Feminism for the 21st Century

In the Canon's Mouth: Dispatches from the Culture Wars by Lillian S. Robinson. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997, 191 pp., $29.95 hardcover, $13.95 paper.

Feminist Nightmares: Women at Odds: Feminism and the Problem of Sisterhood edited by Susan Ostrov Weisser and Jennifer Fleischner. New York: New York University Press, 1994, 405 pp., $55.00 hardcover, $19.00 paper.

Generations: Academic Feminists in Dialogue edited by Devoney Looser and E. Ann Kaplan. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 1997, 361 pp., $49.95 hardcover, $19.95 paper.

Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism edited by Leslie Heywood and Jennifer Drake. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997, 268 pp., $44.95 hardcover, $17.95 paper.

The 1990s brought a plethora of books on culture wars, political correctness, identity politics, and discord among feminists. The first book in this review, Lillian Robinson's In the Canon's Mouth: Dispatches from the Culture Wars, differs from the others discussed here in that it is not an edited volume and does not look at divisions among women. This book presents essays and lectures Robinson has written over the last fifteen years on multiculturalism, political correctness, culture wars, curriculum change, and challenges to the established canon. Robinson identifies power struggles as the heart of these conflicts since, as she cogently states, "when we are talking culture, we are talking politics" (xiii).

Robinson asks what culture means, what it should mean, whose culture we are talking about, and who is doing the telling. She points out how unlikely it is that the stories of women, people of color, gays and lesbians, and minority/ethnic groups will be candidates for canonization. Why? Because of the assumption that they constitute the marked variant, whereas the experience of straight white men is considered a universal. Another area she addresses is the "political correctness" debates. She suggests that we use the words "fighting racism" or "fighting sexism" instead of "political correctness" so that opponents' agendas would become apparent.

For those who call for a focus on the American experience, Robinson illustrates how multiculturalism operates under another assumption: "that we have no single national identity or belief system. . . . Our cultural diversity is the result of a common history that we experienced differently" (143). The question for Women's Studies is whether feminist criticism calls for the inclusion of women as part of a common aesthetic or challenges the aesthetic itself. This message has been at the center of curriculum transformation for two decades.

However, in spite of the fact that Robinson writes with force and clarity, it does get tiresome reading similar versions of the same message. Repetition is the flaw in this book. The message is relevant and timely (even if not new), and given as a talk or published as a journal article, any one selection would be a substantial contribution to the discourse on curriculum change. Repeatedly stated in a series of essays, the message--while not quite becoming boring or worn--loses its edge.

The following books all draw on the paradigm of difference within feminism, although each focuses on a particular aspect of difference. In Feminist Nightmares, Women at Odds: Feminism and the Problem of Sisterhood, Weisser and Fleischner begin with the question, "Sisters Under the Skin?" The readings are meant to address differences among women, particularly where there is inequality in power relations. Thus, the often avoided issue of women oppressing women is brought to the fore.

Daphne Patai asks if ethical research is possible between U.S. academics and Third World women or any group that has historically been subordinate to our own. This problem is shown in Manisha Sinha's work on a woman from the "Master Class" whose life reveals that women are not always progressive. Jennifer Fleischner examines antislavery narratives that describe conflicts embedded in the difficulties of an interracial sisterhood.

A number of selections analyze novels that pit women against each other. Jennifer Shaddock wonders if these writings, which may be meant to expose...