Mary Louise Fellows

Seeking Relations: Law and Feminism Roundtables

U R R E N T LY the rhetoric of difference and diversity among women dominates discussions in legal feminism about where women stand in relation to each other. The words difference and diversity organize the relationship among women in ways that can eclipse the differential impact of ableism, economic exploitation, heterosexism, racism, and sexism in womens lives. Differences among women are taken into account, for example, in the recognition that some women are doubly and triply disadvantaged. Ultimately, however, the multiple ways in which we as women actually are implicated in maintaining structures of domination in each others lives can remain uninterrogated. Consequently, while women often seek solidarity, we frequently find it difficult to sustain collective action, given our respective differences. Presuming innocence, each of us is consistently surprised when we are viewed by other women as agents of oppression. The difference impasse, as the confronting of our different socially produced locations might be called, emerges on a daily basis in our relations with each other as women and as members of diverse communities and, more