By Nikki Ulasowski and Alana Kerr
Another backlash ideology being given plenty of play in the media and explicitly presented by Helen Garner in her book The First Stone concerns a supposed generation gap between feminists.
Choosing to ignore the debate within the women's movement about the causes of violence against women and the related issue of whether or not all men are potential perpetrators of such violence, Garner declares that all young feminists are anti-men and labels modern feminists "priggish", "disingenuous" and "unforgiving". Feminism, she asserts, has mutated into these "cold-faced punitive girls".
Garner caricatures young feminists and 1990s feminism, portraying them as emphasising passivity and weakness. In doing so she advances one of the most dishonest and dangerous of the backlash myths — that there is a "generation gap" in feminism. Sarcastically referring to young women as part of a "scrap-heap" generation, Garner presents her differences with many younger feminists over where feminism is and should be heading, as a generational issue rather than a political debate.
Anne Summers, another prominent feminist during the second wave of the women's movement, also perpetuates the generation gap myth. Young women haven't got what it takes to fight for women's rights, she says. They have yet to map out a feminism they think is worth fighting for.
Not content with dismissing the many young women who are engaged in feminist struggles on many issues, and the right of activists in any movement to decide their own path to liberation, Summers condescendingly advances her own particular model of the "third wave" feminist. Consistent with her academic background and approach, Summers argues that it requires some young woman somewhere to write down the words of feminist wisdom for the others to ponder and debate.
Like Garner's, Summers' critique of 1990s feminism focuses on the wrong enemy. She feeds the backlash beast by giving weight to the idea that it is young women who have it wrong, who are to blame for the fact that they still don't have equal rights.
This generational perspective on feminism obscures the real nature of the debate about the history, content and future of women's liberation. The debates among feminists today are about political ideas, tactics and methods, not a debate between young women and older women.
The discussions about feminism usually come down to a question of strategy, how to achieve women's liberation. Summers and Garner, instead of addressing these substantive and crucial questions, attack young feminists. They thereby neglect and distort the real differences, which deserve and need to be dealt with on their own terms if we are to progress towards winning our aims.
Taking the controversy which surrounded the publication of the First Stone as an example, both Garner and the establishment media assumed that if you're over 40 you will support her, but if you're younger you will support the young women involved in the case. Reality does not bear this out. There are many older feminists who disagree politically with the arguments put forward by Garner, just as there are many young women who are yet to be won to any feminist perspective at all.
Ironically, the generation gap perspective overlooks or ignores the experiences and lessons gained through earlier waves of feminism. It consistently fails to acknowledge one of the greatest achievements of the women's movement — the empowerment of millions of women through consciousness-raising, involvement in activity in defence of women's rights and, as a result, the fostering of greater understanding, solidarity and unity between women, regardless of race, class, religion or age. This solidarity, this struggling of women together, has made women stronger and built a movement that has won many reforms.
Feminism reflects the full array of political outlooks and strategic perspectives that form our broader political landscape. To caricature it is to discredit feminism and its gains. In a period of political backlash, it is all the more important to do the opposite — to support the history and ideas of feminism and the progress it has made, to support those women who are actively trying to rebuild the movement (many of whom are young women) and to emphasise unity as the path to strength. This approach does not preclude remaining open to constructive debate and discussion about where to go from here.
With so far still to go to achieve even the most basic human rights for most women, the key question is how to build a strong movement that fights to defend and extend the reforms already won, and which can go on the offensive.
Because it is not about building such a movement, but rather focuses on blaming women, the generation gap perspective is yet another barrier to women's liberation.