Social movements depend on a variety of communication strategies to define problems and mobilize supporters, from revolutionary rhetoric to fact-based public awareness campaigns. Consciousness raising -- the project of connecting the personal to the political -- occupies a unique position in this spectrum, both as a specialized genre of activist discourse and as a practice.
In contemporary American culture, the cognitive and group process described as "consciousness raising" is associated with radical movements of the 1960s, particularly the women's liberation movement. According to historians Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon, feminist consciousness raising -- or "CR" -- was "a form of structured discussion in which women connected their personal experiences to the larger structure of gender" and was "simultaneously supportive and transformative." In the late 60s and early 1970s,
Women formed these groups by the hundreds, then by the thousands… The mood was exhilarating. Women came to understand that many of their "personal" problems -- insecurity about appearance and intelligence, exhaustion, conflicts with husbands and male employers -- were not individual failings but a result of discrimination. The mood became even more electric as women began to create collective ways of challenging that discrimination. (Dear Sisters: Dispatches from the Women's Liberation Movement, 2000).
Feminist consciousness raising groups operated on two assumptions: that women were "the experts on their own experience -- as opposed to professionals such as doctors, psychologists, and religious leaders, usually male, many of whom...believed that they knew what was best for women;" and that feminist theory should be grounded in the reality of women's daily lives. "The common denominator in feminist CR," Baxandall and Gordon write, "was that women shared experiences in order to collectively analyze how male dominance worked and how it could be changed." It was through the process of feminist consciousness raising that rape, legalization of abortion, domestic violence, sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and lesbian rights were first articulated as public issues.
Of course, the fatal flaw of the CR model was that it only politicized the experiences of women who were willing and able to participate in consciousness raising groups -- mainly women with similar educational backgrounds and the capacity to imagine that their combined experiences were broadly representative of women's concerns. The idea that the critical step toward rectifying systemic inequities is "naming and framing" a problem is an inherently privileged point of view, because it presumes that people in power will care about our hardships, or can be forced to act in our best interest -- a premise which is problematic for all women, and is in direct conflict with the lived realities of women and girls in marginalized communities. As was perhaps inevitable, reliance on small-group consciousness raising as the fact-finding end for a theory of feminist politics accelerated the fragmentation of the short-lived women's liberation movement. In many cases, however, the process of scripting a common language to describe the characteristics of women's oppression was empowering for those who took part in it.
Today, it's unlikely that the typical mother -- or most women, for that matter -- would seek out a women's discussion group with the sole intention of analyzing how male dominance works and what to do about it. It sounds fairly tedious, and -- for better or worse -- talking about women's situation in such stark terms is seen as off-putting nowadays. But the model of thousands of women spontaneously forming groups to explore the political meaning of their personal discontents is still idealized as the optimal foundation for women's activism, and contemporary mothers' advocates refer to consciousness-raising -- and its close cousin, strategic storytelling (or discursive activism) -- as key to mobilizing the twenty-first century mothers' movement. A prime example is MomsRising's Motherhood Manifesto (both the book and DVD), which seeks to make the message of the "motherhood movement" more engaging by maximizing narrative and minimizing analysis. Judging by MomsRising's ability to attract a massive number of supporters to its netroots mailing list, the "consciousness raising lite" approach appears to be a smashing success.
On the other hand, it's going to take more than reforming mothers' attitudes (as recommended by some self-proclaimed feminists) or enlightened public policy to assure women's collective progress -- which is why I feel there's a valid argument for reviving old-style consciousness raising as a tool for change. I'm not suggesting that we resurrect the practice of criticizing full-time homemakers for clinging to false consciousness -- that sort of thing gets old very fast. Nor do I think that consciousness raising groups can serve as a substitute for the community-based grass roots organizing that will ultimately bring the mothers'-and-caregivers' movement to fruition. But if we want to break the link between caregiving and women's inequality -- as opposed to the stop-gap solution of making caregiving less costly to those who provide it -- we need to dismantle the rhetoric of maternal choice and cultivate a broader understanding of why change is necessary. Meaning that sooner or later, we'll have to start poking around in the messy business of race, class, gender, care, and power in the United States -- and a new and improved version of the feminist consciousness raising model might be a good format for that undertaking.
