Saturday, April 05, 2008

I'm pretty sure this is at least Feminism 102.

I'm not familiar with the standard critiques of "white feminism" by women of color, but what this essay made me most curious about was this: if you're being stalked/harassed/molested by a neighbor, and calling the police is inappropriate sanction of the prison industrial complex, you don't have a gun for protection, and you're smaller than the guy . . . what do you do? What's the enlightened response? Are you supposed to try to talk him out of attacking you by attempting to understand how class/race/etc. have shaped his interactions with women? Abstract ideas about changing policing, drug laws, and the like are valuable and potentially worth fighting for, but when the heat is on, are you supposed to sacrifice yourself to your principles?
blog comments powered by Disqus