Making Literature Matter

In the first edition of their anthology Making Literature Matter, John Schilb and John Clifford paired "No Name Woman" with Naomi Wolfs "The Making of a Slut," an autobiographical essay in which Wolf describes her experience when a high school friend was labeled a slut because of her working class status and the way she dressed. Teaching the two essays together has given me the opportunity to make the inhibiting effect of cultural relativism a focus of discussion and to try out some ways around students' initial reluctance to evaluate what they are reading. Students read "No Name Woman" ...