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Wendy Shalit And A Battle For The Soul of Feminism
Author Wendy Shalit To Speak In Philadelphia
By Mary B. Worthington, The Bulletin
“So the battle for the soul of feminism goes on,” writes Wendy Shalit in her book The Good Girl Revolution: Young Rebels With Self-Esteem and High Standards.
Ms. Shalit, who has been a controversial figure for the past decade, will speak tonight at the Catholic Philopatrian Literary Institute.
“As I traveled around the country, I found that when girls did identify as feminists, they did not identify with the official leadership,” she continues. “As the third-wavers continue to advocate a public, crude sexuality and younger girls feel oppressed by how public sexuality is, the two sets of women are on course for an inevitable collision. In talking to them, I came to think of these younger feminists as part of a fourth wave, since their beliefs tend to distinguish them from the third-wave of feminists who are usually quoted in the media. The fourth-wavers question pornography instead of wishing to star in it.”
The battle for feminism is precisely what Ms. Shalit intends to address in her talk. She is concerned with “reclaiming feminism — getting back to the vision of the original feminists who felt that women could uplift society.”
As a Jewish woman and mother, Ms. Shalit points to “a new generation of role models who argue for a new sexual revolution.”
These role models are not necessarily elders, but more likely young people who are encouraging their peers to stand up for the dignity of sexuality, despite the protests of their elders.
“When I critiqued the hookup culture back in 1999, and was summarily dismissed as a prude by my elders, it would have been an enormous comfort to know that less than 10 years later my ‘prudish’ position would be considered cutting-edge,” Ms. Shalit recently wrote in a review for the National Association of Scholars of three books on sexuality.
Where 10 years ago, her first book, A Return to Modesty, was a new topic, Ms. Shalit now notes that there are whole sections of bookstores dedicated to sexuality and the “hook-up” culture. Her book was written soon after Ms. Shalit received a bachelor’s in philosophy from Williams College, where she was infamous for protesting the coed bathrooms. Naturally, her book quickly fueled her reputation, and she immediately came under fire for her advocacy of sexual modesty.
Her recent review indicated that though the three books came to distinct conclusions about how to solve the problem of dissatisfaction of young people regarding relationships on college campuses, each book provided sufficient evidence that there is a problem.
Ms. Shalit found evidence of this first-hand at Swarthmore College during her appearance there last April.
“Many Swatties, it turned out, shared regrets about campus life (300 students attended my talk), yet they still felt completely isolated because dissenters are literally heckled and ostracized,” she wrote. “An honest campus debate on these issues may still be impossible, but if there were alternative social events to disrobing and hooking up, the students would definitely attend.”
In addition to reviewing current works on sexuality, Ms. Shalit also writes frequently on cultural topics for publications such as Slate and the Wall Street Journal and contributes to the group blog modestlyyours.net.
“Young people,” Ms. Shalit said, “need to realize that there is something much worse than being made fun of — that tends to be their biggest fear… But living a life that is inauthentic is much worse than being made fun of.”
Generation Life, which is sponsoring the talk, decided to bring Ms. Shalit back to the Philadelphia area in part due to the reaction of the Swarthmore students.
“Her message was so powerful and challenging to the students who heard her,” said Cristina Barba, college outreach director for Generation Life. “She battles the culture through common sense. We thought this was a message that more young people needed to hear.”
Mary B. Worthington can be reached at mworthington@thebulletin.us.
Ms. Shalit, who has been a controversial figure for the past decade, will speak tonight at the Catholic Philopatrian Literary Institute.
“As I traveled around the country, I found that when girls did identify as feminists, they did not identify with the official leadership,” she continues. “As the third-wavers continue to advocate a public, crude sexuality and younger girls feel oppressed by how public sexuality is, the two sets of women are on course for an inevitable collision. In talking to them, I came to think of these younger feminists as part of a fourth wave, since their beliefs tend to distinguish them from the third-wave of feminists who are usually quoted in the media. The fourth-wavers question pornography instead of wishing to star in it.”
The battle for feminism is precisely what Ms. Shalit intends to address in her talk. She is concerned with “reclaiming feminism — getting back to the vision of the original feminists who felt that women could uplift society.”
As a Jewish woman and mother, Ms. Shalit points to “a new generation of role models who argue for a new sexual revolution.”
These role models are not necessarily elders, but more likely young people who are encouraging their peers to stand up for the dignity of sexuality, despite the protests of their elders.
“When I critiqued the hookup culture back in 1999, and was summarily dismissed as a prude by my elders, it would have been an enormous comfort to know that less than 10 years later my ‘prudish’ position would be considered cutting-edge,” Ms. Shalit recently wrote in a review for the National Association of Scholars of three books on sexuality.
Where 10 years ago, her first book, A Return to Modesty, was a new topic, Ms. Shalit now notes that there are whole sections of bookstores dedicated to sexuality and the “hook-up” culture. Her book was written soon after Ms. Shalit received a bachelor’s in philosophy from Williams College, where she was infamous for protesting the coed bathrooms. Naturally, her book quickly fueled her reputation, and she immediately came under fire for her advocacy of sexual modesty.
Her recent review indicated that though the three books came to distinct conclusions about how to solve the problem of dissatisfaction of young people regarding relationships on college campuses, each book provided sufficient evidence that there is a problem.
Ms. Shalit found evidence of this first-hand at Swarthmore College during her appearance there last April.
“Many Swatties, it turned out, shared regrets about campus life (300 students attended my talk), yet they still felt completely isolated because dissenters are literally heckled and ostracized,” she wrote. “An honest campus debate on these issues may still be impossible, but if there were alternative social events to disrobing and hooking up, the students would definitely attend.”
In addition to reviewing current works on sexuality, Ms. Shalit also writes frequently on cultural topics for publications such as Slate and the Wall Street Journal and contributes to the group blog modestlyyours.net.
“Young people,” Ms. Shalit said, “need to realize that there is something much worse than being made fun of — that tends to be their biggest fear… But living a life that is inauthentic is much worse than being made fun of.”
Generation Life, which is sponsoring the talk, decided to bring Ms. Shalit back to the Philadelphia area in part due to the reaction of the Swarthmore students.
“Her message was so powerful and challenging to the students who heard her,” said Cristina Barba, college outreach director for Generation Life. “She battles the culture through common sense. We thought this was a message that more young people needed to hear.”
Mary B. Worthington can be reached at mworthington@thebulletin.us.
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