by Mark Clements

“All I can say to women who
have been sexually harassed in
the workplace, is welcome to
the work force.”
-A quote from a male
employee. :
The movie “Margaret’s
Museum” is culturally set in the
late 1940’s and begins
ominously with a woman
frantically running froma
kitchen, screaming bloody
murder. This wildly sensational
scene not only acts as a motif
for the entire movie, but more
importantly it is mimetic to one
of the major problems facing
the feminist movement today.
In short, many people view
feminists activists as paranoid
women that exaggerate just
about everything concerning
womanhood. If you need more
encouragement to _ this
phenomenon, then I suggest
that you read John Fekete’s
book Moral Panic, or Donna
Summer’s book Who Stole
Feminism, to only name a few.
Ironically, the paranoid woman

- Margaret’s Museum

in “Margaret’s Museum” has
legitimate concerns, but the
horrors of this kitchen has just
as much to do with men as with
women, and rightly so.
“Margaret’s Museum”
vividly reminds me of a time
long ago, when a white male
heterosexual friend of mine
went through one of most
horrendous work experience
you could possibly imagine.
After eighteen months of pure
hell of being bullied, and yes,
sexually harassed, by another
male co-worker, he was literally
suicidal. For anyone who is
interested, his ordeal is not
uncommon ina patriarchal work
structure. When he finally
complained to his employer,
they matter-of-factly told him to
“grow up and work it out.” Ina
male dominated system, “to
work it out” means to challenge
your oppressor and you hope
to God he does not call your
bluff. On my friend’s behalf, |
lodged a complaint to the

Human Rights Council and was

quickly advised, in a very
sympathetic matter, to “drop
it.” If my friend was a female,
you can well imagine what
would happen to his employer,
Clearly, women have many
different support mechanisms
to implement work complaints

and in all likelihood, this is one.

of the main reasons for

‘employers not to hire women

in workplaces which
traditionally hire men. In an
ironic twist of fate, the
proactive hard .work by
feminists to protect women’s
working rights, by establishing
the real threat of court actions
and investigations, has
restricted many women from
getting good paying jobs. The
employer’s mentality (this is
only a guess) is that if you are
only in business to make
monéy while you climb the
corporate ladder, then why
change the status quo by
uniting women and men in the
same workplace and risk all
personal goals? All this for the

Over The Edge

Will not be publishing over the summer
intersession, but will resume publication in early

September.

Mail and phones will be staffed over this period,
however, and we would be happy to accept your

interest.

All phone calls can be forwarded through the
UNBC switchboard by giving extention 5633.

‘

We look forward to seeing you all then!

betterment of humanity? Get
teal, this is not a university. ! In
a crazy mixed p way, the single
minded pursuit feminist
ideology that is designed

solely to protect women’s

rights, has indirectly helped
support many of the archaic
patriarchal work forces that are
so prevalent in today’s society.

What does this all have to do
with “Margaret’s Museum”? In
a word, everything. It is unfair
and too simplistic to say that
the movie is a bombast towards
Margaret Atwood’s
intellectuality that spends a
disproportionate amount of
time, writing about the plight of
only women. However, I could
be wrong. “Margaret’s
Museum,” however, is a rude
awakening to Alice Munro’s
classic feminist novel, The
Lives of Girls and Women.
Here, Munro masterfully tells
the unsung heroisms of women
in the twentieth century, and
unfortunately fails miserably
when she characterizes all men

Page 7 -- Over The Edge -- April 14, 1997

as nut cases bent on having
“one big idiotic good time”
fighting Nazism, I think not
“Margaret’s Museum”
successfully subverts many
university women studies —
courses that only give a
historical account dealing with
the lives of only women, as if
the atrocities that are imposed
on undiscriminating upon men
did not affect many women one
way or another,

The movie begs the question:
Do men have to get their bodies
dismembered and displayed in
a kitchen before reputable
feminist scholars begin to take
notice of society's inequities
towards men? “Margaret’s
Museum” is literally a historical
alarm bell to tell the whole story
of the lives of men and women.
As to where you can get a safe
room of one’s own, find a
refuge from this insufferable
blind ineptitude. Give me my
crowded kitchen witha full sink
any day of the week.