http://afeministblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/feminism-ideology.html
From several kinds of feminism ideology, how do you classify Gilman? This question came up after I presented my paper entitled Woman Madness in Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper and Putu Oka Sukantas Dewi Bulan Jatuh di Batam, in the International Seminar held by Catholic University Soegijapranata Semarang, last January 16, 2008. I must say that it was somewhat difficult to answer since Gilman did not call herself as a feminist. One clear reason behind Gilmans opinion was in the end of the nineteenth century, the women (feminist) movement struggled for suffrage. Gilman was of opinion that right to vote didnt automatically make women equal to men. She was convinced that working to earn money in order to be economically independent would make a woman equal to men. However, the twentieth century critics labeled her as a radical feminist due to that convictionthat made Gilman different from her contemporary woman activists in that century. Therefore, to answer the question above, I cited what the twentieth century literary critics called Gilman. How do you classify yourself? A liberal feminist, a radical, Marxist, or any other kind of feminist? Someone asked me via a short message. This question also made me dumb. How do I classify myself? Different from Gilman who refused to be called a feminist, I proudly claim myself as a feminist. I oftentimes think that I need to expose my way of thinking, with the hope that people will understand why I say this and that, or write this and that. Nevertheless, I dont mind either if my exposing myself as a feminist to public doesnt make them easily understand me. (This is of course because many people in Indonesia still dont know what feminist means. They are somewhat confused of terms feminist and feminine. LOL.) However, the same as my confusion how to classify Gilman, I dont want to classify myself either, whether I am pro of what kind feminism ideology. As I have written in several posts in my blogs (for those who loyally follow and ready my posts, probably they will not really mind themselves whether I am a radical, liberal, etc feminist), I have my own definition of feminism. Feminism is more to give women right to choose kind of life for themselves. Give women freedom to make their own decision. What kind of decision? Read my previous post I entitled Gender Equality (or check it in my blog at http://afeministblog.blogspot.com) Issue of what kind of feminism ideology is not important for me anymore, as long as women feel at ease in their lives. Focus more on bettering womens lives rather than stopping at question What kind of feminist are you? We are all sisters, arent we? No matter what kind of feminism ideology we adhere? Even no matter whether a woman doesnt involve herself in a feminist movement. PT56 15.40 230308 Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open. (Sir James Dewar) visit my blogs please, at the following sites http://afemaleguest.blog.co.uk http://afeministblog.blogspot.com http://afemaleguest.multiply.com THANK YOU Best regards, Nana --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
