Passing

One of the first concepts I learned about in college was passing. At first it was in terms of African American Literature, and how certain characters would "pass" for white in order to avoid conflict or simply go through daily life. As time moved forward I also learned about it in terms of every day life - how people around me could be passing for white, black, straight, male, female, etc. While reading Anne Enke's Finding the Movement: Sexuality, Contested Space, and Feminist Activism I was moved (however, not surprised) by the stories told of women who pass in order to live their lives. I was particularly struck by the story of Kathleen Thompson who was told by women at the University of Chicago that she was "too southern, too feminine, too much 'like Dolly Parton' to be welcomed at a northern feminist party where all of those things coded uneducated and unenlightened" (252). Throughout reading the book I made comparisons to my experiences in life, but had a strong connection to Kathleen. I attended a non-denominational, private, all girls' high school in Pittsburgh, and because of this fact I have been constantly labeled as both feminist and lesbian. The reason I thought of myself whenever I read about Kathleen was because of how easy it is to label somebody just based off of where they are from and their appearances. Because I wore a kilt to school, had predominantly female friends, and no boyfriend to speak of I had to be a lesbian. And not only did I have to be a lesbian, but I had to be a feminist because that's what they teach you to be at an all girls' school. At least, in their defense, people have assumed one thing correctly: I am a feminist. The problem that I ran into the most, however, was this: I am not a lesbian, but when I would deny this fact to people who used the term as a negative insult I was strengthening their argument that it was something bad. Faced with the challenge of either defending my sexuality and rewarding the person who challenged it with positive reinforcement of their insult I frequently chose to roll with the verbal punches and let it go. In my case I "passed" as lesbian in order to not support a negative connotation.

I think that the book made me think about my experience because it also centered entirely on space. Because I participated in all female education, an all female space all of my interests must have been focused on females. Obviously I have not contributed to the feminist movement in the same ways as Kathleen and the numerous women talked about in Enke's book, but I thought that my experience was an interesting parallel, and since I did not get to share most of it in class, I figured this final blog post was a good space.