The Woman Citizen


What Comes After Feminism?


When you write, as I have, that ”Feminism has committed suicide!” the logical question then becomes, “What next?”  For feminism is the only political philosophy that has ever asserted the rights of women over our own property, much less our own bodies.  Feminism is the only political philosophy to have asserted that women are not only human beings, they are also citizens.  Nor is the need for feminism past.  Not with Planned Parenthood under attack here in America by those who wish women to live under conditions of despotism, or the savage attacks on Lara Logan, not just in Tahir Square, but on the Internet, by Americans who clearly rejoiced in her fate, a savage attack that no more than exemplified what many women, especially in the African and Muslim worlds, but also here in America and Europe, face. 

It was my reverence and gratitude for that that led me to continue to call myself a feminist long after it became clear that not only had politically organized contemporary America feminism left me, it was in the process of committing suicide.  I use so many qualifiers because there are a good many women who identify as feminists who are politically, morally and intellectually serious.  Its capitulation before fundamentalist Islam in the aftermath of 9/11 was only the most obvious indication that politically organized contemporary America feminism has ceased to be serious.  In short, feminism as we know it today has become unwilling to face up to real violence against women with the intention of ending it.  And I write this with great sorrow that the efforts of so many individual women, who have often run real risks, to do just such a thing, have not borne the fruits that they deserve. 

So, what does come next?

I am going to offer a thought upon which I will be expanding, and upon many other things, in the coming months.  Which is that citizenship comes next.

I’ve been meaning  to write a good deal more here than I have, but a few things got in the way—including two novels and a few other odds and ends. 

As for the question of why feminism should be capable of addressing the existential crisis facing America today, why not?  Churches presume to do so.  The wealthy, who are largely men, presume to do so.  Men in general, in short, presume to do so.  Why shouldn’t women?  And no, it’s not because estrogen is some kind of sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice hormone—it’s actually an anabolic steroid, like testosterone, except with far more powerful effects at far lower blood levels.  It’s because we live here.  It is because we are not only human beings, but also citizens.  It is because our bodies, our lives and our countries are ours.

Erin Solaro

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