“A Bunch of Birds Doing What Birds Do.”
http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2014/06/08/lens-on-detroit-controversial-mens-rights-group-draws-protest/
On June 7, 2014, protesters insisted that Detroit’s Hilton Double-Tree Hotel cancel the Voice for Men International Conference on Men’s Issues due to the group’s notoriously “misogynistic” agenda and “dismissive [views regarding] sexual violence” (Neavling). According to Wayne State student of gender and culture, Kelly Jackson, Voice for Men is essentially “a hate group” ( Abbey-Lambertz). However, despite the presence of over 200 protesters and a petition of over 1,000 signatures calling for the cancellation of the conference, Voice for Men founder, Paul Elam, remained calm, encouraging protesters to “‘buy a ticket, come in and have a seat and let [Voice for Men]help you earn your way out of your ignorance’” (Abbey-Lambertz).
Elam’s condescending attitude towards the feminist cause and the Hilton Double-Tree’s lengthy deliberation on the issue reflect years of failure to take the women’s rights movement seriously. In Toni Cade Bambara’s The Salt Eaters, we see a similar response to Velma Henry and her fellow activists. Near the start of the novel, we see how the group’s driver, Fred Holt, views their rapid movement from one sociopolitical discussion to next as reason to refer them to a “good psychiatrist” (Bambara 67). Furthermore, when he witnesses the women partaking in traditionally masculine tasks like “[taking] apart machines” and handling cameras, he interprets the activities as implicitly sexual and perverse (Bambara 68).
Although people have grown increasingly receptive to feminist ideology since the time period during which The Salt Eaters is set, clearly we have a long way to go.
Abbey-Lambertz, Kate. "Controversial Men's Right's Conference Sparks Backlash." Huffington Post. Huffington Post, 30 May 2014. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
Bambara, Toni Cade. The Salt Eaters. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1980. Print.
Neavling, Steve. "Lens on Detroit: Controversial Men’s Rights Group Draws Protest." Motor City Muckracker. Motor City Muckracker, 8 June 2014. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.