The return of sexism (though it never went away)

Kathryn Cann — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:20:53 +0000

Feminist author and
journalist Natasha Walter has a new book out, titled “ href="http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/Title/9781844084845" target=_blank> face=Verdana>Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism.”
Kira Cochrane interviewed her this week
in href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/25/natasha-walter-feminism-sexism-return"
target=_self>the Guardian face=Verdana>. It’s a fascinating interview, but even more so when compared
and contrasted with the article that Walter herself writes in the href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1245807/Land-living-dolls-The-generation-believe-bodies-passport-success.html"
target=_blank>Daily Mail. To my
mind, sexism has never gone away, we have all grown up with it, and it has held
us all back in various ways. Then again Ms Walter has forced herself in a corner
on the subject. She has to factor in its return, because rumours of its demise
were entirely exaggerated in her previous offering, href="http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/Title/9781860496394" target=_blank> face=Verdana>The New Feminism.

“I believed sexism would wither away. I was entirely
wrong”

I can forgive her optimism to some
extent, while never agreeing with it. It was pre-millenium after all, New Labour
had just won the election, and there was more female representation than ever
before, but that was such a disappointing book! Naive even! There
is indeed some explanation in her Guardian interview which
explains her optimism and her withdrawal from that position,
however.

Kira Cochrane asks:

“Was she more optimistic about the prospect of equality back then,
with New Labour just elected, and women such as Mo Mowlam, Clare Short and
Harriet Harman riding high in politics? ”

Natasha Walters:

“Totally.” “I really felt that we were on an irresistible
journey. There was still this big gap to close, but I felt that we wanted to
close it, and it was possible to close it, and therefore we would. We were in
a virtuous circle. And what I feel now is that policy changes are not
enough, because the culture is still very resistant to
change.”

The culture indeed. The all pervasive, href="http://www.object.org.uk/index.php/about-us/about-us"
target=_blank>objectificating pornification culture.

I am however
bewildered by the fact that in the Daily Mail article it seems to read as though
feminism is somehow to blame for this, in contrast with the Guardian piece which
seems to suggest that feminism is the solution.

A paradox, or two sides of
the same coin? You decide. Comment below.

Could it be a metaphor for the fact that
while women hold the key to our own liberty, at the same time some of us can be
our own worst enemy? Or is it that sexuality through the prism of patriarchy
will always result in this paradox?

It’s no suprise that
the Mail website has pictures of women in various states of
undress to accompany the article, a veritable parade of women in swimsuits and
gowns and and sporting, as my co-host Victoria put it, “plastic-inflated spherical breasts!” We all know
(or should know by now) that the Daily Mail is no friend to women, or
feminism. I was surprised by the tone of the article that Ms Walter chose to put
in the Daily Mail. Anything to promote a book I suppose. What is also suprising
as Victoria pointed out to me is that the face=Verdana>comments at The Guardian were far worse than the Daily
Mail!

Depressing enough, but proof of how far we have
yet to go. I haven’t read the book yet, and so it
would be unfair for me to comment further than to say that it looks interesting
enough that I probably will. I agree with where I think she is going with
it…

“I was surprised by the attitudes of the girls I interviewed,” she
says, “who seemed to feel that they would be mocked if they protested within
their peer groups.”

“You know, when I was at university [in the 80s] it was OK to be
annoyed about sexism, to take it quite seriously – if you argued about
it, it didn’t make you the subject of mockery. Even if you didn’t
particularly identify yourself as a feminist, you could choose where you
wanted to be on a spectrum, and you could still say, ‘I really don’t want Page
3 in the common room,’ or, ‘I really hate the idea of porn’ . . . I
was surprised when I was interviewing young women that they felt
uncomfortable engaging in that way.“

Still … the proof of the pudding and all that. If and when
I have read it, I will review it here on the miscellani.org blog.

Sexism has re-advanced, no doubt about it in my mind, and it is
enabled through the pornification of just about everything and via the
smoke and mirrrors charade that this porn culture is any way empowering for
women. But I blame the patriarchy itself. I do not understand the author’s logic of
blaming feminism, even to promote a book. For one thing, feminism is not a homogeneous movement.

But still, here we agree. The sexualisation culture is harmful to
women, and for me we have reached the outer limits of liberal feminism. For
every woman who chooses to freely express her sexuality and career through
lapdancing, topless modelling, prostitution or the porn industry there is a woman
who is harmed by it through the misogynistic attitude that prevails as an effect
of it. It is simple cause and effect, though I do not claim to know what
the solution is, this is an open discussion.

For background reading on Natasha
Walter, I reccommend this href="http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2002/01/interview_with_natasha_walter"
target=_blank>F-Word interview from 2002. The interview discusses different
approaches to feminism in Britain and the United States, and gives a good
introduction to Walters’ thinking.

The situation in America is very similar to the UK in my opinion,
well documented by BettyJean over at FreeUsNow in her series, href="http://freemenow.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/sexualizing-america-5-of-12/" target=_blank>Sexualizing America. Do
visit and check out the video.

“Last February PBS attempted to alert us to the danger out teen
girls are facing as they venture into the workplace. Did that make the news?
No! Did women’s groups March on Washington and raise hell about that ? NO! Did
NOW and Women’s Media Groups or other women’s groups run a series such as
mine demonstrating the possible causes and suggesting how we can help end
it? NO!”

Here in Britain and everywhere, we must
end the href="http://www.object.org.uk/index.php/campaigns/about-the-campaign"
target=_blank>Objectification of Women and Violence against Women. One goes with the other.

Meanwhile hope comes in an
important link: from the comments at the Guardian.

The target=_blank>MILLION WOMEN RISE march is on the 6th of March 2010 @ 12pm
opposite Hyde Park.

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The return of sexism (though it never went away)