Fall 2007

fall 2007

artemis

Editor’s Letter Get ready to explore feminism throughout time and around the world.

The face of feminism is in a state of perpetual change. With every breakthrough for women comes a new setback or a new obstacle to overcome. This does not mean feminists should not celebrate our triumphs and look back at how far we’ve come, nor should we look away from the struggles and victories of women throughout the world.

From celebrations in Cameroon to wedding ceremonies in India to the White House in America, this issue of Artemis aims to inform you about some women you already know and some women you need to know.

Artemis Editor-In-Chief

Artemis Staff fall Editor-In-Chief 2007 Managing Editor Art Director Photographer Staff Writers

Online Writers Designers Copy Editors

Robert Taylor Natalie Pillsbury

Erika Kreider Jill Byerly Allan Lamb, Jackie Mantey, Brittany Moseley, Ellie Piper, Megan Rozsa, Amadeus Smith Samantha Laros, Alyssa Sparacino Katie Carlson, Kristina Deckert Lisa Sekerak, Caitlin Saniga

Photo Editor

Painter Painting Photographer Cover Designer Web Designer Production Manager Ad Manager Ad Sales Advisor Special Thanks

Sara Bennett, stock photos from iStockphoto.com Rachel Jernigan Katie Roupe Katie Carlson Lauren Buckosh Evan Bailey Tami Bongiorni Anna Masters Jan Leach Adam Griffiths, Erica Weisburn

Artemis Contents Page

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Web Exclusive

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A Blessed Union

by Megan Rozsa

Commander-In-Chief

by Amadeus Smith

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History Lessons

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Homeland Memories

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The Other Side of Life

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How Far We’ve Come

by Brittany Moseley

by Ellie Piper

by Allan Lamb

by Jackie Mantey

on artemis.kent.edu

Learn about feminism in Japan, Ecuador and the fashion industry and see additional paintings.

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d e s s e n l o i b n u A egan

by M

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india

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t’s typical for parents to want their daughter to be happy in a relationship. In the Western world, parents don’t usually get much say in who their daughter marries. In India, however, they do.

Arranged marriage couples make up 95 percent of India’s relationships. It’s a practice that has become tradition since the fourth century, and a tradition that is still widely practiced today.

Meet Harita

Harita Bandlamundi, 20, will have an arranged marriage in her future. She is a medical student attending the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). Her parents moved to America in 1995 because of her father’s career.

“My parents are in an arranged marriage,” Bandlamundi says. “My grandpa (on her mom’s side) found out through other people about my dad and it went from there.”

She says that arranged marriages aren’t always a bad thing.

“It’s one less battle for you because your parents choose for you,” she laughs. “You have respect for your parents so you want to make the right decision.”

She also says she doesn’t believe that they all work out for the best.

“You’re getting married to make your parents happy,” she says, “but you aren’t.”

Rules and Regulations

Rajrani Kalra is a Kent State graduate student working on her internship as instructor at the

University of Central Arkansas. “(India is) much more liberal today than it used to be,” she says. “Arranged marriages turn out better because the parents choose.”

Thirty years ago, an Indian family would find a groom for their daughter when she was still a child.

They didn’t meet until the wedding day. Today, there’s a different concept.

“There are three types of arranged marriage,” Kalra says. “Your parents can suggest someone to you who they know through an

“

go against her parents and stay with the man or choose someone else.

Rarely does a family disown the daughter if she chooses to stay with the, as Kalra says, “bad” man.

There has been a rise in the number of love marriages, Kalra says. She attributes this rise to the increasing education among Indian

Many people still like arranged marriages because they’re too busy to date.”

|acquaintance. Sometimes, parents put an advertisement in the newspaper for their son or daughter.

There’s also love marriage.”

Kalra says she has seen success come from these types of marriages.

She explained that love marriage is similar to dating in the United States.

“It’s very easy to get married to the person of your choice,” she says.

“It’s successful because the family chooses and tells you the bad side (if there is one).”

She adds that if the parents don’t like their daughter’s choice, it’s up to her whether she wants to

men and women.

Bandlamundi’s parents are letting her choose her husband.

However, there are stipulations she has to follow.

