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Post edited 2:28 pm – August 1, 2010 by LibraryLady

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This is almost my first post here. I've also posted this over at JREF, but Naomi Baker suggested it also go here. I hadn't found this before, but it looks like it has great potential! I'll be interested in seeing the comments upon this in both places:

 

I’m in need of a new word.

 

Technically speaking, I am one of the original Skepchicks. As

you can see here: http://www.magicdave.com/sccal/jun.htm">,
 I even had a picture in a SkepChick Calendar in 1999. Fully clothed.

And thereby hangs my tale.

One of the discussions about TAM8  on the JREF forums that occupied the 

TAM8 What worked, what didn't… thread was about feminism. I have to mention that I

did not attend Feminist Skepticism workshop, going for the second part of the

Science Based Medicine instead. I heard about it. I saw the crafted “angry

vaginas.” I also did not attend the Skepchick party. But these events made me

think about the differences between feminism now and then.

I am old enough to remember when it would be unheard of for

a woman to start a sentence with “I’m old enough.” Women of a “certain age,”

especially those unmarried and working, were not taken seriously at all

socially or in business. Career girls were mannish, ugly or both. Or they were

Rosalind Russell and waiting for the right guy to come along and tame them.

 

I am old enough to remember when it was pretty much impossible

to walk down the street without being harassed by men, catcalling and whistling

and shouting mild obscenities. I was told it was a compliment and to learn to

ignore it.

I am old enough to remember when it was considered a

disgrace to lose one’s virginity before marriage. To get pregnant caused a

major uproar. Abortion was illegal, so you had a choice of breaking the

law/risking your life or having a baby and giving it up for adoption. To keep

and raise an “illegitimate child,” was almost unheard of. I am old enough to

remember the phrase “illegitimate child” in conversation.

I am old enough to remember when dressing with cleavage

showing for a less than formal occasion was scandalous and commented upon. If a

girl or woman dressed that way for every day life, it was noticed, talked

about, and the consequences were not good.

I am old enough to remember my uncle telling my father that

sending girls to college was useless, as all that happened was they got married

and didn’t use the education anyhow. My father did not disagree.

 

I am old enough to remember how hard it was to get respect

in the workplace. Even in a woman dominated profession, 80% of the workers were

women and 80% of the administrators were men. Disrespect was shown in little

ways, like my male supervisor telling me my shoes weren’t sexy enough and I’d

never get a date like that. Like another male supervisor telling me I made a

mistake becoming a librarian because I’d never find a husband there. Like being

instructed by my female co-workers which men not to get on an elevator with

alone.

So much has changed! Most of my peers are working in

professions and no one denigrates them. I’ve not heard any catcalls or been

hassled on the street, aside from the occasional crazy person, for about 20

years. Losing one’s virginity before the age of 18 seems to have become

mandatory for both boys and girls, poor things. Bearing and raising children

without marriage, or indeed the participation of both parents, is becoming the

norm. People dress in a variety of ways for work and play. The majority of

college grads is female, although women still earn less than men. If a

supervisor told me I didn’t dress sexy enough or sexually assaulted me in the

elevator, I could sue him and get him fired and/or arrested.

What worries me is that I’m seeing some regression. And the

backsliding is coming from women. Skeptical women, who are intelligent and

capable, seem to think it would appear wimpy and somehow giving in to

stereotypes not to attempt to shock and attract notice to their own sexuality. They

want to celebrate their sexuality, but they are doing it  in ways that remind me very much of the

1970s. We did the angry vagina thing back then. We burned bras, we marched, we

wrote. But we were aware of the fact that respect and dignity were the most

important things. Without them, there was no progress. And this:  http://scienceblogs.com/gregla…..f54f99.jpg" this is not the way to retain them.

I’m thinking maybe, “Skeptics.”