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From: larryc@poe.jpl.nasa.gov (Larry Carroll)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Diversity
Message-ID: <9942@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: 12 Oct 90 03:29:35 GMT
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I keep hearing statements on the net like "Feminist always ...."  "Feminists
believe ...."  That's a bunch of crap.

Feminists are a very diverse group who hold a wide range of opinions.  Even
on abortion rights, often thought of as a shibboleth separating "real" from
"fake" feminists, there are several opinions.  The Socialists and the Radical
Feminists (two relatively small groups which many mistakenly lump together)
sometime bitterly attack each other, the Radicals accusing the Socialists of
selling out because they don't support violent revolution, the Socialists
accusing the Radicals of harming the movement because violence is counter to
feminist thought.  The Lesbian separatists oppose those (many of whom are
also Lesbians) who support solidarity with feminist men.  There are those who
view women in a mystical, almost angelic light; others think this ridiculous. 
There's a group (one contingent calls itself in all seriousness the Fat
Underground) that believes women should deliberately make themselves
unattractive to men.

Even within groups united ideologically, strong personalities not
infrequently clash -- with their friends lining up on opposite sides.  NOW
conventions sometimes become floor shows where Roberts Rules of Order &
organizational by-laws become weapons in long & arcane battles, and victory
is sometimes overturned overnight by shifting backroom alliances.

Sometimes these clashes become vicious.  In Texas I know of a case where one
woman reported another for smoking marijuana.  In California a few years back
three women (only one of whom was ever publicly "credited" with it) informed
the police that the NOW state president was an accused murderer.  (The
reported reason for the betrayal was that she rejected the sexual advances
of one of the women.  Though there may be some truth to that, in the
California community the real reason is believed to be that the three women
felt she was getting too independent.)  It took much time & money to
vindicate the president, whose only accuser was her convicted-killer husband,
whom she had left when she was a very young woman.

There are also class differences: the most active feminists are usually
upper- or middle-class women without young children who can afford to work
half- or even full-time for the movement.  Young women & men sometimes feel
older ones are behind the times, or are hogging the power.  And, though
happily fairly rare, there are sometimes racial tensions.

			Larry Carroll
			"Takes-us" (correct pronunciation of Texas)
			Dancin' Fool