Hi. I am new to the internet, and so I'm not sure if this message is even
going out properly. I mean for it to go to everyone, though it is a
response in part to Al's message, and so might go only to him. We shall
see.
Al wrote, although this was not the main gist of his message:
"I saw a couple debates on feminism on PBS hosted by William Buckley
that were interesting. He had several feminists (including
Betty Friedan and Camille Paglia) on one side, and several
anti-feminists (Mrs. Huffington rings a bell) on the other. All
females except for Buckley. On several occasions the _feminist_
side agreed that the feminist movement has gone astray, and is now
counter-productive. Did anyone else see those? Is feminism being
overhauled? How can we work together?"
Can anyone tell me more about Camille Paglia? From what I know, I wouldn't
call her a feminist by my definition, which leans toward equality among us
all. I read an article she wrote last year, and unfortunately I can't
remember what it was about. I only remember coming away very angry. My
only other exposure to Paglia is via a friend who is suddenly some sort of
Paglia-disciple. My friend now espouses the idea that women should realize
that they are biologically different from men (thank you very much, I think
we already realized that) and so should not even bother to go out and get
jobs because we will end up pregnant anyway. This is the kind of talk which
raises the hairs on the back of my neck. However, I don't want to make any
decisions on Paglia based on little or mis-information. Can anyone confirm
any of this? Also, to once again pull from a small pool of facts, I have
heard rumors that Betty Friedan has drastically changed her opinions since
_The Feminine Mystique_. Does anyone know about this?
As far as the feminist movement going astray, it seems to me to have
just become more personal. Rather than a broad-based fight for rights and
equality, I think the fight is more for my rights, or the rights of a woman
with whom I work, or equality between me and the man next door. I don't see
this as necessarily negative, but perhaps that the first movement of
feminists opened the issues and laid the ground-work.
-Julie Siegel
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
