A Fringe of One's
Own
By Stephanie Herman
Originally published in Conservative Generation X
December, 1996
A ten-point gender gap is credited as one of the larger factors
influencing Clinton's re-election last month, but are Generation X women
contributing to this gender gap? Liberal feminism, historically the
major drawing card of women into the liberal mindset, is failing to
spark interest among younger women. Last year, for example, the National
Organization for Women (NOW) held a Rally for Women's Lives in
Washington D.C., with 250,000 feminist activists in attendance. That
same day, however, only 2,000 young women participated in NOW's second
annual Young Feminist Summit, also held in Washington D.C.
"It has been said of recent," quotes an article published by Third Wave,
a young feminist collective founded by Rebecca Walker (daughter of Alice
Walker), "that many [young feminist activists] feel as if they are
sitting on top of a social movement that is trembling and ready to
explode... So if we all feel the motion -- where's the explosion?"
That's a good question. As noted in my earlier essay published in _CGX_,
"Feminism's Generation Gap," only 16% of college women participating in
the 1989 Brushkin poll definitely considered themselves feminists, and
since then the numbers haven't been growing. Compared with the much
higher percentage of Baby Boomer women ascribing to feminism, these
numbers would suggest that if the election were held 20 years from now,
Clinton could certainly *not* rely on a ten-point gender gap from the X
generation.
But the question remains: just who is this 16 percent minority of young
women? An anthology published last year entitled, "Listen Up: Voices
from the Next Feminist Generation," provides a peek at a cross-section.
With a few coherent exceptions, the anthology presents a selection of
first-person and amusingly self-absorbed essays written by up-and-coming
young feminists who embrace much of the movement's extreme fringe: an
odd melange of outspoken victims and their eating disorders, their
abortions, their vulnerability to male attention and flirtation, their
alternative body piercings, and their "bad hair days."
Gone are discussions of the glass ceiling or the lack of more female
legislators that somewhat legitimized previous feminist discourse.
Instead, these young ladies complain about their bills: "I growled
nastily about the unfairness of paying rent: 'Housing should be an
inalienable fuckin' right!'" (Aisha Hakim-Dyce); passionately defend
single-parent households: "I also wasn't exposed to family violence or
incest, which are more likely to occur with males in the house," (Amelia
Richards); criticize efforts to curb teen sex and pregnancy: "Judgments
like 'right' and 'wrong' only build barriers between people and
encourage shame," (Rebecca Walker); and concoct ridiculous affirmations
of the Stuart Smalley variety: "For now the revolution takes place in my
head when I know how fucking brilliant my girlfriends and I are," (Nomy
Lamm).
But what stands out as striking in this anthology is the positioning of
both abortion and lesbianism not as acceptable alternative "choices" but
as superior, almost obligatory experiences. Although only 1 in 33
Americans are reportedly homosexual, 1 in 3 of
these young feminists, as well as the anthology's editor, Barbara
Findlen, places strong emphasis on their homosexual or bisexual
orientation, many exhibiting a bias against heterosexuality and men, in
general. Their disproportionate numbers and biased rhetoric support
liberal feminist Rene Denfeld's argument that feminism has become more a
lesbian movement than one supporting gender equality: "...the feminist
promotion of lesbianism is more prevalent today than it was in the
mid-seventies through the eighties... It is difficult to argue that
feminism can represent all women when leading activists make it clear
that one must call oneself a lesbian to join the club."
What is not surprising is the perpetuation of the political motivation
for becoming a lesbian. While many Americans are willing to accept
homosexuality as a physiological phenomenon and as such believe it wrong
to discriminate against homosexuals, feminists circumvent the issue of
homosexual physiology entirely, blatantly approaching homosexuality from
a purely political standpoint. "Sleeping with women... is also something
I aspired to as a die-hard advocate for women," writes Anastasia
Higginbotham in her essay, "Chicks Goin' At It." She goes on to write:
"I worried (and still do occasionally) that I was taking on lesbianism
out of loyalty to a cause, fearful that my capacity to sleep with the
bad guys was bad for PR."
What *is* surprising in this anthology is the newly regarded superiority
of abortion -- a procedure essayist Inga Muscio elevates to a spiritual
experience. Having a third, and this time spontaneous, abortion in her
bathroom was an event she credits as "one of the top ten learning
experiences in my life," and she wants to see the abortion experience
evolve from a sterile and clinical vacuum-sucking procedure into a
"personal, intimate thing among friends."
And yet, for all the glorious inner peace abortion brings Muscio, she
exhibits some frighteningly immature and destructive attitudes regarding
the abortion debate: "Whenever I saw those [pro-life] people out there,
I'd see myself... turning into a walking killing machine, kicking in
faces, stomping on hands." She describes a latent feminist hostility
against anti-abortion forces (which is rarely made public) in her
"desire to physically mutilate individuals whose convictions were in
direct opposition to mine." While such sentiments are flatly condemned
when expressed by such criminal sociopaths as John Salvi or Michael
Griffin, they are no doubt hailed as honest and courageous when uttered
by an enlightened young feminist.
Time will tell if this new feminism is successful at drawing in strong,
enthusiastic young women on the basis of these tiresome, paranoid claims
about a systemic, patriarchal environment. If they hope to increase
their numbers, this misguided 16 percent has quite a job on their hands.