Kaylene Chavez

Bucky Kephart

Chelsi Havko

Joshua Miller

Jessie Malone

● In the introduction to this section, your authors talk about the obstacles in
recognizing the role of women in nonviolent practice. What are the obstacles
and what have we lost because of this?

The biggest thing that holds back women is what others think of them. Women
can’t be strong influences in nonviolence because society has biases against
their abilities. Women are not actively represented in the writings of nonviolence.
Another obstacle is that women were confined to the home with regard to caring
for children and the house. We lost a lot of history regarding women in
nonviolence due to the subordination of women within the movement and the fact
that women were considered less vital to the movement as a whole.

● In the first essay by Danube, he describes the ways that early writings
showed women confronting established power and male supremacy in the
ancient world. He also writes that the example he gives of Antigone were
ones where she used civil disobedience. How does this tie into nonviolent
action?

Civil disobedience ties into nonviolent action because of the fact that King and
Thoreau utilized civil disobedience. Women’s contributions to nonviolent action
and civil disobedience is not as known because they had to hide it in order to
survive.

● In Deming's essay she describes the work for not only women's political
liberation during Viet Nam but also sexual liberation. What do you think were
her most successful methods of nonviolent protest of the war in the nuclear
age?

Showing human concern and empathy for our antagonist allows us to put
pressure on our antagonist which is very effective. The more personal we make
the argument, the more effective it is. Exerting force and blocking buildings etc.
were two effective methods of nonviolent protest.
● After reading about Molly Rush and the Plowshares 8, and then watching the
video, how do you think Molly Rush was able to be committed to nonviolence
with all that she had to give up? Do you think you could do what she did?

Molly was able to be so committed because she was envisioning the future of her
children while facing nuclear warfare. The possibility of her children facing
nuclear wastelands outweighed the fact that she would have to leave her children
for a short period of time. We said that we would not be able to do what she did
and that we do not think we have ever been as passionate as she was about
anything.