Lugones and Spellman speak on the binary opposition of inclusion and exclusion. The female voice is central to feminist methodology and integral to sharing and engaging other in the experiences of women. However, the females voice is systemically silenced by a historical pattern shaped by patriarchal constructs. Even more, within the demand to be heard lies an inherent bias that highlights the voices of some but silences the voices of others. Lugones states, “systemic, sustained reflection on being a woman, is most likely done by women who vis-à-vis other women enjoy certain amount of political, social, and economic privilege because of their skin color, class membership, ethnic identity”.
The authors also speak on the opposition of “insiders” and “outsiders”, with regards to the feminist theorization of different female populations in any given cultural/ social setting. The outsider attempts to give an account of “insiders” own experience often times observing their own cultural experience and applying it to their account of others, thereby remaking others in their own image. The pressure to believe outsider accounts are problematic because the individual begins to view themselves not based on their on reality but based on the perceived reality of others. Often times females of color and white females are unprepared to engage in dialogue about experiences due to as Lugones states, “the hierarchical distinctions between theorizers and those theorized about” which are “endorsed by the same views and institutions which endorse support hierarchical distinctions between men/women, master race/inferior race, and intellectuals/ manual workers”.
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