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Rating: 
Summary: This was supposed to respect my generation of feminists??
Review: Having read this book for my feminist theories class, I was shocked at the celebrity afterward from Angela Davis, which admitted she hadn't initially thought our generation of feminist theorists was important enough to read for their own sakes. Because Davis had once pointedly lectured both the women's movement and mainstream society about the dangers of making presumptions (and subsequently allowing those preconcieved notions to guide your own politics) I had hoped she (more than any other second waver name-dropped in this project) would also be aware of the dangers from ageism. My heart consequently fell as I realizes she was never actually interested in 'bridging' or mentoring with my generation of feminist activist/theorists, but simply touting her own horn about how great she was, and how by implication we would somehow never be able to match up. Ironically, the multipronged social justice strategies she freely champions in other settings become impossible with her own condescending view of 'feminist activism' since a single generation of activists will not live forever, and younger ones might provide critical insights for victory (that is assuming they were allowed to speak in meaningful ways, and were listened to). No, Davis might not like everything in exactly the format that is said by the newer theorists, but then the proverbial million dollar question begs: Why lend your name and words to something you don't particularly care for at all anyways? Editor Walker (daughter of Alice Walker) bears some responsibilty for this literary mess since she seems to have culled 'famous feminists' from her mother's rolodex without pondering if they would actually treat herself or the audience as whole people, instead of annoying interlopers who are threatining 'other's' feminist movement. Such, a shame too because this book really could have been a huge breakthrough with the correct editing.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I read this anthology after reading Gloria Steinem's Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions and another anthology that I think was called Voices From the Next Feminist Generation. Thank you thank you thank you Rebecca Walker for creating a forum for this incredibly diverse and colorful group of feminists who completely reshaped, juggled and challenged every "rule" about what it means to be a feminist. I treasure the knowledge and power I have accrued from reading the first two books and now, after reading Walker's book, I feel that my understanding of gender, race and class issues is even more rounded out. This is a critical book for any feminist and anyone who is willing to read about feminism,(probably to discover that they too, are feminists).
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: This morning I was sitting in the Laundromat down the street quietly reading Rebecca Walker's anthology of feminist essays, To Be Real. I was reading the line "in much of our understanding, power is equated with oppression: images of white supremacists dominating people of color, men dominating women, and the rich dominating the poor underline the histories of many cultures and societies," in an essay by Jason Schultz, when an ironic thing happened. I heard pieces of a conversation between an older white man and a middle aged white woman that was going on the other side of the room. I heard words like, "nigger" and "lazy" within phrases like "all they do is make babies and live on food stamps." I couldn't hear whole sentences, and so I tried to shut them out and read my book. Another girl my age was not so lucky. She was waiting for her clothes to dry, just a few feet from the conversation. Just before leaving the scene, she approached the two and said "I'm sorry, but some of us are trying to do our laundry and we shouldn't have to listen to your racist conversations..." The old man threw up his hands, mocking her, and said, "Ok, we'll stop. Peace, man." She went on, and again I could only hear bits of her words, over the whining drone of washing machines. I heard her say, "the problem is your redneck mentality," and "educate yourself." But her words fell on deaf ears. As she stormed out to her car, carrying load after load of laundry, the two small town residents mumbled about her things I could only imagine to be extremely offensive. I followed her out to her car to congratulate her. I told her that I agreed with everything she said and that she was a strong person to have done what she did. At the same time I felt immense guilt. Because I, the Feminist, did not get up and go over there to hear the conversation that I knew to be oppressive, and that I was not the one who said something. Here I was, reading a book about how Feminism needs to fight towards equality- not only between the sexes-but in terms of Race, Sexuality, and any form of difference. A book whose essays, compiled by the incredible Rebecca Walker, were personal confessions about times when each author was forced to question their own position in the feminist movement. I felt that I had just been tested, and failed. So I began to analyze the situation. Had I been standing closer to the conversation would I have responded as this other girl had? I would like to think so. If the target of oppression had been gays and lesbians instead of black folks, would I have responded? Most definitely, I don't think that I would've been able to help myself from attacking the attackers. So what does this say about me? That unless I, myself, am part of the group being oppressed I wouldn't get directly involved? The point of these questions are exactly what Rebecca Walker is bringing up for discussion. We, as individuals, have to ask ourselves such things in order to determine who we are and what our place is within this Third Wave of Feminism. This Third Wave encompasses the notion that there is no one way to be a feminist, and that there is no betrayal in being yourself. As humans, we will fall short at times, and we will constantly surprise ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: Riding the Third Wave of Feminism
Review: This morning I was sitting in the Laundromat down the street quietly reading Rebecca Walker's anthology of feminist essays, To Be Real. I was reading the line "in much of our understanding, power is equated with oppression: images of white supremacists dominating people of color, men dominating women, and the rich dominating the poor underline the histories of many cultures and societies," in an essay by Jason Schultz, when an ironic thing happened. I heard pieces of a conversation between an older white man and a middle aged white woman that was going on the other side of the room. I heard words like, "nigger" and "lazy" within phrases like "all they do is make babies and live on food stamps." I couldn't hear whole sentences, and so I tried to shut them out and read my book. Another girl my age was not so lucky. She was waiting for her clothes to dry, just a few feet from the conversation. Just before leaving the scene, she approached the two and said "I'm sorry, but some of us are trying to do our laundry and we shouldn't have to listen to your racist conversations..." The old man threw up his hands, mocking her, and said, "Ok, we'll stop. Peace, man." She went on, and again I could only hear bits of her words, over the whining drone of washing machines. I heard her say, "the problem is your redneck mentality," and "educate yourself." But her words fell on deaf ears. As she stormed out to her car, carrying load after load of laundry, the two small town residents mumbled about her things I could only imagine to be extremely offensive. I followed her out to her car to congratulate her. I told her that I agreed with everything she said and that she was a strong person to have done what she did. At the same time I felt immense guilt. Because I, the Feminist, did not get up and go over there to hear the conversation that I knew to be oppressive, and that I was not the one who said something. Here I was, reading a book about how Feminism needs to fight towards equality- not only between the sexes-but in terms of Race, Sexuality, and any form of difference. A book whose essays, compiled by the incredible Rebecca Walker, were personal confessions about times when each author was forced to question their own position in the feminist movement. I felt that I had just been tested, and failed. So I began to analyze the situation. Had I been standing closer to the conversation would I have responded as this other girl had? I would like to think so. If the target of oppression had been gays and lesbians instead of black folks, would I have responded? Most definitely, I don't think that I would've been able to help myself from attacking the attackers. So what does this say about me? That unless I, myself, am part of the group being oppressed I wouldn't get directly involved? The point of these questions are exactly what Rebecca Walker is bringing up for discussion. We, as individuals, have to ask ourselves such things in order to determine who we are and what our place is within this Third Wave of Feminism. This Third Wave encompasses the notion that there is no one way to be a feminist, and that there is no betrayal in being yourself. As humans, we will fall short at times, and we will constantly surprise ourselves.
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