Movement 102

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Rosie Miles assesses Germaine Greer's eagerty-anticipated book on feminism and womanhood in the last thirty years. The backdrop now inctudes butimia, transsexuatity and, of course, the Spice Girls... The changing face of feminism Tue WHou WoNnru by Germaine Greer (Doubleday) the publication ofThe Female Eunuch, one of the seminal texts of second-wave feminism, Germaine Greer is back with "the book I said I would never write". The Whole Woman is Greels sequeltoThe Female Eunuch, assessing the position of women now from her vantage point of being one of the foremost feminist w riters and thinkers of nearly a third of this century. Greer opens the book by sayin! "ln the last thirty yearswomen have come a long, lonEway; our lives are nobler and richer than they were, buttheY are also fiendishly difficult". Right from the sta,t she is a/so quick to highlight some of the problems thattodals women seen to have which did not affect their mothert generation: 'When The Female Eunuch was written our dauthters were not starYing or cuttingthemselves. 0n every side speechless women endure endless hardship, grief and Pain, in a world system that creates bllllons oflosers for every handful of winners". Greer concludes her opening' Recantatiol by declarint that "lb time t0 get angry aEain". The Whole Woman is indeed an angry, passionate, committed book, Eiving ample evidence that although women may have achieved a sPurious equality with men in some areas, they havedt really achieved something which could be called liberation. Many readingthis review are probably youngenough to be Greels dauEhters, if not her trand'dauthters. l'm slithtly older, but nonethe/ess pad of a teneration of women who can take for granted much that our mothers couldrlt. Greer nonetheless has much to say that is relevant to us. The book is divided into 32 chapters, organized under broader headings of ' bodf,' mind',' lovd a nd' Powel, and after readingthis boo4 no one can think that we now live in some playful, postmod ern moment as far as the need for feminism is concerned. lJndoubtedly we now live with a greater awareness of the cornplexities of womefs lives and idenilties, and we are far more conscious of differences beween women which need to be noted, but Greels assessment of the situation of women today makes clear that women of whatever race, c/ass or sexuality are still frequently discri minated against first and foremost becaus e of their fender. Perhaps discriminailon has become more subtle and sophisticated ln dlsgulslnf, itse/f but nevedheless it is still very much with us. The Whole Woman is not a particularly comfortable read. The early chapters focus on how womeds bodies are still being perceived and manipulated, and Greer has searchin! questions to ask about the prevailinE models of beauty and femininity that are sti/l so dominant in our white western culture, and the imPlicit disgust that these attitudes present towards the real bodies ofwomen. She wrltes of young womeis problematic relationship to their bodies as witnessed through the phenomena of anorexia, bulimia and self-mutilation as "fhe protest of the powerless". ln a culture that is all too keen to reduce youngwomen to their (sexualized) bodies alone "it is inevitable that their impotent rage be turned againstthose bodies, which they are wilfully destroying, even as they are most admired". Mon: corrnoYERstALLYt Greer questions the right of nale-tofemale transsexuals to appropriate the label 'womai as their own (in a ch a pte r m ocki n gly e ntitled 'Pantomime Damet), and PerhaPs most problematically wonders whetherwe have the rithtto denounce the practice of Female Genital Mutilation in African countries because of the cultural value it has in them. The Whole Woman resonates with the cumulative weitht of example after example of the waYs in which cosmetic,scientil?c, medical and surgical procedures invade, alter and aftempt to control the female body. ln the final chapter, 'Liberatiorl, Greer writes, The persona/ ls stll/ political. The millennial feminist has to be aware that oppresslon exerts itself in and through her most intimate rel atio nshi ps, betinnint w ith the most intimate, her relationship with her body". Other topics considered bY Greer i n cl u d e' ho usewo rK,'shoP P in g', 'sorroul,'si ngld,' masculinitl and (perhaps inevitably)' girlpowel, to name only a few. Greels concerns about girlpower of the SPice Girls variety is how it is part of a mediamade "propatanda machine, aimed at our daughters [which] is more powertd than any form of indoctrination that has ever existed before". Looking at my 9-year'old niece, who adores the SPice Gils (or did, until All Saints came along), I do wonder what Scary, Sporty, Posh, Ginger and Baby have done for her sense ofherse/f as a Eirl, as a growinE young woman. MaYbe theYlre done more than we know - it remains to be seen. What does this boo| have to offer thinkinf Christians? Lots. Feminism has always hadlustice as central to its agenda, andThe Whole Woman has as much commitmentto the need for thints to be befterforwomen, whoever and wherever they are. Greer ends the book by suggestingthat female power is perhaps most goinE to be found in the Placeswhite western feminists expect it to be. As many Christian troups have taken up the cancellation ofThird World debt as a millennial issue, l'll l?nish thts review with Greels concluding words: "Female power will rush uPon us ' anwhere the famished labourer sees luxury foods for the western market Erown on the land which used to provide for her and her children. And the women of the rich world had better hope thatwhen female energy i*nites they do notfind themselves on the wrongside". Rosie Miles teaches courses on women's writing and feminist theory in Wolverhampton. movement 24
