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Having just seen Age of Arousal and read the Heidi Chronicles I’m beginning to see a pattern of feminist women making sacrifices and ending up alone. It would have been nice to end with a more upbeat piece! It’s depressing that in Age of Arousal Mary tells Monica that in thirty years women will be able to marry and not have to compromise their feminist ideals because men and women will be equal. Sure, feminists have made a lot of progress but I don’t think we’re anywhere near being as equal as first wave feminists envisioned we would be by now. Even in the 60s when the Heidi Chronicles is set we see that feminists can’t have it all. Heidi essentially has to make a choice between being alone or staying true to her values. For all those who think that feminism is dead or no longer necessary I guess this is evidence that we still have a long way to go… After the performance Professor Dalke assured us that we can “have it all”, I guess it would have been nice to have even some fictional examples of that. It reminds me of Kauffman’s argument that feminism is about justice and not happiness. If we can really have it all then why do all of these authors seem to think that having feminist values means compromise things?