In its classic form, feminist consciousness raising was mostly about talking, but talking with a purpose -- specifically, women talking to each other about their personal lives in order to "build a collage of similar experiences" that might reveal a larger truth about women's condition (Pamela Parker Allen, "The Small Group Process," 1969). In her feature essay, Mothering in Real-Time, Jane Hammons describes how talking with children about everyday conflicts can be a political act -- but adds that talking as just talk also has a purpose.
Consciousness-raising can also begin with a question, such as: "Does life really need to be quite as difficult as our system increasingly makes it?" Writing about the routine financial insecurity and predictable hardships of combining work and family in middle-class America, first-time contributor Laura Camp suggests that when moving to France is not an option, parents should act on the principle that we're all in this together (Fighting For a Collective "We," in Essays).
Another time-honored practice among social justice activists -- and a common by-product of having one's consciousness raised -- is "speaking truth to power," or calling out influential groups, public figures, and the political establishment for doing the wrong thing. In this issue, returning contributor Kristin Maschka comments on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent veto of several family-friendly bills, including a bill prohibiting employment discrimination against workers with family responsibilities.
In this month's Noteworthy section, readers will find summaries of new reports on working families and public policy, including a ten-state study revealing that 41 million Americans are falling into a "hardship gap" -- the shortfall between earnings supplemented by public work supports and the ability to pay for basic needs. Also in this month's Noteworthy: Links to an updated collection of work-life policy briefs from the Sloan Work & Family Research Network, a study finding that rural mothers are more likely to be in the paid workforce, and a new state-by-state estimate of the actual cost of caring for foster children in the U.S. Plus: highlights of the latest report on women's health care from the National Women's Law Center, and a summary of a recent government report on jobs, gender, and depression. And of course, the usual round up of notable news stories and commentary on Americans not getting by, mothers & fathers, the workplace, and reproductive health & rights.
Don't forget to swing by the Get Active page for new opportunities to act for change. A coalition of women's groups lead by the National Women's Law Center has launched a Fair Pay Campaign to support the timely passage of the Fair Pay Restoration Act, and the National Network of Abortion Funds has a new online petition calling for a repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which limits access to abortion for women in the military and low-income women who depend on Medicare.
In closing: I'm guilty of endorsing the maxim that information is power. But information is only powerful when it's processed (that is, measured against what else we know through exposure and experience) and applied. Feminist consciousness raising was a method of recovering, processing and applying information women acquired through personal experience -- knowledge that was actively suppressed and discredited by culturally-constructed definitions of women's nature and needs. Given present the ideological drift of American society, I don't think we should give up on the subversive potential of consciousness raising just yet -- as long as we remain mindful of its limitations.
Looking ahead
After much reflection on the best way to deliver quality content to MMO readers going forward, you'll be seeing two major changes to the MMO in the coming months. The big news is that as of January 2008, I'll be adding a weekly blog to summarize and comment on media stories and new resources related to women, work, family, and public policy. The MMO blog will offer the same assortment of links, analysis and research highlights currently published in the Noteworthy section, but in a timelier manner. The Noteworthy section will still be published and archived as a regular feature of the site, but with a stronger focus on resources for advocates and activists.
Also, beginning with the February/March 2008 issue, the digital magazine -- the essays, interviews, book reviews and commentaries that form the core of the MMO's unique content for mothers and others who think about social change -- will transition from publishing ten times a year to publishing every other month (six issues). My hope is that this adjustment will help me realize several longstanding goals for the site: to increase opportunities for new and seasoned writers to contribute to the publication, to include book reviews and in-depth interviews with authors and activists in each edition, and to publish every issue on schedule. I'm planning to devote more time to activism and writing for print next year, and tweaking the MMO's publication schedule will help me balance my editorial role with other commitments. The 2008 Editorial Calendar -- which will include information about upcoming publication dates, issue topics, and submission guidelines -- will be available next month.
The December 2007 issue will cover The Caring Society, along with a Year-End Review -- submissions are due December 1. Essays, reviews and commentary on pretty much any topic related to motherhood and society are welcome. Email editor@mothersmovement.org with questions, or visit the Submissions page for general guidelines.
A million thanks to this month's contributing writers and past contributors, and for all the MMO readers who are out there raising consciousness and keeping the faith that a better world for women and families is possible.
In solidarity,
Judith Stadtman Tucker
Editor, The Mothers Movement Online
editor@mothersmovement.org
November 2007 |
