rigs Slit

SCARLET AND BLACK

 

Griune lWoliien's I.

By Mary Edwards
Chairman,
Grinnell Women‘s Liberation

From numerous conversations
with Grinnell faculty and stu-
dents i find that very few
people on campus understand
what women's liberation means.
our group lmage varies: we
sire seen as either bitchy men—
haters who secretly want to be
men, or a collection of innocu-
ous doegooders, or rabid femi<
nlsts fighting for “female
rights." We are none or the
above. Rather, we are female
students, iaculty, and wives or
taculty who are unhappy about
what being a Woman in our
society has come to mean, We
are interested in redefining the
female role to include more of
tlle human and less of the SH-
perficially feminine.

It may surprise some to
learn that our focus is not on
male oppression but on seli—
suppression. We are appalled
when we realize how we have
been carefully trained to de-
mand very little of ourselves.
We are not expected to be as
bright as men, to work as hard.
to be as actively involved in
issues and ideas. Many or us
h a v e unconsciously accepted
this comfortable role through
out childhood, in college and
even in graduate school. We
are trained to be passive, dec<
orative objects rather than ac~
Live, thinking human beings.
Whenever we think about wom-
en's “liberation" we find that
our most difficult task is to
liberate ourselves from a de-
humanizing self-image which
protects and Cuddles us, We
feel uncomfortable in our [on

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My personal initiation into
women's liberation came about
as a result of long association
with radical political groups.
These supposedly radical men
questioned every American in-
stitution while blindly perpetu-
atlng the myth of female in-
fei'iority. They talked polit
we took minutes. They di
cussed strategy: we made coi-
fee. Most frightening and eye-
opening was our rinal realiza-
tion that we had never ques-
tioned the division of power, We
rarely contributed to discus-
sions because we felt ourselves
to be incapable of analytical
thinking. We thought of our
selves as slightly fuzzyelieaded
sis/roads. We were both angry
at our male iriends ioi put-
ting us don-n and at ourselves
for allowing them to do so,

So I became interested in
liberation, in seeking treedoin
from restrictions imposed by
society and perpetuated by no-
thinking men and women.
Many men ask with a smile.
sneer, or leer, “what do you
want to be liberated from?"
They often assume that we are
simply concerned with sexual
treedom and magnanimously
offer their help, Married men
are usually more aware of the
complexity and seriousness or
our concerns but have much
at stake in preserving the es-
tablished feminine role, They
are right to feel threatened in
one sense: “liberated" wives
may be unwilling to accept
liomemaking as a full-time

career. 0n the other hand, we
wonder why intelligent men
Want [0 Come home to women
whose most challenging reading
comes from the pages or net-
ter Homes and Gardens. Are
they really so insecure about
their own abilities that they
need the assurance of no in-
telleclual challenge at home?

Other critics of women's lib-
eriition think that we want to
erase all sex dlfferences, While
we do not claim that this would
be possible or even desirable,
we are interested in finding out
which diflel‘ences are real and
which are learned. Are wom-
en less logical and more EmO‘
tional than men or have we
been trained to be marshmal-
Iow heads? DD females neces-
sarily reel a natural aihnity for
dishwater? We learn from tele-
vision and magazines that our
primary concerns should be to
choose the best detergent, the
sexiest lipstick, the most femia
nine mouthwash. Last year’s
Miss America represents the
ideal woman as defined by ad-
vertising in her statement that
during her year's reign her
“love of Toni hair products,
Pepsi Cola and Oldsmobile"
became a “spontaneous part”
or her. Miss America 1970's
goal in life is “to be a nice
person" — the cheeriul com-
bination oi hair spray, coke.
and cars.

Our dissatisfaction with the
female image is rooted in per-
sonal frustration but leads to
basic questioning of social in-
stitutions. The women's liber—

 

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ation group ls radical in per-
spective in that it finds pres
ent institutions unable or llrl<
willing to respond to the needs
of women. We are interested in
s o l v i n g immediate practical
problems through establishing
day-care centers and spreading
birth Control information. We
are also looking tor longerango
alternatives to the present

Friday, October I. I?“

iteration: ‘An Explsuot'on'

structures which need to de-
fine us as kewpis dolls.
Obviously we have many
questions and very few an-
swers. Grinnell Women’s Lib-
eration meets every Thursday
in Steiner 27 at 4:00 pm. in
order to ask these questions
and although some or our meet.
ings are closed to men, we gen-
erally welcome their attendance.

 

MOVIE PREVIEWS

The War Game: ‘A Must To See'

By a Staff Writer

T h l S weekend‘s , cinematic
goings-on at ARH are The War
Game (Friday 9:00, Sunday
8:30) and Nothing But the
Best (Saturday 3:00 and lU:BO)i
For those who worry about itt
yes, The War Game is relevant
and still manages to be good.
It’s a simulated documentary
about World War Ill‘s devasta-
tion oi a small village far ir’om
any city.

This harrowing, abrasive film
created a horrified (and in
some quarters, angry) stir
when made a couple ol‘ years
ago for the BBC. Peter Wat-
kins, who has directed several
excellent BBC documentaries
of the real-live Variety, made
the film:

Unhappily, serious, controver-
sial movies like The War Game
are often attended only by

people sure that the point of
view expressed is their own,
Such movies are pointless it
only nodded at in approval, so
if you have the slightest disin-
cllnation -- please go. Whether
you are socially and politically
conscientious, a student of the
cinema, or like scary movies,
it should prove ”(631)! reward-
ing."

Nothing But the Best, on the
other and jollier hand, is a
light British comedy starring
Alan Bates and a red-headed
lady named Millicent Martin.
It's a spoof of Life at the Top,
but readily diggable without
prior knowledge, due process,
or much or anything else. Jon
Stein, friendly neighborhood
movies chairman, has said that
a list of ARH movies will be
published soon, He is the man
to cheer on or hiss about movie
selection.

 

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