Hi all�
I am reading �feminism in our times� written on the early feminist movements in America in sixties, which can be considered as the second wave of women�s liberation movement there.(don�t know if this remark abut the book is correct, but that�s what I feel) it has excerpts from all important feminist writings like �the second sex� �by simone d bouvre, �feminine mystique� by betty fridan- (its an excellent one..describes the intense frustration and dissatisfaction faced by middle class, educated American housewives. This feeling had been named � the house wife syndrome� or � the problem without name�. No wonder they had to face it, since the obsession with that conventional image of �woman�- that beautiful, weak, homely and silent creature- had risen to such degrees that the average age of getting married ,for girls, lowered to teens and there was companies manufacturing padded bra for 10 year old girls with the caption �now she too can join the man trap set�!!but i m bit disappointed in that betty fridan refused to include lesbians in the movement, saying that they might be a hinderance, and calling them 'lavender menace') and many more.
I found Redstockings extremely interesting because of the immense energy and zeal and feeling of collectiveness in it. They are radical feminists, the same group which was branded �bra burners�. It was against the beauty contest in America. They set up a �freedom- trash can� and threw into it all those �objects of female torture� like hair curlers, girdles, bras and high heals. So exciting, no? To identify that all these beauty contests will help only to trap women in that conventional �beauty� myth.. (Actually beauty contests, let it be for men, or women, I find them so meaningless and stupid and dangerous in the sense that it leads to consumerism. And why does people simplify it saying that �what is this huge problem that will happen if some beautiful girls compete with each other and one girl is chosen as winner� stuff? Ah! Why don�t they understand that this beauty concept is constructed ?) I got so excited reading their manifesto that I really sat down and typed almost the whole thing, before getting the idea of searching through the Internet. Well, I don�t regret it, any way.
So here it is. I don�t identify myself as a radical feminist, because I don�t really believe in generalizations like �all men� or �all women�(I am in such a situation because I had some radical predecessors, may be..) and I am a bit surprised because they haven�t mentioned one of the biggest tools of oppression, �emotional blackmail�. May be that was not an issue then. Emotions!! To think about it in such a period!!
Redstockings was founded in New York City in 1969 (the founders of Redstockings were Shulamith Firestone ((who coined the group's name)) and Ellen Willis). Its name was play on bluestockings, a put down designation for brainy women. The Redstockings women were radical feminists who saw male supremacy as the oldest, most basic oppression of one human being by another. Convinced that women's own experiences and feelings were the only valid starting point for feminist analysis, Redstockings was dedicated to consciousness raising. But its members were also strongly action oriented.
"The Redstockings collective celebrated its formation by disrupting a New York State legislative committee hearing on abortion reform. Redstockings then organized a follow up abortion speak out, held in the basement of a New York City church, at which women publicly described their often harrowing experiences with illegal abortions
The RedStockings Manifesto
I. AFTER CENTURIES OF INDIVIDUAL and preliminary political struggle,
women are uniting to achieve their final liberation from male supremacy.
Redstockings is dedicated to building this unity and winning our freedom.
II. Women are an oppressed class.
Our oppression is total, affecting every facet of our lives.
We are exploited as sex objects, breeders, domestic servants, and cheap labor.
We are considered inferior beings, whose only purpose is to enhance men's lives.
Our humanity is denied. Our prescribed behavior is enforced by the threat of violence.
Because we have lived so intimately with our oppressors, in isolation from each other, we have been kept from seeing our personal suffering as a political condition.This creates the illusion that a woman's relationship with her man is a matter of interplay between two unique personalities, and can be worked out individually.In reality, every such relationship is a "class" relationship, and the conflicts between individual men and women are political conflicts that can only be solved collectively.
III. We identify the agents of our oppression as men.
Male supremacy is the oldest, most basic form of domination.
All other forms of exploitation and oppression (racism, capitalism, imperialism, etc.) are extensions of male supremacy; men dominate women, a few men dominate the rest. All power structures throughout history have been male dominated and male oriented.Men have controlled all political, economic, and cultural institutions and backed up this control with physical force.
They have used their power to keep women in an inferior position.
All men receive economic, sexual, and psychological benefits from male supremacy. All men have oppressed women.
IV. Attempts have been made to shift the burden of responsibility from men to institutions or to women themselves.We condemn these arguments as evasions.
Institutions alone do not oppress; they are merely tools of the oppressor.
To blame institutions implies that men and women are equally victimized,
obscures the fact that men benefit from the subordination of women,
and gives men the excuse that they are forced to be oppressors.
On the contrary, any man is free to renounce his superior position
provided he is willing to be treated like a woman by other men.
We also reject the idea that women consent to or are to blame for their oppression. Women's submission is not the result of brainwashing, stupidity, or mental illness but of continual, daily pressure from men.
We do not need to change ourselves, but to change men.
The most slanderous evasion of all is that women can oppress men.
The basis for this illusion is the isolation of individual relationships from their political context and the tendency of men to see any legitimate challenge to their privileges as persecutions.
V. We regard our personal experience, and our feelings about that experience, as the basis for an analysis of our common situation. We cannot rely on existing ideologies as they are all products of male supremacist culture.We question every generalization and accept none that are not confirmed by our experience. Our chief task at present is to develop female class consciousness through sharing experience and publicly exposing the sexist foundation of all our institutions. Consciousness raising is not "therapy," which implies the existence of individual solutions and falsely assumes that the male female relationship is purely personal, but the only method by which we can ensure that
our program for liberation is based on the concrete realities of our lives. The first requirement for raising class consciousness is honesty, in private and in public, with ourselves and other women.
VI. We identify with all women. We define our best interest as that of the poorest, most brutally exploited woman. We repudiate all economic, racial, educational, or status privileges that divide us from other women.
We are determined to recognize and eliminate any prejudices we may hold against other women. We are committed to achieving internal democracy.
We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that every woman in our movement has an equal chance to participate, assume responsibility, and develop her political potential.
VII. We call on all our sisters to unite with us in struggle. We call on all men to give up their male privileges and support women's liberation in the interest of our humanity and their own. In fighting for our liberation, we will always take the side of women against their oppressors. We will not ask what is "revolutionary" or "reformist," only what is good for women.
The time for individual skirmishes is passed. This time we are going all the way.
love 2 u all,
sandhya.