“He has to be Indian and from the same region with the same language,” she says. “They look to see if he’s well-settled and educated.

It’s nice to date whomever, but I still consider what my parents want.”

Interracial marriages are looked down upon in India, but Bandlamundi says she doesn’t necessarily see this as a bad thing.

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“It’s almost like ignorance is bliss,” she says. “When you’re younger, you realize that you have more options. But if you don’t know what’s out there, you won’t know what to hunt for.”

Jyotsna Duvvuri, a graduate computer science major, says parents perform background checks to make sure the bride or groom is perfect for their son or daughter.

“They judge if he or she is a match depending on economic background and educational background,” Duvvuri says. “Then they meet with the other family and the bride and groom continue to date. If everything is OK, they celebrate the marriage.”

She adds, “Only if they like each other will they marry.”

Women in India are expected to be married before their 30s. Bandlamundi said there is a pressure to get married and if he or she is having problems finding a lover, the community makes an effort to “hook you up.”

Breaking it Off

Divorce is almost never an option between Indian couples.

Since the family chooses the suitor, they put a huge pressure on the couple to stay together.

“Divorce is a social taboo, especially if you have kids,” Kalra says. “If a couple wants to get divorced, they usually overcome it because they are very attached to the family values.”

If a couple with children gets a divorce it also lowers the mother’s “market value,” because she comes with baggage, Kalra says.

Bandlamundi adds that parents aren’t overbearing if the relationship really doesn’t work out.

Bandlamundi’s parents are still together today. In fact, the divorce rate in India is significantly lower than that of the United States.

In India, 11 marriages out of 1,000 ends in divorce.

Compared to the United States, that’s a ratio of 1.1 percent to 50 percent.

Geography major Niti Duggal says many couples stay together for the soul reason of keeping the family secure.

“The family’s happiness comes first, and yours is second,” Duggal says. “When you get married, you’re really marrying families with families.”

She adds that divorce is more common in urban areas than in rural areas. In big cities, couples get a divorce if there’s a

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In India, arranged marriages make up 95 percent of married couples. However, only one percent end in divorce. major problem. It also depends on how financially independent the woman is.

All four women agreed that arranged marriage has its benefits. One by one, they concluded that the decision is in the best interest of the parents and they aren’t going to make their daughter marry someone she doesn’t like.

“Many people still like arranged marriages because they’re too busy (as professionals) to date,” Duggal concluded. “They look at matrimonial Web sites. The concept is still going strong with the traditional ideas.” ■

Commander-in-Chief

By Amadeus Smith

illustrations by Katie Carlson

Although Hillary Rodham Clinton is an advocate for a long list of women’s rights, including the “morning after pill,” it seems that she doesn’t need a Plan B. According to her Web site, Clinton, then the first lady, said “women’s rights are human rights” at the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing.

This sentiment seems to continue into her 2008 presidential campaign.

Along with strengthening the middle class in the United States, fighting global warming and developing a better health care system for the nearly 47 million Americans that don’t have insurance, Clinton will continue to work for the empowerment of women.

In April 2007, Clinton spoke out against a Supreme Court decision to maintain a law banning abortion. The law, although taking a woman’s life into account, didn’t carry an exception for women’s health. The question now is will Clinton’s women’s rights advocacy, and her gender, be met with opposition during her campaign and possible presidency?

Katie Hale, executive director for the Undergraduate Student Senate at Kent State University, is familiar with this type of opposition.

Hale, who has a pink, shag throw rug adorning her blue office, says that during her campaign last spring, she heard others say, “I would never want a woman being my boss.”

The parallels continued, she says, as she, like Clinton, was running against a black man, Preston Mitchum, currently the head of the Kent State chapter of NAACP. “People called me Hilary and him Barak (Obama),” she says with a laugh, citing Clinton’s primary competitor for the White House in the 2008 election.

But Amy Groya, president of the College of Democrats, says it seems that a woman leader may not be met with opposition within the U.S. artemis

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united states

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I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time. So, when that young person turns 18, if they have finished high school, they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to put that down payment on their first home or go into business.”

