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Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971

1970-07-24 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 2

START NOW
Ain't I A Woman is committed to helping create revolutionary alternatives for women -- alternatives to the sexist, racist, imperialist Amerika which defines out-groups as objects, as not quite human. Blacks, Indians, people of the Third World, women -- all are out-groups. All are defined as objects
Although the specific problems faced by the different oppressed groups are in many ways not comparable, all share this one burden. All are treated as things that can be ignored, brutalized, or even destroyed by the power elite.
There are all sorts of ways to destroy people short of killing their bodies. If the ruling elite can get them to accept a definition of themselves as naturally inferior, then a good part of their human potential has been destroyed, and they have unwittingly cooperated in their own destruction.
For centuries, whites fostered the belief in blacks and Third World peoples that they were inferior to the white races. Now, in this century, they have risen up and smashed that lie. For thousands of years, men have defined women as the inherently inferior sex; and now women are beginning to cast off that false and crippling self-definition.
What are the elements in the definition of women as inferior to men? Most of them center in the idea that they are sex objects first and human beings second. And even their human traits are defined in terms of their "feminine" characteristics, which means in terms of their bodies.
SEX SELLS -- and women have traditionally sold themselves for low wages. Who can blame us? Who thinks highly of a creature who lacks all the socially valued traits of mind, such as logical thinking, intelligence, and autonomy? No one -- and least of all, that creature herself. Traditional psychology and psychiatry (the sciences of mind and behavior) have urged women to accept her immutably ordained sex role, and have defined that role as essentially being a breeding machine. They have told her she is weak, passive, full of motherly instincts, and best suited to remain in the home. They have defined women as "sick," if they dared rebel against such a cripplingly narrow definition.
Women as sex object is supposed to sell herself into marriage. In order to do this, she is programmed to compete with her sisters so that she may be chosen to grace the home of one of her oppressors. Such competition pits individual against individual; it makes it almost impossible for women to recognize the social basis of their oppression, and to unite with their sisters against it. Once married, she is isolated psychologically from other women; her entire identity -- name, social status, reason for living -- is derived from her husband. Women who reject this loss of their personal autonomy are told there is something wrong with them -- that they are different, and people who are different are sick. It takes a very strong woman to break through this definition of what she ought to be, realize that what is wrong is not in her head, but in an oppressive system that would have her be something other than what she can be.
SEX IS BIG BUSINESS. The media use women's bodies to sell products to men. They tell women how to sell themselves to the highest bidder, and then how to keep their buyer from discarding them for a younger and prettier model. With incredible cynicism they order women what to buy, what to cook, what to wear, what to eat, what not to eat, all in a manner that reinforces the narrow social definition of women, all in a manner precisely calculated to exploit women's insecurities. Hemlines going down? Then change your wardrobe -- for appearance defines a woman's being. Too fat? Starve yourself. Too thin? Eat. Too ugly? Cover up with pounds of expensive cosmetics. You are only an object, and if you are not a beautiful object, you have no value. The annual Miss Amerkia cattle show parades tons of expensive beef before the eyes of an admiring nation, inviting all women to compare themselves to this year's best of breed.
Sex objects can't usually sell themselves for much on the job market -- long years of training in passivity and in non-competitiveness, in accepting a negative self-evaluation, make it hard to believe one is worth very much in the man's world. How can an object compete with a man? Why aren't you home with your family? (Yes, I know I ought to be.) Don't you know aggressive women are castrating bitches? (I'll try very hard to do more poorly than all the men.) Your kids will be delinquent! (And it will be all my fault.) Your husband will step out on you! (I will kill myself.) You won't get a husband! (I am worthless.) You're taking a job away from a man! (Men should come first.) You will get married/get pregnant/move away. (Then it is reasonable not to give me a decent job.)
Many women quite understandably find it hard to fight this jungle of restrictive definitions. Those who can usually pay a high price in psychological stress.
Men issue a lot of propaganda about the supreme importance of the wife-mother role. ("You are mother, companion, cook, nurse, chauffer, gardener, teacher", etc. ad nauseum.) And all too many women blindly accept it. But the true value of these jobs can be seen in what they bring on the market, since in capitalist Amerika one's value is determined by the money one's skills can earn. Women who attempt to support themselves as domestics, baby-sitters, practical nurses and attendants, maids, scrubwomen, waitresses -- women who desperately need a decent wage -- are obviously of little value, since they are at the bottom of the wage scale. 
By definition, an object is controlled by outside forces, not by itself. And that's why women are fighting to gain control over their own bodies, over their very lives. Only then will we have any value to ourselves. Even our bodies are not highly valued by men: if they were, we would never have been so casually used as experimental animals by the male scientists who developed the pill. If they were, we would never be denied the right to abortion on demand. (Is there any medical procedure denied to men on the grounds of sexual morality? Think about it!)
We believe that there must be a revolutionary transformation of Amerikan society before people can live humanly together. But each oppressed group must get themselves together, must make themselves strong NOW, or they will be left behind. People who have been brutalized into believing in their inferiority, people who have passively accepted becoming less than they can be -- these people must change, or they cannot make the revolution. Women must develop pride in themselves and in each other; women must identify with each other as members of an oppressed group. The Time to start is now. The place to begin is where you are.

