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Abby's picture

"I love you, Heidi"

  First off, thanks to Jessy for her above post.  These questions were in my mind as well while reading the book, especially the one pertaining to the absence of a model for a heterosexual, monogamous relationship that is also feminist...what can I say, I'm a little preoccupied with that question.  But anyway, I'm also really intrigued by Heidi's "Women, Where are We Going Speech" in Act Two, Scene Four.  She ends with a confession of real  loneliness as a feminist, as someone who had expected to find a place of belonging and ended up having to face the nasty reality that it's every woman for herself.  It strikes me as a call to, above all else, sisterhood.  Come to think of it, none of the female relationships in this play really strike me as deep and important.  I was more often distrustful of any woman in this text other than Heidi.  The scene in Act One with the meeting of the Huron Street Ann Arbor Consciousness-raising Rap Group set the tone for me in terms of feeling this way I think.  It always felt like these women were performing for each other, performing feminism as opposed to really investing in it. 

  To switch subjects, I also think that in terms of the whole "are gay men and feminists really allies" question, the "Hello, New York" interview scene with Scoop and Peter says volumes.  This scene is a clear representation of female silencing.  Both Scoop and Peter, though one can be superficially labeled an asshole and the other more genuine, shut Heidi up.  Actually, they don't even give her a change to speak.  Then they can't understand why the hell she's so upset.  It's quite astonishing to me that, despite their opposition to each other throughout the entire rest of the play in this scene, Scoop and Peter are almost indistinguishable.  They become the same figure, the same voice.  Maybe the fact that Peter's sexuality is not open and out there for every one to know has someting to do with it.  Could Peter be a different person when he is performing the image of a "normal" heterosexual pediatrician?  Does this performance of "normalcy" relegate him to acting out oppression?  Hmm...

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