It never ceases to amaze me how many students come into college with the belief that women didn't really play a role in public life until, like, the 1970s.
Always like to point out to students that the French Revolution in 1789 and the Russian Revolution in 1917 were sparked by street action by crowds of largely women.
It was NOT a coincidence that the February Revolution in 1917 was the same week as International Women's Day.
Anyway, a huge part of the problem -- and I encounter this all the time when teaching about right-wing women's movements -- is the way that so many students are taught a very simplistic understanding of feminism that boils down to "whatever empowers women outside the home."
In addition to being an incredibly reductive understanding of feminism as a broad body of political thought, it leaves students without the analytical toolkit to understand, say, Elizabeth Dilling or Phyllis Schlafly.
This is actually why the students' favorite week in my far-right class is almost universally when we talk about white women in the Klan, using readings from Linda Gordon, Kathleen Blee, and Kelly Baker.
It's also why the work of historians like Michelle Nickerson and Elizabeth McRae is so damn important -- I often recommend MOTHERS OF CONSERVATISM and MOTHERS OF MASSIVE RESISTANCE to students as resources for their final project.
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