*    Kari will be back next Tuesday if you have any questions for her.

*    A quiz was taken, first individually and then again in a group.
    *    The quiz was on:  1) "The New Feminist Movement" by Vera Taylor and Nancy Wittier; 2) "The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House"
            by Audre Lorde

*    After the quiz we talked about the questions and possible answers:
*    1) What is the relationship between Lorde’s rejection of the “master’s tools” and the way she felt about differences among women?
    *    Lorde believed that in order for women to escape the oppression brought about by men in society, women would have to celebrate their differences and
            realize that the differences among us are what help to build a foundation.
    *    If women were to conform to the “master’s tools”, which are the tools of men, then women would be conforming to men which would eventually be the
            downfall of women’s foundation.  A “master’s tools” are differences of men and how they use them against us to keep us under oppression.

*    2) Compare and contrast liberal feminism (the new feminist) and radical feminism that came about in the 1950’s.
    *    Liberal feminists were involved with trying to change the system that women were supposedly to follow and which kept us under oppression.
        *    They were actively involved trying to gain rights.
    *    Radical feminism's approach recognizes women’s identity and subordination as a “sex class,” views gender as the primary contradiction and foundation for
            the unequal distribution of a society’s rewards and privileges, and recasts relations between women and men in political terms.

*    3) Talk about the two organizational structures.
    *    There was the larger bureaucratic structure that deals with national issues and is more liberal.
    *    The other group is a smaller “grass-roots” structure that deals with more local issues and is more radicalized.
        *    It is not as much focused on power, but more focused on the “focus” of the group.

*    The assignment of Essay 3 was given out.
    *    It involves a peer review due on April 17 that is worth 5% of your grade.  The final copy of the paper is due on May 1 for 25% of your grade.
    *    You are to use two articles:  One from in-class and one you find on your own (this can be found anywhere you wish).
    *    The paper is on representations of women in contemporary media.
 
 

*    Professor McBride was away on this day.  Jill issued an individual quiz, a group quiz, and spoke about Essay 3.
    *    The quizzes were identical, covering “The New Feminist Movement” and “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.”

*    1.  The first question on the quiz dealt with Lorde’s belief that women’s differences are what will make them strong enough to make change in society.  We
            were to compare and contrast this to her belief that the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s  house.
    *    The master’s tools are that of dividing and conquering.  By using women’s differences to keep them divided, patriarchy can ensure that women can never be
            strong enough to bring down the established order.  Only by using their differences to forge a new tool will women be able to make change.

*    2.  The second question asked what the two types of organizations in the feminist movement are.
    *    From the reading the answer to this question is:
        *    a.  “Bureaucratically structured movement organizations with hierarchical leadership and democratic decision-making procedures, such as the National
                    Organization for Women.
         *    b.  “Smaller collectively structured groups that formed a more diffuse social movement community held together by a feminist political culture.

*    3.  The third question asked for the difference between liberal feminism and radical feminism.
    *    Again, from the text:
        *    a.  The liberal feminist “major strategy for change is to gain legal and economic equalities and to obtain access to elite positions in the workplace and in
                    politics while, at the same time, making up for the fact that women’s starting place in the ‘race of life’ is unequal to men’s.
            *    Thus liberal feminists tend to place as much emphasis on changing individual women as they do on changing society.”
        *    b.  “The radical approach recognizes women’s identity and subordination as a ‘sex class,’ views gender as the primary contradiction and foundation for the
                    unequal distribution of a society’s rewards and privileges, and recasts relations between women and men in political terms. […]  Radical feminists hold
                    that in all societies, institutions and social patterns are structured to maintain and perpetuate gender inequality and that female disadvantage permeates
                    virtually all aspects of sociocultural and personal life. […]  Thus, radical feminism is a transformational politics engaged in a fight against female
                    disadvantage and the masculinization of culture. Its ultimate vision is revolutionary in scope: a fundamentally new social order that eliminates the
                    sex-class system and replaces it with new ways of defining and structuring experience.

*    After the group quiz was discussed a fellow classmate asked if  radical feminism had not been misrepresented in the text.  The general consensus was that it had
        been misrepresented.

*    Essay 3 was discussed.  Jill explained that it was similar to the other two essays.  It was explained that we would be bringing together all our work now.  In
        Essay 3 we will deal with gender, race, class, and sexuality.
    *    Intersectional analysis will be employed; this means we will look at a topic from multiple perspectives.
        *    Jill gave the example of looking at relationships between black women and their masters during slavery.  In this instance, we can't just look at this as a
                gender issue, because race is also involved.
        *    A student pointed out that this would be much like how the video “Still Killing Us Softly” had brought together the ads; the video did not just look at
                gender, but also at class and race and how they intersect with gender in these advertisements.