As should be well-known at this point, I am a feminist. I feel strongly about this. And, though I would not pin a title to anyone who didn’t desire to have one, I think that most women are feminists these days—even the ones who don’t care for the title. It’s all in your definition of that word. If being a feminist means working to subvert and repress men, then I am not a feminist. If feminism is being a woman, an all it’s capacities, and not being punished or devalued or looked down on for that (which is what it is to me) then I AM a feminist.
Anyhow, browsing through the index, I ran across the letter dealing with that word in relation to how Katharine Anne Porter used it. Now, according to my definition, Ms. Porter is most definitely a feminist. But, according to her, on page 178, feminism is a “slimy word.” I read that and then re-read it three more times because I was sure I read it incorrectly. I was SURE. Katherine Anne Porter is most definitely a feminist, as far as I see it. She writes strong women and challenges all sorts of roles and stereotypes, male and female—think of Pale Horse, Pale Rider, for goodness sake! Near the above-mentioned statement, Porter also said:
“…at risk of being called a feminist, (slimy word) I wish to say that I do not believe that my faults are especially womanly, or my virtues especially masculine. After all, I am a woman of an almost boring normality, I run dreadfully true to form in most ways known as womanly. But I write as I do, also, as an artist, with an almost complete lack of self-consciousness as to sex.”
The part I would like to highlight is the first phrase, “at risk of being called a feminist…” Based on this letter and the other letters that address feminism, it seems to me Porter is drawn to what feminism is; there are elements that she agrees with. What I believe is that the cultural stigma of feminism in the 50’s is what stopped her from identifying with it fully. And I’ll be honest of my naivety here, and state that I have a slim idea of what 50’s feminism was like, but I figure it isn’t what it is today. There had to be evolution.
Tags: Chelsea Lane, Feminism, letters, Pale Horse Pale Rider, Porter
3 Comments:
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- Josie said...
March 13, 2008 at 10:23 AMYeah, that statement surprised me too. But I agree with you that that title just had different connotations in the 50's. Even now, there is still some degree of negativity used in relation to that word, although, as you mentioned, we've definitely made progress. Thank heaven for that.- Neena said...
March 13, 2008 at 12:40 PMI wonder too if her Idea of being "feminist" is becoming or behaving more like a man, if equal rights to her meant equal sexuality? I'm getting that from things she said in her letter to Schwartz,p.547, where she says she in no way would like to be a man. I also remeber my own mother saying that he hated the feminist movement because she would never want to be a soldier in the military, ha ha ha. I think that's why I connected with Porter's ideas in her Schwartz letter, I think she's right when she says that women believe we are different and we like it, we just don't like being treated as less significant than men. And I agree with what you've said. Feminist is a word defined in so many ways it is difficult to ascribe to the word as defining one's self.- Rebecca said...
March 14, 2008 at 11:09 PMI read this passage as a reflection of the word itself. It is indeed, even in 2008, a "slimy" word. I don't think she is saying the concept itself is slimy. It reminds me of the popular term "feminazi" to describe feminists. I hate it. It so blasts the very reason for the word in the first place! But there it is being used to describe any woman who may be deemed "feminist"...I have also heard people excuse themselves, "I'm not a feminist or anything, but..." So yes, unfortunately, the word itself has become some negative social construct.