Web Letters: Amber Waves of Blame

I write to affirm Katha Pollitt's view that it is not about waves, it is about power. And to suggest that second-wave feminists (and I am one, albeit a youngster of 60) need to start to pass the torch to Generation O, the Obama Generation.

Perhaps we do more action and less hair splitting here in LA, where this passing of the torch is already well underway. And I am speaking more of the LGBT Movement, which strongly overlaps the re-burgeoning young feminist movement. Both had their re-birth with the same historical events in 2007--the campaign between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And in California, at least, Generation O has further earned their stripes on the same Election Day November defeat over Proposition 8, which would have given same-sex couples the right to marry.

For the last eight months, California's Generation O, a huge passel of high school, college and post college young kids--led by young women--has taken to the streets in protest on a weekly basis. They have organized so many new groups that we've had to form a coordinating coalition called OUT West that now includes forty organizations.

I have met these young militant adults at a half dozen history teach-ins, civil disobedience actions, panels, rallies and marches, and on Facebook. And unlike their parents' generation--the 40-to-60-year-olds who went partying or lipsticking during the dead years--they want to hear from us, their grandmothers of the second wave.

That's the real news--that the kids are back on the streets again and wanting us to tell them; what is consciousness-raising? How do you get a thousand people to a rally? What are the tricks of the trade?

With a looming defeat on our state's agenda, and having been radicalized in Hillary's campaign and Obama's brilliant grassroots organizing, the only thing they want to know is--How do we win?

These young women--and dare I say, young men--are as sweet and feminist as their grandmothers raised them to be. Their vigor and idealism warms my heart. They are a super-bright, socially conscious lot, and I sleep well at night knowing that after the fallow years ('80s and '90s)--the kids are back!

And now it is our job to school them. Our Council of Elders is putting a book list together that covers everything from Simone de Beauvoir to Kate Bornstein, to support them, and turn the power over to them. We need to be pushing them forward, making sure that on every panel of old feminists, there are Gen O speakers too. We need to open our meetings to them, yes the top planning meetings too. And make sure their views and interpretations of the world get air time too. And now, Robin Morgan, we do need to pass the torch. We had our day and did a hell of a job with it. But now it is time to be mentors to them. They are the future.

Jeanne Cordova

www.thislesbianworld.blogspot.com
Los Angeles, CA

Katha Pollitt observes: "Nobody wants to hear, though, from middle-aged women with relaxed and generous views about sex, let alone who are still having it." And ain't that the truth!

I've been researching the involvement of people over 50 in alternative sexualities for my book. Editors like the writing, compliment the proposal and then tell my agent, "Yuck! Would my mother really do all that stuff?! If so, no one wants to know anything about it."

I'm a pro-sex second-waver: passion has not waned. But the demographic of editors has changed big-time, especially with all the consolidation in corporate publishing leading to the replacement of senior editors with less-expensive younger people starting their careers.

The "sex wars" turn up in all sorts of contexts, not just within the feminist movement. Thanks, Katha Pollitt.

Sue Katz

Consenting Adult: www.suekatz.com
Boston, MA