“I don’t think the Senate or the House (of Representatives) cares about gender,” Groya says, further stating that she believes women leaders have been accepted globally as well. “If you ask people to name two British prime ministers, they would say Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher.”

According to a weekly poll by Rasmussen Reports that ended on Sept. 30, Clinton was leading the race with 42 percent of the vote.

But it isn’t going to be smooth sailing for Clinton, both in the campaign and presidency, if she wins.

In late September, Clinton suggested giving each child a $5,000 savings bond. The idea for

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these “baby bonds” was opposed by 60 percent of potential voters.

“I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time. So, when that young person turns 18, if they have finished high school, they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to put that down payment on their first home, or go into business.” Clinton said to Congressional Black Caucus forum.

Hale says Clinton has to be especially careful with any foul-ups, such as the “baby bond” suggestion, if she becomes president. “People are going to look for her to mess up,” Hale says.

Hale, who is currently supporting Obama, added that this scrutiny would hold true for any minority candidate elected.

Although Groya says she believes too much emphasis is being placed on the fact that Clinton is a woman, she agreed, saying Clinton’s presidential performance will decide the political future for women. “Hilary is going to set a standard for females seeking high positions in public sectors,” she says.

Overall, Hale says she is looking forward to the milestone, whether Clinton or Obama set it.

“It’s exciting to say ‘let the best person win,’” Hale concludes. ■

france

History lessons

STORY BY BRITTANY MOSELEY PHOTOS BY JILL BYERLY Walking into a seemingly normal women’s study course taught some women that people are not alike all over.

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Feminism in France 1791 “Olympe de Gouges wrote ‘The Declaration of Women and Citizen’s Rights’. She is considered one of the first feminists in France.”

1880 Law Sée: Creation of high schools for girls.

Before this law, there were only private or religious schools for girls.

1920 Abortion and contraception are forbidden.

1944 Women get the right to vote, one century after the adoption of the universal suffrage in France. It is one of the last countries to give this right to women.

1949 Publication of The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvior. Famous sentence of the book: “Women aren’t born as women, they become women.”

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Romy Hentinger, Kent State exchange student from France, enjoys traveling while she is in the U.S.

W

hen Romy Hentinger attended her first day of Colloquium in women’s studies she had a surprise waiting for her: Men. “I was surprised to see so many boys in the class, but it’s good,” says Hentinger, an exchange student from France. She is in her second year as a political science major at the Political Institute of Bordeaux.

Seeing men in a women’s studies class isn’t unusual, but for Hentinger, it was another realization that feminism in France and feminism in the United States are miles apart.

“You don’t have classes on women’s issues in France,” Hentinger says. “It’s one chapter in the history books.”

Marlène Nativelle, a graduate student and translation major, came to the United States specifically for women’s studies. As a student at the University of Caen in France,

Nativelle chose to write her thesis on the feminist movement in France.

Her first time in the United States, she studied at the University of Tennessee in Nashville. Nativelle says she was surprised by all the women’s studies classes the college offered.

“When I picked the school I wanted to go to in the U.S., I saw that (the University of Tennessee) had women’s studies classes and I said, ‘That’s where I want to go’,” Nativelle says.

Nativelle never did her thesis because her career field, education, doesn’t require it. Still, the classes she took and her own ideas about feminism have stayed with her.

“I agreed with everything I heard in my classes,” Nativelle says. “I think we could have used the same ideas in France.”

Both Nativelle and Hentinger agree France would benefit from a stronger focus on women’s issues,

but think most French people would laugh at the idea of classes devoted to women.

“When I tell young and old people about my interest in women’s issues, they laugh at me,” Hentinger says. “It was frustrating for me because you would just spend 15 minutes (in class) on women’s issues.”

Nativelle doesn’t think people would be interested in women’s studies, and most would think the idea was odd.

“I don’t even know if women would be interested in taking those classes,” she says. “Women’s history is not as big as women’s history in the U.S. In France, I feel like people would make fun of that. I think to the French it wouldn’t make sense.”

