Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Bastille Day

In The New Woman's Broken Heart, Andrea Dworkin concludes one of her stories with the line: "I never did like that crap about the child being father to the man" (10). So with that as my starting point, here is my barrier - tearing - down experiment for Bastille Day -- "Far beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?" Yes, there is! Not a world without men, not a world without Christmas or "America the Beautiful," just a world without gender exclusive language.

I ALWAYS DID HATE THAT CRAP

about the child being father to the man

about the proper study of mankind is man

about whoso would be a man

about no man is an island

about what art man that thou art mindful of him


about Our Founding Fathers

about all men are created equal

about the City of Brotherly Love

about "first in war, first in peace and
first in the hearts of his countrymen"

about Faith of our Fathers


about Our Father who art in Heaven

about the Fall of Man

about the Son of God

about the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

about Unto us a Son is Given


about lo he abhors not the virgin's womb

about offspring of a virgin's womb

about with God as our Father, Brothers all are we

about I now pronounce you man and wife

about One small step for Man; one giant leap for Mankind


about our fellow man

about stand up and fight like a man

about take it like a man

about manpower & man hours

about each man for himself


about when you say "Man" you mean "Woman" too

(and so on and so forth)
*****

Some Favorite Comments from Andrea Dworkin

"Sitting with Ricki, talking with Ricki, I made a vow to her: that I would use everything I knew, including from prostitution, to make the women's movement stronger and better; that I'd give my life to the movement and for the movement. I promised to be honor-bound to the well-being of women, to do anything necessary for that well-being. I promised to live and to die if need be for women. I made that vow some thirty years ago, and I have not betrayed it yet" (122).

from Heartbreak: The Political Memoir of a Feminist Militant
by Andrea Dworkin, 1946 – 2005
American writer and radical feminist

*****

When asked how she would like to be remembered,
Dworkin said:

"In a museum, when male supremacy is dead. I'd like my work to be an anthropological artifact from an extinct, primitive society."

[Julie Bindel, "Obituary" in The Guardian, April 12, 2005]

6 comments:

  1. Jes to me: "Man oh man, you do a good job!"

    Me to Jes: "Your response ("Man oh man) is very funny & appropriate. Was a Freudian slip! Haha!"

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  2. Hey, girl,

    You know what's funny? Ten years ago all those statements would have bothered me. But for some odd reason, they don't any more.

    I don't know if it's because I simply don't care anymore, or because I've gone past it, and believe that men are so lame, so weak, that they don't even realize they're leaving us out.

    Whatever the reason, I believe we are most definitely part of the continent, a piece of the main. And we do matter.

    And I think they know it. Maybe I'm just lazy mentally in my later years? :)

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  3. from the article "Men Explain Things to Me: Facts Didn't Get in Their Way"
    by Rebecca Solnit:

    "Most of my life, I would have doubted myself and backed down. Having public standing as a writer of history helped me stand my ground, but few women get that boost, and billions of women must be out there on this six-billion-person planet being told that they are not reliable witnesses to their own lives, that the truth is not their property, now or ever. . . . Most women fight wars on two fronts, one for whatever the putative topic is and one simply for the right to speak, to have ideas, to be acknowledged to be in possession of facts and truths, to have value, to be a human being. Things have certainly gotten better, but this war won't end in my lifetime. I'm still fighting it, for myself certainly, but also for all those younger women who have something to say, in the hope that they will get to say it." ~ Rebecca Solnit

    for full article: http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/rebecca-solnit-men-explain-things-to-me/

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  4. Here's one way to have a Revolution: Fix the Language! http://darkwoodbrew.org/father-heaven-and-the-limits-of-language/

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  5. I love this post, Kitti. Dworkin's poem and quotes are perfect. I love her humor and her conviction.

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  6. My Heart Leaps Up
    William Wordsworth - 1770-1850

    My heart leaps up when I behold 
       A rainbow in the sky:
    So was it when my life began; 
    So is it now I am a man; 
    So be it when I shall grow old, 
       Or let me die!
    The Child is father of the Man;
    And I could wish my days to be
    Bound each to each by natural piety.

    ReplyDelete