Feminism and Figure Skating

[callalily]

Certainly the feminists I knew back in the early 70's wanted women who wanted traditional roles to be able to pursue them without being devalued in public. They spent a lot of time figuring out the dollar worth of all the things traditional housewives and homemakers did to prove women were worth something in the broader scheme of things, since at that time, traditional homemakers were considered 'unemployed'.

One thing they were most vehement about was the right of women to full information from their doctors about their health, and respect from those doctors, and a recognition that they were the customers of the doctors, and should get the respect of adult customers. .

Yes, that was very much true in Canada as well. Ensuring that the work of homemakers was valued was a major goal of feminists. That included crediting their contributions to the economy, and ensuring that they were fairly treated (financially) if a marriage broke down. The right to be fully informed by doctors, and to be treated as "adult customers" (as you put it) was also key. You mentioned the book, "Our Bodies, Ourselves". Yes it was great; I owned it.

Toni....I too am glad you're here, and that you're enough of what I would call an old-style feminist to pick what you think is the best way through life for you, and ignore what guilt trips one or another group tries to put on you to force you into a path you don't want.

ITA.

What worries me more is the fact that Republicans in Iowa were 8 votes short of nominating a man for the presidency who doesn't belive in contraception, even for married women. Without contraception, you can't get and keep a job as a married woman. That is & was the key to job equality, and equal pay for equal work.

This.

ETA: If we want to get into labels, the reversion from "homemaker" (a term that arose out of feminism) back to "housewife" in recent years bugs me. Work done in the home is important, and the word "housewife" trivializes it to some degree, IMO. Not the biggest deal in the world, but there you have it. Another word that has made a comeback, "[color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color]/retarX", troubles me too. I thought we had successfully ditched that one. Now it's back, and once again a schoolyard taunt, as it was 30 years ago. IMO there's a good reason why we ditched some older terms that were prejudicial.