Like the United States, there was a women’s movement in France in the ’60s and ’70s. The Movement for the Women’s Liberation (also known as the MLF) was the

Marlene Nativelle, a Kent State graduate student from France, enjoys going to restaurants in Kent during her free time. beginning of battle for women’s rights, and it embodied the feminist movement. The MLF started after a group of women put flowers on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with a banner that said: “There is someone more unknown than the Unknown soldier: His wife!”

Today, there are organizations for women, such as Ni notes ni soumises (Neither whores nor submissives) and Chiennes de Garde

(watch-bitches). The former works to protect girls in Muslim neighborhoods. The organization officially started in 2005 after Sohanne Benziane, a 17-year-old Muslim from a southeastern suburb of Paris, was burned alive in her housing project’s trash area in for rejecting a local 19year-old male.

Chiennes de Garde fights for the protection of women’s freedom, and its main goal is to stop verbal

abuse toward women. The group’s Web site states that it will not allow women to be pushed around. It also says that Chiennes de Garde chose to focus on language because words convey contempt and transmit power.

With a women’s movement and organizations that support women’s rights, France seems fairly modern in its view of feminism, but Hentinger says most people have negative views of feminists and others don’t see a need for feminism anymore.

“I think it’s hard to make people interested in the movement because a lot of people think feminism isn’t useful anymore. They think everything is done,” Hentinger says.

Nativelle says she thinks the lack of feminism in France has to do with traditional values.

“Even though things have evolved, I think in people’s mentalities, that’s still the way it is,” Nativelle says. “It’s difficult for mentalities to evolve.”

Nativelle and Hentinger represent a new breed of feminists in France: Young women who are interested in women’s issues, and who would like their country to take an interest too.

“I would openly say that I’m a feminist,” Nativelle says without hesitating.

Hentinger says she wants to apply what she learned in the classroom when she goes to Washington D.C. next semester for the Washington Program. She also applied for an internship at the National Organization for Women. Hentinger says she knows change in France won’t come quickly and she’s willing to wait.

“I think it’s improving but it takes time,” she says. “You need time to be aware.” ■

Feminism in France 1967 The Neuwrith law authorizes the sale of contraceptives.

1971 “Manifesto des 343 salopes”, published in Le Nouvel Observateur “Women admitted to practicing illegal abortions. It was still illegal to have an abortion. People who signed took risks,” Hentinger says.

1972 Equal remuneration between men and women (i.e. equal pay for equal work)

1975 Simone Veil law: abortion became legal

1991 First woman Prime Minister: Edith Cresson (10 months in office)

2000 The parity law in politics: Requires an equal number of men and women on almost all election ballots.

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Homeland

Memories

Story by Ellie Piper Photos by Jill Byerly

Women wait for hours in supermarket lines to purchase the highly valued, brightly colored fabric. It is decorated with empowering phrases and confident faces, and will soon be sewn into dresses and shawls and worn in celebration.

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cameroon

Leke Ntemgwa shows the Cameroon symbol on her dress for International Women’s Day. artemis

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The day is March 8, the event is International Women’s Day and the place is Cameroon. From urban areas to villages, women dress up in homemade clothing and march proudly through the streets to highlight the importance of women in society.

Leke Ntemgwa, 26, took part in the march when she lived in the West African nation that, until one year ago, she called home.

She now lives in an apartment in Kent with her 22-year-old sister, Quin, and 8-month-old son Jason, while pursuing a master’s degree in Business Administration at Kent State University.

From the couches in their living room, Leke and Quin paint a picture of the march, family, and gender in Cameroon—a country

Throughout the entire country, when a couple decides to get married, they have the option of signing for monogamy or polygamy.

Leke Ntemgwa, a M.B.A. student at Kent State, spends time with her son Jason after class.

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slightly larger than California, comprising more than 250 ethnic groups who speak twenty-some languages and practice a multitude of religions.

The women grew up in the suburbs of a town called Bamenda in an English-speaking region in the northwest. In a country so diverse, it is important to remember that their opinions and observations only reflect their own personal experiences.

Before coming to Kent, both Leke and Quin completed their first degree at the University of Buea. According to Dr. John Mbaku, Cameroon native and author of “Culture and Customs of Cameroon,” educational opportunities for girls vary from place to place throughout the country.

