This month’s topic is New Feminism: hindsights and futures .
Maria O”Neill and Jim Prentice will lead discussion around the impact of new feminism on Australian life and lives over the past 40 years and its potential use in making futures we might want to be in. They say:
We see the discussion as a means of exploring the group’s own experiences and understandings to arrive at some assessment of the capacity of feminist theory and practice to benefit the ways we try to make decent futures.
Maria will provide some analysis of the origins and early pathways of the women’s movement and the developments in feminist theory and its influence on directions in public and private Australia and
Share some reflections on feminist theory and practice about how they might be used in new ways to shape how we think about, and act, in our current environment.
Jim will address some issues he has identified as arising from the Great Victories of Feminism around:
CULTURAL Changes:
A) Separation of biology from identity including sexual orientation and theories of citizenship
POLITICAL /ECONOMIC Changes:
B) Equity in the work place
C) Child abuse becomes a mainstream concern.
Jim notes that A and B and C are all within the liberalist agenda and asks so what’s wrong with liberalism? He will explore
PROBLEMS:
D) There is not sufficient compensation for absent parents in models of child support.
He notes: This interests me a great deal. Apparently some European nations foster a one parent at home model. Think we are sitting upon an abyss of improper parenting not on gender inequality at the work place -liberalism and feminism will attend to this. Time knowledge… new problems…
E) Feminism naturally enough has most success where it appears to conform with a new cool status quo of being totally liberated, especially about getting rich, but women are often used here as a superficial alternative-gimmick –
F) There are areas of bio-cultural patterns re male /female which are not consistent with liberalist / marxist view.
Hoping to see lots of you on 1 October for an evening of good humoured discussion!
Usual Venue: 6/ 20 Drury St West End at 7 pm Wednesday 1 October 2008.
Usual supper: delicious fruits, nuts, dips and crisps with rare teas and coffees.
Please Take Note:
Needless to say Trotsky has, yet again, sent in his apologies, claiming he must be off to greater debates in more significant venues.
However, little does he know that Dan is at large, at this moment, in those very spaces and on old Trot’s case!
Relentlessly checking out sites of contemporary leftist discourse in London, Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris where matters of great moment are mulled over, Dan will be searching pavement cafes and park benches for those three or four ardent youths in dreadlocks and Docs huddled with poor old Leon, reliving those glorious train rides through the Steppes and the historic battles between Pabloists and Healyites of the GTW (Great Trot War).