Friday, March 5, 2010

Letter to my Sisters: from an aging feminist


As a nuclear welder and brazer in the late 70's and early 80's I put up with the insults, the verbal abuse, the never getting ahead or never getting comparable pay for the work I excelled in. I had to work twice as hard as a man but, I finally earned the respect I deserved. When I left the trades I was running jobs. The men who worked with me and around me stopped making rude comments. They even stuck up for me when new contractors started in with the same tired cracks.

I busted my butt to overcome the male stereotype of women, to be more than just an object and now I see women using their bodies to get what they want, becoming nothing more than objects, booties going to the highest bidder. Hooker clothes de rigueur, under wear on the outside, fake breasts, crotch shots, all of it designed to devolve women into nothing more than objects of lust and you "modern" women are falling for it. You've even talked yourself into believing that it was all your idea and not that of the male media machine. You have walked right back to the place where men would keep you, under their thumb, and you call it sex positive feminism.

I was a part of a movement of women with a mission and I felt like those who came after us would be better off for our fight. Now I am not so sure.

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