gloria steinem - if men could menstruate
for some time now, i have been in luv wid gloria steinem in general and wid this essay titled "if men could menstruate" in particular... and just discovered that the essay is available online! here is the link... also check out this interview of gloria in feminist.com... the essay is one of the finest piece of writing in feminist tradition i hav read... it superbly engages the reader in a discussion of one of the most taboo subjects - menstruation - and that too in a hilarious manner with a piercing theoretical undercurrent... i cannot think of a better illustration of how power/knowledge function, and tht too without a trace of the jargon baggage of the usual academician...
note: a dear friend mailed recently depicting her experience in a newspaper (where she works) editorial team discussion about whether to allow female soldiers in combat role... and there came a host of 'logical'/'scientific' reasons why the female body is physically and psychologically unsuitable for combat roles... reading her mail remineded me again of gloria's essay... read it, you'l know why... btw, reema, forward ths essay to your women-cant-fight-coz-they-menstruate friends... and lemme know their reactions... cheers...
note: a dear friend mailed recently depicting her experience in a newspaper (where she works) editorial team discussion about whether to allow female soldiers in combat role... and there came a host of 'logical'/'scientific' reasons why the female body is physically and psychologically unsuitable for combat roles... reading her mail remineded me again of gloria's essay... read it, you'l know why... btw, reema, forward ths essay to your women-cant-fight-coz-they-menstruate friends... and lemme know their reactions... cheers...
posted by r i j u at 12:16 AM
3 Comments:
Yes i will, and by the way, i will also send u a couple of factoids that another friend sent me. and i liked the points he raised. though i wish the defence ministry or the froces could have done the same. i dont buy it when they say-oh hell, women cant doit. gimme reasons, i will take them.and u can read this friends blog too
http://shettystake.blogspot.com/
it was a nice a read...made me smile, especially the "Yeah, man, I'm on the rag" bit. Hysterics apart, I'll have to say that Gloria seems to have painted herself with the same paint she uses on men; she's generalising all men into being in the same mould, which frankly made a supposed serious point into a funny one...and i see reema's advertised for my blog, so thanks to her :)
firstly, steinem aint 'generalising men'... she is making a point about the mechanism of all dominant discourses in general and the discourse of patriarchy in particular... she is saying that the 'scientific'/'logical'/'rational' justifications that underlie arguments such as the one against women being allowed to take up battle roles are constructed by and for the reproduction of such dominant discourses... secondly, in no way she being 'funny' is reducing the 'serious' content of her writing, rather is increasing her access to the un-convinced audienence...
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