Just read an article on the tensions between Second Wave Feminists (mostly baby boomers in late fifties) and the young Generation X women now in their twenties. It fit my perceptions and broadened them too. I'm a Second Waver myself. When the article talks about Birkenstock-wearing activists, that's me. Or was me.
The differences between generations seem to center on motherhood. Who gets to bake the sacred apple pie? Most girls and young women want to be mothers. They want men to help more, and they want to have the option of returning to other jobs. But they want to be what Virginia Woolf called "the Angel of the House." They don't want men to share equally in rearing the children and running the home.
This strikes me as dangerous. At forty, looking back on my life to make a full confession of my sins, this exact desire was one of my main sins. I had always wanted to be first with my children, not share them equally with another parent. Feminist issues aside, this is an issue of misguided selfishness. It comes down to spiritual immaturity - a need to ensure love, from a fear of not getting enough love.
To many young women coming along today, the desire to be "the boss of the house" and to be the primary caregiver, is just biology. I'm skeptical of all "just biology" explanations. Usually they're used to justify restrictions, not expand choices.
My own departure from fervent feminism came not because I wanted to be the Angel of the House, but because I wanted to free my art. Other feminists would try to tell me that my art should be like this, or like that, because I was a woman and therefore "nurturing." (This is called "difference feminism" and not all feminists believe that women are essentially more nurturing than men.)
I decided that no ideology would run my art. Yowee! No way! Robert Henri, in The Art Spirit, says "Don't run with crowds." No one can tell me what my inner Self is supposed to be, or what its expression must be.
So this is my wish for all women - and for all men. May you listen to your inner Self. May you learn to distinguish your honest feelings and beliefs from what others have taught you they should be. May you dare to live your real life.
9:43:33 AM 
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