The New York Times has an article today titled, “The Looming Contest Between Two Presidents and Two Americas.” Fasten your seatbelts! It really does feel like two Americas, sadly.
And it feels like two worlds in the world of feminism right now. This is a very interesting article today, also from the NYTimes, titled “Barbie is bad. There, I said it.” I agree with everything Pamela Paul puts forth here, I wish I had written the piece. I feel like feminists are split—certainly not the first time. I read a wonderful quote years ago, and cannot recall who said it and can’t find it on the internet….so help me if you know. It was either bell hooks or Audre Lorde. But the idea from the quote was that “there are many feminisms.” She meant it in a good way, that we should try to understand each other’s experience and that we may not all agree on the same approach to what’s right for women. There are many feminisms. And this I do recall, bell hooks said, “Feminism is for everybody.” It’s true, we all want the same equal rights for women. Here is an older drawing of mine sort of on this topic.
Nikki Haley is staying in the race for President, even though many think she has no chance of winning the GOP nomination. But you never know—Trump could start losing it more, or he could be convicted, which would certainly change things (even though his supporters say they will still vote for him; I bet many of them won’t). Her presence in the race is good, as I see it. She will be a constant thorn in his side, and we know how he hates women, particularly strong women like Haley. She already got under his skin several times since New Hampshire. Another strong woman, E. Jean Carroll is also a major thorn in Trump’s side; he took the stand today in her defamation trail against him in Manhattan. I just love that these two women are tenatious—and right— in their efforts to strip Trump of his facade and expose him for the fraud that he is. He can’t stand it.
Another older cartoon, below. I believe it’s from 2016. Can you believe we are still dealing with this horrible man?
Thanks for being here, happy Thursday! I am traveling to LA for my stepmother’s 90th birthay, but I will see you tomorrow.
Trump is a 50s guy-- like Sinatra. They really charmed women before feminism. They like women a long as the women love them.
I asked by Stanford buddy Claude, who seems to have read almost everything on the Internet (because Claude is an AI). Here's what I got There is no definitive source for the quote "there are many feminisms." Some possibilities for the origin of this general sentiment:
1) The quote may be referring to the idea that feminism encompasses a diverse range of perspectives, experiences, and theoretical frameworks. This expresses that feminism should not be viewed as a single, monolithic movement or ideology. The diversity of feminist thought is sometimes captured in the broader concept of "feminisms" (plural).
2) The specific phrase could potentially be attributed to any number of feminist scholars, activists, or writers emphasizing an intersectional or multifaceted view of feminism. However, I have not located any exact match to this concise quote attributed to a particular named individual.
3) Similar statements can be found in academic writing discussing divisions or "waves" within feminism. For example, in her 1992 book "Second Wave Feminism," Linda Nicholson refers to exploring "the many feminisms that constitute the second wave."
So in summary, while the general sentiment of multiple feminisms is a well-established one in writing and theory, an exact match to the specific succinct quote "there are many feminisms" does not yield a clear, singular source based on my search. It may be a summarizing paraphrase of more complex discussions of feminist thought diversity.