The date of August 26, 1920 signaled the beginning of great changes for American women and thus for the country as a whole. The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment meant that women could vote for the first time. No one could perceive what the future would hold (1) but the power of the vote meant that women had a direct voice at the table, perhaps for the first time in history.
In the 1940's, during World War II. many women in the United States went to work outside the home. With so many men being enlisted and drafted for the war effort women were asked to step in and fill the void. Indeed, they were crucial as war production had to be stepped up and maintained. Women were heralded as very important to the war effort. The most visible symbol was Rosie the Riveter, the iconic figure who graced ubiquitous posters. What wasn't clear then was what would happen to those jobs when the men came home ( 2).
As it turned out, women were expected to return to the home and go back to being dutiful wives and mothers. And so they did - to some extent- but only after an extensive propaganda campaign by the government. The Baby Boom emerged from this phenomenon as men came home from overseas and women from the workplace. The reunited families made up for lost time. Television shows as "Father Knows Best," "I Love Lucy" and "December Bride" to name just a few all depicted women as housewives, deferentially following the lead of the husband. The message was that this was as it should be. Women, however, were now aware of what it was like to have a sense of independence and it would be impossible to turn the clock back. Many women started taking jobs outside the home as soon as their children were in school for full days. Many remained working for their entire lives. (3)
In 1960, the first birth control pill went on the market. It had substantial funding by Margaret Sanger, who had opened the first birth control clinic in the United States in 1916 (4 ). The "Pill" changed almost everything about home life, human sexuality and women. For the first time, women could enter the workforce for prolonged periods and actually establish careers of their own without needing to take a long break to raise their children.. The Women's Movement followed right on the heels of the advent of birth control pills and the IUD. So did the Sexual Revolution. The birth control pill meant that sexuality was not restricted to procreation. Recreational sex was on the rise and women were free on yet another level (5).
Both the Women's Movement and the Sexual Revolution opened doors for women in the United States, allowing for the exploration of self. Women were free to think and act for themselves in ways not true ever before. Women went to work, went to college, had careers and could put off having children until a time in the future when they were both planned and desired. It wasn't until the late 1970's, however, that women decided that they no longer had to choose between motherhood and having a career (6). The mantra became, "We can have it all."
This led to the demand for full equality with men. The Equal Rights Amendment, originally written by Alice Paul in 1923 was reintroduced in Congress and passed both Houses in 1972. It failed, however, to be ratified by the required number of states in the requisite amount of time. This was thanks, in part, to the conservative organizing effort of Phyllis Schlafly (7). Nevertheless, as it is impossible to kill an idea, the ERA lived on in spirit and in the continued struggle of women for full inclusion and equality.
In 1973, there was a blockbuster Supreme Court decision that moved that ideal forward. Roe v. Wade codified the right of women to control their own bodies and reproductive processes. Abortions were made legal and because they were now legal they were made safe, taken out of the back alleys where countless women had suffered and died. (8). In conjunction with effective birth control, legalized abortion meant that women were able to decide when and how they became mothers.
All these monumental leaps forward for women also affected men. With women in the workforce men had to compete for jobs. With women pursuing higher education, men had to compete for places in colleges and universities. Women were increasingly away from home and therefore started seeking help for running the household from their husbands. In short, women had greater freedom and choices and men noticed.
The decade of the 1970's also saw the first discussion of what is now referred to as the "rape culture." Feminists began a consciousness raising discussion of rape. Up until then rape was rarely talked about. During this period, rape was shown to be far more prevalent than previously believed and the underlying causes like misogyny, sexism and the objectification of women were brought out into the open. "In rape culture, sexualized violence towards women is regarded as a continuum in a society that regards women's bodies as sexually available by default" (9). Rape culture is thus "...a culture in which rape and sexual violence are common and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone rape" (10)
Behaviors that correlate with rape culture include: victim blaming ("she must be at fault because she wore..."), slut shaming, objectification of women and the trivialization of rape. Other behaviors that show up frequently include: "...racism, homophobia, ageism, classism, religious intolerance and other forms of discrimination (11)
Feminists also point to the distribution and use of pornography as a way in which rape culture is expressed since pornography objectifies women and reduces their bodies to commodities (12). At bottom, rape culture devalues women and makes them objects and things to be used. In this environment women are not self-actualized, intelligent, independent human beings. Rape culture seeks to put women down, to oppress them. "Sociologists posit that rape culture links non consensual sex to the cultural fabric of a society, where patriarchal world views, laced with misogyny and gender inequality, are passed from generation to generation, leading to widespread social and institutional acceptance of rape" (13). Rape culture is one factor in the war on women.
