In a message dated 97-04-16 03:33:02 EDT, you write:
<< Yes, you're right, but tell this to a room full of female college students
>who insist that they themselves have never been victimized by sexism and
>never will be >>
Women of my generation (the "X" one, like the Files) really do think this.
They believe that sexism must always take the same drastic forms. They
recognize Ayatollah Khomeini requiring chuddars (the long clothes that cover
them up), they recognize arranged marriage, they even recognize Rosie the
Riveter being asked to leave so Mr. Rosie can take his riveting job back.
They don't realize that potential employers asking about your plans to have a
family, construction workers leering at you when you wear a skirt, or the
fact that they had a lot of Barbies and no Matchbox cars when they were kids
is all sexism, too. It's too subtle for them to notice until someone points
it out to them. And I'm willing to guess that the more blatan forms of sexism
aren't obvious to women living in those cultures, either, until someone
points it out to them.
In a message dated 97-04-17 14:29:24 EDT, you write:
<< Question: Does anyone know of any feminist utopian works that
don't portray men or male institutions as "the problem"? >>
I took a Utopian Literature course in the English department at the
University of South Florida. The course had an historical perspective,
beginning with Plato's Republic, and including two feminist utopias, Herland
and Ecotopia. I'd suggest either for an historical analysis of sf, but would
heartily recommend Ecotopia as a feminist utopia that doesn't regard men or
male institutions as the problem, unless you're being extraordinarily broad
about male institutions, in which case, it wouldn't be feminist, would it?
Hope Cascio
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:02 PDT