GENERATION X AND THE INVENTION OF A THIRD FEMINIST WAVE by ELIZABETH ANN BLY Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Renée Sentilles Department of History CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY January, 2010 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of _____________________________________________________ candidate for the ______________________degree *. (signed)_______________________________________________ (chair of the committee) ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ (date) _______________________ *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. Copyright © 2009 by Elizabeth Ann Bly All rights reserved iii For Gabe, Kristin, and Xoe And in memory of Judith Northwood (1964-2009) iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix ABSTRACT xiii INTRODUCTION 1 White Grrrls 7 ―We Don‘t Need Another Wave‖ 11 Generation X, Feminism, and Contemporary History 19 ―The Order of Things‖ 25 CHAPTER ONE: “Generation X and the 1970s Pop Cultural Discourse on „Women‟s Lib‟” 32 ―Women‘s Lib‖: The Media‘s ―Charred Bra‖ Revolution 35 A Day in the Life: ―Women‘s Lib‖ as Spectacle 38 ―And Then There‘s Maude‖: ―Women‘s Lib‖ and Adult TV 46 Women‘s Lib as Concoction: Popular Culture, the Culture Industry, and Co-optation 54 CHAPTER TWO: “Generation X and the 1970s Pop Cultural Discourse on Feminism” 59 Race and Class and GenX Childhood 61 Feminism on the Page: Textbooks 66 v Feminism on the Page: Children‘s Literature 75 Feminism Screened: ―PBS Kids‖ 79 Feminism Screened: TV Specials and Saturday Morning Television 92 CHAPTER THREE: “„Growing Up Postmodern‟: Gender and Generation X” 108 ―Jigsaw Youth‖: The Inevitable Plurality of Meaning 111 ―White Boy, Don‘t Laugh, Don‘t Cry…Just Die‖ 120 ―Re: Post‖ 129 ―I want [your] MTV‖? 133 CHAPTER FOUR: “„Typical Girls‟?: GenX Feminism and Gender Contingency” 141 Mourning the Privileges of ―Normative‖Identity 144 The Backlash and the Culture Wars 147 Post-Feminism and ―The New Female Power‖ 156 ―Those Were the Days‖: The Culture Wars and the Fight Over the American Dream 159 ―You make me want to go away— you make me want to crochet!‖ 166 ―Your Words No Longer Excite Me‖ 170 ―My Body, The Hand Grenade‖: Challenging and Perpetuating Discourses on Sexuality and the Body 177 vi CONCLUSION 194 BIBLIOGRAPHY 203 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Samantha and Kim, ―Suburbia = Hell,‖ crummies in tummies, 1990s 186 Figure 2: Zannah Marsh, ―Power is Being Restored,‖ Hungry Girl, 1990s 186 Figure 3: Anonymous, ―Love Yer Cellulite Day,‖ Grrl-a-Liscious, May 1995 187 Figure 4: Amber Panko, ―Do The Riot Thing,‖ Grrrl Newsletter, 1990s 189 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people enter graduate school with a clear dissertation project in mind. This was not true in my case. Yet, the foundations of my project were with me when I entered Case Western Reserve University‘s history department as a Ph.D. student in 2003. I credit my mentor and dear friend Renée Sentilles with recognizing my intellectual strengths and interests and for encouraging me to embark on a project on third wave feminism. I credit the origins of this dissertation to a moment in a conversation we had in 2006. As we mulled over potential dissertation topics in her office, Renée raised a characteristically intuitive question: ―Why not write about riot grrrls and third wave feminism?‖ The project evolved from there and Renee supported my intellectual journey at every turn. The fact that I am her first graduating Ph.D. student means more to me than I can say. While I owe Renée the greatest single intellectual debt, Jonathan Sadowsky also contributed a great deal to my thought processes and to the project as a whole. I revisited his comprehensive exam question—―Is there a "post-modern" feminism? Does the alleged rise of postmodernity help to explain anything about changes in feminism?‖—so often in the early phases of the project that I decided to expand upon the question and my response to it in the dissertation. His trenchant question is at the core of chapters three and four. Mary Triece‘s enthusiasm for my work and her insights on media culture and mass communication proved invaluable to my dissertation. She is a friend and a mentor, and I have learned a great deal from her as a scholar, but also by watching her skillfully ix navigate many intersecting roles. She is a brilliant, productive professor who also makes time for activism and leadership in her near west side neighborhood. I am very grateful to Peter Shulman, whose enthusiasm and energy rejuvenated me at a moment in the process when I needed it most. Peter incisively encapsulated my project into one sentence: ―GenX feminism is an instance of political action in an age of paralyzing ironic detachment.