I’ll try not to be harsh, but there are some things that you have to worry about–the alarms should be sounding right now for women all over the United States. Last year, the current administration passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, right? This big, controversial law has some really scary elements to it–the US Government has written a law that denies you a medical procedure based upon a premise of morality. Regardless of whether you agree with the morality not, they have passed legislation against your BODY.

Modern feminists worry about the same things that old-school feminists worried about. Margaret Atwood wrote The Edible Woman more than 20 years ago, and we clearly have the same issues today.

The scary aspects of this surface in the details of the transaction of passing this law: the picture of the signing of this legislation has our President sitting at a table and about 8 or 9 guys standing behind him joking and giggling with one another as if they were waiting for a batch of chicken wings at HOOTERs, or something. Not ONE woman was on that stage to support that piece of legislation. And, it doesn’t matter–with or without women’s support, they signed it into law. It may be tied up in the courts, the language might be problematic problematic, and yeah, they will have a hard time enforcing it, but this legislation calls back to several other pieces of legislation that were problematic.

Ever heard or used the saying, “Rule of Thumb?” This actually was a british law that specified that it was LEGAL to beat your wife–as long as the stick was smaller than the diameter of your thumb. This was a LAW!!!

There was also the “Contagious Diseases Act” passed in England in the 1830s. This law allowed the government of a small harbor town to forceably detain and subject an unescorted woman to a gynecological exam–to ensure that she wasn’t passing contagious diseases to the sailors. The implications of this one are really incredible–as in unbelievable. The “unescorted” part implies that rich people didn’t have to worry about it–they would never leave their house without a driver or a servant, or someone. But the law made it so that male police officers could take a woman, make her go to a male doctor, who would then give her an exam against her will–more legislation against the body. (Side note: the tools of the time looked like something you would use in your fireplace)

Economically, England has been another forerunner of American gender politics. They passed the Right of Property Act in the 1860s. This law made it acceptable for a woman to own 10% of her original dowry if she was successfully granted a Divorce by British Courts. So, let me get this straight: she can legally own 10% of the money her dad gave to her husband for marrying her IF and ONLY if the courts granted her a divorce (a highly unlikely proposition in the 1860s). So, although it marked an improvement in the rights of the women, it really was still a dismall situation. Women were not allowed to own anything in British society. They could be in the care of their father, their husband, or an uncle, perhaps–but not in charge of themselves. (Factoid: This law inspired Ibsen to compose the play “Hedda Gable.”)

That myth that things are equal now is just that–a myth. Things are better than they were in the 1800’s the 1980’s, and the 1990’s, but the struggle has changed–not dissipated.

Feminism was given a bad name in America when bras were being burned in the late 70’s (Susan B. Anthony was a feminist, but she was never labelled as such–she was a “suffragist”). The highest profile people–the ones that made the news–were the extremists! The majority of feminist, however, are looking for equality in the workplace, in language, and in voice.

Although there are plenty of differences within feminism, what I studied, and my understanding of it goes like this: There are dominant groups, subordinate groups, and a place of intersection between the two–a shared space. The dominant group speaks louder than the rest–or has the final ruling when all is said and done (see the above example with the Partial-birth Abortion Ban, Contagious Diseases Act, Right of Property act, etc.). Feminism strives to give an equal voice to those subordinate groups. This is a continual process–not an epic battle, with peace in the land for all afterwards. Because there will always be dominant and subordinate groups, Feminists will always struggle to provide a voice wherever that voice is suppressed.

You don’t have to burn your bra to be a Feminist–you can look for embedded inequalities in our language and in our spheres of influence. When someone says”she’s just a girl,” they are reinforcing a stereotype that women are the weaker gender, or that women are overly emotional and not logical, or that women are not suited to work in business, etc. Don’t you want to say something? When someone judges you more by your physical appearance (Margaret Atwoods Edible Woman) than by your ideas or your words, don’t you want to say something?

I guess I could go on forever and, I just might have to . . . .