The assigned readings for this week all have to do with a rising feminist consciousness, primarily among straight, white, middle-to-upper class, heterosexual women. When you read them, you will likely note the absence of other types of women. However, some of these texts and the ideas they purport are considered by many to be what launched the second wave of the women’s liberation movement, as it was called. This is why I include them – it is useful to know what they are about, even though they aren’t the entire picture. Remember what I wrote last week about history always being partial. In our next assignment, we will read black lesbian feminists, Chicana cultural theorists, and more to get a broader perspective of what was happening but didn’t get the same amount of publicity.

The Feminine Mystique (1963)

The first reading excerpts from The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. She published this book in 1963 where she identified what is known as “the problem that has no name.” This problem was the general unhappiness Friedan found in surveying women in the 50s and 60s. Even though these women had material comfort, they were unfulfilled with their lives full of housework, child-rearing, cooking, and not working outside the home. Many found inspiration from this book, as you can see in this video of Melissa Harris-Perry or this one featuring a panel of feminist activists brought together by The New York Times during the 100th anniversary of the book. There have been many critiques of this text, including this accessible article from Smithsonian Magazine here.

The Politics of Housework (1970)

This essay breaks down part of “the problem that has no name.” Pat Mainardi distinguishes between the Liberated Woman and Women’s Liberation in “The Politics of Housework.” She claims that the Liberated Woman is sexually active and has a career while Women’s Liberation has to do with sharing housework in the home. Throughout the article, Mainardi illustrates that “the personal is political,” that is to say that the expectation of women to do all of the housework shows how our society undervalues women’s work. She spends the majority of this article discussing the opposition from her husband on sharing the seemingly trivial household chores. At first, Mainardi’s husband agrees that they should do an equal amount of the household chores. As time goes on, however, her husband tries to absolutely refuse to do chores around the house. Mainardi breaks down his statements in opposition to doing housework by explaining their actual and historical meaning—leading back to traditional gender roles for women regarding housework. She concludes this article by listing nine things for women to remember when trying to implement participatory democracy and equity of housework in their homes.

The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm (1970)

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE MAY MAKE SOME OF YOU UNCOMFORTABLE. While Minardi discusses a distinction between the liberated woman and women’s liberation, Anne Koedt looks explicitly at sex and how it can liberate women. In “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm,” Koedt explains that vaginas are not very sensitive and do not allow women to orgasm, while the clitoris is the tissue that allows female-bodied people to orgasm. She exposes that experts have wrongly claimed that women who cannot have vaginal orgasms are frigid, when the truth is that traditional heterosexual sexual positions do not adequately stimulate clitoral tissue. The assumption that mature female orgasms are vaginal is evidence that sex has been defined as heterosexual and by what is pleasurable to men, not women. Koedt calls for women to redefine sexual pleasure so that it is mutually pleasurable to men and women. She concludes this article by explaining why some women claim to have vaginal orgasms and the reasons men maintain the myth of the vaginal orgasm in society. 

Indeed sexual liberation and understanding pleasure has been an important area of feminist activism over time. In the first part of this video, sex educator Betty Dodson is interviewed about her work. NOTE: THE CONTENT OF THIS VIDEO MAY BE CONSIDERED EXPLICIT BY SOME VIEWERS. There are also numerous vulva art projects today, that were inspired by the work of Dodson, including the vulva gallery, the vulva art project, and more.

Please respond to the topic in the discussion board regarding changing our schedule. I would like to hear from all of you. Here is the link to respond.

The proposal for a change to our schedule/grading:

You all have been doing so much writing and on the survey, you indicated an interest in a lot of topics. Therefore, I propose these two major changes:

1. Get rid of the Midterm/Final Combined paper and just have you do a short answer/essay final where I would give you questions similar to the midterm and you would answer them, but you wouldn’t have to make it in a paper form.
2. Adjust the schedule to account for that, which means we could cover a few more topics on which you would do a snapshot and response.

This would change the grading slightly. Your current grade breakdown is:

• Snapshots and Responses 50% of grade
• Midterm 20% of grade
• Final 20% of grade
• Midterm/Final Combined 10% of grade

There are 11 Snapshots & 11 Responses: 9 of each = A; 7 of each= B; 6 of each= C; 5 or fewer of each = D

If we change the schedule, this will be the changed grade breakdown:

• Snapshots and Responses 60% of grade
• Midterm 20% of grade
• Final 20% of grade

There will be 13 Snapshots & 13 Responses: 11 of each = A; 9 of each= B; 7 of each= C; 6 or fewer of each = D

Claire Goldberg Moses, wrote the piece, “‘What’s in a Name?’ On Writing the History of Feminism” (2012). In it, she analyses the history, scope, gains, and limitations that come from the collective term “feminism.” She emphasizes that the term feminism is not static or fixed. There is no singular definition for feminism. She explores what collective women’s activity has been included and excluded as feminist to illustrate that historians “construct a narrative of the past.” Moses then gives a brief history of women who claimed the term feminist to describe their collective action. She connects the discussion of women claiming the title of feminist to contemporary times by writing about the narrowing of the usage of the term “feminist” since the 1990s. Although sexism outraged her students, they rarely claimed the label of feminist. Moses then argues that the name “feminism” is important because the periods when women made the most gains were when women claimed, “the word ‘feminism’ most broadly, imbuing it with multiple meanings, and thereby created the largest sense of belonging, a shared aspiration for women’s empowerment.” She claims that the name “feminist” does matter because “our history matters,” because it is important to historically understand women’s inequality, and because names give strength to global movements.  