‖ After the dissertation defense, I immediately wove various articulations of Peter‘s synopsis into the dissertation, and it is one of the key phrases that I use to succinctly describe it. It is just one instance of Peter‘s many sharp assessments of the project. This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of the Department of History at Case Western Reserve University. Rhonda Williams read early versions of chapters one and two and offered valuable insight on the racial dimensions of my interpretation of primary sources. As co-advisor to Case‘s 2007 Arts and Sciences Dissertation Fellowship Seminar, Ken Ledford suggested that I explore second and third wave feminisms through a generational lens, which set in motion what ultimately became a study of the interconnectedness of Generation X and third wave feminism. Many of my graduate student colleagues contributed their wisdom and insight to my project. Ben Sperry and Jon Wlasiuk read drafts of all five chapters; they encouraged me to consider the broader implications of my project, to clarify claims, and to hone the theoretical aspects of the narrative. Just weeks after delivering her second child, Beth Salem enthusiastically read and thoroughly edited the introduction and chapter four. My late friend and colleague Judi Northwood offered a constructive critique of chapter two, which compelled me to look at school textbooks as a way to further reinforce claims I x was making about the implications of gendered images in 1970s children‘s popular culture. In my six and a half years as a part of Case‘s history department, I have been encouraged and supported by three department chairs—Carroll Pursell, Alan Rocke, and Jonathan Sadowsky—and four directors of graduate studies—Angela Woollacott, Alan Rocke, David Hammack, and Dan Cohen. I am indebted to all of them, particularly to Jonathan and David and the graduate student council for their commitment to my work, and for providing monetary support in the form of stipends, fellowships, teaching assistantships, and instructor of record positions. Their generosity also included funding for research trips and conferences, for which I am also very grateful. Department assistants Nancy Kryz, Marissa Ross, and Kalli Vimr helped me navigate countless graduate school hurdles. No lengthy research project can be completed without financial support. In addition to history department funding, I received three consecutive fellowships from History Associates, for which I am extremely grateful. I also received travel grants from The Sallie Bingham Center for Women‘s History and Culture in the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University, and from the Sophia Smith Collection Women‘s History Archives at Smith College. I made two trips to The Sallie Bingham Center, and I am particularly indebted to the Center‘s staff, especially to Kelly Wooten, Research Services and Collection Development Librarian and Laura Micham, The Sallie Bingham Center Director and Librarian for Women‘s Studies. Kelly‘s knowledge of the Center‘s extensive collections of third wave feminist zines is xi remarkable, and her suggestion that I focus my research on the Sarah Dyer Zine Collection was invaluable to me as I crafted the culminating chapter of my dissertation. Embarking on a major research project is a commitment that one‘s family and friends share. I am grateful to my parents, Joan Altmayer and Darrell Bly, for their encouragement and patience for the project, particularly as they sometimes struggled to comprehend what, exactly, I was writing about. My sister-in-law Kandi Genis‘ constant encouragement compelled me to write on days when my spirits were low and the project‘s completion seemed unfathomable. My friends and teachers at Inner Bliss Yoga Studio helped me stay physically strong and mentally grounded, and made me laugh and have fun in unexpected ways. Most importantly, however, I am thankful for the love and support of my spouse Kristin Rogers and my children Gabe and Xoe Bly. Kristin‘s enthusiasm for my research and writing was boundless, and he helped me work through early iterations of the dissertation and read and edited chapter drafts. During the six and a half years that it took for me to earn the Ph.D., Kristin was a loyal partner who endured stacks of books and papers, weeks of single parenting as I conducted research out of state, and solo nights out as I stayed in to read, write,