Feminism Book Club - The Equality Illusion by Kat Banyard - 14 April 2010 9pm

[Molesworth]

Thought I'd set the thread up ready for next week

Link to book on Amazon

Synopsis

Today it is widely believed that feminism has achieved its aims, and that women and men have achieved equality. This, quite simply, is an illusion.

Women working full time in the UK are paid on average seventeen per cent less than men. Domestic violence causes more death and disability among women aged sixteen to forty-four than cancer or traffic accidents. Of parliamentary seats across the globe, only fifteen per cent are held by women and fewer than twenty per cent of UK MPs are women. The number of men paying for sex acts doubled during the 1990s in the UK. From body image to work to education to violence to sex, women in the twenty-first century are still on an unequal footing with men.

In The Equality Illusion, campaigner Kat Banyard has written an alarm call, arguing passionately that feminism is one of the most urgent and relevant social justice campaigns today.

Structuring the book around a normal day, Banyard sets out the major issues for twenty-first-century feminism and explores how they are woven into our everyday lives. She also challenges how we think about choice and empowerment - ideas that have been so successfully co-opted by both the beauty industry and the sex industry - and argues against the notion that biology is at the heart of most gender inequality.

Banyard draws on her own campaigning experience as well as academic research and dozens of her own interviews and case studies. The book also includes information on how to get involved in grassroots action and a list of resources.

(www.faber.co.uk/work/equality-illusion/9780571246267/)

Author Website

The bit that horrified me the most was Kat's description of what she found when she googled for porn. It made me feel sick. To think that the average teenage boy (I have a 16 yr old son) will almost certainly be looking at this stuff at some point, even if not regularly. Made my blood run cold.

How the feck can a feminist support this as some do?

WRT men being involved in feminism Molesworth, yes it's heartening.

SGM your friend sounds like a good lecturer!

I think we have a responsibility as women to help men redefine themselves too. I think that's a core task of feminism actually. I'm not suggesting that feminism become about men, but that feminism moves forward into having an actual effect on men. I think (and this isn't meant to sound patronising or man-hating) that we can show men the way.

For instance, the civil rights movement has helped whites learn tolerance and how to let go of fear. I'm not sure the whites could have done that without the education of the black activists (generalising of course - some whites were a part of the struggle).

The social construction of men has become horrifically destructive. Women might need to lead the way for men, if we want them to become re-constructed.

The whole section on porn/prostitution etc was an eye opener for me - I'd never been happy with the existence of either,but wondered if I had any right to be commenting on what other people choose to do with their bodies.(Well aware I'm a bit of a prude!)
The statistics on prostitution - particularly the "before and after" drug addiction figure made me think that no,this is not just another career choice,and whitewashing it,calling women "sex workers" etc is wrong.
Have probably put that very badly...

Well, I say it horrified me the most, actually I was horrified all the way through.

I do have a criticism though - I'm in sympathy with everything Kat says in the book, but as I was reading it I could almost hear the voices of the naysayers. Now I know there's plenty of research cited in the book and it's all referenced and so on, but I found myself wanting more substantiation. Not because I want to be convinced, but because I want the ammunition to convince others. But perhaps that's an unfair criticism in that you can't do everything in a single book. Even if readers are sceptical about the use of research to support claims, it's a starting point for discussion and further investigation.

Hello! Joining in a bit late.

I think it's a really good book.

So so shocking though a lot of the stories .

I think the title says it all - I feel as if I have been seeing the world through an illusion and the scales have been ripped off my eyes now!

My "discovery" of Feminism is still v. recent and has been a fast increasingly indignant and angry process!

(I started with the BBC3 Womens Libbers prog and then did some googling and followed the MN threads and now this MN section and reading this book.)

Molesworth - you asked whether the book would convert "doubters" - not sure but I think that it should activate people who are ambivalent at present but what have a Feminist "core" IYSWIM?

Would you like to join me in pledging to recommend this book on FB to your FB friends along with some of the shocking facts to entice people to read it?

pogle, don't accept that 'prude' label. It makes my blood boil that the slightest objection to porn gets us branded as prudes. What bollocks.

Mary Whitehouse approach wouldn't work in these days of the interweb even if we wanted to go down that road. Surely the answer (or a positive step - doubt there is An Answer) has to be raising awareness of the realities of porn - talking to our kids about it, discussion in PSHE classes etc etc?

Molesworth I know what you mean about wanting Banyard to back up some of her more qualitative / anecdotal evidence with something more objective / scientific.

But I think the reason we want more evidence is because we have internalised the naysayers. It's like we don't completely believe the mess we're in. It goes against the prevailing description of our lovely classless, equal society. It feels like it can't be true that women are systematically oppressed in countless ways. But it is true.

It reminds me of being in an abusive personal relationship. You know it's wrong but when you try to pin it down, a hundred other voices come in and say 'are you sure? where's your proof? is it really abuse?'

Porn is a symptom of the way that men are conditioned to be, surely? Until men see strength in gentleness, equality, sharing etc, then sex (and the industry it feeds) will always reflect macho ideals (domination, punishment, competition etc).

Blinder, you've hit the nail on the head there. I was reading the book, agreeing with everything, yet simultaneously aware that the naysayer voices I could sense were actually coming from a lifetime of internalizing these sexist norms and especially the neoliberal language of 'choice, rights, empowerment'. It's scary how ingrained it is.

Kat Banyard is tweeting about joining the thread... fingers crossed

There were a couple of things in particular about abortion which just shocked me to the core (and these are very UK-centric items and of course the stats re deaths from unsafe abortions etc are much more shocking):

The fact that in Northern Ireland it is illegal to have an abortion apart from in "exceptional circumstances". OMG that is just awful - it effectively cuts off young/poor women from arranging a confidential abortion.

The fact that Life has given talks in UK schools - I mean FFS. Abortion is legal in the UK - how the hell can an organisation like this have access to our DCs? I'm going to inform myself a bit about this later by looking at their website.

Oh excellent, I hope she joins us!

Yes Molesworth that neoliberal thing has foxed me too, but it's becoming clearer for me now.

It's like that whole repulsive Gok Wan thing - an 'empowered' woman 'chooses' to look good naked. WTF?