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

38 WHO STOLE FEMINISM?Then Raphael spoke up, although he looked at the floor as he spoke."It is a dilemma. Little parts of me agree with Rita," he said. "Men do notbelong at Smith. So why am I there? In addition to nitty-gritty issues ofjob market and my modest research projects—I still ask: do I belongthere? It saddens me, demoralizes me, and depresses me. Yet I feel angertoward you, Rita. I feel you have typed me. I wonder if it is possible forus to have a dialogue? On the flight home I will be thinking about what Imight have said."Ms. Crosby was now in her element: "One aspect of the patriarchy isthat we have to keep to schedules. But before breaking up, let us goaround the room and see if anyone wants to share their feelings." Shemoved about, Phil Donahue-style, soliciting comments. Her first takerwas a woman who said, "My heart is pounding with Rita and Terry. ... Iwas upset to see a man on the panel. I thought there would be onlywomen; I was not expecting this sort of—difference."My sister Louise spoke up. "I like differences between people. I try toheighten differences between people. I like individuals." Ms. Crosbymoved along hastily to another speaker. "My name is Anthea; I am thedaughter of Beatrice, who is the daughter of her mother, who was a veganand a suffragette. Let's clap for everybody." Most people did clap. ThenRaphael called out, "Rita and I inhabit different spheres. I am a whitemale, age 30-34. That is difficult for me."A gray-haired woman in the back, an AAUW member and an oldschoolfeminist, ventured meekly: "I am in favor of educating our youngpeople, girls and boys, to accept one another as equals." But beforeanyone could pounce on that particular heresy, it was time to go.The workshoppers filed out to attend the next event. Raphael disappearedcompletely. At the next workshop all the panelists were women,which Rita's faction would undoubtedly find more comfortable. As mysister and I were leaving the seminar room, we passed a jubilant ProfessorCrosby speaking to a Smith College student and her visiting parents. Theparents had attended the workshop and were looking a little bemused. "Iconsider that session a great success," said Crosby, "because it was themost like a Smith College class than any of the other events so far!"Gender feminists do not relish criticism, and there are no forums whereold and new feminists meet for a free exchange of competing ideas. I didlearn of one such encounter that occurred spontaneously in the spring of1991 at a conference called "Glasnost in Two Cultures: Soviet Russian/North American Women's Writing," sponsored by feminist scholars at theNew York Institute for the Humanities at New York University. The