Catholics are directed to say a prayer at the end of the day, The Act of Contrition. It is a short examination of conscience and an apology. It always seemed shallow to me, implying that anything goes as long as one is sorry. Another point of view is to use examining ones day to see who one truly is. I have argued this point with many high school girls pointing out that 80% of waking hours spent on one’s body indicates their values.
At age 59 I still carry on this practice. I spend the majority of my day working to empower feminists working in the Third Wave. I am not necessarily any good at it. I lose my patience and freak out; mostly because it is hard to get a sense of urgency brewing in someone who has always had birth control, freedom of choice, women’s studies classes, even the phrase “pay equity” in their common vocabulary. However, if I stop my interior conversation for a few minutes, it is clear that there is a whole new set of issues which are not mine but genuine, frightening, URGENT; safety, alcohol, debt, violence on every tier of human experience, global anti-women campaigns and the disregard for earth herself. I wonder if, at 15, I could have even handled knowing about the abuse of women all over the world.
How do women (of all ages – young and middle and old) working in the Third Wave of Feminism keep going, stay inspired, find their voice, make any headway at all. First those of us who want glory for what was done in the Second Wave need to put that aside. Not that it isn’t so ~ rather it is that there is no time to waste. Second we need to get to work on the current issues facing women. They are dangerous, suffocating and force many women to hide and give up. Third we need to start bequeathing all we have to the modern day movement ~ ALL WE HAVE.
Get a shovel and start shoveling all you have learned, earned and have to make this Third Wave a success. Get your pocket book, join every women’s organization you can afford and DONATE time and money. Read a few of the many books about the Third Wave so you can be a part of the conversation. Subscribe to the Third Wave magazines, ( BITCH & BUST) they need our support and we need the content. Every day – EVERY DAY visit Women’s eNews, Feministing, CA NOW, and Feminist Daily News.
If you are not asking why the Republican presidential candidates are funding abstinence only birth control, why are the Democratic presidential candidates not talking about women in the Constitution, why are both parties not talking about women on the Supreme Court, in Congress and in the workplace – then you need to get ONLINE and get the conversation going – flood every political site you can with such questions. The single largest voting block this electoral season is young single women – WHY ISN’T THERE A DEBATE HELD BY YOUNG SINGLE WOMEN? – the very answer exposes the problem.
Last weekend I went to the Feminist Majority Foundation celebration in Los Angeles. It was quite the gala. All of the people you would hope to see, Peg Yorkin, Eleanor Smeal, Cameron Manheim, Margaret Cho, Maxine Waters, Gloria Steinem, Tyne Daly, Carol Moseley Braun, etc. It was the equivalent of Rockin’ to the Oldies with the Beatles, Stones and Roy Orbison at the Forum in the ‘70’s.
But what if??? What if all the students, who had been seated in the balcony, had been seated up front? What if the registration tables had been staffed by the luminaries as the new feminists checked in. What if the Wildwood Girls Choir and After School All Stars had been first? What if all of the leaders of the past simply got under, behind, next to – the leaders of tomorrow? Now that’s a TIDAL WAVE.
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