Penny A. Weiss - Conversations with Feminism: Political Theory and Practice

Conversations with Feminism

Political Theory and Practice

PENNY A. WEISS

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.

Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706

12 Hids Copse Road
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Copyright 1998 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Weiss, Penny A.

Conversations with feminism : political theory and practice / Penny A. Weiss.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Feminist theory. 2. Feminism. I. Title.

HQ1190.W464 1998

ISBN 978-0-8476-8812-8

Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481984.

To the next generation of conversationalists,
especially my children and my students.
Talk isnt always cheap.

My desire to construct conversations no doubt has some of its origins in the fact that I am from a family in which various members frequently stopped talking to one another and in which I was sometimes the one everybody did speak to. I have come to see my ability to communicate across conflict and confusion, and to encourage others to do the same, as a form of strength, an ability I can put to good use. This project is one of my attempts to put it to such use.

That there are conflicts between feminists and antifeminists is clear enough. The two groups are assumed to have different beliefs, positions, and policy preferences on virtually all issues having to do with gender, from the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights to women in the military and parental leave programs. They are expected to differ in others ways, also, since some associate the divide between feminists and antifeminists with other divides that go beyond gender: liberals vs. conservatives, for example, or Democrats vs. Republicans, or religious fundamentalists vs. religious reformers.

Conflicts within feminism are, perhaps, more visible to those in the movement than to those outside it. In fact, those outside feminism tend to portray it as a monolithic whole, ruled by a sort of creed to which all its members must pledge allegiance. But there most surely are internal disputes. Those disputes may be voiced in different theoretical frameworks (liberal feminism vs. radical feminism, vs. Marxist feminism, vs. socialist feminism, vs. black feminism, vs. lesbian feminism, vs. ecofeminism, etc.). The internal conflicts may be expressed over policies (should we aim to ban pornography, to make its producers accountable for harm it encourages, or to reform and reclaim erotica?), strategies (should we pin our hopes on the Democratic party, start a third womens party, or work outside party politics altogether?), and particular ideas (is womans nature a figment of the male imagination, a product of socialization, or the source of values for an egalitarian future?). Finally, disputes arise about which women feminists are talking with and about: is feminism really white middle-class feminism, and if so, how do we transform it into something more inclusive and respectful of differences among women?

This book did not begin with the thought that I should write a book of conversations with(in) feminism. But it occurred to me one day in the middle of a class I was teaching that such conversations were what I was always engaged in: in speaking and teaching I saw/see myself practicing, refining, using, and sharing ways to discuss controversial issues involving feminism, and in thinking and writing I realize(d) these dialogues were my way of processing and conveying various subjects. Im sure these practices are not unique to me.

This book began with my going back over papers I had written (or, more often, started to write) to see how many were in fact conversations of various sorts. Many were; sometimes when I made that more explicit, the whole essay made more sense. And once I saw that, I was able to write more, to use the idea of conversation to discuss other issues I had wanted to write about. This collection is united by a commitment to dialogue as part (not the whole) of feminist ethics, strategy, and pedagogy.

The part of my first book, Gendered Community: Rousseau, Sex, and Politics, on which I have received the most feedback is the dedication. (I dont think too much about what that says about the rest of the book.) What people comment on is my honesty about such things as rejected manuscripts and the impossibility of balancing career and parenthood. I wont go over that terrain again, though I still get manuscripts rejected and I still beat my head against the wall trying to do (not have) it all.

Between these covers is a decade of work. Reflected here are my struggles, especially with teaching and with my chosen field of political theory. I am fundamentally ambivalent about my job. I have tried a hundred different ways to make it work for me. I have tried lectures and student-led classes, the big conferences with thousands of political scientists of all stripes, and the small, specialized meetings. I have tried being involved in university politics and withdrawing from them, immersing myself in my work and just doing my job. As with strategies for child rearing, because something works once does not mean it will work again. I think that my long engagement in political dialogue has tired me, which is something I probably should but do not develop much in this book.

I dedicate this book to those I have had the pleasure and difficulty of conversing with in recent years. I especially want to acknowledge my friends at The New Community School in Lafayette, Indiana, with whom I have learned so much about education. Most of all, to those I talk at, with, to, and about every day: Avian, Brennin, Linden, and Bob. I am still learning to converse, and I mean to keep practicing with you. Heres to a future of good conversations.

conversation, n. 1. knowledge or familiarity based on study or use. 2. a talking together; informal or familiar talk; verbal exchange of ideas, information, etc.

Syn.talk, intercourse, communion, communication, discourse, conference, colloquy.

Conversation first emerged in this project as a practice rather than a theory of political investigation. But what seemed to begin as a personal writing style evolved into my method of exploring and expressing political ideas. Conversationbeyond the model of Socratic dialoguemight deserve some status as a method in political theory. Here I present some thoughts on what defines conversation as a method of inquiry and how it contrasts with some other practices.

From my first impressions of political theory, I have understood conversation broadly, encompassing a range of forms of interaction. (Aristotle wrestled with the popular opinions of his day. The characters in Platos dialogues most obviously were talking to each other. Aquinas translated Aristotle for a new, Christian audience. And so on.) Some conversations in this book are set up between different theories or theorists, including an exchange between feminism and communitarianism and a scripted dialogue between Rousseau and Wollstonecraft. In one piece the silence of women in theoretical discourse is itself the subject. Another is a response to letters in the form of a letter to Abigail Adams. Other conversations are my attempts to communicate with antifeminists and nonfeminists. Some have me talking to myself. As I introduce each piece, I say something about the conversations contained within it.