“The family is now a tangled array of relationships...The recent visibility of lesbian and gay families illustrates an important cultural shift.”[1]
With postfeminism has come the discussion of the family structure and what it means for women in a postfeminist society. Michele Barrett and Mary McIntosh explain how things are changing and that 'Marriage is no longer so obviously the main source of livelihood available to bourgeois women...The campaigns for easier divorce, supported often by socialists and feminists, have meant that marriage is no longer so indissoluble that people are stuck for live in loveless or brutal bonds. The wedding ceremony itself has been modernized so that women no longer need promise to 'obey' or men to 'worship'.'[2] However, the British government today still makes it financially beneficial to be married, which could imply an encouragement of the traditional marriage. Therefore, we must question whether things have really changed. We must also remember that this text was written during Thatcherism and may be seen as outdated when read in today's times.
Barret and McIntosh also talk of the woman's household duties which again sound like they haven't changed. When they talk of seeing 'women's association with housekeeping and child-care' being 'one of the keys to their oppression'[3] it is reminiscent of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. Friedan also talks of Suburban Housewives who think, “...I feel I have no personality. I'm a server of food and a putter-on of pants and a bedmaker...But who am I?...It's not just the work. I just don't feel alive.”[4] This indicates that not much has changed in terms of family and women's household duties.
Furthermore, Barrett and McIntosh question 'how fundamental a change has there really been?' in terms of sexuality. 'Men still rape women. Fathers still commit incest with their daughters.'5 Only two days ago, on the 30th of March 2014, was the first gay marriage performed in Britain.
While the 'post' in postfeminism seems to imply that the feminist movement is over, it seems there is still much to explore particularly when it comes to other groups wanting to be included in the movement such as men, non-Western women and lesbian and guy individuals.
While the 'post' in postfeminism seems to imply that the feminist movement is over, it seems there is still much to explore particularly when it comes to other groups wanting to be included in the movement such as men, non-Western women and lesbian and guy individuals.
POSTFEMINISM, FAMILY AND SEXUALITY
Post-
Feminism
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