Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Changing Hawaii
I was so mortified and depressed after reading something in the Jan. 22 issue of Time magazine, I went to a movie in the middle of the day. The film was Ang Lee's exciting new release, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which showcases female martial artists kicking, flailing and chopping away at each other and at guys like Chow Yun Fat. Fighting words
They fought on the ground, while running up the sides of buildings, on the rooftops and, heck, even while flying among the uppermost branches of trees. These gals were no wimps.
Thank goodness, they weren't. I desperately needed something to restore my faith in womanhood after reading about the national popularity of a new book, "The Surrendered Wife," by Laura Doyle (Simon & Schuster).
The premise of this self-help tome is that a wife should be subservient to her husband if she truly wants to maintain a happy marriage. This means never criticizing him. Leaving all the financial decisions to him.
In other words, being a cheerful, supportive and non-threatening doormat. "My mission is to teach women about the power of surrender," Doyle is quoted as saying. "It's my own world peace crusade."
Oh, Mother, give us strength.
You couldn't pay me enough to teach a seminar on this junk, although I might actually read it to get a good laugh (which, admittedly, I desperately need these days).
But, as a proud feminist, I'm worried about the impact such a book might have on already needy, vulnerable island women and girls.
Why must either spouse "surrender" power? Is this some kind of warped reverse psychology that's actually devious manipulation on the part of a wife?
Must we regress to those throw-back days when women were rewarded for being agreeably compliant to all the men in their lives?
Or can we look to the future, when females will be karate-kicking their way through glass ceilings, not only on the movie screen but in the office and the home?
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.