Reply to comment

This recent discussion has reminded me of the earlier conversation we had on womanism and the issues of exclusion. I think it was Emily who said that she loved womanism even though she felt excluded because she was white. I think we can draw a similar comparison when we have straight women connecting with lesbian poetry. That brings us down to the core of questioning what "the feminist project" is. I think what we've all realized in the past semester is that we all have different ideals and goals of feminism that may directly conflict with another's vision of feminism. We may even find contradictions in our own ideas which is totally frustrating. I'm disappointed to hear that Rich would condemn straight women for reading her poems to their husbands/boyfriends. I too found womanism appealing (I didn't even realize initially I wasn't supposed to be a part of it) until I saw that it shouldn't apply to me. I don't know, maybe I was looking for some vague idea of "sisterhood," instead I find divisions, within groups, within ourselves. It's disheartening some how. I really liked the quote "womanism is to feminism as lavender is to purple" I like the idea that they are different but that they can still complement each other. I would like to think that race and sexual orientation could color different shades of feminism, rather than separate themselves from it.