The 1980's marked the germination of a backlash against the feminist movement. The Right-To Life movement merged with the Moral Majority and with the opposition to the ERA by conservatives. The Right To Life movement was a direct reaction to Roe v. Wade, supported by conservative, evangelical Christians, the Roman Catholic Church and conservative Republicans. (14) The so-called Moral Majority was a movement started by Rev. Jerry Falwell aimed at overturning abortion rights, the ERA and was the modern origin of the Tea Party mentality. It was the first time in modern history that a part of the "Christian" tradition attempted to deliberately overstep the Constitutional boundary between Church and State. In fact, the intersection between Right to Life, conservative Republicans and the Moral Majority were the paternalistic and misogynistic parents of the Tea Party.
The intersection of RTL, Moral Majority and Republican conservatism were joined by the rape culture to create a quadrilateral of oppression and objectification. Right To Life would give the fetus priority over the woman which, in essence, revokes her autonomy and rights to self-determination. The Moral Majority (which is neither moral or a majority) would obliterate the line between Church and State and impose fundamentalist values on the entire country. Republicans would do anything within their power to diminish the power of women who are a strong base for the Democratic Party. Each group had their own motivations but, in the end, all were seeking to diminish the autonomy, freedom and rights of women.
Currently, state level attacks on women's freedom, autonomy, access to reproductive health care, birth control and abortion are all being orchestrated by conservative elements like the Tea Party and those who fund it as well as the ultra right wing GOP. (15) They are all products of the past and seem to want to take us all back to before the time when women had rights. Apparently they think that regression is the answer, which it is not. The answer is acceptance not denial. The answer is not repression and oppression. The answer is to accept reality. They need to get with the movement of history towards freedom for all.
All of us, however, need to understand that this contemporary "war on women" was born out of historical events and settings. They didn't arise out of nowhere. It is important for us all to understand the "how" and "why" which can allow us to move beyond and overcome. Without this understanding, however, we are, as the saying goes, doomed to repeat history.
ENDNOTES
2. ( "I Am Woman",
3. ( Ibid. )
4. (Our Bodies Ourselves, http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/companion.asp?id=18&compid=53 , 24 March 2013.
6. ("Has The Sexual Revolution Been Good For Women? Yes", WSJ, March 30, 2012: http://on.wsj.com/GLovU6 ,24 March 2013)
7. ("Equal Rights Amendment", Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Rights_Amendment , 24 March 2013 ).
8. (“Leeches, Lye and Spanish Fly”, by Kate Manning, New York Times, 21 January 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/opinion/leeches-lye-and-spanish-fly.html, 24 March 2013.)
9. (Chris O'Sullivan, "Fraternities and the Rape Culture", in Transforming a Rape Culture, edited by Emilie Buchwald, Pamela R. Fletcher & Martha Roth in "Rape Culture", Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_culture. 24 March 2013 )
11. "(Aosved, Allison C.; Long, Patricia J. (28 November 2006). "Co-occurrence of Rape Myth Acceptance, Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Ageism, Classism, and Religious Intolerance". Sex Roles (7–8): 481–492. and Suarez, E.; Gadalla, T. M. (11 January 2010). "Stop Blaming the Victim: A Meta-Analysis on Rape Myths". Journal of Interpersonal Violence: 2010–2035.c From “Rape Culture”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_culture, 24 March 2013.)
12. (Ibid).
14. (“Rev. Falwell’s Moral Majority: How It Changed Politics and Religion,” by
Patricia Zapor, Catholic Online, 20 May 2007, http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=24153, 28 March 2013.)
15. (“The Ongoing GOP War on Women” by Alisha Mims, Ring of Fire, 13 February 2013, http://www.ringoffireradio.com/2013/02/13/the-ongoing-gop-war-on-women/, 28 March 2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment