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

THE GENDER WARDENS 263good sex feels like, even if (or probably because) her first experiencetakes place in mutual inebriation and a spirit of vengeful anger. 22The idea of "mutually pleasurable rough sex" is not high on the genderfeminist list of entertainments. All the same, if the New Feminist philosopherswere honest about taking women seriously, they would be payingattention to what, in most women's minds, is a fundamental distinction:Scarlett was ravished, not raped. The next morning finds her relishing thememory. Ms. Friedman's insistence that Scarlett was raped was just anotherexample of how gender feminists, estranged from the women theyclaim to represent, tend to view male/female relations as violent or humiliatingto women.Friedman, like Bartky, takes comfort in the idea that women's desiresand aspirations will change in time. Younger women, she says, are alreadyless inclined to be taken in by the Rhett Butler mystique, and his fascinationshould continue to diminish. That is, unless people like me giveyounger women the idea that there is nothing wrong with taking pleasurein Scarlett's enraptured submission."How sad it would be," she writes, "if Sommers's writings acted as anobstacle to change, bolstering those who interpret the sexual dominationof women as pleasurable, and intimidating those who speak out againstsuch domination." 23Ms. Friedman considers Sandra Bartky to be one of her mentors andBartky is, indeed, of the opinion that active measures should be taken toprevent the spread of "harmful" writings. In 1990 I was commissioned bythe Atlantic to do a piece on campus feminism. When Sandra Bartkysomehow learned of this, she wrote to the editors, pleading with themnot to publish it. She told them that I was a disreputable philosopher and"a right-wing ideologue." The Chronicle of Higher Education found outabout the flap, and called Ms. Bartky to ask her why she had writtenthe letter. At first she denied having asked them to suppress my piece,claiming that she had only requested that my article be accompaniedby another giving a different point of view. But when the Chronicle reporterpointed out that he had a copy of the letter and that it containedno such request, she defiantly admitted having tried to stop the piece: "Iwouldn't want a nut case who thinks there wasn't a Holocaust to writeabout the Holocaust. Editors exercise discretion. By not asking someoneto write a piece, that's not censorship, that's discretion." 24Inadvertently, Bartky got her way. By the time the whole matter wassorted out, the Atlantic had gone on to other issues. Editor Michael Curtistold the Chronicle that he was embarrassed that the piece had not been