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

100 WHO STOLE FEMINISM?with political purposes in mind. This alludes to the insidious workings ofpatriarchy, the "Hidden Unity" that keeps women in thrall to men. But itis certainly false that all of us are being deliberately (systematically) taughtuntruths.Rule no. 3 asks students to assume that groups always do the best theycan. But why should they be required to make such a plainly false assumption?People, especially in groups, often could do a lot better thanthey do. Why assume the opposite? This rule, too, is characteristic of the"feel good" spirit of many women's studies courses. Since every group is"doing its best," it is churlish to criticize any given group. (Does thisassumption extend to fraternities? And to the football team?) Rule no. 3serves another, unstated purpose: to preempt criticism that might disruptthe teacher's agenda.Rule no. 4, which requires absolute confidentiality, is similarly objectionable.Classes should be free and open: anything said in the classroomshould be repeatable outside. That an instructor invites or even allowsher students to "speak out" about personal affairs is an unfailing sign thatthe course is unsubstantial and unscholarly. Moreover, the students whoare encouraged to speak of painful incidents in their lives not only arebeing shortchanged scholastically, they are also at risk of being harmedby their disclosures. Even mental health professionals in clinical settingsexercise great caution in eliciting traumatic disclosures. Any good schoolprovides professional help to distressed students who need it. The amateurinterventions of a teacher are intrusive and potentially harmful.But getting students to make painful personal disclosures is a specialfeature of feminist pedagogy. Kali Tal, a cultural studies instructor, recentlyshared the "Rules of Conduct" she used at George Mason Universitywith all the members of the women's studies electronic bulletinboard: 23Rape and incest are touchy subjects. Some class participants will besurvivors of sexual abuse. Everyone will likely have moments in thisclass when they are angry or sad or perhaps frightened. It is important... to make this classroom a safe place for students to shareexperiences, feelings, and intellectual ideas. I have therefore composedthe following list of ground rules:1. There will be no interruption of any speaker.2. There will be no personal criticism of any kind directed by anymember of the class to any other member of the class.3. Because some of the material discussed and viewed in this coursecontains extremely graphic and violent material, some students