Third Wave & Beyond
Amongst all of the readings, Walker’s “Becoming the Third Wave” immediately made me dive deeper into the case of Anita Hill vs. Clarence Thomas. Walker makes the claim that ”…the hearings were not about determining whether or not Clarence Thomas did in fact harass Anita Hill. They were about checking and redefining the extent of women’s credibility and power.” The argument being made is that men feel they are entitled to power, and feel women should only have power to a certain extent. Thus, women should simply accept this (Ex: The bus situation), know their place and “Shut up.” Regardless of color, for a woman to have any victory against a man would be taken as threat to this power, and be looked upon as a “metaphoric castration.” Therefore all of the claims made by a woman must be discredited. Walker is therfore stating women should not sit quitely and accept this, but rather take a stand against this cruelty. The reason I chose to address this article is because 20 years later a new trial has emerged, and once again the same exact issue has presented itself.
Some of you may remember, but this past May there was a case between Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and his hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo. Diallo made the claim that Dominique appeared completely naked in the room she was assigned to clean, and then he proceeded to sexually assault her. This woman had two maid supervisors, two hotel security guards, hospital personnel, and detectives testify on her behalf. Practically all of the evidence is there, laid out, but all of the odds were working against her. She was an illegal immigrant with a questionable past, and Dominique’s lawyers instead tried to prove that the woman was somehow crazy in her alligations. The men were “checking and redefining the extent of women’s credibility and power,” and by doing so, they were able to prove Dominique not guilty.
Another crucial issue mentioned was of African American men “talking so much about ‘the race’ as if it revolved exclusively around them.” After stumbling around on different websites I found the direct quote from Clarence Thomas during the scandal: “This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace. It is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order you will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate rather than hung from a tree.” I felt this quote also epitomized men discrediting woman, because rather than addressing the issue at hand, Thomas chose to move focus on an issue much greater. By doing this, he wanted everyone to get past the “insignificance” of what he had done, and focus on the “real” problem of race.
Discussion Questions:
If the issue of sexual harassment is one that affected thousands of women, why was it something women did not want to speak about?
Do you feel as if the issue of “discrediting women” today affects all women, or more so women of color?
Why is it that despite everything women are being put through, so many are unwilling to participate in the feminist movement?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/20/national/main6975679.shtml
