Philosophy: Feminism

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Women in Society, Feminism and Body Image
In the current post-impeachment proceedings the question becomes whom it has affected most and what it will mean to them and their agenda. Obvious groups that will suffer most from the impeachment that are subject to the after effects are the Republican Party and American politics in general. As far as individuals are concerned, Monica Lewinsky has a good deal of post-scandal baggage. But what about those who will experience the effects of Monica and what she represents as a woman in American society? The movement which has suffered the most in the standpoint of social and political agenda is the Feminists. Using Feminist criticism to analyze the discourse surrounding and as well as by the speaker, Monica, I aim to reveal how women's place in society led by the Feminist's has changed due the sex scandal and where it may be headed next.
In looking at this aspect of the scandal it becomes crucial not just to analyze the discourse of Feminists and Monica but to find it in a larger scheme of a society which shapes many of the gender roles and pressures put on individuals to look and act in certain ways (The Weekly Standard 49). There is an evident change in the role of women in American society that has occurred as a result of the scandal which is important not just to the Feminists and their supporters but to any female who enters the public arena and is faced with pressures and expectations put on them as a result of their gender (The Progressive 10).
As a leading special interest group, Feminists, who are politically active concerning gender roles in society, have been at the forefront of the Paula Jones case and the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal. What comes at odds with the Feminist stance in politics is a womanizing Democratic President that they support and his opportunizing and provocative young mistress. It was not something the Feminists were prepared for nor easily responded to when given the option of a liberal President with sexual issues or the conservative, Republican moralists taking charge.
They deplore his misconduct but also understand the hypocrisy of his opponents. They Have years of progress at stake if the President is hounded out of office. But worse yet, they wish the ushering into power of a puritanical or fundamentalists, sex police which Speaks of freedom but allows government to destroy the right of privacy.
Feminists are notoriously Democratic and left wing liberals at that. They do, however, share a common ideology with the interest group of the vast right wing, the Christian Right. This issue is in the moral domain of what should be known about the politicians, and both Feminists and the Christian Right believe that private life is political and the lifestyle of the leaders should reflect the ideal society and act as a role model for the citizens. Clinton, of course, does not fulfill this objective and the issue becomes whether or not it is more important to have the ideal moralist in office or someone who can do a good job running the country (The Progressive 36).
The issue of Monica for the Feminists and Christian Right is a little different. Monica means very little to the Feminists, she is not important to their agenda nor a good representation of women in American society. For the Christian Right, on the other hand, and especially Ken Starr, Monica becomes a way to get the immoral President out of office. Monica is not in good moral standings with either of these two interest groups as well and they do not hesitate to condemn her and watch as the media follows their example.
Bill and Hillary were the Feminists dream: both are liberal leaders in politics, Hillary is a role model for intelligent women in high political positions and Bill is in support of women's social issues. In fact the Feminists like Bill so much that when the sex scandal erupted, which was truly their worst nightmare, they supported him in spite of the fact that he was exposed as the classic womanizer they detest.
Until the impeachment trial Feminists had a definition of sexual harassment that would grow daily in its detail of a man using his power over a woman of lower position in a sexual regard. But what do you do in a case with Monica Lewinsky where, to many, it is clear that she was the sexual advances and was using her sexuality to appeal to a man of higher power and hoped to rise up in the world? Bill Clinton can still fit the role of a womanizer who has nameless mistresses and that he had" no intent of arousing" the woman with whom he had an affair, but Monica likewise fits the role of a manizer who showed him a flash of her thong to let him know that" she was available."
In the past Feminists have been conservative moralists regarding the lifestyle of the leaders and set up rigid rules to keep men in power in check against any female oppression. The idea that the "personal is political" is something Feminists have used to identify gender roles in society to expose when male leaders use power and sexuality to the disadvantage of women (The Weekly Standard 28). A good example was in the case of Anita Hill against Clarence Thomas for sexual harassment and the Feminists came out strong in her defense. The Lewinsky-Clinton sex scandal, however, was a different sex-gender issue altogether.
As a result of the impeachment proceedings, the Feminist movement will only move further away from that ideology of strict moral conduct as it only reflects the conservative Republican and Christian Right views. The issue of public versus private in regard to the lifestyles of the politicians has been divided along party lines like many of the forces running the impeachment trial. If it comes down to the question of what does the American public want more, a moral leader or a brilliant manager? The Republicans will say the former and the Democrats the latter. But the Feminists want both, which they cannot have with Bill Clinton, and thus the movement suffers as a consequence.
The Feminists, for not joining the attack on President Clinton for allegedly having oral Sex with this twenty-one year old intern in the Oval Office is an outrage, since Feminists Generally condemn sexual harassment of any kind. The issue in sexual harassment should not be sex but discrimination. Feminist's drawing these parallels and especially acknowledging the concept of "Sexual McCarthyism "can be seen as a very left statement that implies that Ken Starr is the instigator and that he is at fault for bringing sexuality to the foreground. It also implies that the scandal is not an issue that the leaders need to be evaluated on. This is an extremely different stance than the one Feminist's have traditionally taken yet it is more consistent with their liberal political ideology.
Even with all the change brought about by the impeachment crisis Feminists have an origin of the Women's Movement coupled with a very serious agenda that has been getting only stronger over the past thirty-odd years. The issues they address cover many areas of society such as the power imbalances in marriage, in the workplace and the way women are treated in both America and worldwide. Clinton is someone whom the Feminists politically agree with and count on for their movement is morally one of the worst scenarios of men they are fighting against. Monica is another problem for Feminists. She has coined the new word manizer. With the female in the role of perpetrator it expands the notions of sexual oppression to both genders and diminishes the definition of the world "womanizer" as the only kind. Politically, they are glad that she did not give the incriminating testimony to the Grand Jury that may have turned the impeachment into a true case of perjury, yet Monica is entirely had for Feminist politics. Having a female vixen that used her sexuality to appeal to a much older, more powerful and then tries to have him find her a job is a scenario that switches to roles of sexual harassment.
There is so much sexual harassment that goes on at a workplace, for instance Monica has really made it hard for other women who are going to come up in that situation, because everyone is going to say. Feminists can cast a good deal of their blame onto Monica for her role in the sex scandal yet it downplays the roles that Tripp, Clinton and Starr played. Regardless of how much Monica welcomed the affair, the scandal would not have been exposed as a scandal had not Clinton entertained the relationship for an extended period of time, Tripp recorded the incriminating evidence and Starr interrogated every last detail out of everyone involved in order for the scandal to make impeachment hearings. Monica, however, remains just as bad and in many cases worse than any other sexual inquisitor.
The fact that Monica's reason for sexually advancing herself can be traced back to her weight insecurities by the Feminists, demonstrates how they find her to be the kind of weak-minded young woman who would resort to such provocative methods in order to gain power, control and self-confidence. It seems harsh that the Feminists can identify the causation of Monica's actions and relate it to women's body image in the face of society and the "ageism" of the culture and yet blame the individual and not the society which promotes such insecurities. Many Feminist spokeswomen seem to be above this plight although Monica is now the victim from both sides as her fellow women condemn her and leave her out to be crucified by the next one who wants to take a hit.
Even though Feminists have censured...