Page 105 - CULTURE IN THE COMMUNICATION AGE

MIRJA LIIKKANEN

womanhood. The researcher makes a very strong and conscious statement in
favor of the postmodern feminist line by refusing to commit herself to the
identity of ‘womanhood’. The politician also underlines the diversity of
womanhood, but in accord with the very first writer’s stress on its ‘social’
nature.
Another Finnish woman’s voice:

Katja Krohn (thirty-two years old, director-scriptwriter): What is the first
thing that comes to mind from the word feminist? Someone who
wants to change the status quo, a minority representative, bitter, angry,
injustice, victim. Victim. I need to make clear my position to this
concept of victim straightaway. The word , in my mind, is
much less valuable; it carries a negative meaning. I often feel victim-
ized. I am annoyed and get angry when I feel I am not treated fairly.
And during the past year I have been working on my career like a
maniac. I am very sensitive. I’m sure I’ll lose my turn and my opportun-
ity unless I defend myself furiously. On the one hand I am torn by the
most painful sense of guilt if I am not home in the evening when my
sons, who are now aged two and three, come home from kindergarten.
On the other hand I am not a victim at all. I love my life, I feel I can
really influence my life, do the work I want to do. The only thing that
annoys me is that the job is not a steady one and that I haven’t managed
to get a regular salary. So in reality my husband is supporting me. That
really hurts my self-esteem. Is the problem that I am a woman, or is it
the quality of my art?
Thanks to the efforts of our mothers, the women of my generation
have been able to enjoy a very equal existence. When I was young I
thought you can get and you can do what you believe you can. Gender
was no obstacle. My children, however, have brought along some harsh
facts. I am no longer so sure that I am just the same as ‘men’
. . . I have always felt that others exercise some sort of power over my
body. There’s always been an outside eye there to assess my body, and
by now that eye has intruded my mind as well.

This interesting excerpt shows very clearly the late modern ambiguities of
womanhood in a society like democratic Finland, which regards itself as egali-
tarian in all social aspects. As in the remarks made by one of the other com-
mentators, the person quoted above exhibits a strong desire to stand apart from
earlier generations of women. Both endeavor to represent ‘humanity in gen-
eral’, and express an overall repugnance at how women’s bodies are treated –
that is at how we are treated as female bodies. This excerpt shows the strong
female value in Finnish culture to be economically independent. It is indeed a
shame to be supported by the husband, even for a short while.
And finally, another culturally gendered voice:

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