As I am now near 60 years old, I remember the lingering hopes of feminism and freedom, how women struggled with identifying with feminism and their old roles. Back then, we made a mistake. We, as young females, believed that by opening ourselves up to physical experiences with males, that we would free ourselves from our out-dated notions, especially once the pill became available. Somewhere we lost control and handed it to men, who, with their new freedom to have whatever they wanted, began to demand that we meet certain standards of beauty to be "worthy" of them. By the time the eighties came around we all began aerobics to Jane Fonda videos, etc.. As men demanded more and more from their wives with full-time jobs and child care and home responsibilities, men found that a new generation of female had come of age--the "material girl." When I recently went to check out the personals site Seniorfriends.com, all the the females there were young girls looking for older men--"sugar-daddies." Now I hear there is another site called something like "special arrangements.com," which is geared only to older men wanting to meet young girls and pay them to see the men. As Gordon Gekko said, "greed is good." And, like him, young girls came to see that they could sell themselves and it would not make a difference in the long run....or does it? I left the website stunned that at my age there are strict limits on who is available to date me, but men my age and much older, have their choice from 17 year olds to 70 year olds. The word "backlash" reminds me of a book written in the eighties by a feminist who saw the changes that were coming on. Most women and men pooh-poohed her for not being real. But, I think that there, at least, has been a backlash--against better-educated, intelligent, sexual women by men who do not know or care to know what women are about. It has been a long time for me, but our huge mistake was not fighting with more vigor for the Equal Rights Amendment passage through Congress. Without that, we were doomed to the reactions from Reagan to Bush. We have been injured on all fronts. But we must keep our heads high, and fight on, for our freedom really is about how we truly feel about ourselves and not about others opinions, male or female. Carry on my young friends, you, unfortunately, must make it happen for yourselves. The movement is still young. Fight with all your might. But, get a Supreme Court decision or a change to the constitution. Don't settle for the politicians in office at the time. All boat rise with the water. That is what happened to us. When the tide went out, there we were, trying to figure out what to do to make ourselves feel valued. Good luck. Kate 1218
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As I am now near 60 years old, I remember the lingering hopes of feminism and freedom, how women struggled with identifying with feminism and their old roles. Back then, we made a mistake. We, as young females, believed that by opening ourselves up to physical experiences with males, that we would free ourselves from our out-dated notions, especially once the pill became available. Somewhere we lost control and handed it to men, who, with their new freedom to have whatever they wanted, began to demand that we meet certain standards of beauty to be "worthy" of them. By the time the eighties came around we all began aerobics to Jane Fonda videos, etc.. As men demanded more and more from their wives with full-time jobs and child care and home responsibilities, men found that a new generation of female had come of age--the "material girl." When I recently went to check out the personals site Seniorfriends.com, all the the females there were young girls looking for older men--"sugar-daddies." Now I hear there is another site called something like "special arrangements.com," which is geared only to older men wanting to meet young girls and pay them to see the men. As Gordon Gekko said, "greed is good." And, like him, young girls came to see that they could sell themselves and it would not make a difference in the long run....or does it? I left the website stunned that at my age there are strict limits on who is available to date me, but men my age and much older, have their choice from 17 year olds to 70 year olds. The word "backlash" reminds me of a book written in the eighties by a feminist who saw the changes that were coming on. Most women and men pooh-poohed her for not being real. But, I think that there, at least, has been a backlash--against better-educated, intelligent, sexual women by men who do not know or care to know what women are about. It has been a long time for me, but our huge mistake was not fighting with more vigor for the Equal Rights Amendment passage through Congress. Without that, we were doomed to the reactions from Reagan to Bush. We have been injured on all fronts. But we must keep our heads high, and fight on, for our freedom really is about how we truly feel about ourselves and not about others opinions, male or female. Carry on my young friends, you, unfortunately, must make it happen for yourselves. The movement is still young. Fight with all your might. But, get a Supreme Court decision or a change to the constitution. Don't settle for the politicians in office at the time. All boat rise with the water. That is what happened to us. When the tide went out, there we were, trying to figure out what to do to make ourselves feel valued. Good luck. Kate 1218
April 17, 2009 - 6:25pmThis Comment
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