Conflicts in Feminism

Describing the 1980s as ``the decade in which the feminist illusion of `sisterhood' . . . gave way to the realities of fractured discourses,'' Hirsch and Keller offer a vigorous collection of essays on topics that have, for some feminists, become divisive issues. Nancy F. Cott discusses the recent, failed ERA in light of the drive for equal rights during the 1920s; both efforts highlighted differences in goals and strategies among activists. The notion that women and men can be different but equal split feminists in the 1979 sex discrimination suit against Sears, which Joan W. Scott examines according to poststructuralist theory. Michelle Stanworth expresses concern that feminists' opposition to reproductive technologies may overshadow social, legal, political and economic issues regarding motherhood. Valerie Smith investigates the ``complex subtext of accusations of interracial rape''--a ``border'' issue that can clarify the relation between racial and gender issues--through news stories and a short story by Alice Walker. Hirsch is the author of The Mother/Daughter Plot ; Keller wrote Reflections on Gender and Science. (Dec.)