The Feminist in Me
Okay. So I crossed the finish line! I did it! Nevermind that some women ran 13.1 miles in half the time it took me. I found my pace. I found my zone. I made it.
At several points on the course, authoritative voices called out, “Make way for the lead runners,” and I would turn to see women racing past me. For an instant, I thought, “Damn! Who do I think I am?” But I reminded myself, “I have my own pace.” And the next time someone called out, “Make way!” I said loudly and clearly, “I need my space, too.”
Adrienne Rich will be reading in Cambridge later this month, and so I had occasion to pull my copy of “On Lies, Secrets, and Silence” off the bookshelf. In reading the foreward, I came upon this quotation:
It is…crucial that we understand lesbian/feminism in the deepest, most radical sense: as that love for ourselves and other women, that commitment to the freedom of all of us, which transcends the category of “sexual preference” and the issue of civil rights, to become a politics of asking women’s questions, demanding a world in which the integrity of all women—not a chosen few—shall be honored and validated in every aspect of culture.
Feminism gets a bad rap—and I know many young women who will go out of their way to say, “I am not a feminist.” Still, Rich’s definition startles me in its simplicity and its logic—the freedom to ask our questions and to expect others to honor and validate all women. That’s feminism.
And running through Central Park at my own pace demanding my own space among so many female shapes, sizes, colors, ages, and personalities—that was a reminder of our power and our challenge.
I know it’s old-fashioned to say, “I’m a feminist.” And I know the stereotypes that go with it. But I think I will say it more often now, “I’m a feminist”—in all company—however unpopular it might be. In its truest sense, it is the kindest of words.
Comments
Great points, Andrea. So I’m not old fashioned! Just old :-)
Rich is reading at Radcliff at 4:15 p.m. on April 28.
Jan Apr 16, 09:03 pm
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CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR RUN! More importantly, congratulations on doing it “your way.” Hmmm, never thought about ol’ blue eyes as a feminist before. Oh, wait, he left out the part about “and the rest of you can, too! And I’m cheering for you.”
By the way, it isn’t old fashioned to claim membership in a movement that has yet to achieve its goals. It is radical to take note of your place in the long genealogy of the effort and radical to claim an active role in that effort and most radical of all to actively picture the outcome.
I want to go see Rich.
alhumphrey Apr 15, 06:18 pm