What was Anne Hathaway or Mandy Moore or doing yesterday? They seem to be decent women.

Where are the feminist leaders of today? What is a feminist today? Do the young women of today have the same beliefs as people like Gloria Steinem?

The discussion turned to the feminist movement and Roe v. Wade.

***
Rosie: We’re going backwards. We’re fighting
Barbara: The way we get ahead is by being famous
Rosie: It seems like in the progress of women in American culture we’re going backwards. Roe v. Wade is threatened
Griffin: I agree. I think the Women’s Movement is going way back
Barbara: Roe v. Wade is not the women’s movement
Elisabeth: It’s media driven
Rosie: That’s how we got Roe v. Wade- the feminists standing up and saying you can’t control my body
Barbara: We are still doing it
Elisabeth: We are more seen now. We are in a more looksist society than we’ve ever been in before because of YouTube, because of the media. I mean it’s progress but at the same time comes the risk of women being exposed during these times. And I also feel as though we’re so focused- maybe we should ask the media just focus on the stories that are empowering to women. Don’t photograph one celebrity with a cigarette. Don’t photograph one celebrity out drunk who’s underage. Don’t do it. Stop glamorizing it. That’s what’s happening

***

Elisabeth misses the point again. The problem is not that the media put images out there of these performers. Few of the images of Spears, Lohan or Hilton are positive. The problem is that our society no longer judges the behavior these people engage in as problematic. A quick stint in rehab absolves people of guilt. Children are like charms on a bracelet. Law breaking has become acceptable because people in general get off too easily.

The truth is that many of the problems we are talking about today have their roots in the feminism that Rosie puts on a pedestal. The sexual revolution lowered the bar. Rather than encouraging woman to embrace self-respecting behavior, these feminists encouraged a sexual revolution that demeaned and devalued women. These feminists pushed a woman can do what men do standard rather then a men should behave more like women attitude. Marriage has been belittled. Women were encouraged to put their immediate happiness first rather than to consider long term implications of any decision.

Many women found that you cannot build your happiness on someone else’s pain.

Griffin then spoke about her experiences doing her stand up in a state prison for women. The inmates told her the thing the prisons do is strip them of their femininity. They are treated like a number in prison.

Well, committing crimes isn’t very feminine. Rosie likes to contend that most women are in jail because of their terrible drug addict thug boyfriends. Maybe had these women been a bit more feminine in the first place, they would have found decent men who would have helped them stay on the straight and narrow.

Barbara returned to the topic of feminism and how times have changed since the book

The Feminine Mystique came out. The book encouraged women to go out and get a job. Women who stayed home felt guilty. Now she thinks many women are deciding to stay home with the children. She makes the point that the ability of women to make the choice to work indicates the battle has, to a certain degree, been won.

***

Rosie then has to add her $.75: Remember when we would burn our bras. Remember when we would say we are not going to participate in beauty pageants anymore because it is the total marketization of women and now there sprouting up all over the place
Griffin: I think it’s worse than when I was a teenager
Rosie: I do to- I think its harder- we’ve gone backwards
Griffin: We’ve gone back absolutely
Elisabeth: Those rights aren’t typically – before they were restricted correct

***

The whole point of feminism should be that women can make the choice to have a career. The issue feminists have struggled with is the need to make responsible choices. Many feminists seem to think they can make any choice they want and that choice is devoid of responsibility. They shouldn’t feel guilty about the consequences of the decision.

Maybe the reason so many women in their 30s are staying home with their kids is that they felt the consequences of their mother’s decision. While their moms were out working they were at home wanting to be the most important thing in her life. Maybe today’s true feminist is a stay at home mom (either full or part time) who chooses to put her kids first because once you choose to become a mom you choose to put yourself after your kids. That choice is the responsible choice. Women who don’t want to parent shouldn’t choose to be moms.

By the way, thank goodness the whole bra-burning thing is a thing of the past.