FREE ESSAY ON FEMINIST BACKLASH

FEMINIST BACKLASH

Feminist Backlash: The Unconscious
Undermining of Genuine Equality
American people come in a variety of shapes and sizes; their thoughts, fears, and
convictions differ widely. It is usually necessary for Americans to choose a status in
politics and community; but it is obvious that among specific groups and organizations, a
person's beliefs and opinions differ dramatically from the next. Feminist groups,
specifically in the last twenty years, have announced their view of membership as an
elite group of woman who must have the same specific convictions. Moreover, they denounce
anyone who does not, as irrational and supporting the continuance of subordination of
women. Feminist propaganda is off track when it comes to the real experiences of American
women and men. It is true, that in the past, a woman's voice was often disregarded; she
was denied certain rights, for some women fought. Elizabeth Stanton, Susan B. Anthony,
and Elizabeth Blackwell were famous for their courage and persistence in bringing change.
It is safe to say that most Americans now agree men and women have vast talents and
capabilities. A century ago women were concerned with issues, such as the right to own
property and vote. Somewhere between then and now, feminist groups turned their agenda to
issues that offended many Americans. They crossed the line of personal and moral
decisions and made ridiculous accusations toward men. The first feminists were necessary.
Modern feminists have lost touch with American women and "unconsciously undermined
genuine equality". It is no wonder why men and women try to distance themselves from
feminism. 
Long before Europeans came to the "new land" with their Judeo-Christian ideology,
patriarchy was the exception not the norm. Women, their bodies, and ability to give birth
and nurse children were adorned. Women did eighty percent of the hunting until the
reintroduction of the horse. "Women were shoved out of the hunting scenario. The horse
allowed men to become radius," and the man's "expendable sex" was no obstacle when
traveling long distances. The "economic survival" was now the man's domain. The value of
the women fell when "mother earth" lost her place. In addition, the European settlers
forced their Christian ideals on the Native Americans and other subordinate groups later.

During the next several years, the colonial family stayed the same; historically, there
was no women's movement until 1848, the year of the Seneca Falls Convention. Organized by
Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott, the "Declaration of Principles" was produced. It
paraphrased the Declaration of Independence with emphasis on women. Before 1848, vocal
feminists had raised their voices within the Abolitionist Movement. Major concerns of
pre-Civil War feminists were: property rights for women, custody of their children in
cases of divorce, the right to their earnings, the ability to sign contracts and serve on
juries, equal higher education opportunities, and equal opportunities in the workplace .
The latter phase of the movement came after the Civil War. The feminists 
had now formed associations and groups primarily concerned with getting the vote. The
American Women's Suffrage Association associated with a more conservative group,
including Elizabeth Blackwell, the first women doctor, as a prominent leader. The two
groups united in 1890 as the Suffrage Movement; because of this coalition, the older
radical National Association lost influence. In 1920, after fifty years of struggle women
were given the right to vote. The suffrage movement had no official ideology; its purpose
was to obtain the right to vote. Its members and leaders came from all walks of life and
had greatly varying views on current events. The second wave of the feminist movement
began in the 1960's. By this time, a very broad and diverse movement had developed a mass
following. The National Organization of Women (NOW) was established in 1966. Within a few
months, many other women's organizations were established. NOW represented an older, more
conservative movement; but many younger radical women's liberation groups were emerging
with no national organization. Young women were often involved with Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS). In the early 1970's, the conservative feminists and more
radical feminists began to work toward common goals. Ms. Magazine was first published in
1972. The second wave feminist movement wanted a complete restructuring of American
society which included the restructuring of family, individuals free to determine their
own life style, sexual preference, occupation, and personal values. They were concerned
with the availability
of abortion, and called for 24-hour childcare, and equal education and employment
opportunity. 
In the 1980's, the feminist movement had many of the same concerns. Women had lobbied
legislatures, initiated lawsuits, marched in demonstrations, and boycotted major
corporations to secure their rights. The women's movement was still calling for equal
pay, education and job opportunities, free contraception and abortion on demand, 24-hour
nurseries under community control, legal and financial independence, an end to the
discrimination against lesbians, freedom from the intervention by threat of violence of
sexual coercion, regardless of marital status, and end to the laws, assumptions, and
institutions that perpetrate male dominance and men's oppression of women. Though the
feminist movement had supporters from most of the political spectrum, many were
associated with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. 
