Feminism still relevant, writers say

Prof Barbara Brookes (left), of the University of Otago, New Zealand writer Lizzie Marvelly (centre) and Australian writer Clementine Ford discuss feminism's trajectory, at a Dunedin Writersand Readers Festival event at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Saturday. PHOTO LINDA ROBERTSON

That was one message that came from a discussion with two prominent feminist writers at a Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival event, That F Word, on Saturday.

Australian writer Clementine Ford and New Zealand's Lizzie Marvelly spoke at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in front of a full house of about 140 people.

The event was subject to bag checks after security was beefed up following an online petition by a men's group opposing Ford's visit.

Ford made fun of the threat, noting the group had been unable to even organise a protest.

Prof Barbara Brookes, of the University of Otago, who hosted the session, asked the pair why the feminist discussion was still so important.

"Why now are we still at this stage, what's happened, what didn't happen, what needs to change?"

Marvelly said she came from the "girls can do anything" generation.

She had been lucky to have plenty of opportunities, but the issue had moved on from there to a situation of "trying to tear down the structures that hold girls back".

The girls can do anything mantra put the responsibility on women individually.

"I think now we've realised there are a lot of structures that hold girls back from doing what they want to do, and reaching their full potential."

Ford said women had always carried the weight of the world.

Reproduction of the species had been their responsibility, "and yet you still hear people say `women have invented nothing, women can't do anything, women are weak"'.

That was one of the greatest insults.

Young men who hated feminism wrote to her saying they were invested in women's rights, but said "it's all been sorted out now".

They claimed she was advocating for superiority, "which is what every opponent to any kind of equality movement had ever said at any point in history".

There had been legislative changes in the 1970s, but that was different from social change.

"We can only move so far if the race is set against us in the first place."

Prof Brookes asked why it was hard, sometimes, for women to describe themselves as a feminist.

Marvelly said part of the problem was the word had been "dragged through the mud", something that was not accidental.

"I think feminism has been seen as this profoundly threatening movement to the status quo, to the whole way that our society has been built, the structures that society relies on continue functioning in the way that it does under an patriarchal system."

The threat to that system had been profound, so there had been "a conscious negative campaign against the term feminism".

Ford said the name could be changed to "sparkly princess unicorn candy-puffs " and people would still say "I think those sparkly unicorns are going too far".

The issue was not about the word, but about what it represented.

Patriarchy taught women to aspire to men's good opinions, and to make sure men did not consider women a threat.

She tried to impart to women who believed that, that "men will never, even the nice ones, they will never, ever, ever support you in the way that you come out to support them".