The night was that of a typical Washington winter evening.

It was misting now,

after a heavy downpour of bone-chilling rain drove everyone inside. Simone de

Beauvior, feminist author from the 1940’a and author of The Second Sex, with a cigarette

resting between her fingers, maneuvered around the tables to where I sat in the back of a

little café. Mrs. Amy Beach, American composer and pianist of the late 1880’s, gently

pardoned herself as she slipped between the crowded tables to join the little gathering at

the back. I shook hands with these legends, offered them a seat and sat in the glory of the

moment. I couldn’t believe the opportunity I had just been given. I was sitting in the

presence of two prolific feminist figures, and with pen and paper at the ready I was about

to get up-close and personal with these two women.

Simone de Beauvior is a French Philosopher, writer, and feminist of the late

1940’s to early 1970’s. Her book The Second Sex established her reputation as a feminist

writer, even though when she published the book she believed the feminist movement to

be to over and that she was not a feminist (CR 234). In the 1970’s, she became a role

model for a new generation of feminists and lead the radical French feminist movement

the MLF: Mouvement de la Libération des Femmes (Women’s Liberation Movement).

She marched for abortion rights and helped organize a public tribunal, “Days of

Denunciation of Crimes Against Women (234).”

Amy Beach is an American composer and pianist who gained success as a

composer of large-scale art music and was celebrated during her lifetime as the foremost

woman composer of the USA (Oxford Music Online 1). Being fluent in German and

French, Amy Beach traveled not only across the United States, but also abroad to

Germany, where her talents further established her reputation as both a performer and

composer. She used her status as Dean of American Women Composers to help further
the careers of many other young musicians, as well as serving as a leader of several

organizations and cofounding the Society of American Women Composers in 1925

(Oxford 2).

INTERVIEWER: Firstly, I would like to welcome you both to this meeting of

coffee, treats and debates. For my first question, do you believe there is a strong feminist

movement among today’s youth? If so, what tools do you believe the girls are using to

express their ideas?

BEAUVIOR: I do believe that there is a strong movement among the young girls

of today. They have seen from our past struggles with inequalities that in order to

achieve a sense of visibility, you must believe in yourself. This male-oriented society,

which continues to treat women as second-class citizens, makes it a “very hard and

[slow] process for a rebellion to develop (Gerassi Interview)”. They need to be aware of

such domination by society that they need to believe in their own strengths to change it

(Gerassi). The creative powers that these women possess are simply remarkable. I wish

we had the access they have now, what with the internet, social networking, music

swapping, photo sharing, and blogging.

BEACH: Simone, I completely agree with you on the notion of the access that is

available to the youth of today. Young girls are now using their creative powers to

express their concerns with society through a combination of visual arts and music. This

combination creates such a powerful sense of unity that is impenetrable to the outside

world; it cannot be destroyed by society, no matter how hard they may try to break it.

BEAUVIOR: And, might I add, that as technology progresses, the male rational

that women are the weaker sex can no longer be upheld. Technology is not just limited to
the brawn of men (Gerassi); it is in fact open to all the people of the world, especially that

of music and art.

BEACH: Especially music. I have learned from my experiences in the musical

realm that despite your gender, you can achieve success and be able to reach a wider

audience (Oxford Music Online).

INTERVIEWER: Mrs. Beach, you say that with music, despite genders, you

can reach a wider audience. Why do you believe music and these other modes of

communication are important, and how effective are they at reaching that mainstream

audience?

BEACH: Music is the mainstream. It doesn’t discriminate against race, gender,

creed, religion. Music - be it classical, folk, alternative - is charged with such power that

it rallies women together; it’s the stitch that keeps the unity tight. Music is an art that

touches the soul. Some person, right now, is listening to music. It could be the soft

melody of Tchaikovsky’s ballets to the roaring trumpets and thundering drums of

Beethoven’s symphonies; it’s the way the music has been composed and the way it calls

to your soul when played that gets you listening to underlying message. It can relax

one’s soul by singing of young, romantic love on spring days, or it can boil the depths of

the heart by singing of oppression and discrimination. This mode of communication can

truly cross cultures.

