Honesty - the key to revolution?

I briefly mentioned Jane Fonda in my blog, When did we decide "girly" was "weak"? And I'm going to use Fonda and her interview with Ms. magazine's Robin Morgan as a springboard for another discussion: Is Honesty the Key to a new woman's movement?

Jane Fonda, Oscar winner for roles in Klute and Coming Home (maybe even better known for her slew of successful exercise tapes), is "coming clean." More recently her name is in the air for her new novel, My Life So Far, which is to be available in April 2006. Fonda, after years of failed marriages, admits she suffered from the "disease to please." She said, "Meaning I'm not good enough for someone to love, I must hide parts of me I think aren't 'acceptable'."

Some might not find these words surprising, or even very confessional; I, however, find them very liberating. A bit liberating for me, and I imagine, plenty liberating for many others (male and female).

What I mean is, not that I necessarily feel like a "people pleaser" or a "pushover", but that I, at times, have felt not entirely ideal in whole. That being my intellect, my thighs, my ability to show affection...whatever it is any certain day that I am feeling "insecure."

For women though, I might go as far to say that we always feel "insecure." In that we do search for a sense of security, but rarely do we search within ourselves. Instead of accepting that we are "ok", or "acceptable", we assume we are not and that we should do as someone else says we should.

Even writing that, I am afraid it is a false statement because it seems so...feeble minded - which is not usually something I use to describe myself. Yet I know it is true at times. When I am honest with myself.

For the oppressed, life is a constant struggle. The oppressed is already described to be less, to be flawed. And the battle to come eye to eye with the truth is a long one. If you can imagine, someone who is told they are less must always fight this thought, while never fully knowing if they are in the right - since it is very possible they are less.

Jane Fonda was honest...so honest she admitted to having 'threesomes' with her husband in order to keep him happy. She wondered what was wrong with her until she read other women's work where they were honest about their own lows and "Not in a salacious way, but a way showing how even intelligent, strong women can betray [their] bodies and minds." This was liberating for Fonda. And now Fonda's honesty is liberating others.

I wonder, if we do all follow in their lead...if we all open up and accept ourselves for everything that we are - the "good" and the "bad" - maybe we will all become what we truly are.

We might never be able to stop the oppressors from trying to oppress, but we can stop oppressing ourselves.