Bookslut came across this hilarious and somewhat brilliant essay by Lynn Barber from last December in which she talks about what it was like to come of age before feminism:
“We had no sex education. We had a lesson on reproduction in the frog – not a very helpful role model – followed by a lesson on periods (when we were 14, so already too late) followed by a lesson on venereal disease. Apparently we were meant to deduce some connection but I certainly never did and was left with a lifelong unease around frogs.”
But she doesn’t stop at pointing out the ridiculousness of pre-feminist ideas about gender. For Barber, feminism was necessary, but she doesn’t shy away from poking fun.
“I was very aware in the Eighties of the ‘having it all’ phase when women were supposed to ‘juggle’ career and motherhood. I was aware of it because I was actually doing it at the time but I never thought juggling babies was a good idea. What it actually involved was permanent exhaustion and permanent guilt.”
In the end, Barber hopes that women can find a way to build their career and have children in a less difficult way, possibly by having children earlier and starting careers later (rather than vice versa). Whether or not you agree with that, this essay is a great reminder of the debt we all owe–men and women–to feminism.
