this is probably naive and incoherent and straying far far from the point of the main article but thanks to renee, supporters and opposition for some eye opening anyway.

yeah, it is sad that i can’t take women’s studies courses because of the grand idealization of writing academic papers and being a big name and ugogurl-ism. the transphobia didn’t help, either, nor did the girl who claimed she was SOOOO radical but couldn’t comprehend how being a women’s studies major is just participating in the institutionalization and mainstreaming of feminism. or the near-weekly discussions about leg-shaving like it’s actually a big deal. or the ragging on blogs and internet-feminism and idealizing the good ole days of the 1970s movement, but yet only considering the views of academics and big names.

yeah, it gave me angina.

i think that the only way we can “win”, by which i mean gain some true measure of equality, is to continue to speak up and speak out. i sometimes fail (ok, i often fail) to speak for those who are in my situation but worse. i speak up for those i know directly, or i speak in generalities (for instance, i complain about lack of handi-cap access, but after my needs are met i don’t always go back and make sure everyone else’s is too).

so you have inspired me to speak up and out more. and made me feel a bit better (which in itself is no mean feat – i have been horribly dpressed because the huge surgery that was supposed to get me off of the cane didnt work.) so i am taking away, i guess the best way to phrase it is “your support” – which i really need. or maybe “validation”…

i am not getting that at school. i spoke to one of my professors about this discussion today (she holds a double Ph.D in poly-sci/women’s studies, and is the only professor i have had at OSU with whom i feel a connection) who is Mexican but like me many people assume she is white (because she took her [black] husband’s name of Jones because apparently NO ONE could spell her name) and she struggles like i do, to be seen as someone with a “worthy narrative” (and honestly, her life was harder than *MINE* – we were poor, she was homeless for almost a year as a teen). i recommend this site, this post, and your site to her, and she seemed interested, if intimidated by the intratubes (she’s 62? or 63). but she had an interesting question, and it really relates *I* think.
why is it that, when we are online, unless we go out of our way to say something, we are ALWAYS considered to be *White*??? because, world wide, white people are not the majority online. that we have this chance and this space where we can actully finally be color-free…
but everyone is “white until proven not guilty”, at which point that user is shuffled right back into one of those “other” categories. i don’t have an answer here, EXCEPT that when i DON’T make it clear that i am not white, i get in trouble. always. i say the same things, but adding color changes it (which makes me think i live in Oz)
so, renee… can i get you to write about that? i think that maybe, if we start examining what went wrong with the internet (as far as it not being the Utopia it could be) we can figure out how to fix it. and if we fix the blogosphere, we have started the revolution.
(i’m sorry this is so long. i just cant seem to make it any shorter…)

i would love to have that dialogue too. i agree with you that intersectionality is the way of the future, not just for feminism but also for other movements.

i’m not from the US but i have heard that native americans are basically ignored when it comes to race. it sounds like your experience reflects that. *looking* white (and the widespread belief that to be brown, black or however different POCs identify means you have to *look* it) also seems to be permeating the prejudice/discrimination/oppression.

i think in any women’s or antiracism activist group, feminist class – intersectionality should be foregrounded, part of consciousness raising, group principles, etc.

i also partly agree with Kristen J., intersectionalty applies to everyone and not every white woman is ignorant of her white privilege, but in my experience MOST ARE – notice how i said most. so while i can’t be bothered teaching white feminists anything, it is important to recognise true WOC allies. and in my experience not even all WOCs are allies. and like denelian’s experience this can cut across racialised lines.

i also appreciate the reality check that sonia is giving. i think to write off women’s studies is problematic. yes there are still the token weeks of race but in most classes lecturers cannot not consider race. damn in any of my classes we have never even considered ability. anyway women’s studies is supposed to give us a foundation for further thinking and study not to give us all the answers. there are also some awesome radical woc teachers out there, and plenty of people supporting them. undoubtedly any women’s studies that just considers white, middle class women should be relegated to the feminist stone age.

yet i also fear we’re going around in circles – this shit has been said so many times (and thank you so much for putting yourself out there and sharing renee), but the cycle repeats itself. i completely understand renee’s frustration. so what can we do?

i think that women’s studies has definitely changed my life and given me a preliminary framework to understand the intersecting dominations in my life. I think white feminists can be passionate in their speech but for most of them, they don’t really consider race, look at their white privilege. whiteness as power is not going to change anytime soon…but while it’s good to call out people for their crap, i’m starting to think that some of us are wasting our emotional energy doing it so regularly (not that this applies to you renee). i know recognition is important but truly this movement does not belong to anybody…

rofl apparently academia reduces reading comprehension or something.

Renee has captured perfectly why I refuse to ever take another women’s studies course again, for what it’s worth.

“When I blog it comes from a very personal place. It comes from a desire to share something intimate with others.”

Thank you for that. I’ve grown tired of academic language, and I’m much more interested in reading about actual experience in passionate terms. I think feminism, and progressive thought in general would be well served by more of this.

I am not using the term Mystical negro as a criticism of POC. I used it to discuss the ways in which black bodies are constructed and disciplined by whiteness. The mystical Negro is an invention quite similar to the more familiar “my friend is black meme” The friend that allows whiteness to ignore privilege and excuse racist acts. The mystical negro is also a reference to the fact that a person can be empowered to speak on behalf of their race so long as they do not issue a dissenting opinion. It is a caricature rather than a being, and should a person decide to dissent someone else is just slotted in to fill the position.

I do want to say that in writing blog posts I try to be concise as most readers will not read long posts. Often times I do not expand on ideas that I otherwise would have. Due to the nature of blogging itself I approach writing from a completely different angle than I would writing something academic or even of a professional nature. This post in particular is an example of this in that I am not grounding my ideas in a specific incident but rather relating in general how I came to certain conclusions. I certainly don’t believe in the concept of universal truth and therefore know that my experience is not the last word on academia and feminism but I cannot believe that these experiences are unique to me.

When I blog it comes from a very personal place. It comes from a desire to share something intimate with others. This is not something I bring to my other work. I believe that if what I write resonates with anyone at all it is because I lay myself bare before others. THe best posts that I have written come from a place deep within me. I think this is part of the reason that my temper flares when I suspect dishonest engagement. Patience never has been and suspect never will be my virtue. Blogging may be an exercise to some but for me it is a deeply personal experience.