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both women and men, in my American Studies graduate seminar at the University of Texas at Austin in the spring of 1990. Two years earlier I heard similar comments from a prominent feminist critic I had interviewed who did not wish to be cited by name.
    18 . In an article on campus trends, Time Magazine , for instance,noted with disapproval the fact that “a University of Texas professor of American Studies has constructed a course on 19th–century writers to alternate between famous white men one week and obscure women the next, in part to illuminate ‘the prison house of gender.’” Time’s assumption, of course, was that the women writers were obscure because they deserved to be obscure—not because social or politicalfactors might have helped deny their work the attention it deserved (Henry 66). See also D’Souza 51–79. For two cogent and eloquent challenges to the position embodied in the Time article, see Paul Lauter’s Canons and Contexts and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars.
    19 . “[We write] because we have more fear of silence than of speech.” (Direct translation: of words)Rosario Ferré, “Porque Escribe la Mujer.” Variant on this quotation contained in “Entrevista breve con Rosario Ferré,” conducted by Krista Ratkowski Carmona, supplied by Ferré. Stanford speech (which was in Spanish) replaced “I” of Carmona interview with “Women.” Ferré spoke of the importance of Silences to her own work in an interview (Ferré 1988).
    20 . Two related areas of concern are the ghettoizationwithin women’s studies courses of material on women of color (see Zinn and also Alarcón, 1990) and the ghettoization and exclusion of gay and lesbian writers from a range of academic enterprises (see Beam et al., 1988; Poulson-Bryant; “As Quiet as It’s Kept”; McDaniel). Unfortunately, homophobia in academia has led to a rise of self-censorship on the part of a number of gay and lesbianscholars (Zimmerman 1988).
    21 . Gates noted that he arrived at this statement through consultation with historian John Hope Franklin.
    22 . Statistics gathered by Norma Alarcón (personal communication).
    23 . I am indebted to Roe v. Wade attorney Sarah Weddington for sharing with me her clipping file of hundreds of articles on this subject, documenting instances of harassment, violence, and intimidationin every section of the country.
    Works Cited
    Adams, Phoebe-Lou. Review of Silences. Atlantic Monthly. Sept. 1978, 96.
    Alarcón, Norma. “Chicana Feminist Literature: A Re-vision Through Malintzin/or Malintzin: Putting Flesh Back on the Object.” This Bridge Called My Back:Writings by Radical Women of Color. Ed. Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa. Albany, N. Y.: Kitchen Table Press, 1983.
    ——.Telephone interview. Fall 1988.
    ——. “The Theoretical Subject(s) of This Bridge Called My Back and Anglo-American Feminism.” Making Face, Making Soul: Haciendo Caras. Ed. Gloria Anzaldúa. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1990. 356–69.
    Alcott, Louisa May. Alternative Alcott. Ed. Elaine Showalter. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1987.
    ——. Moods. Ed. Sarah Elbert. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1991.
    Anzaldúa,Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987.
    Arnold, June. Sister Gin. Afterword by Jane Marcus. New York: The Feminist Press, 1989.
    “As Quiet As It’s Kept: The Literary Contributions of Black Lesbians and Gays.” Press release. Ad Hoc Committee of Black Lesbian and Gay Writers. March 1988.
    Atwood, Margaret. Blurb on front cover. Tillie Olsen. Silences. Sixth Printing, December 1982.
    ——. “Obstacle Course.” New York Times Book Review. 30 July 1978.
    Austin, Mary. A Woman of Genius. Afterword by Nancy Porter. New York: The Feminist Press, 1985.
    ——. Stories from the Country of Lost Borders. Ed. Marjorie Pryse. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1987.
    Barolini, Helen, ed. The Dream Book: An Anthology of Writings by Italian