[Right Margin]
of women
by women
for women

AMAZON BOOKSTORE
journals, magazines, buttons, literature, posters, books, newspapers, SISTERS. 
2418 S. 26th Ave.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Mon-Fri: 2-9, Sat. 11-4

FREE AND DECENT HEALTH CARE IS A HUMAN RIGHT! We are ready to listen and to share our experiences with you. We have a play area for your children if you can't leave them at home. Hrs. tues-thurs. noon til 9pm; fri-sat: noon til 6pm. Women's Counseling Service, 808 E. Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minn. 339-5479

HS Coalition
771 Amsterdam
New York City 10025
any High School Women are especially welcome to communicate or come and visit.

SUBSCRIBE
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE   ZIP
AIN'T I A WOMAN
WLF P.O. BOX 1169
IOWA CITY, IOWA 52240
[Drawing of a fist]

You can contribute by sending us articles, reviews, opinions, rages, etc. You can also contribute by committing your women's liberation group to a page, either in each issue or in every other issue. This kind of commitment is the best way to make a mid-west paper of AIN'T I A WOMAN? The page can be articles (or any kind of printed material), pictures, drawings, cartoons, poems, etc. Fill it, lay it out; its yours! Write if your group is interested. We'll send details, deadlines, etc.

If your group wants to receive bundles of AIN'T I A WOMAN?, send 15¢ per copy. Minimum bundle: 20 copies.

Collective workers: Vicki, Pat, Debbie, Lori, Linda, Dale, Penny, Carole, Julie, Anne, Carol, Pat, Sue and Linda.

AIN'T I A WOMAN? is published on the second and fourth Fridays of each month by the Publications Collective of the Iowa City Women's Liberation Front, P.O. Box 1169, Iowa City, Iowa 52240

[Footer]
2
Vol. 1 No. 3
[drawing of a flexing arm]
Ain't I

Saving...

