On 8 July, 1997, Anastasia McPherson wrote:
>I have been having some of the same revelations Elizabeth, I tried to
>share them on the list as I think that the opression of women is so
>subtle and ingrained n the society that we cease to even notice it.
I agree, Anastasia. It came as a real shock to me that the ways in which I
had been taught to behave simply catered to my own oppression. These
thoughts all came to a head as I was evaluating a reading group I've
participated in for a long while, whose members are people I like, trust,
and admire. There were a few meetings where I was the only female present,
and I found certain behaviors and my responses to them very frustrating
without really knowing why (I'd had a grad class where I was the only
female present, too, and things then were similar to this situation).
Realizing those reading-group members would be horrified at how I
interpreted their behavior only made the situation worse for me personally.
And then we read Ammonite, and I was appalled at how the book was
interpreted by the majority of the reading group, who insisted that
patriarchy occupied a central position in the book and who answered my
claims about the book by saying Ammonite was largely derivative and typical
of feminist utopias (but, gee, it was a good book nonetheless!). =->
>I had not put it so elegantly, but this is what I have been thinking
>about both personally and politically since I have been recently harshly
>punished for my femaleness.
I want to say something to this, but I don't know what wouldn't simply be
trite, so let me say I'm sympathetic (still trite, but I do mean it).
>I think tht the first thing that will free us is having real control over
>our bodies and our reproduction (and I dont mean just access to abortion
>on demand, I mean that economics and social convention should not drive
>women's reproductive choices and it seems to me that this is sadly still
>the case.
Yes, it is. Have you looked at Delany's book of essays, Silent Interviews?
In one of the later interviews (I don't have it in front of me, but I can
check the title and passage later if you'd like) he notes that modern
society represses women and their sexuality even more than gays and their
sexuality, and gives his interpretation of the AIDS crisis, the public
warnings about AIDS, and the timing of it all to support his observation.
Very intriguing, and convincing.
>And I wont even start with the etical issues surrounding all of the new
>reproductive technology - but one question - how would you feel if you
>were born of combination anonymous sperm and egg donation and carried by
>a surrogate and would never in your life have any idea where your human
>roots were?
Timely question, since I just recently finished Butler's Xenogenesis
trilogy. I can't answer it very well though. It does seem, going along
with Delany's argument, that as women claim the right of being fully
contributing members of society, as mothers and workers of all sorts,
science comes up with more ways of saying that women aren't needed. This
issue can really empower women, or really disempower them, depending on
one's view. I haven't made up my mind yet.
Elizabeth
-- Elizabeth L. Pandolfo/Briggs pandolfo@macbsd.com http://www.macbsd.com/~pandolfo/index.html"Whatever happens, believe that the journey is worth taking..." --Peth, "Seaward"
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