Keeping Up

In the last two days I've come face to face with my inability to keep up with new theories in feminism. I've let things slide—become complacent, out of touch.

There was a time when I engaged in heated debate with separatists who desired communities that excluded men, with the debate over who could attend the Michigan Women's Festival. Could you bring boy babies and if so to what age?

Did Women's Bookstores need to stock the books that were anathema to many women? Books that pushed the boundaries.

I walked in Pride parades when I knew that my job might be endangered. I went to Washington to march in a huge parade asking, demanding, equal status. I spoke to my elected officials about how they voted and would vote on marriage for gays and lesbians.

In time, because I lived in a state where marriage became a reality, I lost my edge. Still a feminist, but losing touch with the new language.

So when I read a letter to the editor in The Nation —of intersectionality of identity politics , I stopped short. How did I become so slack that I had to look up a definition?

Thank goodness we're still talking about privilege, color, income, and how those aspects of identity intersect as well as polarize.

I still miss women's bookstores and women's music.

I'll need to brush up on the new vocabulary so I'm relevant.