Feminism, along with all of the other movements seeking equality, has now become the movement of “do your own thing”. I agree we should all be free to do our own thing, but a movement needs solidarity and unity. I may be a bit confused, but it seems to me that the modern movements for racial and gender equality appear to be leading right back into these groups actually insisting that we allow them to “choose” to behave in exactly the way male WASPs have been stereotyping them for centuries. Women are beginning to insist that they stay home and raise the kids; people of other races insist on dressing and behaving according to the cultures and traditions they have come from.

And of course, they are all free to bahave according to our most ignorant stereotypes of them if they choose. Efforts to assimilate everyone into one culture made everyone too much alike so that it made it difficult for prejudiced people to hold on to their stereotypes. The current trends toward acting according to your “choices” appear to me to be most effective at isolating these groups, making them easier to pick out. Once they are easy to pick out, they are easy to stereotype.

The idea behind equal rights was to have the same social advantages and access to jobs that white males have. Overcoming this barrier is difficult without people acting as a movement and with unity. “Do your own thing” is the opposite of unity.

I fear the current trends will result in major reversals in whatever gains were made in equal rights somewhere down the road.