bitchface episode 001 // new year's revolutions
we started 2016 talking about revolutions.
in particular, we were talking about shulamith firestone and her seminal work, the dialectic of sex and the case for feminist revolution.
in 1970, firestone wrote, "how did the Myth of Emancipation operate culturally over a fifty-year period in order to destroy women’s political consciousness?"
she goes on to explain that in the 50 years between the 1st and 2nd waves of feminism women were beset by a series of setbacks cleverly disguised as feminist progress: sexual liberation that made the sexual exploitation of women that much easier; opportunities to work that were fleeting, and dependent on war; and finally, an exaltation of fifties femininity which told women that being a perfect wife & mother was as easy as buying the right dish detergent. Or panty hose.
some say it's two steps forward, one step back. firestone called it "The Fifty Year Ridicule".
feminism has always had a cyclical momentum, both in the broader movement and in our personal lives. And so this episode is about how we revolt, and also how we revolve, how we change and transform. the ways we rotate and orbit around the same feelings. or how we get over it, evolve, move on.
+ Writer & illustrator Yumi Sakugawa reads "7 Rituals From the Feminist Utopia: Prebirth to Postdeath," from The Feminist Utopia Project.
+ Phoebe talks to her G-Ma & Holocaust survivor Eva Unterman about whether feminism was relevant for her, or whether it's relevant now.
+ NK & her mom Valerie Hunter-Kelly talk about whether feminism informed a career decision that had unintended effects on their relationship.
+ bitchface contributors read a paraphrasing from "The Fifty Year Ridicule" in The Dialectic of Sex.
+ Selfish contributor Kelsey Nolan reads her essay about breaking up & moving on in a piece called "His & Hers".
+ "Sad Sax Song" by Leah Menzer is the realest break up song of 2016.
can you even tell it's our first time?
HOSTING: NK & Phoebe // PRODUCING: Elyssa Dudley
