Fueling the feminist flame

BY LISA MACDONALD

SYDNEY — At the first such day-long forum in Sydney for years, 50
activists spent September 15 analysing and debating the many facets of
the backlash against feminism that has been gathering momentum in Australia,
and worldwide, over the last two decades.

The seminar, titled “Who's afraid of feminism? Women's oppression, feminism
and beating the backlash”, was organised by the Democratic Socialist Party
(DSP). It featured three plenary sessions — on how women's oppression came
about and why it persists, the personal and social impact of neo-liberalism
on women and what kind of feminist movement can beat the backlash.

Workshops were held on the first and second waves of feminism; the rise
of the “men's movement”; the Russian and Cuban revolutions' impact on women;
reproductive rights; the commodification of women's bodies; and how sexism,
racism and class intersect.

Most participants expressed their anger and frustration at the lack
of organised resistance to the increasing attacks on women's rights, whether
that be conservative government policies which undermine most women's life
choices or the burgeoning of grossly sexist imagery in advertising, and
the workshops generated many ideas about how to publicly express feminist
dissent — at workplaces, on campuses and schools, and on the streets.

One of the most valuable outcomes of the seminar was the understanding
that flowed out of the discussion of “women's issues” that, in fact, all
issues are women's issues — that the backlash against women is part and
parcel of an undeclared war by the capitalist rulers around the world against
all progressive ideas, organisations and struggles.

For information about the DSP's “Feminism and Socialism” discussion
series in Sydney, phone (02) 9690 1977.

From Green Left Weekly, September 25, 2002.

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From GLW issue 510