“In urban areas, they tend to emphasize education for all their children whether they are boys or girls, which is a really big difference from rural areas,” he says.

Shortly after graduating from the university, Quin ran into an old friend. The casual conversation turned into what she called one of her most influential experiences.

“I was talking to this guy … he asked me if I was done with university. I told him ‘yeah I just got through.’ He was excited—he said ‘I’m happy you’re done, I’m happy for you,’ and he said I should keep doing that—keep working hard in the future and people will be even be happier to hear I am married to a big man somewhere.

“I was like, why can’t you think you’d be happier to hear that I am a big person somewhere?

Instead, you’d be happier to hear I am married to a big man somewhere … it really got me thinking,” she says.

Throughout the entire country, when a couple decides to get married, they have the option of signing for monogamy or polygamy. Look no further than Leke and Quin’s family to see the change in this issue over time. Their grandfather had about 40 wives. A generation later, most people in their

parents’ age group are monogamous. Fast-forward to today and almost all couples sign for monogamy.

After the ceremony is over, the couple settles into what is expected to be a lifetime together surrounded by children and family. Any problems that arise are worked out with the help of the large, extended family that is common throughout Cameroon.

“Back home people are just not expected to divorce,” Leke says. She could not think of a single person she knew from home who was divorced.

Within the marriage, women are expected to be the homemakers and men the breadwinners.

Mbaku says it has been this way traditionally and generally remains the same today.

Leke and Quin are familiar with setup Mbaku is referring to.

“They say the woman’s place is in the home.

She does the cooking, cleaning, raising the kids, you know, everything, so for those who work it’s like double,” Quin explains.

Just as in the United States, many women in Cameroon feel the stress of trying to balance family and career.

“It is very common now that both parents work,” Leke says. ■

MEn&

the masculine

MOvEMEnT Before you begin, I’d like to answer the question you may be asking: “Why are you writing an article on men’s rights in a feminist magazine?” Let’s just say it’s my way of sticking it to “the man.” Who is the man? The same “man” who perpetuates a culture that forces the voices of the unheard (women, blacks, gays) to be channeled into special interest media to keep them out of the mainstream discussion.

— Allan Lamb

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The Other Side of Life

By Allan Lamb

A fetus, it is said by some, is a human being and has the right to live. When this fetus is born and grows up to be an adult it must register for the selective service in case its country is ever threatened. What sex is the fetus?

This question, proposed by Warren Farrell, Ph.D. in his book “The Myth of Male Power,” can be answered without doubt; the fetus is male.

You may have heard the many public service announcements on the radio calling for parents to teach their sons that violence against women is wrong. Mike Meginnis says in an article that on television “a woman constantly has the moral high ground from which to slap, scratch, kick, especially if in a domestic relationship.” And in any given war, Western or action movie, most of the victims of violence are men. While we all agree that violence against women is wrong, we still accept violence against men as a prescriptive norm.

These are two social problems that solely or primarily affect men. Other masculine issues include paternity fraud (when a man is intentionally lead to believe he is a child’s father when the

mother knows he is not, or knows may not be), mothers being the default custodian of children after a divorce (leaving men having to contest for their children), lack of government funding for prostate cancer research and harsher sentencing for men than women for equal crimes. Over the last 30 years, often alongside the second wave of the women’s movement, these issues have inspired men to speak out.

“It’s more difficult to define men’s movements than women’s movements and they arose much later,” says Elaine J. Hall, Ph.D., associate professor in the sociology department. The coming of men’s movements, she said, “are bringing our awareness of men’s gender into the conversation” because “men are seen as ungendered beings.”

Men’s movements have happened in many diverse forms. More conservative men’s movements have sought to reinforce gender roles, seeing them as separate but equal. Gee, that phrase sounds familiar, (cough) Jim Crow (cough).

Robert Bly’s “Mythopoetic” movement sought to do something like that. Drawing upon the mythology of many cultures to explain and jus-

tify traditional masculinity and femininity, the “Mythopoetic” focused on helping men to understand and accept their masculine nature.

“It’s a men’s movement, but I wouldn’t call it feminist,” says Hall, since its mission “is to hold onto and embrace traditional masculinity.”

