Talk

Feminism

Reaction is not revolution. It is not a sign of revolution when the oppressed adopt the manners of the opressors and practice oppression on their own behalf. Neither is it a sign of revolution when women ape men, and men women, or even when laws against homosexuality are relaxed, and the intense sexual connotation of certain kinds of clothes and behavior is diminished. The attempt to relax the severity of the polarity in law bears no relation to the sway that male-female notions hold in the minds and hearts of real people. More women are inspired to cling to their impotent feminity because of the deep un-attractiveness of Barbara Castle'sseamed face and her depressing function as chief trouble-shooter of the Wilson regime than are inspired to compete as she did for a man's distinction in a man's world. We know that such women do not champion their own sex once they are in positions of power, that when ther are employers they do not employ their own sex, even when there is no other basis for discrimination. After all they get on better with men because all their lives they have manipulatred the susceptibilities , the guilts and the hidden desires of men. Such women are like the white man's black man, the professional nigger; they are obligatory woman, the exceptional creature whos is as good as a man and much more decorative. The men captitulate.

-- Germaine Greer.