An Alternative Reader HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY edited by CATHY J. COHEN KATHLEEN B. JONES and JOAN C.TRONTO *: a • y U i 1 ft i i f \ a iy t 4 !■ Women Transforming Politics of Commons Library House HH HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY LOCATION We 52&.6Z3 AUTHOR COHc^AJ Acc DATE °\ oct Women Transforming Politics AN ALTERNATIVE READER EDITED BY Cathy J. Cohen, Kathleen B. Jones, and Joan C. Tronto NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London © 1997 by New York University All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Women transforming politics : an alternative reader / edited by Cathy J. Cohen, Kathleen B. Jones, and Joan C. Tronto. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8147-1557-5 (clothbound : acid-free paper). —ISBN 0-8147-1558-3 (paperbound : acid-free paper) 1. Women in politics —United States. 2. Women political activists—United States. 3. Feminism—United States. I. Cohen, Cathy J., 1961- . II. Jones, Kathleen B., 1949- . III. Tronto, Joan C., 1952- . HQ1236.5.U6W668 1997 3o6.2'o82—dc2i 97-19645 CIP New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 54321 CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Women Transforming U.S. Politics: Sites of Power/Resistance 1 CATHY J. COHEN, KATHLEEN B. JONES, AND JOAN C. TRONTO one Politics, Economics, and Culture: How Women Live 1 Women of Color in the Eighties: A Profile Based on Census Data 15 TAMARA JONES AND ALETHIA JONES 2 “Working Men” and “Dependent Wives”: Gender, “Race,” and the Regulation of Migration from Mexico 47 DOREEN J. MATTINGLY 3 On the Marriage Question 62 JACQUELINE STEVENS 4 American Sweatshops 1980s Style: Chinese Women Garment Workers 84 PETER KWONG 5 Women, Work, and the Politics of Fetal Rights 94 RACHEL ROTH 6 The Wage Effects of Sexual Orientation Discrimination 107 M. V. LEE BADGETT 7 Fighting the Violence against Our Sisters: Prosecution of Pregnant Women and the Coercive Use of Norplant 123 SUZANNE SHENDE 8 Cultural Survival and Contemporary American Indian Women in the City 136 JENNIE R. JOE AND DOROTHY LONEWOLF MILLER vi Contents 9 Policing the Black Woman’s Body in an Urban Context 151 HAZEL V. CARBY 10 Fade to White: Racial Politics and the Troubled Reign of Vanessa Williams 167 SARAH BANET-WEISER two Consciousness Raising, Cultural Politics, and Grassroots Organizing 11 Education, Cultural Rights, and Citizenship 187 RINA BENMAYOR AND ROSA M. TORRUELLAS 12 Exemplars of Indigenism: Native North American Women for De/Colonization and Liberation 205 4 M. A. JAIMES GUERRERO 13 Latina Women and Political Consciousness: La Chispa Que Prende 223 CAROL HARDY-FANTA 14 Ritual and Sacrifice at Tailhook ’91: A Documentary Exhibition and Political Action 238 FRANCES K. POHL 15 No Cultural Icon: Marisela Norte 256 MICHELLE HABELL-PALLAN 16 Feminisms of the Diaspora Both Local and Global: The Politics of South Asian Women against Domestic Violence 269 SANDYHA SHUKLA 17 The Marginalized Uses of Power and Identity: Lesbians’ Participation in Breast Cancer and AIDS Activism 284 ANDREA DENSHAM 18 Winning Action for Gender Equity: A Plan for Organizing Communities of Color 302 RIN K U SEN 19 Transforming Democracy: Rural Women and Labor Resistance 77/( EVE S. WEINBAUM Contents vii three Participation, Electoral Politics, and Movement Building 20 Negotiating and Transforming the Public Sphere: African American Political Life in the Transition from Slavery to Freedom 343 ELSA BARKLEY BROWN 21 From Three-Fifths to Zero: Implications of the Constitution for African American Women, 1787-1870 377 MAMIE E. LOCKE 22 Assimilating or Coloring Participation? Gender, Race, and Democratic Political Participation 387 JANE JUNN 23 Gender, Participation, and the Black Urban Underclass 398 YVETTE ALEX-ASSENSOH AND KARIN STANFORD 24 Breaking Barriers to Representation: Chicana/Latina Elected Officials in California 412 PAULE CRUZ TAKASH 25 Relative Privilege? Reconsidering White Women’s Participation in Municipal Politics 435 BARBARA A. CROW 26 Election Systems and the Representation of Black Women in American State Legislatures 447 R. DARCY, CHARLES D. HADLEY, AND JASON F. KIRKSEY 27 Nothing Distant about It: Women’s Liberation and Sixties Radicalism 456 ALICE ECHOLS 28 Organizational Mobilizations, Institutional Access, and Institutional Change 477 DEBRA C. MINKOFF four Pitfalls, Paradoxes, and Futures of Feminist Politics 29 Crime and Justice: Paradoxes for Theory and Action 499 KATHLEEN DALY viii Contents 30 Smashing Icons: Disabled Women and the Disability and Women’s Movements 519 MARIAN BLACKWELL-STRATTON, MARY LOU BRESLIN, ARLENE BYRNNE MAYERSON, AND SUSAN BAILEY 31 Presenting the Blue Goddess: Toward a National Pan-Asian Feminist Agenda 541 SONIA SHAH 32 Beyond Racism and Misogyny: Black Feminism and 2 Live Crew 549 KIMBERLE WILLIAMS CRENSHAW 33 Spiraling Discourses of Reproductive and Sexual Rights: A Post-Beijing Assessment of International Feminist Politics 569 ROSALIND P. PETCHESKY Contributors 589 Permissions 593 Index 595 I