This was true Power to me: living comfortably, socially and politically active with roots in respectability and intelligence. Seeing true Power in action is more poignant than a sorry attempt at grabbing onto something the lesser woman knows she cannot attain: Refinement.
     To relate the message of "degrading yourself empowers you" to a girl is repugnant. In the "Age of Information and Technology" we know there are no intellectual boundaries we cannot conquer and there are  no excuses to continue being slaves to a male-created, sexist system that only serves to please the man while distancing my sisters from one another. Why should stereotype and derogatory beliefs and images about women be embraced by women?
     If a woman chooses to regress back to the shackles of slavery and insult, it is her own fault!  Sadly, I have observed that many of my sisters have chosen to regress and have begun blaspheming FEMINISM in their regression saying things such as, "I have the right..." Shame on you!!!  THERE IS NO  LEGITIMACY IN SELF-DEGRADATION WHILE INADVERTENTLY DEFILING ANOTHER'S REPUTATION!!!
     I AM A FEMINIST; I have never and will never embrace any forms of slavery, humiliation, ignorance or filth. Purposely attracting negative attention equals a loss personal power. In an exhibit at the National Museum of Women's History- Motherhood, Social Services and Political Reform: Political Cultural and Imagery of American Woman Suffrage- I was inspired by reading a quote by the American Women's Suffrage Movement's martyr, Inez Milholland Boissevain: "...how long must women wait for liberty?" Is this what Inez envisioned on her deathbed, women obtaining liberty just to let it slip away because of our own ineptness as being WOMEN? Sisters, "Stop the Madness!"

Gabrielle Lin
17 August1999