Many men’s right’s organizations that have formed are pro-feminist. “Some of the most devout feminists happen to be men,” says Hall. The National Organization for Men Against Sexism, or NOMAS, formed in 1991, was one of the first. According to its mission statement, it supports “positive changes for men” and advocates “a perspective that is pro-feminist, gay-affirmative, and committed to justice on a broad range of social issues…” Another pro-feminist men’s organization is XY Online, an Australia-based online publication founded by Michael Flood, Ph. D., that deals with freeing men of the negative aspects of traditional masculinity and other issues both specific to Australia and men and women globally. Its slogan is “Our strength is not for hurting,” focusing on rape and abuse prevention. Many of the better-known profeminist men’s groups, especially XY online, artemis

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have been critical of the legitimacy of men’s movements.

However, criticism from both men and women alike has not stopped men, or women, from speaking up for men’s rights.

“I guess it makes sense that if there’s a women’s movement, there’s a men’s movement. Most people are probably unaware of a men’s movement,” says junior aeronautical studies major Ross Ruffner, adding, “I think it’s important in lawmaking that a men’s movement happens since there is a strong women’s movement, to keep things in balance.”

Senior pre-medicine major Mike Rice describes the situation as “a tug-of-war … you’re moving things back and forth trying to make an equilibrium.”

When asked how she felt about the idea of a men’s movement, freshman nursing major Brooke Aldous says, “I would support a

men’s movement if it were on the right grounds.”

So far, the grounds of many men’s rights organizations have been laid down in the form of father’s rights organizations. The American Coalition for Fathers and Children in the U.S. and Fathers 4 Justice in the U.K. and Canada are just two of countless organizations that call for fair legislation and rulings that seek the best interest of all parties affected by divorce. They also emphasize that both mothers and fathers, given that neither is abusive, play equally vital roles in the well-being of children.

“I think it should be about the kids, and what would be the best situation for them,” says Rice.

Rice also tells of having been personally affected by the misuse of sexual harassment policies. He was working at Wal-Mart around Thanksgiving of last year and went

To date, several authors have written books either calling for men’s movements...or a gender egalitarian movement as an alternative to masculism or feminisim. into the store during off-time to ask about changing his schedule.

He says he spoke to the woman in charge of doing so, and after she changed it for him asked, “So where’s my hug?” Thinking nothing of it, he gave her a hug. The next time Mike arrived at work, he says was confronted by his managers, who explained to him that a female co-worker saw him hugging his other female co-worker and reported it as sexual harassment. “It was a hug, for goodness sakes,” Rice says. “And my mom was there. I think there needs to be a little more professionalism in the way that sort of thing is handled.”

There is a shortage of organizations that focus on men’s issues beyond the realm of fatherhood, like the aforementioned issue. Too many of the ones that do are antifeminist, something like a “He-Man Woman-haters Club” (Mythopoetic), or are faith-based (Promise Keepers) therefore limiting their membership, or have taken the form of fight clubs, like the one in Fight Club, that emphasize unhealthy masculinity and leave women’s issues out of the question altogether.

One men’s rights campaign that has been successful has been led by Glenn Sacks, a newspaper columnist and radio personality in Los Angeles. In 2004 he made his opposition to the “Boys are Stupid, Throw Rocks at Them” T-shirts known to both the manufacturers

and retailers because of their promotion of violence against men.

Within a few months, the T-shirts were voluntarily pulled by retailers.

In November of 2004, he started a campaign that convinced Verizon to pull a television ad depicting a father helping his daughter with her homework, and when shown to be an inadequate tutor he is told by his wife to leave her alone and go wash the dog. Sacks is criticized by both feminists and hardline father’s rights activists, and has said that there is a “not insubstantial” number of father’s rights activists on the “lunatic fringe of the movement.”

