raise children? Isn't that what we intended all along? To have an option? So, now that we have one, why are we putting unrealistic goals on ourselves? Why do we buy these magazines? Anyway, I could go on, but that's for Marleen to do.
It's nice to see that someone with such wisdom from formal education and personal experience has chosen to lift the curtain that has been draped over this issue. Thanks, Marleen. Represent, sister.
Jamie Walczak
graduate student, creative writing
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
