For women to do serious creative work they must have a room of their own – a room to hide in, parameters to protect them from external interference and from psychic interference. Women must protect themselves from their inability to keep out input of others, to say no to the needs of others, the fears, the wants, and desires of others that inevitable pull them away from themselves.
The above quoted is from Carol Becker’s Zones of Contention: Essays on art, institutions, gender, and anxiety, it is a book I have yet to read. As for now I only know cultural critic Carol Becker as a great lecturer, you can listen to her here
Hey Sigrun. I agree. I think that women as homemakers, mothers, wives, have not been encouraged to attend to their own thoughts or pursuits. Women have lived and they have been treated as the home itself…somewhere others may find shelter and sustenance, a stable place to leave and come back to. Even today, mothers wrestle with such guilt over their individual desires, their drive to create or achieve something of their own.
Hope you have a good day.
Kathryn
you too!
I have never heard of Carol Becker, so thank you for this quote Sigrun. I agree wholeheartedly with Kathryn, above. I find that without my “room” it would be very hard to do anything creative outside of my daily duty as wife, mother, teacher…….it is inherent in woman, I believe, to be creative, to bring forth beauty. It is part of who we are. We need to find the courage to take the time and space we need to ensure that doesn’t get buried, snuffed out, and smothered.
i also do agree. & that is a nice foto of virgina woolf further up