'.{ijiffiE Wates is the new Manchester, apparently. Catatonia... Stereophonics... The Manics. Have the Manic Street Preachers managed to go mainstream and keep their integrity in tact? Do their redemption songs stitt ring true? Craig Cooling think so. "THts ls My Tnurx Te[ Me YouRs" Manic Street Preachers This te11 a rs my Wales, ) meyours... k!#"T#;TffA:"* l5I I EverythingMustco catapuited i.ne Manics into the annals of rock history. ltwas a blend of brilliance that encompassed the c/ass critique of Design For Life to the unabashed heady Everything Must Go. Livint as they do now in a post Richie Edwards - world the respectthey command is unneruing and their most recent Brit- Awarded album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours does not disappoint. But what is the nature of their appeal? They deal in the beautiful, the bold and the bitter, their home being somewhere in between. Songs that engage with the disafected, songs that remove us from ourselves and s0ngs thafgive us hope. Redemption from blandness and apathy, from i{nominy and from politics that don't connectwith the people it is You get the feeting that the Manics and their sumptuous redemption songs are going to be around for a white yet. supposed to be about. Their Welsh heritage is the manna that has fed th e i r p ro Iifr c creativity. . ln their latest release we see no movementfrom some of the themes of their previous qJbums; desperation, a need to escape from ourse/ves, social justice and daring to be bold. However while Generation lerorists and The Holy Bible were confined to the paths of a cultistfollowing, EverythingMust Go (as its tit/e suggests) becarne a sacrifice to both theirhnt hero Richie and their indie following - they became estab/ished in the British rock hierarchy' This Is My TruthTell Me Yours despife lt's post modern title Preaches their new gospel. With two Brit awards and bein! established as the 'Q Best Band in the World Todal their rnessage (and foilowing) has become co nfo rm i st a nd m a i n strea m. ln many ways the music of the Manics - lames Dean Bradfield (vocals, guita\ Nicky Wire (bass) and Sean Moore (drums) insprres, preaches and laments. A Design For Life, a beautiful commentary on class and what it means to be worung-class (with words almost exclusively by Nicky Wire since Richie disappeared), dealt with one of the main threads of the Manicg writing: socialjustice and the need for /essons to be learnt. This theme is continued in fhis ls My Truth Tell Me Yours. ln 'lf You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next they comment on apathy and the evils that it brings. Together with veiled references to the Spanlsh CivilWar "if I can shoot rabbits tnen / can shoot lbsclsts " and ,'l've walked La Ramblas/ but notwith real intent" , lamenting the need for the present world to /earn its lessons from history. AIso in fou're Tender and You're Tired' Wire comments on how those in society are preyed upon because of theirvulnerability. ln a New Labour soclety that saw it frt to introduce tuition fees, and with a social outlook that doesn't include yount people in a minimum wage and excludes slngle mothers, itisn'thard to reallse the relevance of the songs to their audience. Arso l iltEnE nilr HAs been prevalent in the history of the Manics has been desperation and the need for people to escape from themse/yes. 1ne only has to think of the escaplst Australid or'Kevin Cartel in Everything Must Go. Agaln this shines throu(,h in antelically beautiful yet (inevitably) tratic visions in lhls /s My Truth Tell Me Yours. In The Everlastint'we have the "world is full of refutees they're just like you and me. " And in the gorgeous song'Born A Git' in which the narrator yearns to be notwhathe is. He wlshes he'd " been born a girl instead of what I am ... not this mess of a man" and yet in desperation cornes so/ace as we treasure and feed the hopes thatwe fear " l've loved the freedom of being inside." Wire's lyrics bruise and inspire, leaving us drunk on emotion and empathy yet not quite certain that we enjoyed it. )ne only has to look at the Richie-dedicated' Nobody Loved Yod: its chorus ironically hithli(hts the evil hand that feeds us " nobody loved you - nobody made you so alone" when precise/y the opposlte was the truth. And yet they dare to be bold. The song'Everything Must Gd left us feeling dazed and confused, the boldness of 'Be Natural' in their /atest release cal/s us to treasure happiness and live in the present. Simplicity itself it would seem - and yet the song musically has an uncomfortable feel again: unnerving us, not /etting us feel secure. /n You Sto/e lhe Sun From My Heart the victim of the song doesn't care about how badly he is treated by the thief, "there's no - no real truce/ with my fury you don't have to believe me/ I love you allthe same/ Butyou stole the sun from my heaft" . They deal with desperation and Doldness as double-edted swords. Desperation is treasured by the desperate and bo/dness is an admirable yet u n co mfo rta b I e fe eli n t. As I write this a Labour Chancellor has just cut income tax by a penny, when teachers are underpaid and schools u nd er-resou rced, hospita/s are overwor4ed and nurses are told that pay is irrelevant because of the satisfaction they receive from their lobs. Ihis coupled with Sony being poised to pull out of Wales leadint to a threat of 4 500 jobs goingfrom the valleys, you Eet the feeling that the Manics and their sumptuous redemption songs are goin{to be around for a while yet. Craig Cooling is SCM'S Groups Worker. movement 25
Page 1 and 2: _ "s/
Page 3 and 4: Morag Foster explains her retuctanc
Page 5 and 6: Go away! l: SClvt's annual retreat
Page 7 and 8: 7 I $l l;,ml:n; RurH Hnnvrv WERE TW
Page 9 and 10: course, will mean radically rethink
Page 11 and 12: SCMer certainly doesn't want to. An
Page 13 and 14: Itw HuoH WHrreroRo sAPREtOXmOili f!
Page 15 and 16: \rt .,: ...) ' l:,f ,l . '1. l The
Page 17 and 18: trade Eo wHAT oro I nlo BEHtltD mE
Page 19 and 20: Iternatlue ut o rl d's The weakness
Page 21 and 22: I ,, ', "Friends, every day do some
Page 23 and 24: Malcolm Brown speaks to Simon Hughe
Page 25: I ,l A comedy about the Hotocaust?
Page 29 and 30: Txr Nw RurcroH or Ltrr tru EvERvunY
Page 31 and 32: CC ne of the best ways f knout to e

Movement 102

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