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

THE FEMINIST CLASSROOM 111criticizing her harangue and irreverently printing a cartoon image of herin a blue bikini. The campus feminist activists reacted by seizing anddestroying all six thousand copies of the Lionhearted. Several hundredwere burned in a bonfire, late at night, outside the office of Ben Novak, amember of the Penn State board of trustees who serves as an advisor tothe paper.Mike Abrams, the editor of the Penn State school newspaper, the DailyCollegian, justified the burning of newspapers: "The individual(s) whoburned copies of the Lionhearted were demonstrating the same freedomof expression that allowed the newspaper to print its views." 43DonnaHughes, a Penn State women's studies professor, also saw nothing wrongwith burning newspapers, given the circumstances. After all, the cartoonparody was a form of harassment. "I think it was an act of protest;considering the very personal, defaming attack on [Amanda Martin] in afull-page cartoon." 44It is difficult to estimate the proportion of students who become committedgender feminists. It is surely a minority. Even when the conversionseems to go deep it may be short-lived. But those who remain steadfastare tough and formidable. On the other hand, some of the "defectors" arejust as formidable.Heather Hart, a recent graduate of Brandeis University, tells of herdisenchantment with academic feminism:At Brandeis I discovered feminism. And I instantly became a convert.And I did well, writing brilliant papers in my Myths of Patriarchyhumanities class, in which I likened my fate as a woman toother victims throughout the ages. I joined the women's coalition,preached to anyone who would listen, and even came close to cuttingmen out of my life entirely.Ms. Hart, however, came from Montreal, where lipstick is in fashion, andshe refused to give it up: "They condemned me from the get-go. Theytalked about feeling excluded from the male-dominated, patriarchal society,and yet they were quick to dismiss me as a boy-toy just because Ilike the concept of decoration. ... I was different and, therefore, a threatto the neat, closed, secret, homogeneous community."Ms. Hart says that the near-ostracism she suffered kept her from enjoyingthe "strengths" that solidarity could have offered her; nevertheless,she accepted being disapproved of because she "did not wish to alienate"herself from those she felt allied to. The inevitable break came when Eddie