The Women's Movement Needs New Batteries

The Women's Movement Needs New Batteries


Yes, I realize there have been many articles written about the feminist movement. I’m here to offer a new perspective on the subject. I am one of the dwindling minority who proudly call themselves feminists. That said, I am also one of the larger number of women who has done nothing to prove that she’s a feminist. Though I have a nifty little pin that says “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people,” and a bumper sticker proclaiming my advocacy for “Choice,” I do not take action to back up my claims or to ensure that my views are heard throughout the nation.

As an onlooker, a non-participant who is invested politically in the progress or deterioration of the women’s movement, I have some new words of advice: get some new batteries. The leaders of the women’s movement (who are they, again?) need to go to the store (not Wal-Mart) and buy an economy, family-size pack of triple Ds.

In this age, which some call the third wave of feminism while others dismiss as the post-feminist era, things haven’t changed as much as some would have us believe. The biggest difference between now and the so-called second-wave of feminism is participation. It was (arguably) easy to be idealistic in the Sixties. The air was full of revolution and spirit. There was always a meeting around the corner, a march next week. Now, women are afraid to call themselves feminists. Brilliant women in Harvard want only to get married and have children. Phyllis Schlafly is still alive. Betty Friedan is gone.

Right now, it seems like we’re headed back to the 19th century. I say, if we’re going in that direction anyway, let’s go back to the first wave of feminism. I’ll start wearing bloomers and we’ll see how long it takes to catch on.

I don’t mean to say that there are not people and organizations who are invested completely in protecting and increasing women’s rights and equality for women. Planned Parenthood continues to struggle against the villain trying to tie it down to the tracks. I’m sure they will put up a wonderful fight against South Dakota and its incredibly frightening restrictions on abortion, but I’m sad to say, I think they will lose. I think legal abortion is on its way out. So why am I not doing anything to protest this?

One of the problems is the fact that women have to be convinced that they are worth fighting for. This has been a problem in each “wave” of feminism. Women have been indoctrinated that they are the weaker sex, that they are responsible for evil. But Adam’s apple contained the sweet juice of knowledge. I say, good for Eve. If the other option is to go through life ignorant and naked, I’ll suffer the indignity of clothes.

I vote for a third wave of feminism that incorporates the good contained in the second and first waves, with a modern twist. We should have a sit-in at the fake Indiana Planned Parenthood clinic (actually a “crisis pregnancy center”) which lures unsuspecting women by sharing a parking lot with the real Planned Parenthood clinic. Hell, we should sit-in at the offices of Cosmo and Mademoiselle. We should boycott these same magazines. We should have a resurgence of women’s meetings, where people can share their thoughts and feelings in the consciousness-raising method pioneered by the New York Radical Women in the Sixties. We should give every woman a free subscription to both Bitch Magazine and Bust. We should discover and popularize energizing and inspiring women, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton. We should do what we can to inspire hope in the young women of today.

The first two waves of feminism made many mistakes, I’m not saying otherwise. The disdain many feminists of the second wave showed for women who chose to stay at home, wear make-up, or get married, is a big reason for the hesitation of many women today. Bust Magazine is dedicated partly to debunking and destroying myths that began with second-wave feminism. Bust shows that feminists can be whoever they want to be: mothers, fashionistas, or politicos.

The word "wave" indicates that there is a high point and a low point. I think we need to rise to the top of the wave and stay there. In fact, I think we should trash the wave image. Let’s call it Increasing Diagonal Feminism.

My awkward naming capabilities aside, the fact remains that feminism needs a major overhaul. I feel like I’m watching feminism riding an escalator the wrong way. The batteries are running low, we’re moving in slow motion. I can hear that creepy low voice on the tape recorder. It’s Phyllis Schlafly, and she and her supporters are coming after us. They have risen to power and we have no more revolutionaries.

I guess I haven’t said anything here that hasn’t already been said. But as I type and listen to “I Will Survive” on my iPod, I have an enormous feeling of hope. Maybe the move backward will put us back in the mid-sixties, when women realized there was something that needed changing. Maybe someone out there will write “A New Kind of Memo.” Maybe a new generation of Casey Hayden’s and Mary King’s will come around.