Feminism
The last ISM in our ISMs unit is feminism. My students never seem to get excited about the topic, even though I give them the following quotes as part of the lesson intro:
- Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.--Cheris Kramerae, author of A Feminist Dictionary, 1996
- The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.--Pat Robertson (Christian Coalition), 1992 Republican National Convention
- A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.--Gloria Steinem
- Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.--Rush Limbaugh
- I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.--Rebecca West, 1913
(Source: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Feminism)
Tomorrow I plan to ask them why they don't get excited about feminism. Is it because they think that the goals of feminism (equality of economic, social and political opportunity for men and women) have been accomplished, or because they expect other people to fight the fight for equality of opportunity, or because they have been treated equitably as youngsters and therefore think that everyone is treated equitably in society? Maybe they have another reason. Regardless, I am interested to find out.
- Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.--Cheris Kramerae, author of A Feminist Dictionary, 1996
- The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.--Pat Robertson (Christian Coalition), 1992 Republican National Convention
- A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.--Gloria Steinem
- Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.--Rush Limbaugh
- I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.--Rebecca West, 1913
(Source: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Feminism)
Tomorrow I plan to ask them why they don't get excited about feminism. Is it because they think that the goals of feminism (equality of economic, social and political opportunity for men and women) have been accomplished, or because they expect other people to fight the fight for equality of opportunity, or because they have been treated equitably as youngsters and therefore think that everyone is treated equitably in society? Maybe they have another reason. Regardless, I am interested to find out.
posted by Crosby at 1:59 PM
4 Comments:
Please make sure you follow-up with what their answers are. I'm very interested to hear what they say . . .
Nice quotes - just curious, have you tried to verify the Robertson and Limbaugh quotes. Robertson's seems a little extreme, even for him . . .
Ha! Well at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/197703_feminism02.html
(great editorial by the way!) it attributes the quote to a 1992 fund-raising letter rather than the convention, but that quote is all over the web. I will say that if he didn't say it, he doesn't seem to mind that it's all over the web because I couldn't find a rebuttal.
Here is verification for the Limbaugh quote - and others -
http://mediamatters.org/items/200508160001
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!
I talked to my students and what they seem to think is that the major legal battles regarding feminist goals have been won. Now it is just a matter of people's opinions evolving, and that takes time.
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