7c. EVOLUTION: Pulling Away From The Herd

Evolution is a bold thing. It requires leaving the herd behind and developing into something new. And it’s dangerous. Those left behind don’t like to have their worldview undermined. And feminists certainly know something about that!

As feminists developed their ideas and acted on their capacity for self-expression, the risks involved in doing so became obvious. The reactions from the status quo were severe. Most prevalent were vilification, ostracization, hatred, resistance to their vision and the wish to eliminate feminist concepts altogether. Susan Faludi describes this in depth in her book, Backlash.

And in many if not most circles, this persists today. The patriarchal herd – right-wingers, conservatives, male chauvinists and egotists, misogynists and all of their symbiotic female counterparts despise the very idea that bold women would speak for themselves, establish their vision and alter the power equation of male domination and female submission. This, in spite of the fact that is was feminist thought and activism that fueled the women’s rights movement from which not only all women, but all people, have benefitted. Still, most would like feminists to go away.

But it would be a mistake to write feminism off and retire it to the attic.

The stakes are much higher now. They are life on earth and the solution women create must be built on the solutions we have already affected in our own interests – those of altered perceptions, changed values, legal rights and social change – in all aspects of life. We assumed the responsibilities of judging how society had to change then and we must do it again for the future. We need a new way to live on this planet and the priorities of any dialogue will emphasize throwing out the unacceptable.

I have little faith in the ability of men to be equal partners in the solutions for the future. They have gone along so far dismissing women’s voices, values, input and needs; have displayed blatant ineptness at husbanding the earth’s resources and pitifully low standards in extracting and using them. The attitudes they bring to both their hierarchical structures render most, if not all, of their organizations and institutions incapable of creative results in the face of crisis. In the reverse, the women’s rights movement was one of the defining events of the twentieth century. In light of this, what’s the question?

Today’s feminists are people who had to resist the domination of the past and are much stronger and more powerful in their own right because of this lifetime of experience. So it would be extreme folly to underestimate women’s power today and potential for the future.

Planet earth is in dire trouble and the resources to support life upon it are in jeopardy. But the greatest resource of all is women’s power, which right now is scarce. It is nascent, untapped, potent and waiting to be brought to the surface. And it will be required to address this next feminist issue. Men: We are no longer subservient so we are not prepared to die for you. Not for your economics and political system, institutions, ignorance, bad ideas, traditions, religious delusions – nor for your self-satisfaction, need for female victims, or to have your egos and penises massaged. So give it up. It’s over.