Present feminists would agree they are still concerned with the issues they were in the
eighties, but they would have something else to add. Feminists view femininity as a "trap
that distracts women from the pursuit of power." It appears that feminists are concerned
more so now that the American woman is moving backward: she is giving into what men want,
and is being brainwashed into believing it is her choice. "So why do these women and men
mistrust feminism? The short answer is that they do not see
feminism as a story about their lives...." Starting in the late eighties, part of the
feminist attitude seemed to be that all men were against women. Men did not want women in
the workplace, and deliberately sabotaged them and conducted themselves inappropriately
on matters of sexuality. Every smile, or compliment a man made was proof he saw a women
as an object for his own sexual pleasure, and to ensure she stay beneath him. It is not
possible to pinpoint the moment that feminism no longer became popular, but the notion
that sexual attraction could be made extinct in the work place is reason to lose a few
members. Americans know men and women are not identical, and any attempt to make them
that way will make for a more confused and sexually repressed society. Elizabeth
Fox-Genovese, author of Feminism is Not the Story of My Life (1996), asks would "the
liberation of women require the abolition of a common morality?" 
Being female in America is not easy. The Feminist Chronicles (1993) has endless lists of
monumentous abortion laws and states the Christian Coalition as a threat to feminist
progress. Women are caught in a no-win situation; they want for themselves and their
daughters the choice and empowerment feminist speak of. They also love their sons and
husbands and do not want to be told the apple pie baking in the oven is another symbol of
failure. Fox-Genovese states repeatedly many different women from many walks of life feel
feminism ideas are destructive to the family. Feminist women speak for the poor when they
really have no idea what it is like for the poor; they speak for the women when they have
no idea what the average American women believes. Feminist 
are not realizing that "any attempt to lump the lives of very different women under a
single formula-any formula-is likely to exclude more women than it includes." 
It is no wonder why men and women feel they have been put on a battlefield and why women
often feel they have no control over their lives. Modern poets, such as Elizabeth McKim,
express their feelings of defeat on being women:
i have always been
a lonely woman
even in the beginning
not understanding the language
of men
always wanting them to see me
always hiding from them
hoping they will not crush me with their anger
trying to make them smile
with my masks
and my veils
my dancing costumes
my magic and my bells
so thy would stop scaring me
so they would fall asleep
so I could take their power 
Many women can relate to the feelings of powerlessness. It is not productive to blame men
for these barriers; however, no one is without blame. Many women, however, do not feel
helpless. In one of Fox-Genovese's interviews with women, she writes of Maggie, who
moved, with her husband, to a ranch in New Mexico. They split the work "traditionally"
and Maggie was not enjoying her job. She discussed the situation with her husband who
understood her dislike for the monotonous work. She joined him and the other male hands
in the fields; she now loved her job. She stated she is not a feminist; that it "has
nothing to with her life, and feminists... would not last two days on her ranch." 
How and when these battles began is difficult to say. Sociologists often agree that
minority groups have subordinated their women because discrimination does not allow them
to get ahead: their shame and diminishing self-esteem causes them to rule over those who
are physically weaker. White American males are caught in a emotional tug-of-war; the
messages of society, family, and religion (if part of his psyche) can jumble a man's
perception of his identity. Judy Mann, author of The Difference: Growing up Female in
America (1994), mentions girls are "derailed" and kept from aspiring to their potential.
This is not untrue, but boys are in a similar predicament. The most important fulfilling
and difficult job in the world is parenthood. Men/boys until recently have been taught by
society that fatherhood was the least important aspiration. Men and women are born to
nurture their children; this gift when stolen from men put them, with women, in the boat
of unfair gender bias.
The uncertainty of a young boy's life is prevalent among parents and teachers. Even
popular sitcoms like Roseanne, addressed the issue. In an old episode the parents,
Roseanne and Dan, had an argument. It ended with Roseanne leaving the room angrily,
saying, in a derogatory tone of voice, "...like some man." D.J., their young son, had
overheard the fight and asked, "Why did mom call you a'man' like that? I thought it was
good to be a man." Dan replied "Oh no son, not since the late sixties." Comic strips such
as Calvin and Hobbes depict another type of male uncertainty. 
As for grown men in this society, the feeling of disarrangement does not subside. Susan
Faludi is one elite feminist whose opinion of the American male is often unfair and
ridiculous. She writes in Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (1991),
about her visit to a mannequin maker. She expresses her dislike for the perfection of the
bodies of the female mannequins and the increase in plastic surgery among women. She
forgets to mention the male mannequin's rippling muscles. In addition, Baywatch's David
Hasselhoff has been fully dressed for the last two years to cover his aging body.
Faludi's entire book is filled with views that are extremely insensitive to men. Warren
Farrell, author of The Myth of Male Power (1993), describes the male experience; one
'tragedy" is that "historically, the obligations of dads deprive dads love while the
obligations of moms provide moms with love. Deprived of genuine love, dads are deprived
of genuine power." In describing the father-son relationship in the song "Cat's in the
Cradle," Farrell continues: "Ironically, the son had ached for connection with his dad so
intently that he vowed, 'Some day I'm gonna be like him....' " Farrell gives women a
unique explanation to a man's perspective of prostitutes. He explains the reason "why men
don't get as worked up as women" over the issue: "most men experience themselves as
prostitutes everyday-the miner, the firefighter, the construction worker... they
sacrifice their bodies for money and for their families." Another misfortune for men is
that they have not had the freedom of emotional expression, where it appears women have.
