Hip: On Femmes & Feminism
In a lecture titled "The Traffic in Women," she [Emma Goldman] argued that "the wife who married for money, compared with the prostitute, is the true scab. She is paid less, gives much more in return in labor and care, and is absolutely bound to her master."
For many men, Goldman's analogy mirrored their own dissatisfaction with the obligations of marriage. H.L. Mencken, writing in 1918, argued that in the surplus economy of the industrial era, which expected men to work harder to bring home the new consumer goods, men were putting more into the marriage bargain and getting less in return. "[U]nder the contract of marriage," he wrote, "all duties lie upon the man and all the privileges appertain to the woman." The women around such a man could not help but signify on him, Mencken believed: "whatever their outward show of respect for his merit and authority, [they] always regard him secretly as an ass and something akin to pity." .... Floyd Dell predicted in the lefty publication The Masses, "Feminism is going to make it possible for the first time for men to be free."
[Patti] Smith in her early days railed against feminists, whom she felt missed the power of hip swagger. "Hung-up women," she told Nick Tosches in 1976, "can't produce anything but mediocre art, and there ain't room for mediocre art.... Everytime I say the word pussy at a poetry reading, some idiot broad rises and has a fit. 'What's your definition of pussy, sister?' I dunno, it's a slang term. If I wanna say pussy, I'll say pussy. If I wanna say nigger, I'll say nigger. If somebody wants to call me a cracker bitch, that's cool. It's all part of being American. But all these tight-assed movements are fucking up our slang, and that eats it."
For many men, Goldman's analogy mirrored their own dissatisfaction with the obligations of marriage. H.L. Mencken, writing in 1918, argued that in the surplus economy of the industrial era, which expected men to work harder to bring home the new consumer goods, men were putting more into the marriage bargain and getting less in return. "[U]nder the contract of marriage," he wrote, "all duties lie upon the man and all the privileges appertain to the woman." The women around such a man could not help but signify on him, Mencken believed: "whatever their outward show of respect for his merit and authority, [they] always regard him secretly as an ass and something akin to pity." .... Floyd Dell predicted in the lefty publication The Masses, "Feminism is going to make it possible for the first time for men to be free."
[Patti] Smith in her early days railed against feminists, whom she felt missed the power of hip swagger. "Hung-up women," she told Nick Tosches in 1976, "can't produce anything but mediocre art, and there ain't room for mediocre art.... Everytime I say the word pussy at a poetry reading, some idiot broad rises and has a fit. 'What's your definition of pussy, sister?' I dunno, it's a slang term. If I wanna say pussy, I'll say pussy. If I wanna say nigger, I'll say nigger. If somebody wants to call me a cracker bitch, that's cool. It's all part of being American. But all these tight-assed movements are fucking up our slang, and that eats it."