PARTISAN REVIEW
197
much people claim
Ito
be shocked or put off by such acts, their rhetoric
does
have a positive effect upon the silent majority. Performed by even
a i>mall minority, this guerrilla theater forces millions to become defen–
sive about hitherto barely-conscious sexist attitudes, accustoming them
to the idea that these attitudes are at least not self-evident. (I do not
exclude the utility of real guerrilla violence as well.)
Undeterred by the fear of confirming sexist cliches (e.g., women
as
creatures of emotion, incapable of being detached, objective), mili–
tant groups must commit themselves to behavior that does violate the
stereotypes of femininity. A common way of reinforcing the political passi–
vity of women has been to say they will be more effective and influential
if they act with "dignity," if they don't violate decorum, if they remain
charming. Women should show their contempt for this form of intimi–
dation disguised as friendly advice. Women will be much more effective
politically if they are rude, shrill, and - by sexist standards - "unattrac–
tive." They will be met with ridicule, which they should do more than
bear
stoically. They should, indeed, welcome it. Only when their acts are
described as "ridiculous" and their demands are dismissed as "exag–
gerated" and "unreasonable" can militant women
be
sure they are on the
right track.
7. And in this case, what will be the long-term and the short-term
objectives?
The important difference is not between short-term and long-term
objectives but, as I have already indicated, between objectives which
are reformist (or liberal) and those which are radical. From suffrage
onward, most of the objectives that women have sought have
been
re–
formist.
An
example of the difference. To demand ,that women receive
equal pay for equal work is reformist; to demand that women have access
to all jobs and professions, without exception, is radical. The demand
for equal wages does not attack the system of sexual stereotyping. Paying
a woman the same wages a man gets
it
she holds the same job Ihe does
establishes a merely formal kind of equity. When roughly half the peo–
ple doing every kind of job are women, when all forms of employment
and public responsibility become fully coeducational, sexual stereotyping
will end - not before.
In underlining this difference once again, I am not suggesting that
the reformist gains are negligible. They are eminently worth struggling
for - as evidenced by the fact that these demands are, for most people,
too "radical." Most of the reformist demands are far from being granted.
In that slow procession toward fulfilling the reformist demands, the
Communist countries have taken a clear lead. Next, but well behind
