Is Doris Lessing right about feminism?

Question

Nobel winning novelist Doris Lessing recently said in an interview with the New York Times that feminism has robbed women their character; created some monsters; and "we have given the right to women to be critical and unpleasant, and, they sure have taken advantage of it."

Interesting point of view. What do you think?

Answer 1

I think Lessing is a sad high school drop out and a communist.  If that doesn't say enough about her own character; how about her divorce in 1943?  She was then remarried and divorced a second time by 1949. I have personally never read any of her stuff I don't care that she left communism to become an Islamic.  

What she actually said though was "I don’t think that the feminist movement has done much for the characters of women. I mean, we have produced some monstrous women. What has happened is that given the scope to women to be critical and unpleasant, by God they have taken it, so men are suffering from it." A response when a reporter said "You are best-known for the “The Golden Notebook,” which came out in 1962 and has since been hailed as a feminist classic, a label you seem to reject."

Next time you quote; get it right.  

Edit: If you are going off of memory from a "few weeks ago" you should not use quotes. Quotation marks are used to indicate the beginning and the end of a quotation in which the exact phraseology of another or of a text is directly cited.  The material you stated was not "utterly correct".  Compared to the actual qoute and your previous statement... She did not say that being critical and unpleasant were rights given to women.  She also didn't say that feminism robbed women of their character but she said it had not done much for their character.  Remember close enough is only good enough in horse-shoes and hand-grenades.

Answer 2

I think she may be thinking of a different 'feminism' than I typically think of.  Many people would claim that Lessing is a feminist, but I think the label has just become so contaminated with bigots that more nuanced thinkers would prefer to be called something else.

It's true that some female bigots, who simply seek the right to hate men and be generally unpleasant, call themselves 'feminist.'  Every civil rights movement will attract its share of counter-bigots (remember the 'Black Panthers' during the racial civil rights movement?).

But I think in general, feminism has given women the right to be people, to take positions of consequence in society, and to be regarded as equals if that's their wish.

Answer 3

well I think its flawed to blame these common personality flaws on feminism...

also, I think its very flawed to assume that women were incapable of being critical and unpleasant before women's lib, its just a kind of a dumb comment all around.

btw... I don't consider myself a feminist.

Answer 4

never heard of her.

Answer 5

I think that by accusing modern life of making women "critical and unpleasant," we're going back to the old demand that men can be brusque and arrogant and that's "masculine" and "macho," but women have to be "ladies."

If being a "lady" means I have to be fake, not call an idiot an idiot and stroke the egos of people who cannot stomach criticism, then take me off the "lady" list, please.