I scanned these culture jams from a day planner that I bought my friend for christmas! With the rise of second wave feminism, women began to fight for equality with men of the white, upper class. Some women decided they were no longer happy being submissive, housewives and attempted to resist the 1950's dominant discourse. In this time period media constructed an "ideal" image of how a nuclear family should look and act; women were expected to be content cooking and cleaning. As we learned in class, in order for a women's status to be changed and in order to resist hegemonic views of society; representations surrounding women needed to shift. Here are come culture james that counteract the classic 1950's woman.
Danger Powers
This reminds me ... I just bought my mom a shot glass for christmas and just liked what it said
ReplyDeleteIt says:
"Gardening, yoga, bubble baths, medication ... and I still want to smack somebody!"
All these "normal" girly things that make "us" feel better ...
~Freddie Mercury~
I definitely admire the work of the early feminists for pushing to get outside of the home, and fighting for their place in public domain, but do you think that these feminists have done harm to the private domain? By pushing to be like men, to get outside the home, did they (unknowingly I'm sure) devalue the importance of domestic duties? I think that we live in a society that has little, to no respect for the MOST IMPORTANT job in the world...raising children. What could be more important? I am not saying that women should be pushed back into the home...not at all. I just wish that we (being society) could see the importance of caregivers (whether they are male or female).
ReplyDelete-ShadowsDreaming
I think that these are very cute jammers! They put a 'real' face to the nuclear family. Rather than showing them with their usual cheesy stone-faced smiles they are quirky and for once ACTUALLY happy looking. These women appear to be fun, silly, care-free, and in love...which I find refreshing! Maybe its the Valium? JK.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with ShadowsDreaming, there is no other job more important than raising children. Obviously doctors and teachers come to a very close second but children grow into people and people are what shape and create our world. Children's morals and values are taught in the home, its up to parents to equip their children with the tools that they need to go out into the real world and be thriving adults. I personally would be honoured to be a stay-at-home mom.
*SILVER
"but do you think that these feminists have done harm to the private domain?"
ReplyDeleteA comment on history: most women worked outside the home, only white, middle-class women moved from the suburbs to the jobs during the second-wave, and they weren't the majority. Further, the devaluing of domestic labour happened long before second wave feminism. In Western society, we see it in the Roman Empire, which was quite a long time before 1950.
The devaluing of women's labour in the home was one of the issues second wave feminists fought against (see, for example, cultural feminists, etc., who argued that society needed to value women's caregiving more).
I know that the popular, historically inaccurate, stereotype of the second-wave is that women moved from the home to the workplace, and that second-wave feminists argued against women's domestic work, so I'm not surprised to see it iterated here (and you do a great job, ShadowsDreaming, of negotiating the tensions), but the popular perception is incorrect on both counts, and that reveals something quite telling about the construction of feminism in popular culture!
Feminists want(ed) work which is classified as 'women's work' and socially under-valued to be recognized as important, and of great value.
The Doctor