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Activities: Context Activities The Women's Movement: Diving into the Wreck  Back to Context Activities
Adrienne Rich's poem "Diving into the Wreck" encapsulates the spirit of the women's movement in the 1960s. Fighting for a voice, women, from artists to housewives, joined together and demanded to be heard. Rich's poem speaks to this sense of inclusion in the first line, where she uses the first-, second-, and third-person to address the reader, signaling that both as individuals and as a community women need to fight for their equality. In this poem, however, the battle begins with finding a voice and making sure that the "book of myths in which our names do not appear" is rewritten to include the experience of women. The intimacy between artist and reader in this poem characterizes the art produced by feminist writers like Anne Sexton, Audre Lorde, and Sylvia Plath. Although Second Wave Feminism, or "Women's Lib," didn't gain national attention until the late 1960s, women across America were voicing protest much earlier. The prevailing domestic ideology of the 1950s not only told women that their place was in the home caring for the family, but also tried to convince them that, unless there was something wrong with them, they should find complete fulfillment in that role. For many women, these societal standards proved stifling, and as the decade progressed, some women were becoming increasingly frustrated by the standards imposed upon them and the lack of choices they could make in a culture that perceived women who were unmarried or pursuing careers as socially aberrant. In addition, with the growth of the advertising industry and a new influx of consumer products, many families wanted both spouses to earn wages in the hopes of increasing their buying power. But as women went out in search of jobs, they quickly realized that their options were limited. Although society seemed to encourage women to stay home, more women than ever before were attending college. It was not uncommon for women to receive degrees from prestigious colleges only to be told that their single option was to become housewives. By revising fairytales and myths, poets such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton satirized the constrictive roles forced upon women, thereby laying the groundwork for later feminist work. These cultural standards were so ingrained that many women either felt guilty for wanting to break the mold or found it difficult, if not impossible, to articulate their feelings of alienation and frustration. When Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique hit the shelves in 1963, American society changed as Friedan's articulation of the desperation women felt resonated with women across the country. At the end of the first chapter of this radical work, Friedan outlines her argument poignantly: If I am right, the problem that has no name stirring in the minds of so many American women today is not a matter of loss of femininity or too much education, or the demands of domesticity. . . . It may well be the key to our future as a nation and a culture. We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: "I want something more than my husband and my children and my home."Friedan's landmark book raised consciousness about women's roles and changed many Americans' view of how a household should be structured. Despite the dominant ideology of the time, there were many women, particularly college students, who were active in what scholar Alice Echols has termed the "climate of protest." These women took part in marches, sit-ins, and speak-outs during the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam protests. Like the earlier alliance between the abolitionist groups and suffragists, the feminist movement shared much with the other movements of the 1960s. While these female activists did not find much support for gender issues among these other groups, their participation in various movements prepared them well for their later struggle for women's liberation. They learned tactics of civil disobedience, gained practice speaking publicly, and began to see their bodies as sites of resistance. Likewise, the women's movement shared some of the philosophical underpinnings of the wider protest movement. The women's movement of this era has, however, been criticized for espousing middle-class, white values and for assuming that all female experience is similar. In fact, many groups, including the poor and African Americans, felt that the women's movement excluded them, and feminists have remained divided on issues of audience and inclusion. Labeled Second Wave Feminism because it followed the Suffragist movement earlier in the century, the women's movement rattled American society. While this new feminism fought hard against the values forwarded by 1950s society, the liberation movement also took on more specific battles. Central to these new feminists was the fight to gain control over their own bodies. With new advances in medical technology, the birth control pill became available for the first time in 1961. For feminists, the ability to control their reproductive fate was necessary to liberation, and they fought for the right to choose abortion, to have access to birth control, and to educate women about their bodies and their sexuality. In a society that often refused to discuss sexuality or even female anatomy with any degree of candor, the feminist movement's resolve to raise consciousness about the workings of the female body itself proved radical. Feminists also fought to change society's perceptions of women. They did not simply want to open thousands of childcare facilities, but rather they wanted to change the perception that childcare is the sole responsibility of the woman and mother. As many feminists argued, the battle for liberation had to begin at home, where women had traditionally been expected to shoulder the domestic burdens. Domestic chores and responsibilities would have to be shared by men if women were to gain equal opportunity in other spheres. Feminists also raised awareness about the objectification of women, particularly the damaging effects of unattainable standards of beauty heralded by the media and popular culture. For example, Sylvia Plath's poem "The Applicant" critiques the ways in which American culture, and particularly the world of advertising and women's magazines, objectifies women and forces them (and men) into confining roles. The women's movement struggled to expose the often painful and uncomfortable lengths women were encouraged to go to in pursuit of beauty. In protest, feminists burned bras, girdles, high-heeled shoes, and other items which they perceived as symbolic of their objectification. One of the most publicized protests occurred in September 1968 when a large group of