The meme was for fun, but this might be serious. Or not. I never can tell before.
Today in class (and I will try to be vague, in case someone from class is reading this), I think I shocked the pants off the women in the class. We have to create this imaginary city, where we will be determining collection development policy for the library of the city, and I thought immediately, "oooooooh, Utopia." And whenever I think of Utopia, I think of Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (and though I've read it, not Thomas More). Gilman imagined Utopia as a place where there were no men. The book, frankly, is awful. And Gilman never convincingly imagines how women will conceive children without men, which makes for some hilarity when a group of women sit down and read the book. (Think real hard about wanting a child, and POOOOOF! You're preggers.)
However, since I always think of Herland, I decided, why not make my city full of women. And only women. The thing was, this was a group project, and I didn't want to be the only voice. Anyway, I suggested it, and my group went for it, and got really into it. Great suggestions, the whole nine yards. And since we're discussing this in a library context, no one brought up sex. Fine, I figure you leave "Ladyville" and you can do whatever the hell you want. After we figured most of our details out (demographics, library details, specific issues facing our town), one member of my group turned to me and said, "Oh, you're the first president of Ladyville." I quickly told her that traditional government wouldn't be for a group of progressive women, because traditional government is inherently patriarchal.
Uh-oh. I think that I overstepped. (Maybe I should add that when I personally picked out a collection dev. policy off the web last night, it was a policy for UCSB's Women's Studies department/library coll. And no, I did not know the assignment about the city last night.) I think that by and far, I'm sitting among a conservative group of women every day in class, who think conservatively. I would bet that if you asked them if they were feminists, a good half to three quarters of them would sneer derisively and say "NO WAY." Fine, we all don't label ourselves the same way, but I suspect many of them would agree with the basic principles and guiding ideas of feminism. I can't say for sure. And a lot of these women are whip-smart. Really quick, really intelligent. (Okay, save for the technology issue.)
Back to Ladyville. When I told the class our idea (because I was chosen to speak for our group), there were several amused looks, and one woman said, "Boy, that will be some deprived group of women." To which I replied, "Maybe, maybe not. Just saying, is all." I think that really went over well. You know, like a lead balloon. Like a boat made of swiss cheese. I wasn't really implying anything, just that women can, and do, sometimes live without men. Do I? No, I love my S. And I do feel certain attachments to other men. I have some amazing friends who are men (and in fact, seem to find that I find better friends sometimes in men. But that, my dears, is a whole 'nother can of worms.), and yet I find myself fantasizing about a community of just women. Would it be like Lord of the Flies? Would women automatically form themselves into the institutions that men have formed us into? Would a group of women form themselves into family units? Or are we looking at commune style living? I could run with this scenario for days. It never ceases to be interesting, the different permutation of ideas that run together.
One women in my group made an amazing point about the whole thing--she conceptualized a household unit that was very multi-generational. Retired women living with working women living with children. Built in child-care. Women banding together to create positive home environments for children. But really, there's only so far you can go with a group of women (in the class) who are unwilling to admit to the radical possibilities.
Troublingly, I felt like announcing to the class, "No really, I do have a boyfriend." What the fuck? That's not like me. I never had a problem telling people I liked girls when I liked a girl, so why this reaction? I fought it back, because frankly, it would do these women good to be exposed to diverse sexualities. I do have a boyfriend, it's true. But that's because I love him, not because he's a boy. So essentially, I came out in class today. As a radical, as a feminist, and maybe some women in the class think other things about me. That's okay. I don't need to be seen as straight. I'd rather not be assumed to be anything, really.
Except for a feminist. You can assume I'm a feminist. I think I've basically decided that if I'm to be the lone voice of feminism in these classes, then I'd better make it loud. Not hard for me. Just maybe scary for some of the more conservative women in the classes.
****And incidentally, you'd think that as women going into a woman-dominated field, but where men hold the majority of the power positions, you'd think we'd be a little louder about this shit.