Once I’m home, I’ll look at it again, and see if I can clarify my language. That is certainly not what I wanted people to take away from it.

I found the implication in the way you connected the two situations, how you stated your own history with the feminist movement and all it’s trials and tribulations and then ended by saying you don’t understand how women can not call themselves a feminist. With that statement you connected women’s rights with feminism, one can decide not to call themselves a feminist for political reasons and still do the same work and believe the same things. Not calling themselves a feminist doesn’t mean their works and beliefs have diminished in any way. I also see it as trying to connect you problems with a college org to the systematic ignoring of WOC, Queer, Lower Socio-Economic, et. al. by mainstream feminism.

As I said in the above comment had the WOC leaving feminism not been brought into it. I would have liked the post quite a bit but that connection was made by you when you talked about it and then said Here’s how I see it: thereby explicitly stating that you were connecting the two. That colored the whole post for me.

That may not be what you intended but that’s how it read to me and to others.

Out of words now, out of breath.
As you say and I don’t expect you to comment back to this (and if choose to I hope you sit with it for a bit and don’t jump to defensiveness immediately) but you put your words out there and they’re are going to get critiqued. As I said above reacting this way doesn’t make you look a) good or b) like you want to understand everyone’s point of view or opinion when it comes to critiquing the movement and those involved in it.

What? WHAT?!!!!

If you believe that is the implication, then that is the implication that YOU bring. I was writing about what feminism is for me, including the fact that I was thrown out of my college organization, and that I still and always consider myself a feminist. The fact that I mentioned the WOC quote was only to show the latest mention of a woman disclaiming feminism and getting me thinking, but women of color just not getting it?

With all of the work done and being done by women of color, with all of the contributions . . . I would no more say one entire group of women just didn’t get feminism than I would say Adolf Hitlet should be made a saint. I don’t know each and every woman; I wouldn’t so presume.

Out of words now, out of breath.

I’m glad you liked Avalon’s Willow’s post I really enjoyed it and felt it captured her intersectionality and the concept in general very well.

otherwise, it’s just a no-win situation.
It saddens me when I see authors respond to criticism because most of the time I know it’s just gonna end up making them look bad. Though that being said I have seen some authors roll into a harsher reviews and simply comment “I’m sorry you didn’t like my work but thank you for the review” and that really puts them up in my estimation but that’s just me.

it’s one thing to make a very specific statement of clarification (no, Jo doesn’t die in this scene, in fact we find her drinking a beer with friends two chapters later); otherwise, it’s just a no-win situation.

**I actually know why they do, so that was a rhetorical question

So I liked that Pierce made the follow-up post (that’s why I linked to it from my blog) — of course it’s easy for me, from my position, to read such a post and think about how she is reaching people who may never have considered such concepts before.

But that doesn’t mean it’s a reply that will satisfy everyone. Your perspective is well explicated here, and as always has got me thinking. (I haven’t read any of the books you mention, so can’t comment on them.)

Avalon’s Willow makes excellent points. I hadn’t seen her post, so thanks for linking to it.