To date, several authors have written books either calling for a men’s movement (often called masculism) or a gender egalitarian movement as an alternative to masculism or feminism, or an incorporation of the two ideas. Probably the most prominent person writing books on this subject is Warren Farrell, Ph.D. Farrell served on the board of the National Organization for Women’s New York City chapter in the early ’70s and was an activist in the feminist movement. He has appeared on many television shows, including “Oprah” and “Larry King Live.” He’s also the author of several books including “Why Men Earn More” and “The Myth of Male Power.” Since ending his post as a board member of NOW New York City he says he has changed

Books about men’s rights and gender equality… … by Warren Farrell, Ph. D.:

… by other authors:

• “Why Men Earn More: The Truth Behind the Pay Gap--And What Women Can Do About It” • “The Myth of Male Power” • “Women Can’t Hear what Men Don’t Say: Destroying Myths, Creating Love” • “Why Men are the Way they Are”

• Christina Hoff Summers —“The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men” • Esther Vilar — “The Manipulated Man” • Paul Nathanson and Katherine Young — “Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture”

his views on feminism.

“When the women’s movement arose, it made perfect sense to me,” says Farrell.

“It seemed to expose men’s capability to be gentle, sensitive and poetic as much as it exposed women’s capability to be executives.” He adds that traditional gender roles “seemed to chop people in half.

There is a part of me that supports feminism in that way.”

Farrell says his personal interest in the idea of feminism began with his mother.

“I had a mom who had decided not to go to Cornell so she could find a husband,” he says. “I could see she hadn’t had her intelligence fully cultivated … I could see the lack of risk-taking was really hampering her.”

Farrell continued to be an activist in the women’s movement until the mid-’70s.

“I started to see a shift occurring where feminism went from non-credible to credible. When it was not credible, I felt my support was needed,” he says.

He jokes that women would often have him explain what the women’s movement was all about to their husbands and boyfriends while they (the women) stood back and listened to what he was telling them. “I wanted to articulate what was not being heard. That landed me on the board of NOW.” Farrell says that he began his withdrawal from the women’s movement

when divorces began becoming more common in the mid-’70s and feminists started fighting for mothers to be guaranteed custody of children if they wanted it.

When he brought up the idea that parents should have equal custody rights he says he was answered with statements like: “No. Women are already invested. Women are the primary care-taker.” Farrell would respond by saying that focusing on the rights of a parent is leaving out what’s best for the child. He says they would respond: “Warren, you don’t understand.

We don’t want to take away women’s options.”

“I said, ‘and there we part ways,’” Farrell recalls.

This is when he says he decided that the women’s movement was one-sided and it was after this that he wrote his first book, “The Liberated Man,” which explained the male plight in a similar manner that feminist theory explained that of women.

“At the beginning of the feminist movement,” Farrell says, “people like Gloria Steinem were saying there needs to be more father and less mother.

“Gloria Steinem and I used to be friends,” he says. “We were good friends and colleagues when I was on the board of NOW … She is one of the most gracious and caring women … she is a very good human being.”

He says that friendship became mostly broken when he dissented from

feminism.

Explaining his disagreement with Steinem and most feminists that the world is operated by men, for men, at the expense of women Farrell says, “Feminism took a magnifying glass to the female experience of powerlessness and the male experience of power without looking at the male experience of powerlessness and the female experience of power.”

The analogy Farrell uses to describe this is: “For tens of thousands of years, men were taught to row on the right side of the boat, and women on the left.” He adds that feminism taught women to row on both sides of the boat while leaving men only on the right side.

“What I’m feeling now is we haven’t taught men to row on both sides of the boat,” he explains. Farrell says this imbalance keeps the boat going in a circle rather than forward.

Farrell reiterated what he has stated in his books; that he is not in favor a men’s movement, or a women’s movement, but instead a gender egalitarian movement.

He says that the two greatest forms of sexism against men today are the maleonly selective service and a lack of men’s studies departments in the university system, but emphasizes that sexism goes both ways and he does not wish to deemphasize the genuine sexism that does exist against women. ■ artemis

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How far we’ve come

By Jackie Mantey

A 1998 cover story of Time Magazine asked the question many females feared was coming. It demanded, in capital red letters, “IS FEMINISM DEAD?” Almost 10 years later, that question has its answer: No. Inextricably footnoted below it, however, are layers of discourse and controversies.

In the wake of three waves of feminism (voting, reproductive rights and definitions of femininity) based on the quest for different elements of women’s inalienable rights, a generation of young women is questioning what’s left to fight for.

