The American Scholar

LETTERS

No Ambiguity

Setting aside much of Sandra M. Gilbert’s problematic cover article in the summer issue, “In the Labyrinth of #MeToo”), I would like to focus on three paragraphs. In the middle of her piece, soon after describing the rape of an unconscious woman behind a Dumpster that landed Brock Turner so disgustingly light a sentence that the sentencing judge was recently recalled by voters, Gilbert asks, are “these ambiguous traumas what feminism has actually been about?”

These “ambiguous traumas” led Turner’s victim to write a moving letter that Gilbert ought to read. Here’s an excerpt: “I can’t sleep alone at night without having a light on, like a five year old, because I have nightmares of being touched where I cannot wake up, I did this thing where I waited until the sun came up and I felt safe enough to sleep. For three months, I went to bed at six o’clock in the morning.” Moving on to answering her own specious question, Gilbert tells us that #MeToo has derailed feminism from its

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The American Scholar

The American Scholar4 min read
The Choice Is Ours
In December 1866, mathematician Mary Boole wrote to Charles Darwin: Do you consider the holding of your Theory of Natural Selection, in its fullest & most unreserved sense, to be inconsistent,—I do not say with any particular scheme of Theological do
The American Scholar17 min read
Tramping With Virginia
Emily Fox Gordon is the author of two memoirs, two novels, and a collection of essays, Book of Days. Her second novel, Madeleine and Jane, was published last September. I’m a devoted fan of Virginia Woolf ’s essay “Street Haunting.” For many years, I
The American Scholar4 min read
Downstream of Fukushima
Iam two levels down in Tokyo’s massive central railway station, eating seafood with my wife, Penny, and a crowd of hungry Japanese commuters and travelers. In August 2023, the Japanese government, with the blessing of the International Atomic Energy

Related Books & Audiobooks