LES S O NS F R O M A G E N D E R S TU D I E S C L A S S R O O M
of empathy, solidarity, and the responsibility I
have, especially from a position of privilege, to
think about the world and my place in help-
ing transform it so we all can be free.
over the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments,
was glossed over or ignored altogether.
In feminist movement today, race and class
continue to be overlooked. A perfect exam-
ple is the #MeToo movement. Tarana Burke
launched the Me Too campaign in 2007 to
help impoverished young Black and Native
American women cope with sexual assault.
But the movement only reached public con-
sciousness in 2017 after white Hollywood
actresses co-opted the movement. Even as
Burke’s story began to be told, the women
of color Burke fought to give a voice to re-
mained marginalized and relatively invisible,
prompting Burke to comment in a 2018 in-
terview: “We can’t wait for white folks to de-
cide that our trauma is worth centering on...
we have to be proactive, unfortunately with-
out the benefit of massive exposure. That’s
our reality, but it always has been.” 9
Lesson #3: Tell Hard Truths
Ariana Warden, SFS ‘19
As a White woman, I saw myself represented
when I learned about the first and second
waves of the women’s movement in U.S. His-
tory. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Antho-
ny, Betty Friedan—these were the “heroes” I
read about. Women like Sojourner Truth, Ida B.
Wells-Barnett, Mary Church Terrell—women
of color who contributed just as much to the
women’s movement as their white counter-
parts—were given cursory treatment at best.
Moreover, discussion of how White women
like Anthony openly discriminated against
Black women, particularly as tensions rose
Like feminist leaders, teachers must learn
to address differences in race, class, sexual
orientation, and other important markers
of identity. Only then will they achieve out-
comes that will benefit all students. They can
start by providing visibility and giving credit
where it is due. As a White woman still fig-
uring out how to navigate not only a racist
past, but also present, it can sometimes be
hard to know how to avoid the mistakes of
my feminist mothers and grandmothers. I
definitely don’t have all the answers, but ac-
knowledging those mistakes, embracing the
“...teachers must learn to
address differences in race,
class, sexual orientation, and
other important markers of
identity. Only then will they
achieve outcomes that will
benefit all students.”
9. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/us/me-too-movement-tarana-burke.html
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CSEE Connections
Summer 2019
Page 11