A brief rant on Feminism

So I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine today. We were discussing the upcoming Presidential election and she was telling me how strongly she was in support of Hilary Clinton. While there were a lot of things about Clinton that my friend believed would make her a good president, she was also very passionate about seeing a woman in the oval office. This led very quickly to a conversation about Feminism.

My friend is very clearly a mainstream feminist. I say mainstream because I don't want to make claims to being very well versed in the intricacies of Feminist theory, and also because I think that there is a particular breed of feminism that is very prevalent in everyday usage. This particular strain of feminism tends to see feminism as centering very much on women's abilities to have, maintain, and succeed in careers. Some of these feminists also include certain reproductive rights issues, but the most common thread seems to be career orientated.

I, however, am not a feminist, especially when it comes to the career orientated feminist theories. Unfortunately, as a female anthropologist in this day and age, I'm often assumed to be or accused of being a feminist, but in all honesty, I find the "feminism" I meet in my own daily life to be restricting and quite frankly a little degrading. I had hoped to explain this to my friend this morning, but I don't feel that I quite got the point across, so I thought I'd write about it here. There's no doubt I'll need to explain this to colleagues again and again anyway as my work progresses so I may as well take a moment to get all of my thoughts on the matter together now.

Essentially, my issue with feminism is that it still does not allow me to define or create my own sense of femininity. In trying to liberate women from traditional ideas of femininity, it refuses women the right to embrace, modify or even subvert these traditional ideas. Instead, it insists that traditional female roles must be wholly cast off. Women throughout the world have been able to use their traditional roles in unique, creative and personalized ways that have allowed them opportunities beyond what these traditional ideas seem to provide them. For example, many of the Mexican American women I know are very content in fulfilling traditional roles, but they do so in such a way that provides them with a shocking amount of power, autonomy and familial influence. But many mainstream feminists would still condemn the way these women are living and may even express disgust when one of these women makes claims of contentment.

Essentially, I take the stand that forcing me from the kitchen is equally to locking me in it. And I think this leads us to a larger question. Is, and should, feminism be a quest for equality or for freedom? Traditionally, the American Feminist movement has relied heavily on the term equality, but I have always thought that equality was merely a means to the larger goal of freedom. And if freedom is really what we are striving for, then shouldn't all women be free to express their own conceptions of female identity, whether that be in the workplace, at home, or somewhere in between?

I like to think, and perhaps I'm bending history to my own ends here, that the women who once fought for women's right within this country never meant to create a movement that would go on to restrict women in it's own ways. But it seems to me that is exactly what the feminist movement has begun to do. I don't want to be told that I must be strong and independent anymore than I want to be told that I must be weak and dependent. I know in American culture the terms strong and independent are to be without negative connotations, but, once again I disagree.

To look at this from another angle, I like to think about how this type of feminism would color my work. This view seems to hold that women who perform the wife/mother roles are, without exception, unfulfilled, unhappy (whether they realize it or not) and in some minds, not contributing meaningfully to society. To hold this view would require me to enter a village where most women continue to behave according to traditional ideas of femininity believing that all of the women there are discontented and oppressed. However, based on the short time I've spent at my fieldsite, I find this enormously hard to believe. The women I met generally seemed to be reasonably contented with their lives, had varying degrees of freedom, and were contributing to their community by caring for the next generation, but also in economic ways like weaving, bartering, and various other pursuits. While I there are probably many un-lived dreams in this community of women, I find it difficult to condemn their lives completely.

In short, I fully acknowledge that women all over the world lead lives that are much more difficult than their male counterparts. I agree that women deserve to be valued equally to men, and that they should have the freedom to decide their own lives. But I strongly disagree that condemning tradition roles and ideas in bulk makes any real steps towards rectifying this. I feel that the best way to improve the lives of women around the world is to work more towards giving women the ability to make choices for themselves, even if that means choosing to accept the roles traditionally place upon them.

Alright, I'll probably have more thoughts on this later. But before I run off to bed, I do want to put a general disclaimer on this posting. I don't claim to really know the answer to anything. This is what makes the most sense to me now from the viewpoint I'm currently inhabiting. My opinions can, and hopefully will, develop as I learn more and get glimpses of other viewpoints. So if you disagree so wholeheartedly that it makes you ill, please try and sit tight, because I fully acknowledge that my opinion may change.

"With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." -- Emerson