In the whole woman she once again describes woman as sexual objects as that we are all doomed to fail because she believes that sexual attraction between men and women gradually decreases through time particularly on the male’s part and so the marriage becomes doomed. ‘Modern marriage is fragile because the demands made upon it exceed the tensile strength of the initial sexual bond’. (Greer:1999:p258). Also showing once again that women are the weaker sex because a man requires novelty from a women and if he’s not receiving this he may move on meaning once again women have to fight to keep their man’s attention as it’s now common for man to leave his wife and fall for a woman twenty years younger simply because she holds the novelty that his wife used too, but now doesn’t.Greer also gives a follow up to her famous men hating women quote from the female eunuch this time exclaiming that now: ‘ a few men hate all women all the time, some men hate women all of the time, and all men hate some women some of the time.’ (Greer:1999:p281). Throughout Greer’s life her view’s of feminism have remained very popular amongst people although the original feminist’s such as the suffragettes do not consider her to be a feminist at all.
It would seem through Greer’s work that she does not hold one single view of feminism and does not class herself within the brackets of each of them, instead she continues with ideas originally set out by other feminists and simply makes them more plausible for people to understand and agree. For example, she agreed with some of Kate Millet’s original ideas on Marxist feminism but not all of it, she then latched on to another set of feminist’s in the eighties but in general it would seem that she agrees with a some of the views by each of the types of feminism.Today, a new third wave of feminism has come about by modern feminists mostly popular amongst young women or women who have not directly experienced discrimination. They question the need for further effort for women and think that feminism is no longer viable and they often view feminism as embarrassing (although it’s thought there are the ones most likely to espouse feminist ideas and thoughts while denying being ‘feminist’).Contemporary feminists still believe society is not equal for women although we have come along way over the last century by feminists fighting hard for us and now we still need to continue with this idea. Kimberely Yuracko, author of Perfectionism and Contemporary Feminist values believes that feminists today do not criticise women for the choices that they make in life but simply for how the choices were made. For example if the women was put under pressure to make that choice then it wasn’t truly hers and they argue that this should not be the case. Greer also agreed with this view but she was more dramatic about trying to make women stop making these choices and it would seem that today contemporary feminists writers continue to uphold the backbone of the original feminist views.
In recent times and coverage of the media press it would seem Greer has changed many of her views she stills claims the advice given by women’s magazine’s is simply wrong although research has shown that most articles today encourage women to stand up for themselves and be independent, to explore their own sexuality and not to put up with the violence or harassment from men. In the late nineties she gave a speech at the writer’s festival in Melbourne which was very ignorant and patronising towards younger women.She talked of the terrible things women do in bed simply because men and popular culture tells them too, she said ‘they have a duty to say yes to whatever their partners may desire’ (Lumby:2005:p1). Claiming that they would take part in this act no matter how much it disgusted them, arguing that this kind of behaviour is bred by women’s magazine’s which encourage readers to go to any length to accommodate male desires (although she has little evidence to support this view).She also give criticisms over Big Brother famously quoting that the kind of people who watch it are the same kind of people who would enjoy watching torture. And yet research has shown that it’s audience mainly consists of teenage girls making her view’s pretty damaging to young women. Research also showed that it appeals to young women because most of them face the same dilemmas as the housemates as they are also constantly under surveillance from their parents, teachers and experts.
Professor Catharine Lumby at Sydney university who conducted this research also found that when talking to young women about the media they consume, young women are ‘not value-free or brainwashed. In fact, they’re very aware that people see them that way and they resent the assumptions’. It’s seems a real shame that someone like Germaine Greer and her status would rely on stereotypical generalisations about today’s young women and the culture they endure. ‘If younger women are expected to find feminism relevant, then all feminists need to show they are open to understanding the lives young women live and the culture they embrace.
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‘Even though Greer has been heavily criticised because she was so popular with the press she was able to questions things from rape to abortion, from marriage to employment, from harassment to discriminations, because of her and other second wave feminists they have helped changed the society young women now enter by getting laws enforced to stop women becoming degraded. Women today now have much more power in society and a full menu of legal options to redress fundamental wrongs due to feminists like Germaine Greer.In Christine Wallace’s autobiography of Germaine Greer (the untamed shrew) she believes that throughout Greer’s life it has been tough for her but she has remained strong and learnt from her experiences which has made her who she is and why she is that way.
‘….
.She has been an inspiration to so many other women. She has never surrended her sovereignty. Germaine Greer was never tamed.’BibliographyGreer, G. (1998). The Whole Woman.
London: Transworld Publishers Ltd.Greer, G. (1991). The Change : Women, ageing and the menopause. London: Penguin books ltd.
Greer, G. (1971). The Female Eunuch. London: Granada publishing Ltd.Greer, G.
(1984). Sex and Destiny: the politics of human fertility. London: Pan books Ltd.Wallace, C. (2000).
Germaine Greer: Untamed Shew. London: Metro Books ltd.Tong, R., P.
(1998). Feminist Thought. (2nd Ed). Oxford: Westview Press.
