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Feminism, Politics and Pop Culture

Beginning to See the Light: Pieces of a Decade, by Ellen Willis. Random House, 1981.

By Pat Randle

Beginning to See the Light is a collection of Village Voice staffer Ellen Willis's articles written during the 1970's. Willis, an avowed feminist and social activist, offers observations that provoke controversy, reminiscence and, best of all, thought. About half the articles deal with popular culture-rock'n'roll, incvies, the flotsam and jetsam of styles and fads. The other half deals with politics, mostly feminist politics and mostly in New York.

Whatever the subject, Willis's commentary is flavored by her particular feminist perspective. Best of all, the articles are written in a breezy, precocious journalistic style that makes for agreeable reading, even if the reader disagrees with Willis's opinions.

In pieces that deal most directly with feminism, Willis focuses on the politics of abortion rights and the mythic power of "the family." She's strongly pro-abortion; her basic stand is suggested by the title of one of her abortion pieces, "Is A Woman A Person?" She suspects the accolades accorded "the family" by leftists as well as the New Right. She points out that the family is a political issue, that it lies at the center of disputes not just between "the Right" and the rest of us, but among feminists and certainly within the "left." "The issue of family chauvinism is at the core of the conflict between feminist and antifeminist women, as well as the antagonism that smolders even in sophisticated feminist circles between wives who feel that single women do not support them or understand their problems and single women who feel that wives are collaborating with the system," she writes. Willis takes pains to point out that the alternative offered by what she labels the "cultural left," the pursuit of promiscuity for its own "liberating" sake, is equally mysogynistic, and equally rooted in men's dominance in our society. Willis argues for another alternative, the search for an answer to the question of "whether we have the right to hope for a freer, ¡¡ure humane way of connecting with each other."

Perhaps Willis's most controversial stance, from a feminist perspective, is her piece on Women Against Pornography, "Feminism, Moralism and Pornography." In it, Willis argues that Robin Morgan and other WAP activists misunderstand, or refuse to recognize, the danger to civil liberties inherent in dissolving legal protection for any form of free speech. She finds the WAP members' attempts to <listinguish between pornography and erotica unsettling, more an exercise of taste and aesthetics than of tational political thought. "Whatever their focus," she writes, "obscenity laws deny the right of free expression to those who transgress official standards of propriety-and personally, I don't find WAP's standards significantly less oppressive than Warren Burger's." Willis's arguments are credible; whether a reader agrees with her or not, she does bring up questions that must be discussed.

Willis's pop culture columns deal less directly with feminism, but the feminist spirit is always lurking. · She's an ardent lover of rock'n'roll, despite, she admits, the decidedly mysogynistic bent of too many rock lyrics. In Beginning to See the Light, she starts with the discovery that she likes, despite her better judgment, the Sex Pistols and other "punk rock" music. But the focus of the piece shifts into a sort of lament. Why, Willis asks, are there so few women rockers who have the raw energy of the punkers, or the intensity of Bessie Smith's wailing blues? \<«t,^^^»in','!Velvet Underground," she tries to come to

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terms with why she prefers the Velvets to any other band. True, she says, Lou Reed's lyrics tend to treat women as symbols rather than as persons. However, the overall message of the band, imbedded in its music as well as its lyrics, has a moral worth and a

message worth listening to, for feminists as well as bther human beings. She categorizes the Velvets as a basically moral band that operates from the conviction that we're all striving against the odds for some sort of grace. Her argument can be read as an apologia for her own musical taste, but it's also an

attempt by the author to understand how rock'n'roll serves to help us understand ourselves.

"Tom Wolfe's Failed Optimism" is a piece of particular interest in light of this month's cover story on the same subject in Mother Jones magazine. In addition to being a more timely analysis of the father of New Journalism's failures, Willis's piece provides a more provocative and intelligent analysis as well.

Viewed in the context of both the Mother Jones piece and of Tom Wolfe and his work, Willis's article shows its author's special strengths. She's willing to admit that she enjoys some of Wolfe's writing, and feels no need to condemn some of his early, groundbreaking pieces in a tone of judgmental hindsight. She's secure enough in her talent to admit that Wolfe did, after all, unearth some terrific rhetorical tricks, a situation that I suspect the writer of the Mother Jones piece did not enjoy. Rather than attack Wolfe in a whining diatribe, Willis dissects his lack of moral vision and his basic conservatism.

Therein, of course, lies her strengths. She is a good writer, first of all. Her prose is delightfully readable. Unlike Wolfe, she is moral and operates from that moral, feminist position. Unlike the Mother Jones crowd, she is not overly moralistic. She may not have all the answers, but she's asking the right questions.

Click! A Feminist Perspective

The Girl I Left Behind, by Jane O'Reilly. Bantam Books, 1982.

By Judy Rainbrook Men...determined whether women's causes would be understood, and even the most sympathetic professed themselves to be baffled. "My wife doesn't feel oppressed," they assured themselves. That a large number of such men now find themselves referring to "my former wife" suggests that they were misinformed. Thus Jane O'Reilly impales the opposition with humor. This book is a compilation of various essays and columns published in such magazines as Ms., The New York Times, McCall's and The Atlantic Monthly. They are structured in rough order from the personal:

As someone who perceived my teen-age years as seriously limited by the absence of a recreation room in my family's house, I feel competent to speak as a middle-class woman.

to the public:

People who believe a woman has a right to a husband who must support her even after he dies are obviously not going to find the notion of equality easy to grasp.

I found this book eminently readable, combining sharp political analysis, eloquent and moving arguments for women's rights, and some of the most hilarious wit I have read in a very long time. No one is safe: feminists and foes alike are exposed in their silliness.

But this is a book of hope, a book of the possible. O'Reilly reminds us that we are human, that we must do all we can. However, because we are products of the society and intimates of the people we are trying to change, setbacks can and will occur.

Even Ms. O'Reilly, who understands the issues so clearly, has her "Clicks!"

In my home when I am working against a deadline,.['sit in front of the typewriter and

shout, "More tea!" The whole family hustles in with more tea. I call out, "Go to bed," "Get the lamp chops." It is an emergency situation and they all spring to, helping me fulfill myself. But I am still in charge of remembering to get the lamb chops.

If you're tired of reading about "heavy" issues, this book will lighten you up. If you feel that after ten years of intense effort, the women's movement has failed, this book will change your mind. If you're worn out arguing with your friend/lover/husband/ co-worker/boss about women's rights, relax. After you finish reading The Girl I Left Behind, give it to them.

If you have been asking yourself, "Am I happy being a feminist?" read this book. You may come to the same conclusion as Jane O'Reilly:

Of course....After all, consider the alternatives.

*Suzannie Britt