Why women like Patricia Arquette continue to whitewash Feminism.

[tishaLA]

191. to his credit, Chris Hayes talked about this last night on his show

and even had two guests who thought it appropriate to criticize Ms Arquette's backstage remarks. It sort of surprises me that anyone is taking that criticism of her as a personal affront--she herself has attempted to clarify her remarks; if she had it to do over again, I believe even she would say she'd like to have said it better. But rather than using this as a teaching/learning moment, some people are retreating to their corners.

I'm very fortunate that I get to teach feminist theory and African American literature--but one of the obstacles I always face is engaging students in critique of, say, Frederick Douglass, whose vision of citizenship is bound up in patriarchal attitudes. Students sometimes accuse me of being unfair to Douglass for addressing the way he constructs citizenship as synonymous with male privilege, but have their mouths agape when they read Jefferson writing about Phillis Wheatley or albino African Americans. That doesn't mean Douglass is a bad man, or that there isn't much to admire about Jefferson. We all have blind spots, though, and most of us would do well to be jostled out of our complacency of thought. Embracing heterogeneity of thought rather than dismissing it seems a good way to start.