It was after a trip to see the film Sin City - in which female characters run the gamut from prostitute to stripper - that Laura Woodhouse became a feminist activist. "I went to see the film with four male friends," she says, "and suddenly the misogyny hit me. I looked around and my friends were all loving it and I felt really shocked and alone. That's the first time I've walked out of a film. I got home and typed 'feminism' into a search engine and found the feminist website The F-word. Then I followed the links to feminist blogs and read them into the night."
Shortly afterwards, Woodhouse, 22, became one of the founder members of Sheffield Fems, a feminist group set up at Sheffield University in 2005 and largely made up of students. In its short life, the group has become quite a presence on the feminist circuit, partly due to the remarkable success of its first campaign, which got it coverage in the local press and an invitation on to Woman's Hour.
"At our first meeting, the one thing that we all brought up was the mainstreaming of porn-type images and the Playboy bunny, which we had seen around a lot on children's products in WH Smith, John Lewis and Claire's Accessories. So we decided to go with Playboy as our first campaign," says Woodhouse. The group put together a leaflet and hit Sheffield town centre during the Christmas rush. "We got a lot of positive responses from the public," she says. The group passed these on to the shops' head offices. Within a few weeks, John Lewis and Claire's Accessories had pledged not to order any more Playboy-branded stock. But, says Woodhouse, "WH Smith sent us the same old thing that they send to everyone - that it's a popular product and people are allowed to choose, blah, blah, blah."
Over the past two years, a new wave of feminist groups has been sweeping across the UK. Like Sheffield Fems, many were formed on campus, although they have since attracted non-students - teenage girls, working mothers, and men as well. Groups such as Mind the Gap in Cardiff, the London Feminist Network and Warwick Anti-Sexist Society (Wass) have been established for a few years now, while Resisters, East Midland Feminists and North West Feminists all started up last autumn.[...]
Perhaps the biggest trigger for this growing movement, though, has been the mainstreaming of the porn and sex industries, and, specifically, the way in which they have begun to aim their products, branding and culture at children and young people, including students.
The reason why so many men find feminism maddeningly confusing is that it often encompasses two distinct and not apparently compatible impulses. The first is to secure for women the rights and freedoms enjoyed by men. The second is to rein in male excess and force them to treat women, children and society-at-large more responsibly. For every Emily Pankhurst chaining herself to a post to gain the suffrage, there seems to be a Carrie Nation right behind terrifying the boys in the tavern with her axe.
These two impulses sometimes exist in tandem (19th century feminists were split over votes for women), but since the late sixties the sexual and social libertarian impulse has been dominant among Western feminists. It will be extremely interesting to see whether we are on the verge of a new wave dedicated to female efforts to impose norms of civility and propriety on men. As the history of both civilization and blogging shows the extreme lengths many men will go to rationalize and defend their right to wallow in the prurient and depraved, we wish them luck.
3 comments:
Feminism needs to go in a new direction. The proliferation of porn in the media and entertainment is shocking. Kids can't be allowed access to TV because there are no more controls.
We ordered DVD's of an HBO show, "Entourage" about four boys from Queens NY, where we grew up who are living the life in Tinseltown. Two DVD's and eight episodes into the series, so far there's been nothing but incessant partying, drugs, alcohol, and female nudity -- males maintain their modesty -- interspersed with a slim to non-existent plot focusing on females who are either whores, rhymes with witches, control freaks, etc. while by the males are merely fun loving tall boys.
Since the film in the making is called, "Queens Boulevard" we are interested in seeing how our childhood stomping grounds will be portrayed, but heaven help impressionable kids who see this kid of stuff as normal behavior.
Of course, "norms of civility and propriety", "prurient", and "depraved" are all subjective, so they do indeed have their work cut out for them.
As erp notes, modern society seems to enjoy that which would have shocked prior eras.
... but since the late sixties the sexual and social libertarian impulse has been dominant among Western feminists.
That is absolutely true.
However, among women, as opposed to feminists, I suspect the pendulum is well on its swing away from that extreme.
As noted elsewhere, my wife just finished getting a nursing degree. Along the way, she hosted some parties for her classmates, nearly all female, and in their early to late 20s.
Two things seem fairly clear from what I observed:
1. They take for granted their ability to make their own choices in life.
2. One of the choices they want to make is to have children within a stable marriage.
Where women insist on going, I suspect men will follow.
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