In reference to this past week’s reading and lecture I learned a lot in terms of the progression of women’s rights, attitudes, and the social culture around women’s history. I was surprised to find out that women in a sense were their own worst enemy in terms of progressively passing any sort of legislation to ensure women’s rights. I also think Ashley raised a valid point, when she noted that women suffragists went against the E.R.A. Up until this point, I also thought the two went hand-in-hand and the key players were similar. However, they are drastically different.
Drawing upon the lecture, I found it interesting when Dr. Syrett went into more detail explaining the controversies between the two groups by contrasting Alice Paul and Florence Kelly. When paired side by side it is easy to see the differences. For example, Alice Paul, of upper-middle class standing ardently fought against what she felt was female discrimination in the labor market and what she believed to be the constraints of gender. However, Florence Kelly led a less privileged life and openly welcomed the protection granted for women in the labor market as she fought for better factory conditions, more reasonable hours, and higher wages. Therefore each of these two strong women can be considered a feminist in their own respect even though they held opposite stances in defense of women’s rights.
So in final reflection, I would like to beg the question, “What is true feminism?” Although the dictionary, (Encarta available on MS WORD), prescribes feminine to be broken down in terms of “conventionally though to be appropriate for a woman or girl” and “considered to be characteristic of woman” I do not feel this is very explanatory. Therefore with such a vaguely broad definition, and considering the work of Alice Paul and Florence Kelly, it is still open to interpretation and still leaving the question, “What is true feminism?”
*Sorry for the old post but I almost to forget to get this up from our last class. For some reason I had some trouble with it last time...
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You make a good point, Stephanie, by teasing out the complicated and sometimes nuanced difficulties between women who have been politically active in the past. And your question is a big one, and one that many feminist theorists have grappled with in many different ways over the years. I would ask you and the rest of the class to also think about the relationship between feminism and femininity or this idea of what is feminine. I think there's quite a difference between the two, although feminism has obviously evolved out of an interest and dedication to women's lives, subjectivities, histories, social realities. But if we interrogate categories of gender (ie, masculinity and femininity), I think we might see some interesting complexities between feminism and how we are as gendered people (or people of different races and classes for that matter). For example, can men be feminists? If so, in what ways? What's the difference (is there one?) between being a man who is a feminist and a woman's who is a feminist? What about lesbians who are feminists?
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