START NOW Ain't I A Woman is committed to helping create revolutionary alternatives for women -- alternatives to the sexist, racist, imperialist Amerika which defines out-groups as objects, as not quite human. Blacks, Indians, people of the Third World, women -- all are out-groups. All are defined as objects Although the specific problems faced by the different oppressed groups are in many ways not comparable, all share this one burden. All are treated as things that can be ignored, brutalized, or even destroyed by the power elite. There are all sorts of ways to destroy people short of killing their bodies. If the ruling elite can get them to accept a definition of themselves as naturally inferior, then a good part of their human potential has been destroyed, and they have unwittingly cooperated in their own destruction. For centuries, whites fostered the belief in blacks and Third World peoples that they were inferior to the white races. Now, in this century, they have risen up and smashed that lie. For thousands of years, men have defined women as the inherently inferior sex; and now women are beginning to cast off that false and crippling self-definition. What are the elements in the definition of women as inferior to men? Most of them center in the idea that they are sex objects first and human beings second. And even their human traits are defined in terms of their "feminine" characteristics, which means in terms of their bodies. SEX SELLS -- and women have traditionally sold themselves for low wages. Who can blame us? Who thinks highly of a creature who lacks all the socially valued traits of mind, such as logical thinking, intelligence, and autonomy? No one -- and least of all, that creature herself. Traditional psychology and psychiatry (the sciences of mind and behavior) have urged women to accept her immutably ordained sex role, and have defined that role as essentially being a breeding machine. They have told her she is weak, passive, full of motherly instincts, and best suited to remain in the home. They have defined women as "sick," if they dared rebel against such a cripplingly narrow definition. Women as sex object is supposed to sell herself into marriage. In order to do this, she is programmed to compete with her sisters so that she may be chosen to grace the home of one of her oppressors. Such competition pits individual against individual; it makes it almost impossible for women to recognize the social basis of their oppression, and to unite with their sisters against it. Once married, she is isolated psychologically from other women; her entire identity -- name, social status, reason for living -- is derived from her husband. Women who reject this loss of their personal autonomy are told there is something wrong with them -- that they are different, and people who are different are sick. It takes a very strong woman to break through this definition of what she ought to be, realize that what is wrong is not in her head, but in an oppressive system that would have her be something other than what she can be. SEX IS BIG BUSINESS. The media use women's bodies to sell products to men. They tell women how to sell themselves to the highest bidder, and then how to keep their buyer from discarding them for a younger and prettier model. With incredible cynicism they order women what to buy, what to cook, what to wear, what to eat, what not to eat, all in a manner that reinforces the narrow social definition of women, all in a manner precisely calculated to exploit women's insecurities. Hemlines going down? Then change your wardrobe -- for appearance defines a woman's being. Too fat? Starve yourself. Too thin? Eat. Too ugly? Cover up with pounds of expensive cosmetics. You are only an object, and if you are not a beautiful object, you have no value. The annual Miss Amerkia cattle show parades tons of expensive beef before the eyes of an admiring nation, inviting all women to compare themselves to this year's best of breed. Sex objects can't usually sell themselves for much on the job market -- long years of training in passivity and in non-competitiveness, in accepting a negative self-evaluation, make it hard to believe one is worth very much in the man's world. How can an object compete with a man? Why aren't you home with your family? (Yes, I know I ought to be.) Don't you know aggressive women are castrating bitches? (I'll try very hard to do more poorly than all the men.) Your kids will be delinquent! (And it will be all my fault.) Your husband will step out on you! (I will kill myself.) You won't get a husband! (I am worthless.) You're taking a job away from a man! (Men should come first.) You will get married/get pregnant/move away. (Then it is reasonable not to give me a decent job.) Many women quite understandably find it hard to fight this jungle of restrictive definitions. Those who can usually pay a high price in psychological stress. Men issue a lot of propaganda about the supreme importance of the wife-mother role. ("You are mother, companion, cook, nurse, chauffer, gardener, teacher", etc. ad nauseum.) And all too many women blindly accept it. But the true value of these jobs can be seen in what they bring on the market, since in capitalist Amerika one's value is determined by the money one's skills can earn. Women who attempt to support themselves as domestics, baby-sitters, practical nurses and attendants, maids, scrubwomen, waitresses -- women who desperately need a decent wage -- are obviously of little value, since they are at the bottom of the wage scale. By definition, an object is controlled by outside forces, not by itself. And that's why women are fighting to gain control over their own bodies, over their very lives. Only then will we have any value to ourselves. Even our bodies are not highly valued by men: if they were, we would never have been so casually used as experimental animals by the male scientists who developed the pill. If they were, we would never be denied the right to abortion on demand. (Is there any medical procedure denied to men on the grounds of sexual morality? Think about it!) We believe that there must be a revolutionary transformation of Amerikan society before people can live humanly together. But each oppressed group must get themselves together, must make themselves strong NOW, or they will be left behind. People who have been brutalized into believing in their inferiority, people who have passively accepted becoming less than they can be -- these people must change, or they cannot make the revolution. Women must develop pride in themselves and in each other; women must identify with each other as members of an oppressed group. The Time to start is now. The place to begin is where you are. [Right Margin] of women by women for women AMAZON BOOKSTORE journals, magazines, buttons, literature, posters, books, newspapers, SISTERS. 2418 S. 26th Ave. Minneapolis, Minn. Mon-Fri: 2-9, Sat. 11-4 FREE AND DECENT HEALTH CARE IS A HUMAN RIGHT! We are ready to listen and to share our experiences with you. We have a play area for your children if you can't leave them at home. Hrs. tues-thurs. noon til 9pm; fri-sat: noon til 6pm. Women's Counseling Service, 808 E. Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minn. 339-5479 HS Coalition 771 Amsterdam New York City 10025 any High School Women are especially welcome to communicate or come and visit. SUBSCRIBE NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP AIN'T I A WOMAN WLF P.O. BOX 1169 IOWA CITY, IOWA 52240 [Drawing of a fist] You can contribute by sending us articles, reviews, opinions, rages, etc. You can also contribute by committing your women's liberation group to a page, either in each issue or in every other issue. This kind of commitment is the best way to make a mid-west paper of AIN'T I A WOMAN? The page can be articles (or any kind of printed material), pictures, drawings, cartoons, poems, etc. Fill it, lay it out; its yours! Write if your group is interested. We'll send details, deadlines, etc. If your group wants to receive bundles of AIN'T I A WOMAN?, send 15¢ per copy. Minimum bundle: 20 copies. Collective workers: Vicki, Pat, Debbie, Lori, Linda, Dale, Penny, Carole, Julie, Anne, Carol, Pat, Sue and Linda. AIN'T I A WOMAN? is published on the second and fourth Fridays of each month by the Publications Collective of the Iowa City Women's Liberation Front, P.O. Box 1169, Iowa City, Iowa 52240 [Footer] 2 Vol. 1 No. 3 [drawing of a flexing arm] Ain't I