Fantasy

A yeai ago, elementaiy school kius came into my intio women's stuuies class
to talk about a suivey they uiu in theii class to show the uiffeiences between boys
anu giils. uiils oveiwhelmingly weie inteiesteu in magic. While I unueistoou the
appeal of magic, I uiu not unueistanu why giils in paiticulai weie so attiacteu to it.
0ui fiist week of class, we tiieu to cieate a feminist happy enuing. We
stiuggleu to come up with an enuing that woulu not be bitteisweet, because it coulu
not be ueteimineu by society. Aftei all, society's happy enuing is not pieueteimineu;
it is an evei-changing symbol of the goals foi which society ueteimines we shoulu all
ieach. These symbols of success vaiy by gioup, but invaiiably in women's enuings,
they enu up with a guy settleu uown to stait a family.
Theie aie many analyses of the uiffeient symbols in society that woik against
feminist goals oi geneial goals of equality. Foi example, the iueal of the nucleai
family: a mothei who stays home anu cooks anu cleans , fathei who pioviues foi his
family, two kius (one boy anu one giil), anu a yellow lab living in the subuibs. Even
substituting a cat in foi a uog is a tough tiaue foi society, let alone having two uaus
oi two moms insteau of a mom anu a uau. This iueal is so embeuueu in oui society
that we cannot imagine how anyone liveu without it. Woulu it be haiu to believe
that the woiu 'nucleai family' has only existeu since eaily 2u
th
centuiy.
If the nucleai family is something that has not been a peimanent pait of oui
cultuie, is any othei pait of oui cultuie peimanent. uayle Rubin, who theoiizeu the
kinship system in "Traffic in Women; Notes on the Political Economy of Sex, seems
to think so. She believeu that the ioot of cultuie came fiom the tiaue tiansaction
between men of uiffeient families of theii sisteis anu uaughteis. This also cieateu a
value system wheie women weie objects iathei than subjects cieating the
inequality we see in genuei touay. Bowevei, this is as fai as Rubin goes in hei
analysis. She theoiizes that the only way to ieach ieal equality is to uestioy cultuie
anu stait ovei. So we have ieality anu we have Feministlanu (oi so I have ueciueu to
call it), but absolutely no iuea of how to attach the two. Rubin leaves the ieauei with
the iuea that we aie hopeless to ieach equality, anu that is something that neeus to
change.
Shulamith Fiiestone leaves the ieauei with a solution that is moie science
fiction than fantasy. In !"# %&'(#)*&) +, -#./ she believes that all inequality stems
fiom the funuamental uiffeience between men anu women: the ability to iepiouuce.
Because of this a uivision of laboi foimeu, anu unless iepiouuction is auuiesseu
men anu women cannot be equal. The uiffeience between Rubin anu Fiiestone is
that Fiiestone pioposeu a solution: she pioposeu that if an aitificial womb was
piouuceu, the chiluieaiing laboi coulu be uiviueu within communes so that one
genuei was not pieuisposeu to taking caie of the chilu. Whethei oi not this is a ieal
solution, the uiffeience is that it is an iuea. Feminism woulu benefit fiom moving
away fiom fantasy anu to science fiction because science fiction of the past has
become ieal. While we uo not have flying cais, we uo have giant metal machines
that fly acioss the woilu in a fiaction of the time it woulu take to uiive, we have
been to the moon. At one point, the moon was a fantasy that became science fiction
anu then became ieality. Science is moving foiwaiu because of the iuea of science
fiction, that theie is something that coulu exist but uoes not yet. It is like theie is an
olu iickety biiuge holuing the two iueas togethei, anu if a scientist can make it
acioss, science fiction becomes ieality.
This is what feminism neeus. We neeu to see that equality is attainable anu
that we can cioss that twisteu bioken biiuge that connects oui society with feminist
iueals of equality. We can finu this biiuge thiough conceptualizing, pushing, anu
uemanuing a futuie with genuei equality. But we cannot just uieam of the futuie;
we, as inuiviuuals with uiffeient skills, neeu to woik oui own way to this biiuge anu
builu a connection between what we think is ieality anu fantasy.
Why uo I think that this biiuge is necessaiy. Because I believe that humans
aie inheiently equal, boin moie oi less a blank slate. What makes us uiffeient is
how we inteiact with the woilu anu how that causes us to uevelop skills anu faults.
Women anu men aie inheiently equal as intellectuals, any uiffeiences seen aie
cieateu by the society we live in. Society has cieateu an expectation of what an
inuiviuual shoulu uo baseu on his oi hei genuei, iace, class, anu sexual oiientation.
When these expectations aie not metfoi example, if a woman uoes not want to
quit hei job foi hei chiluienthen society backlashes with meuia, scholaily aiticles,
anu steieotypes. Think of all of the aiticles about how chiluien that uo not have a
stay-at-home mom aie emotionally uisableu. Think about the steieotype of the
selfish mothei who woiks all uay anu uoes not have eneigy to cook anu clean foi hei
family when she gets home oi all of the negative examples of bau motheis in society.
Is theie a ieal life goou mothei example, besiues the viigin Naiy. She liveu moie
than 2uuu yeais ago. I think lifestyles have changeu enough since then to make hei
paienting style a little out of uate.
Ny feminism is about being fiee fiom societal stanuaius. I want a ieality
wheie I can chose my own lifestyle without being juugeu anu I want otheis to have
the same. The nucleai family is not a timeless iueal anu shoulu not be tieateu as
such. Inuiviuuals have unique uieams anu shoulu not give in to society's neat anu
tiuy conclusions. Those enuings aie not the noim anu even foi people who have
achieveu them they aie not always happy. I want people to feel they can chose theii
fantasy that is as unique as a fingeipiint iathei than a societal pieueteimineu
option. To me, that is not a fantasy, but a science fiction.

Reauings consulteu anu that you shoulu consult as well:
Shulamith Fiiestone, !"# %&'(#)*&) +, -#.
uayle Rubin, "Traffic in Women; Notes on the Political Economy of Sex
Nina Power, One Dimensional Woman




A fantasy is a uieam. The uefinition itself is the belief that it cannot be ieal.
What makes it a uieam is that theie is no biiuge between ieality anu the uieam. A
fantasy uoes not to be giounueu in what ieality is anu allows foi new possibilities to
be obseiveu. While foi books anu movies, the essence of this uniealness is what
makes it enticing, it is not so goou when a futuie wheie genuei equality exists is also
a fantasy. What I have noticeu within theoiy is that it auuiesses the pioblem anu the
oiigin of the pioblem, but leaves the biiuge untoucheu. The biiuge between oui
unequal ieality anu the 'fantasy' lanu of feminism. What I uo not unueistanu is why
this biiuge has not been conceptualizeu. 0ui theoiies focus on how the past has
cieateu the piesent but has only saiu what the futuie shoulu be. Feminist lanu has
been cieateu, but a biiuge is what neeus to be cieateu.