Writing Like a Feminist:  What Is "Voice"?

"Writing like a feminist" doesn’t mean writing like anybody else--it means joining the conversation that is feminist thought, and joining as you, in your voice.

Imagine you’re in the room with Charlotte Bunch…or Audre Lorde...or Maria Lugones and Elizabeth Spelman...or bell hooks…or all of them.  Someone is speaking, breathing and gesturing, her face and voice changing expression as she speaks.  You’re listening attentively while at the same time having your own thoughts about what she says--appreciating her clarity perhaps, or wondering what she means, or thinking of examples you know of that connect with her ideas, or pondering limitations and flaws in her thinking, or going "aha!" when her ideas suddenly clarify or stretch your own thoughts.  Let her voice resonate in yours as you make your own voice heard.  You’re participating in what has come before while contributing words and sentences and thoughts of your own making.  You want to get across not only your thoughts but WHO YOU ARE, IN THIS PLACE, IN THIS TIME…and your awareness of WHY THIS CONVERSATION MATTERS.  

Elizabeth Spelman

Maria Lugones

Charlotte Bunch                  bell hooks

Audre Lorde