WSW EDITORIAL
Whatever prompted an unsolicited copy of Esuire's December 19, 1978 issue to arrive in my ailbox is less puzzling than why Judy Klemesrud trote the cover article, "The Year of the Lusty Voman", or It's All Right to be a Sex Object Again. las this self-proclaimed feminist, N. Y. Times eporter had one women's news article too many rinted in the "Style" section of the daily Times? In his article, Klemesrud takes the indefensible position if identifying women with their "representations" in 978 fashion tangents (e.g., wearing transparent eans) and "jiggly" television shows (e.g., Flying High). The conclusion (Friedan's): women are now ecure persons who are choosing to be sex objects gain.
Klemesrud suggests that the new woman-as-sex-
object has evolved from the woman, who, only a year ago, was busy working for feminist goals at the Houston National Women's Conference. Her new philosophy? "Everything shows, anything goes. This new sexuality is forthright, the message is hard on: If you don't come and get me, I'm coming to get you.” The proof of this Kafkaesque metamorphosis is built upon such solid examples as Betty Friedan's return to cooking, the use of eye shadow again by one of Friedan's feminist friends, "old-fashioned girl" (Miss America) Kylene Barker's anti-ERA stance, and the "scanty costumes" of many profootball team cheerleaders. (Incidentally, Klemesrud's Christmas cards this year are selfportraits, cheesecake-style.)
Klemesrud's message in this article is an advanced
CONTENTS
exercise in confusion. There's 'naivete: women, including feminist women, control the fashion and media industries. There's manipulation: a sexually liberated woman is a woman-as-sex-object-in other words, a woman who has liberated her sexuality from herself as a subject. There's equivocation: sexual equality implies sexual aggressiveness (as opposed to assertiveness). There's distortion: because many women are now concerned with their appearances (with all the frills-make-up, nail polish, etc.), women are returning to traditional roles. There's cooptation: the article, with accompanying fashior photos and descriptions is good PR for a number of designers and "potential super sex objects".
However, Klemesrud does give space to backlasl as a frequently cited explanation for the emergenc of this new woman-as-sex-object. I give her credit fo that. Backlash is what I intended to discuss here. acknowledge Klemesrud's article only because it i such an obvious example of the reality of backlash
Features
National
Divorce......
9
(the final segment of a 5-part series reprinted from Getting Out: A Divorce Manual)
Feminism: A Question.
2
Automatic Military Dismissal for Gays Banned..... 5 Catholic Bishops Cut Anti-Abortion Funding.. NARAL vs. lowa Pro-Life Action Council.. Reforming Bedford Hills Women's Prison..
13
13
5
Health.
8
Interview with Jeanne Sonville......
7
Boos, Bravos, and Tidbits..
12
(the final segment of a 3-part conversation)
Review of Claudia Weill's Girl Friends... News
Cleveland Women's Groups.
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0
10-11
Find It Fastest...
. back cover
Local
Letters to WSW......
2
EmPress Changes Gears..
6
The Year Of the
Lusty
Woman
January 22 Demonstration for Choice..
4
Viewpoint.
3
Panda Right
Letter from Marysville.
5
What's Happening.
15
Trial Date Set for Rhonda Toney Case. Zoning and West Side Women's Services..
4
4
Classified Ads....
15
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Cover photo: Brenna Epstein by Janet Century
(Look for more of Janet's work in Visionary Mountains)
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While Klemesrud's penning her sequel, we (committed feminists) will be busy defending the rights we have gained and demanding those we haven't yet secured. Remember that the Supreme Court decided to recognize our reproductive rights in 1973, but we are and will be working for that basic life choice for a long time. We still have to win equality under the law (ERA). Affirmative action is being weakened. The list goes on.
Klemesrud's cover story is backlash par excellence. A figment of feminist imagination doesn't sell on newsstands across the country. That a "self-avowed feminist", who is a nationally known reporter, wrote "The Year of the Lusty Woman" is frightening. Judy Klemesrud swallowed the anti-independent woman hooker line and sunk. But anyway, we have a lot to do.
(Please don't buy backlash by Esquire.)
-Marycatherine Krause
DISTRIBUTION OUTLETS:
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WE ARE:
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January, 1979/What She Wants/Page 1