Call them the Mommy Wars, the Post-feminists versus the Paleo-Feminists, the family values debates, they all acheive the same ends. People are forced to take sides, and then are inconveniently pitted against one another. It leads people to say things like, "I'm pro-life and I vote." So what? I had oatmeal for breakfast and I vote. [You can too: register here.]The devil is always in the details of how we frame our position. Pro-life sounds pretty good, right? But isn't the ability to choose (that would be pro-choice) the foundation of our capitalist society? But my favorite of late is collective avoidance of the F-Bomb, or Feminism. This takes place when we say, "I'm not a feminist, but." For example: "I'm not a feminist, but [we deserve child care][welfare regulations are too strict][isn't affordable healthcare important?]"
The thing is, we all want equality, but we also want to look good. So nobody ever says anything like, "I'm not a family-values person." Right? Well Katha Pollitt does. And I love her for it.
Part of the success of the religious and conservative right has been their political framing of issues. The single phrase, "family values," has been winning elections ever since Dan Quayle picked a fight with Murphy Brown in 1992. Who can argue against families? This is sort of thing that Thomas Frank is talking about; it's the sort of thing that causes the Democratic Party to re-invent themselves after the 2004 election. This should mean that we are all now Christian, pro-life, and thus in favor of family values. Just take a look at welfare reform.
But Katha doesn't buy it. Why must we mince words, bend ideologies, reframe the debate, just to sound - what - conservative? Conservative is the new black?
Wrong. And there is something you can do about it. Buy Virginity or Death!, and as Barbara Ehrenreich says, "Get smarter overnight." It's true. I did. Now I understand why emergency contraception should be located next to the toothpaste, what really went wrong with the Harriet Miers nomination, and some really good perspectives on Pierre Bourdieu, Andrea Dworkin, and Betty Friedan.
Essential reading on all things VoD!. I first heard about Virginity or Death! while reading Ann Bartow at Feminist Law Professors, where I also learned about Linda Hirshman and Caitlin Flanagan (also the subject of Pollitt's most recent column). That was before the Great Bad Review by Ana Marie Cox, which led to fantastic reads such as Ehrenreich's reaction in the Huffington Post, Pandagon's analysis, and of course Pollitt's own OpEd, titled "Thank you for hating my Book."* In addition, Jessica Valenti at Feministing interviewed Pollitt, which you can read at Salon. For other updates, check out the essential Katha Pollitt.
But don't take the blogosphere's word on it. Read for yourself.
* By the way, Virginity or Death! ranked #462 on Amazon the day of her article! That's one better than Lance Armstrong's, too. Congrats!
2 things that people say:
Hey, thanks for the link. Glad you liked the Pollitt book. I'm really happy to see her getting so much attention.
You know, it's funny, I find myself often saying "I am a feminist, but..."
I didn't know it was cool not to be a feminist. Oops.
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