Sandra Day O'Connor Is No Feminist.
Last week, in an interview in the New York Times Magazine, Sandra Day O’Connor refused to be a labeled a feminist. Which, I have to tell you, I thought was kind of weird, considering that she was, um, the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court. Plus, she said that she cares “very much about women and their progress.” Which to me, ya’ know, sounds kind of like feminism.
According to Wikipedia, feminism is “the belief that women should have equal political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights to men.” I have to say, it sounds pretty benign. I mean, with the exception of some members of fundamentalist Christian sects, what woman doesn’t hold that belief? So why, then, the reluctance of O’Connor to be labeled?
I spent a good part of this week discussing this with some of my very smart friends, and the consensus seems to be that you can’t call yourself a feminist if you also call yourself a conservative, because, apparently, the word “feminist” is owned by liberals. It’s something to do with bra burning back in those crazy ‘60s, when all of the feminists were hippies who spent their free time having sex and staging protests. So if you’re a Democrat and you care very much about women and their progress, then you’re a feminist. But if you’re a Republican and you care very much about women and their progress, then you’re not. I think my very smart friends might be right about this, in part.
For women of a certain age (O’Connor is 76), the association between feminism and hippie liberalism may be, perhaps, simply too great to overcome. And for the women were the hippies (or chose not to be), the concept of feminism may just be too raw, still, for them to ever consider it in anything but political terms. But what about for younger women, who weren’t hippies, and who weren’t even born yet when the hippie feminists were setting their undergarments on fire in 1960’s?
Isn’t it time to stop looking at the word “feminist” through baby-boomer tinted glasses? I hope so. I hope that in the future, the first female Supreme Court justice of Generation X will be able to call herself a feminist, regardless of her political point of view.
04.22.09
First off, feminism didn't pioneer in the '60s with bra-burning. We have a long line of heritage that goes back to the early 19th century where women fought and sacrificed for things we now take for granted like universal suffrage and being able to work outside of the home. They didn't burn bras, nor did they appreciate sexual liberalism (or promiscuity to be more direct). But they did fight against a patriachical form of society and strove to achieve equality for female dignity and status in the society. Nowadays people have long forgotten these early feminists like Elizabeth Blackwell(first female physician) and Lucy Stone, whose feminist work and ideals were not exactly the same as the '60s hippies', but were truly pioneer feminists who storve for women's rights. if we really want to reclaim the feminist term,I think this is also part of the history we need to reclaim rather then reducing equality-loving women as only a bra-burning lot.
And here lies our problem - there are many forms of feminisms (social, radical, libertine to name a few), and the 60s feminists were only one of the many. I think Sandra O'Connor, and Risa, erred on narrowing down feminism only in the form of liberal feminists in the 60s. Maybe what Sandra meant was she didn't identify with the bra burning or the hippies' ideals, even though in many ways she worked and strove for equality between men and women, at least in the social areana. So yes, if the definition of feminism is only limited to what Risa and her very smart friends agreed with, then a lot of women (including O'Connor), who are just as passionate for women's equality in political, social,intellectual etc. rights as our '60s sisters, are excluded from identifying themselves as feminists.
04.01.09
It's a shame that "feminism" recalls days of yore and bra burning. I associate this term with the pioneering women who rose to prominence in their professions and laid a groundwork for women to seek the profession of their choice. I raise a toast to all women who have risen to this challenge. If you'd like to support "feminism" in its current form, vote for your favorite mom run business here http://tinyurl.com/dhruu9
03.31.09
We do need to reclaim this word. My husband is a small business owner who hires smart assertive women, minorities, his executuve assistant is part of a gay/ transgeneder couple, he votes Democrat and strongly supports gay marriage...you name it. He married a professional woman (me) who has more education and makes more than he does and is proud of my accomplishments. He wants his daughter to have a take no prisoners approach to getting what she wants out of life. BUT he sneers at the word "feminist"- in his mind this is some kind of female seperatist that blames men for all the ills of the world and is unable to see men as individuals, essentially a female chauvanist. In our 15 year marriage I have attempted to educate him as to why I consider myself a feminist, but it hasn't really altered his viseral response to the word. If Ginsberg is uncomfortable with the word, I guess I shouldn't give him such a hard time....
03.31.09
I had exactly the same reaction to the interview in The Times on Sunday. I think it's time for women to reclaim the word "feminist," just as gays reclaimed the word "queer," taking it back from those who used it against them and making it a point of pride. Those who were threatened by women's advancement took it away from us and made it a synonym for "bitch," in the process causing many independent women to shy away from it as a term of identity. No one wants to be labeled, but this is an honorable point of identity.
03.31.09
I agree with you. It is mind boggling to me that she would not consider herself a feminist.
I'm doing an interview series on my blog Motherscribe - interviewing women on issues of feminism (how they feel about that word, do they consider themselves a feminist, etc.)identity, aging, parenting... It's been a fascinating process with women both rejecting and embracing the word.