Friday, my influenza and I were lying on the couch watching MSNBC commentators discussing the fact that Bernie Sanders is polling better than Hillary Clinton among New Hampshire women. Young women are especially more likely to support Bernie than Hillary. A young New Hampshire woman was asked why this is the case. Her response was,
“I’m a feminist, but my feminism is different from her feminism.”
Wow. For as concise as it was, that was an eye-opening, profound statement. How is her feminism different from Hillary’s — and mine? Why? ARE there different types of feminism, or was her intent to say that the issues that young women face as women are different from what we older women faced? What are those issues? I know what shaped Hillary’s feminism because I lived through it; however, I have to admit that I don’t really understand how younger women’s feminism has been shaped. What did this young woman actually mean? I wish they would have questioned her further, but in the sound-bite age, that was sadly not the case.
Since I began writing this diary, both Gloria Steinem and Madeline Albright have said things that are…less-than-wise. With apologies to women who thought their comments were effective, I don’t think those are the kinds of things one says to win young — or any — women over to the Clinton camp. As someone who still has the first issue of Ms. Magazine, I will just say that I think that was perhaps the only truly stupid thing I have ever heard come out of Ms. Steinem’s mouth. Young women support Bernie so that they can get boyfriends? Huh? And Ms. Albright’s opinion that women who don’t support Hillary are going to hell...well, that’s an interesting way to get more support…
And just yesterday, I read a column written by Washington Post columnist and millennial Catherine Rampell called, "Why Millennials Love Bernie." She sees two main reasons why young people are feeling the Bern:
- Sanders’ socialism “is a feature, not a bug.” She goes on to say that a generation that grew up without the Cold War doesn’t have a problem with socialism, and in fact may view it more positively than capitalism. To them, Scandinavian countries seem to be working just fine, while “unbridled capitalism appeared to blow up the world economy” — and has left many millennials “broke, in debt, underemployed and stuck in [their] parents’ basements.”
- Sanders’ “authenticity, by which is usually meant his willingness to look and sound like a hot mess.” This is in stark contrast to the slickness that permeates social and other media these days. I learned something new from the article: apparently, there are hashtags used by young adults like #Nofilter and #IWokeUpLikeThis that celebrate NOT being gussied up and perfect. So Sanders’ down-to-earth appearance and demeanor are a breath of fresh air to a lot of people. Rampell does acknowledge, however, that female politicians cannot get away with this; they still need to be neat and coiffed in order to be taken seriously.
There have also been some fireworks here at Daily Kos about feminism. Clearly, we need to address the divide that has opened between women, largely due to the presidential campaign, i.e. Bernie vs. Hillary supporters, young AND old.
Younger women, I do not intend this to sound like another, “When I was your age...” speech. I would love to hear from you about how you define feminism and what the issues are that face you as young women. Let’s try to take it beyond the differences and try to better understand one another. How IS your feminism different from Hillary Clinton’s — and mine?
Feminism, according to the dictionary definition, is:
the principle that women should have political, economic, and social rights equal to those of men.
I assume we all agree with that. But in every era, different issues defined the focus of feminists at that particular time, whether it be voting rights, reproductive rights, property rights, etc.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, it seemed as if everything were on the table. I think few of us would deny that women having control over their own bodies, especially reproductive freedom, was the most significant issue. A lot of women fought long and hard to win that freedom. While women had been fighting for equal access to higher education and the professions for decades, the ability to control whether or not — and when — to get pregnant allowed women to pursue their dreams without that being an obstacle. It made a huge difference in the numbers of women who completed degree programs and entered professionals in a number of fields.
It also included...phew, it seems like everything, from recognition of “battered women” and domestic violence, to support groups for lesbians (who were very welcome to join the fight for everything else, but please don’t say you’re a lesbian, thank you very much), to changes in divorce laws, to the emergence and acceptance of girls and women in sports — and the list goes on.
Fifty years later, there is still work to be done to have rights “equal to those of men:”
- Equal pay for equal work
- Paid family/maternal leave
- Reproductive rights STILL!!!!
But are there “bigger” more broad-based issues that weigh more heavily on younger women than birth control and climbing up the corporate ladder, all the way to the Presidency? Is Rampell correct in her naming of economic issues as major influences on young women? Is this why their feminism is different? In the 1960’s, those issues were the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and even a nascent Gay Rights Movement. Certainly, based on my own experience, the leadership was male-dominated in the anti-war and early Gay Rights movements. It caused a lot of women to shift their political focus and energy to the women’s movement, where women could have total control over leadership and shape their own agenda. And at the end of the day, even if we were against the Vietnam War, a lot of us didn’t have a whole lot of time and energy left over to organize anti-war activities.
It seems to me that as the 1970’s went on, most activists picked one movement to devote their time and energy to, providing peripheral support to other movements. The only exceptions to this were friends of mine who defined themselves as Socialists (when it was still a bad word), who somehow managed to incorporate all issues into one political ideology.
And, yes, we fought with each other then over priorities and methods. Radical feminists grew to view NOW members as too moderate. NOW members were afraid that radical feminists, especially lesbians, would hurt the cause. It was a big mess at times, but somehow, things got done because, at the end of the day, we all agreed on the above definition of feminism.
Actually, a lot got done. Girls and young women live in a different world than we did at their age. We did a helluva job. I hope we can all agree on that.
And I hope we can also all agree that there’s a lot more to be done for the feminist cause, especially in the three areas mentioned above.
We will continue to disagree about priorities and methods. What are your priorities as a younger woman? An older woman? What are your preferred methods? Can we disagree about priorities and methods while reaching some kind of consensus about what binds us together as women? Can we do so without condemning and being condescending toward one another?
Can we talk?