Can Feminism Handle The Word I?

Can Feminism Handle The Word I?
(c) 2002 by Regena English




"I think women as a collective made alot of noise in the seventies to draw attention to our wants but it were the individuals who made the strides. Do I credit the feminist movement for my professional success?No, it was I who made the good grades to attend the best schools to get the good jobs. It was I who made personal sacrifices to move up the ladder, and it was I who took the chance to create my own company. I'm not a feminist because it was I who had to do what was needed for me to be the person I am today."38,Jessie

When a feminist associate of mine read the quote from the article Do We Need Feminism Now? by Rae Lyn Moore she was appalled and angered. The reasons she gave for her anger was, "how could any woman even remotely think she could be so powerful without feminism is beyond any reason."

I was not surprised by her reaction to Jessie's remarks because she and I have had this discussion on numerous occasions. I happen to agree with Jessie. We have the power to create our own realities but for some reason it's not a graspable concept for all women.

It's time women stop downplaying their "inner" power thinking the only power worth recognizing is that from a group of people. You would think with all the self-help books on the market today women would think it was natural for them to feel self-empowered.

Truthfully, many women are stumbling around in their own darkness, they don't see nor realize they are the creators of their todays, tomorrows, and yesterdays.

Women who lack the awareness they can create their own realities are at the mercy of hidden agendas. Why, you ask? No faith in self leaves one open to the destructive suggestions of those wanting to prosper at their expense.

Somewhere within people like Jessie is the thought "I" ,(a singular pronoun), can create on my own. They arrived at this conclusion not to deny any power to feminism, or feminists, but to realize and mature their own personal power. This is what took place with Jessie.

So why do women like Jessie garner so much vindictiveness from women calling themselves feminists? The Jessies of the world can handle anything the world dishes out to them without having to run for cover.

They don't dislike feminism they just understand if they're to have properous, abundant, and joyful lives they they must work on both a physical and spiritual level to create it. It's when they work on themselves spiritually they discover they have at their disposal all the tools necessary to achieve their goals, thus realizing they don't need to depend on other women.

The women's movement may have started out making women aware they were second class citizens motivating them to self empowerment. However, at some point many "liberated" women came to rely solely on the strongarm approach of the movement for career advancement and not their own abilities.

It's very dangerous when people, in this case, women surrender their power to an impersonal organization to do all their thinking and achieving for them. What started out as a forum to encourage free (and higher) thinking among women has become a suffocating box smothering the fires of independent thought.

I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship. ~~Louisa May Alcott~~

Women are not The Borg. Jessie and other women like her understand that it is they who created their lives not a collective of women. Feminism would best be used to promote self awareness rather than promoting political agendas or pushing for more laws.

If women like Jessie can make feminists uncomfortable and angry for choosing to live on their own success steam, then it should be the feminists job to re-examine their mission. It's only natural for Jessie, and those like her, to give praise to themselves for their accomplishments owing just a brief acknowledgement to feminists. Why? It was she who did her planning,focused on her goals, and made any needed sacrifices not the feminists on her behalf.

The time has arrived for humans to rise up and respect their spirits, their inner essence that connects them to the Great Creator. Judging by the reaction from this feminist associate, Jessie is a traitor and should be chastized for being self-empowered. How unfortunate she can't see Jessie is the manifestation of the original vision feminists had for women.

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