Approach to history this semester

We began the history unit of the course last week, with the 19th century and the readings and video on suffrage. This week, we continue into the early 20th century with women’s role in the labor movement, as discussed through the example of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and the Equal Rights Amendment, which followed once the vote was won. We will take a somewhat chronological journey over the next few weeks, to understand how feminist thought has developed. Of course, this will not be a comprehensive history – there is another course for that. Rather, it will be a brief look at how one movement gave way to another.

You may be familiar with the idea of feminist waves. While there has been much debate about this metaphor and whether it is still useful, it does provide a way of teaching and learning about the development of feminist consciousness. Please know this is just one way to think about it. In reality, it is much messier, intersects with many ideas besides feminism, and nobody fully agrees on how to define the waves.

Throughout our study of the past we will observe 1.) Examples of women and LGBTQ+ people organizing for change 2.) activism to advance the interests of these communities and seek justice around identities 3.) activism to expose, challenge and destabilize hierarchies where one identity group is given more access to power.

Why study this history?

If we want equality today, we have to understand the past. Feminist analysis has always recognized that rewriting and remembering history is central to the project of equity.  Considering history from a feminist point of view not only serves to correct to gaps, erasures, and misunderstandings of hegemonic master narratives we have been previously taught but also is a way for individuals to form a political consciousness and self-identity. Understanding the past can, for example, help us recognize that the current wave of new legislation regarding voting laws (most of which make it harder for people to exercise their right to vote) has a deep and nefarious history.

Thank you to those of you who have posted your midterm. I will be reviewing midterms for three classes, so please have patience as it may take a few weeks for me to respond to everyone. If you have not posted your midterm yet, please do so as soon as you can. If you have questions, contact me through open lab or email me at bwaychoff@bmcc.cuny.edu.

I am looking at the results of the midterm survey to plan the remainder of the semester. Thank you to those of you who offered feedback. To those of you who have not taken the survey, but would still like to you can still take it here as I will continue to consider feedback through the weekend.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to track developments in the history of feminist thought, beginning in the 19th century. This week, you will read about the suffrage movement in the United States. As you might have seen in the last few years, the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, was ratified in 1920. There were many celebrations of this 100-year anniversary. But the movement to get the vote started much early and it took about 100 years to get to that point. If you are interested in a deep dive into that movement, I recommend the documentary Not For Ourselves Alone. There are also two fictional films based on real accounts: Iron Jawed Angels and Suffragette. The latter focuses more on the movement in England. Most of these resources, however, are white-washed. I usually assign several readings for this unit including speeches by Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Angelina Grimke. If you are interested those readings can be found in this folder.

For this week, I am assigning you one reading that is really more of a timeline of the movement toward suffrage. You don’t need to memorize dates but do read through the descriptions. It provides a great example of how sustained activism over long periods of time is necessary to reach our goals. I am also assigning a video that addresses some of the untold stories of black women in the suffrage movement. There are additional short videos you might consider watching such as Musical Activism in the American Women’s Suffrage Movement which is what it sounds like and I found it to be very interesting or Women’s Suffrage Crash Course US History. Don’t forget to post snapshot #6 by Sunday evening and Content Response #6 by Tuesday at 11:59 pm.

Please complete this survey by Wednesday, October 13th at midnight. This simple survey asks about your interests for the rest of the semester and the format of learning materials you prefer.

Allan Johnson, “Patriarchy, the System: An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us” (2014)

Allan Johnson explains that changes to the patriarchal system cannot come through an individualistic understanding of the system. As a society, individuals must understand how social systems perpetuate social problems—the system of patriarchy has been made and perpetuated by individuals, but it is not an individual. Johnson clarifies that we must understand the system of patriarchy in order to create a different system of socialization. While we all participate in social systems, we can change the system itself.

We also need to get to the root of social problems or the underlying idea from which they come so that we can understand individual behavior. Those roots are reflected in and made real through individual actions. We must also realize that we ALL participate in these systems that are larger than we are. We didn’t create them, but we can choose how we participate in them once we can see them. We aren’t just parts of a system – we have the power to combat the effects of the system or to follow the path of least resistance and not challenge them.

At this point, I also brought up the concept of performativity, which is the idea that there are scripts written for social roles long before we ever arrive on this planet. We can’t completely change the scripts, but we can adjust how we perform them. I gave the example of the various iterations of Romeo and Juliet that we have seen in film and on the stage. It is still Romeo and Juliet (the script or system), but how we each perform our roles and react to the roles of others can start to affect the way we understand or relate to the larger systems. One of your classmates (I can’t remember if it was Shamina or Sade) also mentioned that Westside Story is based on Romeo and Juliet and even though the script is different, the underlying story is similar.

Audre Lorde, “There Is No Hierarchy of Oppressions” (1983)

In “There Is No Hierarchy of Oppressions,” Audre Lorde completes an intersectional analysis of her identities and her status as a member of oppressed groups. She explains that sexism, heterosexism, and racism all function together as systems of oppression. Because all of these systems work together, Lorde argues, there is no hierarchy of oppression—we must fight all forms of oppression, not just a singular system. 

Here we talked about intersectionality and I noted that most of our readings have dealt with it without naming it. Intersectionality is the idea that systems of oppression overlap and cannot be fully separated. Those systems socialize us as individuals with identities that are impacted. I gave the contrasting analogies of a salad vs. a cake. We are not salads. We cannot take out the onions or the anchovies and either eat just them or have our salad without them. Instead, we are more like a cake made of flour, sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder, etc. We can never separate those ingredients into discreet parts because they all work together to create the cake.

ACTIVISM

For next week you will not only read about activism, but you will also watch one of the films available on the playlist in the schedule. In your content responses for this week please respond to a classmate’s snapshot, the reading, and the film you chose to watch. Be sure to tell us which film it was. You are welcome to watch them all if you wish, but you must watch one.