Who-Stole-Feminism.-How-Women-Have-Betrayed-Women

THE FEMINIST CLASSROOM 99sity of Minnesota, Penn State, and other schools around the country. Thestudents are asked to accept them as a condition for taking the course:For the purposes of this course we agree to these rules:1. Acknowledge that oppression (i.e., racism, sexism, classism) exists.2. Acknowledge that one of the mechanisms of oppression (i.e., racism,sexism, classism, heterosexism) is that we are all systematicallytaught misinformation about our own groups and about membersof both dominant and subordinate groups.3. Assume that people (both the groups we study and the members ofthe class) always do the best they can.4. If members of the class wish to make comments that they do notwant repeated outside the classroom, they can preface their remarkswith a request and the class will agree not to repeat the remarks. 22First, it should be pointed out that these "rules" are very unusual for acollege class. Teachers frequently have rules about absences or late papers,but here the rules demand that the students adopt particular beliefs, noneof which is self-evident. Consider rule no. 1, which asserts that "oppressionexists." Stated in this unqualified way, it cannot be denied. But sincethe student is meant to understand that oppression exists in the UnitedStates in the form of classism and sexism, the matter is not nearly sosimple. Is it not at least arguable that one of the good features of Americanlife is that here, in contrast to most other countries, an individual can risein the socioeconomic scale despite his or her background? Is this not onereason why many outsiders are so eager to come here? Why then speakof class oppression?The coupling of sexism and racism is also problematic. Are they reallythat similar? Is sexism a national problem on a par with racism? The rulerequires the student to accept that it is. Indeed, it is typical of the structureof many women's studies courses in putting a lot of loaded andcontroversial questions beyond the pale of discussion. And that is exactlywhat a college course should not be doing.Rule no. 2 says: "One of the mechanisms of oppression is that we areall systematically taught misinformation." No doubt on occasion everyoneis taught something that is not true. But are we "systematically" beinggiven "misinformation"? When people were of the opinion that the worldwas flat, one might say they were "systematically" being taught that. Butsince everyone thought that was true, we shouldn't speak of "misinformation,"which connotes more than unintentional error. As the women'sstudies scholars here use it, "systematically" connotes "deliberately" and