|
 hese
are tough times for the women's-rights crowd, according to the
Village Voice's Sharon Lerner, whose agonizingly earnest
article explores how the "four-week-old military attack on
Afghanistan is proving to be an excruciating dilemma for feminists."
This might seem a trifle counterintuitive: After all, in the days
before September 11, it was feminist voices that were the loudest
in decrying the Taliban's crimes, and in calling for the ousting
of the brutal and misogynistic regime. In the end, though, it seems
that feminists were hoping the Taliban might be toppled spontaneously,
peacefully, by some Afghan version of Vaclav Havel (or Betty Friedan,
perhaps). Now that it has become clear that removing Mullah Omar
and his acolytes will require actual military involvement--and even
actual casualties--the Taliban-decriers are having second
thoughts.
Consider Hibaaq
Osman, who last year addressed the United Nations and, according
to Lerner, "cited only one cause for which the use of military
force might be justified: to oust the oppressive Taliban regime
from Afghanistan. Now that the bloody effort is under way, however,
Osman, who heads the Center for Strategic Initiatives in Washington,
feels differently." She tells Lerner that "this predicament
is a test for feminists. We have seen our worst nightmare--women
being dehumanized and shot in public--and it makes us more radical.
It makes us angry enough to entertain the idea of war. But do I
support war?" You guessed it--she doesn't. "No. No. No,"
Osman insists. "War is not OK under any circumstances."
But what about
your comments to the U.N., ma'am? Well, Osman tells Lerner that
yes, "I said it, but I was just making a point." Which
was what, again?
Lerner does
track down some women's-rights advocates, like the Feminist Majority's
Eleanor Smeal, who are sticking to their guns in a world where toppling
the Taliban has suddenly become an American priority. But she is
far more interested in antiwar feminists like Susan Sontag (of course),
and groups like "the Worldwide Sisterhood Against Terrorism
and War, an organization of about 80 feminists that includes women
from Central Asia as well as such U.S. notables as Gloria Steinem,
Alice Walker, and Susan Sarandon." The Sisterhood's post-September
11 contribution to the national dialogue has (predictably) taken
the form of petition, headlined "Not in Our Name," which
declares that "we will not support the bombing or U.S. invasion
of Afghanistan, for it would only punish suffering people and increase
the hatred on which terrorists feed."
Ultimately,
Lerner portrays feminists as worrying over "the knowledge that
more women than men die as a result of most wars" (would the
reverse be more palatable?), and over the fact that "the crisis
seems to be inspiring a reversion to traditional gender roles,"
as Americans "are feeling somewhat smug about our heroic, enlightened
men just now."
This, in turn,
points toward the real problem feminists have with the war in Afghanistan--namely,
that it's being run by men. (Condaleezza Rice doesn't quite count,
apparently.) Lerner quotes Felicity Hill, from the Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom, who notes that "after childbirth,
war making has possibly been the most segregated of activities along
gender lines... war remains the domain of men, [and] women's voices
are missing from decisions on priorities in peace processes."
So, would feminists
back a war against Afghanistan if it were being prosecuted by Hillary
Clinton and Madeleine Albright? Or is it that feminists think that
an Albright-Hillary administration would be less likely to go to
war in the first place? Perhaps mercifully, Lerner doesn't offer
any answers. Instead, she lurches off into (far) left field, offering
a predictably mindless blast at the "witch hunt pitch"
of Sontag's critics, and then complaining--without any evidence--that
feminists are in a pickle because "it's hard for anyone to
stray from the political mainstream, and harder still for women."
Fortunately,
America still has the Village Voice, where defiantly female
writers like Ms. Lerner can defy the thought police with impunity.
Forget the firemen and cops, the pilots and commandos--it's left-of-left
journalists and agonized feminists who are the real American
heroes now.
|