Finally, when men are the "suicide sex," it is everyone's responsibility to find out why.
Like Faludi few men have extreme views on the other side of the spectrum. Toni Grant, an
on-air therapist, told a women caller, "Challenging one's husband is a sure sign of a
'feminist infected women.' A big mistake." Extreme views are rare; the average person is
aware that these, usually wealthy, individuals have no insight into the real American
experience.
Men have taken the rap for being the obstacle to women's confinement, when it is children
who are the barrier to her independence. Parents do not love their children any less than
they did in previous decades, but children are receiving forty percent less time with
their parents than they did thirty years ago. Children are coming up short in this time
of lost identity. They are caught in between the rising number of divorces and visiting
fathers, or having no father at all. Opposing forces that are telling mothers they need
to be working or staying at home and other issues have put mothers at war with each
other. Finally, the combination of women in the workforce, single parent families, and
men struggling to find their nurturing father role has put children at loss. Fox-Genovese
puts it perfectly, "These days the ability to enjoy ones children has become a rare and
precious freedom that too few [people] enjoy and too few people recognize as freedom at
all." 
Many Americans are lost in a storm of doubt and discontentment. There are no easy answers
or quick fix solutions, but a place to begin would be for men and women to stop blaming
each other for their unhappiness. Simply put, all people need to do for themselves what
fulfills and rewards them and remove themselves from what does not. It is idealistic that
all men and women will put down their imaginary weapons and live with mutual respect for
each other. But if we did, we would not have a word like 'feminism'. In the words of
Nezahualcoyotl:
Even jade is shattered,
Even gold is crushed
Even quetzal plumes are torn...
One does not live forever on this earth:
We endure only for a instant! 
Works Cited
Baywatch. NBC series. 1991-98.
Carabillo, Toni, Judith Meuli, and Jane Bundy Csida. Feminist Chronicles 1953-1993.
Los Angeles: Women's Graphics, 1993.
Castillo, Ana. Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma. Albuquerque: U of N.M. 
Press, 1994.
Chafetz, Janet Saltzman and Anthony Gary Dworkin. Female Revolt: Women's
Movement in World and Historical Perspective. New Jersey: Rowman and 
Allanheld, 1986.
Farrell, Warren. The Myth of Male Power. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Faludi, Susan. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. New York: 
Crown,1991.
Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth. Feminism is Not the Story of My Life. New York: Nan A. 
Talese,1996.
Katzenstein, Mary Fainsod and Carol McClurg Mueller, eds. The Women's Movement of
the United States and Western Europe. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 
1987.
Mann, Judy. The Difference: Growing up Female in America. New York: Warner, 1994. 
McKim, Elizabeth. "i have always been." Early Ripening, American Women's Poetry
Now. Ed. Marge Piercy. 1987. London: Pandora Press, 1991.
Roseanne. ABC sitcom. 1988-97.
Watterson, Bill. Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 
1994. 
Loren C. Bell
English Composition II
TTh 1:00
Feminist Backlash: The Unconscious
Undermining of Genuine Equality
Bibliography
Works Cited
Baywatch. NBC series. 1991-98.
Carabillo, Toni, Judith Meuli, and Jane Bundy Csida. Feminist Chronicles 1953-1993.
Los Angeles: Women's Graphics, 1993.
Castillo, Ana. Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma. Albuquerque: U of N.M. 
Press, 1994.
Chafetz, Janet Saltzman and Anthony Gary Dworkin. Female Revolt: Women's
Movement in World and Historical Perspective. New Jersey: Rowman and 
Allanheld, 1986.
Farrell, Warren. The Myth of Male Power. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Faludi, Susan. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. New York: 
Crown,1991.
Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth. Feminism is Not the Story of My Life. New York: Nan A. 
Talese,1996.
Katzenstein, Mary Fainsod and Carol McClurg Mueller, eds. The Women's Movement of
the United States and Western Europe. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 
1987.
Mann, Judy. The Difference: Growing up Female in America. New York: Warner, 1994. 
McKim, Elizabeth. "i have always been." Early Ripening, American Women's Poetry
Now. Ed. Marge Piercy. 1987. London: Pandora Press, 1991.
Roseanne. ABC sitcom. 1988-97.
Watterson, Bill. Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 
1994. 
Loren C. Bell
English Composition II
TTh 1:00
Feminist Backlash: The Unconscious
Undermining of Genuine Equality