Thought this might be interesting to some of you..sorry if it has been cross posted: >Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 06:03:56 -0400 >Reply-To: Progressive News & Views List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sender: Progressive News & Views List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: PNEWS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Myth of feminist generation gap > >[*********PNEWS CONFERENCES************] >/* Written by peg:greenleft in igc:greenleft.news */ >Title: The myth of the feminist generation gap > >By Nikki Ulasowski and Alana Kerr > >Another backlash ideology being given plenty of play in the media and >explicitly presented by Helen Garner in her book The First Stone concerns a >supposed generation gap between feminists. > >Choosing to ignore the debate within the women's movement about the causes >of violence against women and the related issue of whether or not all men >are potential perpetrators of such violence, Garner declares that all young >feminists are anti-men and labels modern feminists ``priggish'', >``disingenuous'' and ``unforgiving''. Feminism, she asserts, has mutated >into these ``cold-faced punitive girls''. > >Garner caricatures young feminists and 1990s feminism, portraying them as >emphasising passivity and weakness. In doing so she advances one of the most >dishonest and dangerous of the backlash myths - that there is a ``generation >gap'' in feminism. Sarcastically referring to young women as part of a >``scrap-heap'' generation, Garner presents her differences with many younger >feminists over where feminism is and should be heading, as a generational >issue rather than a political debate. > >Anne Summers, another prominent feminist during the second wave of the >women's movement, also perpetuates the generation gap myth. Young women >haven't got what it takes to fight for women's rights, she says. They have >yet to map out a feminism they think is worth fighting for. > >Not content with dismissing the many young women who are engaged in feminist >struggles on many issues, and the right of activists in any movement to >decide their own path to liberation, Summers condescendingly advances her >own particular model of the ``third wave'' feminist. Consistent with her >academic background and approach, Summers argues that it requires some young >woman somewhere to write down the words of feminist wisdom for the others to >ponder and debate. > >Like Garner's, Summers' critique of 1990s feminism focuses on the wrong >enemy. She feeds the backlash beast by giving weight to the idea that it is >young women who have it wrong, who are to blame for the fact that they still >don't have equal rights. > >This generational perspective on feminism obscures the real nature of the >debate about the history, content and future of women's liberation. The >debates among feminists today are about political ideas, tactics and >methods, not a debate between young women and older women. > >The discussions about feminism usually come down to a question of strategy, >how to achieve women's liberation. Summers and Garner, instead of addressing >these substantive and crucial questions, attack young feminists. They >thereby neglect and distort the real differences, which deserve and need to >be dealt with on their own terms if we are to progress towards winning our >aims. > >Taking the controversy which surrounded the publication of the First Stone >as an example, both Garner and the establishment media assumed that if >you're over 40 you will support her, but if you're younger you will support >the young women involved in the case. Reality does not bear this out. There >are many older feminists who disagree politically with the arguments put >forward by Garner, just as there are many young women who are yet to be won >to any feminist perspective at all. > >Ironically, the generation gap perspective overlooks or ignores the >experiences and lessons gained through earlier waves of feminism. It >consistently fails to acknowledge one of the greatest achievements of the >women's movement - the empowerment of millions of women through >consciousness-raising, involvement in activity in defence of women's rights >and, as a result, the fostering of greater understanding, solidarity and >unity between women, regardless of race, class, religion or age. This >solidarity, this struggling of women together, has made women stronger and >built a movement that has won many reforms. > >Feminism reflects the full array of political outlooks and strategic >perspectives that form our broader political landscape. To caricature it is >to discredit feminism and its gains. In a period of political backlash, it >is all the more important to do the opposite - to support the history and >ideas of feminism and the progress it has made, to support those women who >are actively trying to rebuild the movement (many of whom are young women) >and to emphasise unity as the path to strength. This approach does not >preclude remaining open to constructive debate and discussion about where to >go from here. > >With so far still to go to achieve even the most basic human rights for most >women, the key question is how to build a strong movement that fights to >defend and extend the reforms already won, and which can go on the >offensive. > >Because it is not about building such a movement, but rather focuses on >blaming women, the generation gap perspective is yet another barrier to >women's liberation. > >First posted on the Pegasus conference greenleft.news by >Green Left Weekly. Correspondence and hard copy subsciption >inquiries: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
