Is Feminism still alive?

February starts tomorrow. Happy Super Bowl Sunday and Happy Valentine's. On Feb. 14th , 4-6 pm, we're celebrating Leap Year and Valentine's Day at Opera Piccola by asking the question, is feminism alive-- or dead? Leap Year comes in years that are divisible by 4, so we aren't there yet. The myth says that women may ask men to marry them on Feb. 29th. Is this unusual because women weren't permitted be the ones asking? Is marriage an anti-feminist institution?

It's great that artists have an excuse to think about big and little questions like these. Of course there are a million other subjects it might be better to think about in February. But our Second Sundays event happens to fall on Valentine's. It's a chance to stop and think about women's rights and our role(s) as lovers, mothers, daughters, workers, etc etc. Gives me a chance to ask my female students what they think. After all, the high school skirt lengths are way above the knees, some shirts are transparent and as the weather warms up, short short short shorts seem to suggest .. Liberated or sex objects? Pehaps there is no need for feminism in the U.S. because we've achieved our goals. We've certainly come very far since the era in which the TV drama, Mad Men, takes place. I was surprised at the bit of history in that show, in which it was assumed that secretaries were supposed to have sex with their bosses and other men on the job. We are protected now by sexual harrassment laws, right?

We're starting off the discussion on the 14th by reading excerpts from Shahrnush Parsipur's play, set in Iran in the 1950's, "Women without Men." There are still places where beating wives is thought to be normal and necessary, and worse. We're also reading some of a feminist play by Lydia Sargent: "I dreamed I saw My Death in Vogue Magazine."

The current lawsuit on Prop 8 raises other issues around gender, marriage, rights, love, parenting. February 14th, before you go out with your sweetheart, let's talk. Bring a poem, or a song. Is there still room for people to meet and talk, live?
Find out more at www.opera-piccola.org