198
SUSAN SONTAG
them in
telTIlS
of the degree of "liberal" enlightenment of public policy,
come the capitalist countries with a Protestant background, notably
Sweden, Denmark, England, Holland, the United States, Canada, and
New Zealand. Lagging far behind to the rear are those countl'ies with
a Catholic cultural base, like France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and
the countries of Central and South America - where married women
cannot buy
and
dispose of property without the signature of their hus–
bands; and where
the
right to divorce, not to mention the legality of
abortion, remains fiercely contested. And still further behind the
Latin
countries, almost out of sight, are the couilitries with a Moslem culture–
where women are stilI subjected to ferociously strict forms of social
segregation, economic exploitation, and sexual surveillance. . . .
Despite the cultural unevenness with which the situation of women
is being ameliorated, I would predict that most of the reformist demands
will be granted in most countries
by
the end of the century. My point is
that then the struggle will have only begun. The granting of these de–
mands can leave intact all the oppressive and patronizing attitudes that
make women into second-class citizens. Women have to feel, and learn
to express, their anger.
Women must start making concrete demands - first of all upon
themselves and then upon men. For a start, women can note their ac–
ceptance of full adult status by symbolic acts, like not changing their
last names when they marry. They can wean themselves from the en–
slaving concern with their personal appearance by which they consent
to make ,themselves into objects.
(By
giving up make-up, and the re–
assuring ministrations of beauty parlors, they symbolically renounce the
narcissi:>m and vanity that are, insultingly, deemed normal in women.)
They can refuse the rituals of male gallantry which dramatize their
in–
ferior position and covel't it into
.a
seduction.
As
often as not women
should light men's cigarettes for them, carry their suitcases, and fix their
flat <tires. Even the trivial acts by which women ignore preassigned
"feminine" roles have weight, helping to educate both women and men.
They are the necessary prologue to any serious consideration on ,the part
of women of the institutional framework for their liberation. This think–
ing must coincide with the creation of experimental institutions run by
women, for women -living collectives, work collectives, schools, day-care
centers, medical centers - which will embody the solidarity of women,
their increasingly politicized consciousness and their practical strategies
for outwitting :the system of sexual stereotyping.
The liberation of women has both short-term and long-term political
meaning. ChangiIllg ;the status of women is not only a political objective
in itself but prepares for Cas well as constitutes pant of) that radical
