ABSTRACT
Welcoming visitin g hig h schoo l students , Presiden t John F. Kenned y ex - pressed th e hop e tha t one o f the young men would som e da y occupy th e White House . Then , turnin g t o th e youn g women , h e adde d tha t one o f them migh t loo k forwar d t o movin g th e furnitur e aroun d a s th e Presi - dent's wife. 1 Thi s wa s th e unselfconsciou s commen t o f a sophisticate d politician. I t has been echoed by later incumbents.* Similarly , Pop e John Paul II , patriarc h o f Roma n Catholi c communicants , questionin g th e value o f feminis t liberatio n movements , counselle d wome n t o ask them - selves wha t kin d o f libert y wa s intended :
By this word, in fact in many cases is meant the rejection of what constitutes their specifi c vocatio n o f mothe r an d wife an d a slavis h imitatio n o f the mode o f fulfillment tha t i s typically male. 2
These pointe r reading s o n opinio n i n hig h place s sugges t tha t th e inter - penetration of gender spheres, as well as the pressures that mandate suc h new style s o f being , ar e ingenuously countere d b y th e conventiona l wis - dom o f th e powerful . "Idea s ar e inherentl y conservative, " note s Joh n Kenneth Galbraith. "The y yield not to the attack of other ideas but to the massive onslaugh t o f circumstanc e wit h whic h the y canno t contend." 3
For though justice i s certainly part of the amalgam, the critical element in th e women' s liberatio n movemen t i s no t justice bu t reality . Chimera s are fraught with consequences. Th e numbing web of habit gives credenc e to conceptua l myth s tha t contraven e no t onl y wha t coul d be , bu t als o what is . Conside r th e fetis h o f th e family . Th e ver y wor d promote s th e standard image of divided function-earning papa , nurturing mama, smal l tots foreve r young-supporte d b y hi m and supervised b y he r until deat h does the m part . Ye t th e realit y i s a n increasin g numbe r o f familie s wit h two workin g parents , a n increasing numbe r of adults who live alone , and (given th e proportio n o f wome n t o me n i n the population ) a n increasin g number of women wh o no t only live alone through necessity bu t are also charged wit h th e burden s o f suppor t fo r others : parents , children , spouses, siblings , an d cousin s an d aunts . Th e rea r vie w image s i n th e heads o f the prominent an d the persuasive are , in consequence, mischie - vous rudiments .
