Responding to Differences in the Classroom: The Politics of Knowledge, Class, and Sexuality

A contemporary challenge to women’s studies, as well as to the feminist movement, is to recognize and appreciate the diversity of women’s experience (Baca Zinn et al. 1986; Bunch 1985; Cole 1986; Cruikshank 1982; Hooks 1984; Lorde 1984; Moraga and Anzaldua 1981). This shift from an emphasis on commonalities among women to a perspective that also includes differences among them has necessitated a rethinking of feminist theory and has forced many women to explore critically how they and others respond to the issue of difference in their daily lives, including the classroom.