Monday, November 16, 1998
Women can choose how to live
RESPONSE: Feminists, society shouldn’t judge people on
appearances
By Catie Snow Bailard
Oh Deb, Deb, Deb – I enjoyed your response to my column. Your
discussion in "Society imposes femininity on women" (Viewpoint,
Nov. 11, written by Debrah Shurman) was filled with a lot of fine
feminist rhetoric that I whole-heartedly agree with, but
unfortunately you seemed to have missed the entire point of my
column. And seeing that you neglected to read the entire column
before writing your response, I cannot suppress the gnawing urge to
bring a few points to our readers’ attention.
First, I never held Ginger Spice to be the "model for female
empowerment." I simply stated that we should not be so quick to
denigrate a woman and her abilities because she made the choice to
market herself as a voluptuous woman.
You see, anyone who read beyond the headline and first two
paragraphs would quickly realize that the whole point of my column
was that no woman should be chastised for exercising free will in
how she chooses to present herself.
But it seems that you happened to miss the part where I stated
that "as long as a woman is donning army boots and buzz cuts,
because that is how she truly feels the most comfortable, more
power to her." The women who I am wary of, however, are the ones
who "try to make me feel guilty for not doing the same."
I am also weary of all women who allow their own appearance to
be swayed by external forces, who switch between dressing like glam
girls to hippies according to what group she allows to pick out her
outfit for her that week.
You see, I don’t care how a woman lives her life, as long as she
is being true to herself and not telling others how they should or
should not live. The point is that all women should have the
ability to choose for themselves and that those who choose to be
feminine should not be looked down upon by those who choose not to
be – and vice versa, of course.
Secondly, if Shurman had read a little more carefully she would
have also noticed that my "simplistic view" of feminism was not how
she portrayed it in her response. I took a feminism course devoted
to blaming society’s woes on the male gender; in fact, I made a
point of saying that the course was simply a seminar disguised as a
women’s studies class – disguised, because that is not what a true
women’s studies class consists of.
Women’s studies could be a beautiful epistemology – but
unfortunately there are women out there who have allowed it to
deviate from its original purpose.
There are women who insist that there must be "a dichotomy
between women who shave their legs and who shave their heads," like
you stated. I allowed for no dichotomy. In fact, the point of the
article was to combat those women who back-handedly perpetuate such
a dichotomy by portraying feminine women as shaving their legs with
razors of self-inflicted guilt.
And lastly, I did not address the American mass media’s attempt
to assimilate women of color because my column was not aimed at
attempting to define beauty.
This is a subject better left alone, because there are already
enough pervading stereotypes and pressures convoluting the minds of
young girls. It is not time to "re-evaluate our society’s standards
of beauty" because it is that very need to evaluate beauty that has
created the problem. My point was rather that no woman should be
looked down upon or judged by another for any way she chooses to
portray herself. Also, spending your life complaining about
"socially constructed ideologies of racism, sexism and classism"
does little more than ultimately bolster their strength.
If you spend your life obsessing about everything society has
done to keep you down, you will soon become too weighted to rise
above it.
So in closing, next time you see a column with a controversial
headline like "Sugar ‘n’ spice as effective as feminism," before
you allow yourself to get all worked up, you should remind yourself
that editors manufacture and use those headlines purposefully to
get your attention. You see, it is usually a good idea to make sure
you truly understand what is being said before you decide to mount
an unstable soapbox.Catie Snow Bailard
Bailard is a third-year communication studies student.
E-mail her at [email protected].
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