Voices from the Song of Songs
Judy Chicago:
Judy Chicago (JC): My idea of feminism is a revolutionary transformation of the planet. When people talk aboutliving in a “post-feminist” world, I just laugh. Post-feminist for whom? For somesmall segment of the population in a few countries. But for everyone else, hardly.
JC: The problem now, globally, is that patriarchal societies are destructive, not only to women, but to the globe, to the earth. I think we’re in sort of a race [against time]. What’s going to happen? Is patriarchy going to transform itself? Or is the world going to come to an end? I mean, we can’t keep on this way. We’re not
talking any more just about gender issues. As bell hooks says in Feminism Is for Everybody [hooks, 2000], there are women with patriarchal values and men with feminist values. So what we’re talking about is the [need today for a] revolution of values.
LS: Which leads directly to another question: What insights or approaches do you think feminism has to offer in regard to social justice issues in general?
JC: Feminism is about social justice: social justice for all, the end of sexism, the end ofend of patriarchal oppression. Feminism is a radical social justice movement, with global goals.
JC: The problem now, globally, is that patriarchal societies are destructive, not only to women, but to the globe, to the earth. I think we’re in sort of a race [against time]. What’s going to happen? Is patriarchy going to transform itself? Or is the world going to come to an end? I mean, we can’t keep on this way. We’re not
talking any more just about gender issues. As bell hooks says in Feminism Is for Everybody [hooks, 2000], there are women with patriarchal values and men with feminist values. So what we’re talking about is the [need today for a] revolution of values.
LS: Which leads directly to another question: What insights or approaches do you think feminism has to offer in regard to social justice issues in general?
JC: Feminism is about social justice: social justice for all, the end of sexism, the end ofend of patriarchal oppression. Feminism is a radical social justice movement, with global goals.
Interview to Lester Strong, in October 2002
