The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1995, Side 17

SPRING /SUMMER 1995
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
127
pie are afraid to approach me with such
questions. There seems to have been a fun-
damental change in the women’s move-
ment since I was young. Women are all at
once beginning to adore themselves: they
turn themselves into Mother Earth, Virgin
Mary, etc. I feel very uneasy about this —
one hardly dares to open one’s mouth to
speak any longer! It’s like rape which is a
serious crime. There are other kinds of
rape for which huge amounts of money are
paid, but what about the victims of actual
rape? Do they get such money and atten-
tion? Avery serious matter is trivialized in
this way and made unimportant — in the
same way Feminism is nowadays often
trivialized and made unimportant . What
seems to me most important for Feminism
is to continue the struggle even though we
don’t yet exactly know in which direction
it will go. We all realize that something has
been gained so far, but just because we are
women, we must not forget that we are also
human beings. We have good and bad
sides, we have a little — or even a big —
devil inside ourselves, whom we don’t like
to recognize, but who is there, so to paint
things in white and black is really rather
simple-minded. Life is much more compli-
cated and we should not try to resolve it
with slogans. Another problem is that
women are beginning to look at themselves
as victims. A woman can defend herself up
to a certain point. To treat us as pure vic-
tims, as ‘poor things,’ fragile and helpless,
makes us prey to the attitudes of bygone
days. It indicates that we need someone to
protect us — if not a man or a bodyguard,
then perhaps the state. We are not feeble
and powerless. A woman who thinks of
herself as a victim cannot keep her human
dignity.
Evelyn: A fair amount of time has passed
since you completed Hvatt ad runum, so
you are now probably ready for your next
book?
Alfrun: No, not really. (Laughter) I’m
superstitious. If you start talking about
something that’s not yet done it brings bad
luck. Yes, I have something in mind, some-
thing that will take place in the present.
Evelyn: I look forward to reading your
next book. Thank you for taking time to
talk to me today.