BEAUVIOR: Now, I don’t believe, in the sense of these times, that reaching a

mainstream audience is as important as it is to simply get the voices out there. Women’s

music has changed dramatically in the past several decades, and in a good way. It is not

seen as being delicate, tender, or romantic, yet women are still expected to be quiet. We

are told to sit back and let the abuse continue. This new generation is more aggressive in
their pursuits of equality, respect, and dignity (Gerassi). They are not going to stand off

to the side and let the male-perspective control their lives, examples being: what we

should wear, what we should look like, how we should act and what we are to like. I also

don’t think that music is as transferrable as you say, Amy. Music, yes, can cross borders,

culturally and metaphorically, but if the message is in a different language from that of a

native tongue, it must be translated and can lose the original impact it once held.

BEACH: That’s the beauty of music, though. You do not simply need to

understand the lyrics to hear the impact of the notes. You can feel the anger, sadness, or

happiness just from the composition of the song. And I cannot say that I agree with the

notion that men control every possible aspect of women’s lives. When I married my

husband and postponed my concerting, it was my decision to make a house for us

(www.pbs.org). It was not simply a case of sitting back and keeping quiet while my

husband made decisions for the family. I entered a new realm in my musical career,

which was that of composing (www.pbs.org).

BEAUVIOR: Men control what women are able to do for a mainstream

audience and what you were able to achieve is not a common occurrence in history

(Gerassi). Now, I completely agree with the notion that music can get one’s blood going

and your soul ready to fight, but this male-perspective that controls music production and

art distribution in the sense that art is determined by class, gender, and ethnicity, has

created a world that is impossible for most truly politically and ethically charged works

of art to become a part of the mainstream. Young girls of today have combated this

notion of control by creating works of art that raise awareness of taboo issues such as

rape and objectification and distributing it in ways that are available to them without the

rejection of society: the internet. Open blogs encourage girls to speak out about issues
that are bothering them on a daily occurrence, social networking sites that are dedicated

to the empowerment of women list upcoming events such as art shows and concerts or

rallies and protests. While it may not seem like they are reaching a broad audience, they

in fact are.

INTERVIEWER: Mrs. Amy Beach, what part of a woman’s life do you believe

a man has absolutely no control over?

BEACH: The ability to control our thoughts, or our conscience, subconscious

decisions. While what makes the mainstream may have been decided by the hand of

man, what remains in our heart has not been tampered with by that decision.

BEAUVIOR: But even then, what women think about are the result of society.

INTERVIEWER: Do either of you believe that woman will be able to ever pull

themselves out of the male-gaze?

BEACH: I don’t know and I don’t think it’s a question of will we ever be able to

pull ourselves away from it. It’s a question of whether or not the world and society is

ready to pull themselves away from it.

BEAUVIOR: It may take several more generations to see the impact that the

previous feminist movements have left before we see any sort of change in the world.

But I have faith in this new movement. I think they will be able to provide a more stable

platform for change than ever before.

Works Cited:

Simone de Beauvior –

Byrant, Jean Gould and Linda Bennett Elder. “Simone de Beauvior in Mid-Centrury
Cultural Ferment.” Creating Women: An Anthology of Readings on Women in
 Western Culture, VOL 2, Renaissance to the Present. New Jersey: Pearson
Education, Inc., 2005. 234 – 237. Print.

Gerassi, John. The Second Sex: 25 years Later – An Interview with Simone de Beauvior.
Blunden, Andy, 1976 original publication, 2005 Internet posting.
<http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/1976/interview.htm>. 27
Nov, 2009.

Amy Beach –

Block, Adrienne Fried. "Beach, Amy Marcy." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music
Online. 27 Nov, 2009 .
<http://0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com.oswald.clark.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/02409>.

Hampson, Thomas. I Hear America Singing on Amy Marcy Beach. Hampson, Thomas. I
Hear America Singing. 27 Nov, 2009.
<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/composer/beach.html>