Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 02/18/2010
Elizabeth Gilbert on “Genius
My school advisor recently sent me a link to this video of a talk Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Pilgrims and Eat, Pray, Love, gave to the TED conference last year. Her views on the pressures of being a “genius” and the way we view creativity are really fascinating.
Now, I don’t want to make connections where there aren’t any, because Gilbert’s argument is so completely valid on its own, but I really do think the idea of allowing yourself psychological distance from your work, whether it is creative in nature or not, is something that my generation of feminists really needs to examine a little further.
One of the biggest issues I’ve had with the older feminist community is this tendency towards absolution or assuming that the feminist view is the 100% perfect way of thinking. But not only that – that also people who don’t hold feminist views are cruel. Now, of course that’s a generalization, not all feminists are like that. But at the same time, can we really preach equality while hating conservatives and people who oppose our beliefs?
I think it’s actually one of the biggest things I’ve learned from blogging, or more specifically reading the comments on my blog posts. Do I absolutely disagree with people who are pro-life? In that sense, pretty much. But at the same time, everybody has had such different life experiences, and they are fighting for their views in the same way we fight for ours.
I’m not saying I support anti-feminist beliefs (obviously). But I think this idea of psychological separation – in this case, separating the person from their political views – has validity. People who are pro-life are not bad people. We wouldn’t want them to assume that because we are pro-choice we are bad, so why are we doing the same thing to them? I just feel like we’ll never get anywhere if we view people with such a lack of dimension and define ourselves more by our differences than our similarities.
Of course, that’s not really what Elizabeth Gilbert, who is apparently a pretty kick ass brilliant woman, is saying in the video. Just posting both as food for thought.
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Ruth @ at 12:49 pm, February 18th, 2010
Olay! thanks for that.
Helen H. @ at 1:09 pm, February 18th, 2010
Thank you, Julie. This was great. As someone who’s struggled with her creative demons several times, this was very, very fascinating.
‘Ole to you nonetheless.’
K8 AH @ at 12:24 pm, February 19th, 2010
Thank you thank you thank you! That was awesome and inspirational and exactly what I needed today especially as I continue to work on what is now becoming an intimidatingly anticipated 3rd album.
Sasha @ at 1:21 pm, February 21st, 2010
This summer I worked for NARAL Pro-Choice, and part of my job was to scan pro-choice and anti-choice blogs for news. Reading anti-choice blogs, as infuriating as it was, really allowed me to identify with how devastating it must be to have abortion legal when you believe that life begins at conception and that a fetus has sovereignty where a women doesn’t. I disagree 100% with the way of thinking, but it doesn’t lessen the pain they must feel that is akin to the pain I feel when I see a women called a murdered by a mob outside a clinic. Looking into the other side was very enlightening and beneficial for me, it’s such an insight into human psychology and demonstrates the impact of environmental conditioning (both liberal and conservative). I think part of feminism is recognizing that diversity, and supporting women’s right to express their views and be heard, regardless of their political leanings. Naomi Wolf gives just this concept a great examination in her work “Fire with Fire: the New Female Power and How it Will Change the 21st Century.”