Plenty, argues Amy Richards, a leading Third Wave activist and co-author of several books, including “Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future.” While women’s equality has improved since the struggles of our foremothers, sexism today roots itself deeper under the mirage of equal rights, making it more important than ever to be aware of the past and the present struggles.

But what form will American feminism take in the future? Richards spoke with Artemis about such questions.

united states Artemis: Why is feminism important in the 21st century? What can the objectives of the movement offer to future generations?

AmyRichards:Thisverymovement began in this country. The ultimate goal was that women would have political and cultural autonomy. Those goals are relative in this moment because it is your historical past. Generation to generation has been picking up the pieces of the previous one in order to bring women closer to the end goal of living as full, complete human beings.

In the future, I see feminism both building on the work that preceded us and approaching it in a celebratory way. Once we have more equality, we can imagine ourselves more capable of things based not on our gender.

The second half of this movement is being able to own that space, regardless of gender. I think we will be able to see institutions change. For example, why do we hear “He’s a great parent”? Why does it have to be commended that a father is a great parent and we just expect it of the mothers?

Artemis: Why do you think many of today’s young women don’t want to identify themselves as feminists?

AR: I don’t think women say, “I’m not a feminist because I don’t agree with its goals,” but rather because they question whether it’s necessary to identify themselves as such anymore.

It could be (they don’t identify as a feminist) as a mere resistance of having to be public about their beliefs. Sometimes it’s because feminism seems to

come with a checklist. I’d have to say sometimes it’s good that some don’t identify as feminists – I don’t want to water down the movement. I want it to have meaning. Value. Power.

I like that it exists with a strong association.

There is also a fear that if you align with feminist beliefs, you will be too exposed. You know, feminism is not a glamorous movement. There’s not a lot of instant reward for being a feminist. It takes forever to make a change on these often marginal issues. A lot of women don’t want to wave the feminist flag because it’s not like intervening on behalf of women in Afghanistan is good dinner table conversation.

Divorce laws are kind of a downer Artemis: Feminism has had a lot

of internal struggles since its origin.

What problems do you think are still present today?

AR: Sometimes feminists use a checklist against other feminists. Like, “How much of a feminist are you?

How big is your commitment?”, as if you’re trying to get some award. It’s like you have to marginalize yourself.

Yes, there is a lot of internal strife and people struggling with the label.

I think your generation also, fairly, doesn’t see the inequality yet. They think, “What are you striving for?”

This generation is less about gender roles and more about gender in association with other restrictions you may not see until you are out of college.

“

There is also a fear that if you align with feminist beliefs, you will be too exposed. You know, feminism is not a glamorous movement. There’s not a lot of instant reward for being a feminist.”

Artemis: What do you think is the biggest challenge today facing the ideals and goals of feminism?

How do we combat it?

AR: Every individual has their own biggest challenge, whether it’s motherhood, childcare or someone dumping illegal chemicals on their land. As for societal feminism and the larger cultural problem – I’d say it’s that sometimes we don’t believe the change we’re fighting for.

For example, Roe v. Wade, 1973, we never hear in a different voice,

“Oh my God, this is a moment where never before have women been given their own sense of reproductive freedom.” It was a huge turning point. Today, women haven’t owned that at all. We fight so much for these rights, but what we strive for is almost bigger than what we believe.

simple things an individual can do on a daily basis. My generation isn’t known for its protests and man-on-the-street activism, but more for its volunteerism and behind-the-scenes work. In what direction do you think the feminist movement will head in the future?

doesn’t always mean reaching the goal. While it can seem like a great comfort, creating change doesn’t often come from grand public moments. When activism is localized, you’ll see more change. Your work will trickle up - change will be created from the bottom.

Artemis: The book you coauthored with Jennifer Baumgardner, “Grassroots: A Field Guide for Activist Feminism,” deals with starting feminist activism at the local level, even with

AR: You will put activism in more places. When you look at the past, you’ll see that people worked on making activism very grand. But even with a million people marching for a cause, that

Artemis: Any advice for our budding young feminist readers?

AR: Don’t be afraid to reach out to people and don’t underestimate who you can inspire. ■