Classism Redux

This week I've seen a handful of feminist or SJ bloggers addressing classism within their circles, and while I'm happy that it's being discussed, there are a few things bothering me that I'd really like to touch on here in the sanctity of my own site. Within progressive circles, classism is often acceptable, even encouraged, giving bloggers who don't have class privilege a platform is a huge step, though I don't see this happening, and the kind of topics covered with the feminist blogosphere especially, that shows. (For example, I almost never see union rights discussed on feminist blogs, though the percentage of female union workers is near that of men.) However, like most marginalized groups, working class and poor people are treated are often treated as a monolith.

Here's a complaint I see frequently: the language used within the SJ world alienates those who don't have access to it. This is largely true, but it's not so much that it's overly academic, but insular in the most general sense of the word. That being said, I'm hesitant to talk about my own background, or even participate at all, if it means my words are going to seen as less sophisticated because I don't have an advanced degree from a fancy school. There are ways to acquire knowledge that aren't tied to academia, a fact that gets lost in the shuffle when those talking about classism have class privilege. I'm pretty well read, I think, in a canonical sort of way, but I read none of the big, important feminists in school. I remember a few years ago a commenter on a pretty big deal blog said that she was women's studies major, yet she had never read Alice Walker. That speaks volumes about academic feminism, but those are still the voices we're centering?

When I started this site a few years ago, I wanted that women who didn't think feminism was for her to feel welcome, but not patronized either. Dryly pedantic doesn't work for blogging as a rule, but I want to assume she knows who Alice Walker is, or bell hooks, or hell, Judith Butler, who's like the grand dame of dry academic writing. Or at least, I don't want to assume because she didn't go to the good schools or doesn't comes highly degreed that she's never heard of them.