feminists demonstrated at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. Their witty slogans and fierce criticism of the event as degrading and sexist sparked debate around the country and did much to raise awareness of the movement's growing intensity. Poetry proved important to the women's movement, in part because it helped to build solidarity and a shared set of images among women of the time. In fact, poetry readings were often integral parts of rallies and protests during this time. As literary critic Michael Bibby argues in his work on poetry in the Vietnam era, the feminist poetry written in the 1960s is characterized by a radical openness about the personal experience of women, and the poetry openly celebrates the female body and sexuality. For the first time, female poets were writing literature about menstruation, childbirth, and eroticism. The immense popularity of poets like Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath, and Anne Sexton illustrates the profound relationship between the personal and political. Although Plath's best-known poems were written before the women's movement really took off, her work was published post-humously from the mid-1960s on, and her defiant voice, unforgettable images, and struggle for a creative identity separate from the confines of domesticity made her work an icon of the movement. The poetry of Rich and Sexton was celebrated for the same reasons. Rich also contributed hosts of essays that have become central to feminist theory today, and her identity as a lesbian became a political statement that seemed to mark a new direction in feminism. Rich's notion of the lesbian continuum, in which sexuality is not either/or, but rather is better understood as a range, remains one of the key concepts in queer theory. Feminist poets also responded to literary currents perceived as predominantly male. Nikki Giovanni and Audre Lorde, for example, represent female voices in the Black Arts movement, and poems like "The Woman Thing" and "Coal" offer a feminist view of the new black aesthetic. Other women of color, including Joy Harjo and Lorna Dee Cervantes, also helped to broaden the representation of women in feminist poetry. There were also several female poets associated with the Beat movement, notably Diane DiPrima. The university was also an important instrument of change. Women's studies departments emerged, syllabi were gradually broadened to include female authors, and female scholars were changing the face of literary criticism. Critics like Elaine Showalter (A Literature of Their Own) and Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar (The Madwoman in the Attic) were forcing scholars, students, and readers not only to recognize women's literature, but also to rethink the canon as a whole. Questions
[3010] Austin Hansen, Woman and Baby Evicted from Their Harlem Apartment, 1950s (c. 1950s), courtesy of Joyce Hansen and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. This photo's echoes of the traditional iconography of the Madonna and Child comment ironically on life in inner-city New York. Gwendolyn Brooks's work addresses the struggles of raising children in poverty. [3296] Dick DeMarsico, Protesting A-Bomb Tests (1962), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-126854]. Demonstrators protesting U.S. testing of atomic weapons. The use of nuclear weapons in World War II prompted a variety of responses from U.S. citizens, including fear, protest, and feelings of alienation. [6180] United Women's Contingent, When Women Decide This War Should End, This War Will End: Join the United Women's Contingent on April 24 (1971), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZC4-6882]. Protest poster against the Vietnam War. The antiwar, civil rights, women's rights, and gay liberation movements were connected politically and artistically. In 1961, writer and activist Grace Paley founded the Greenwich Village Peace Center, which was integral to draft resistance during the Vietnam War. [6181] Peg Averill, When Women Become Massively Political the Revolution Will Have Moved to a New Level . . . (1976), courtesy of the Library of Congress [CN POS 6-U.S., no. 39 (C size) <P&P>]. Poster of a woman in whose flowing hair is pictured a setting sun and silhouettes of soldiers. The woman's movement was closely allied to the peace movement. The National Organization for Women's 1966 statement of purpose began as follows: "We, men and women who hereby constitute ourselves as the National Organization for Women, believe that the time has come for a new movement toward true equality for all women in America, and toward a fully equal partnership of the sexes, as part of the world-wide revolution of human rights now taking place within and beyond our national borders." [6182] Ivy Bottin, Woman Power (1965), courtesy of the Library of Congress [POS 6-U.S., no. 548 (C size) <P&P>]. Members of the women's movement sought to change the dominant perception that all women could be satisfied by lives as homemakers. Many feminists argued that the fight for liberation must begin at home, where men should share in domestic chores. [6190] Marcia Salo, I Am a Woman Giving Birth to Myself (1973), courtesy of the Library of Congress [CN POS 6-U.S., no. 306 (C size) <P&P>] and the Times Change Press. For many of the women involved in the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s, there was an intense connection between the personal and the political. Central to these new feminists was the fight to gain control over their bodies, as a woman's control of her reproductive fate was necessary for true liberation. The feminists' resolve to increase education about female anatomy and reproductive health was, at the time, radical. [6932] Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in S.E. Asia, Pull Him Out Now: Join with the Hundreds and Thousands of Students, GI's, Women, Unionists, Puerto Ricans, Gay People . . . (c. 1970), courtesy of the Library of Congress. Political poster protesting U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. The antiwar movement linked and encouraged a number of other movements, including the civil rights movement, the Chicano movement, and the farm workers' movement. Many American poets protested the war, including Adrienne Rich, Robert Lowell, and Allen Ginsberg. [7362] Phil Stanziola, 800 Women Strikers for Peace on 47th St. near the UN Building (1962), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-128465]. Women protest for peace. Antiwar sentiment grew throughout the 1960s as some Americans became more critical of the Cold War mentality. Throughout the Cold War, the United States became increasingly involved in international conflicts that had high American death tolls and no apparent resolution, such as the Korean and Vietnam wars. |
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