A response to Frank and Fugate.

• Author: Stepp, Pamela
• Position: Response to Amy Lee Fugate in this issue, p. 191 and to David A. Frank in this issue, p. 195

Frank and Fugate both demonstrate concern for the problem of diversity in debate. While we disagree on important specifics, their comments indicate the growing commitment to face the diversity issue.

I want to highlight one point of disagreement with Frank and two points where we agree, but come to different conclusions. In relation to the point of disagreement Frank fears that my proposed changes would reduce the rigor of the activity by de-emphasizing linear thinking in favor of the feminine idea concerning nurturing, cooperation and personal narrative. Frank misses the point that both forms of reasoning can be combined to improve the activity. The feminist legal scholar, Catherine MacKinnon (1987), argues that female inequality stems from living in a social world organized from a male perspective:

[V]irtually every quality that distinguishes men from women is . . . affirmatively compensated in this society. Men's physiology defines most sports, their needs define auto and health insurance coverage, their socially designed biographies define workplace expectations and successful career patterns, their perspectives and concerns define quality in scholarship, their experiences and obsessions define merit, their objectification of life defines art, their inability to get along with each other - their wars and rulerships - defines history, their image defines god, and their genitals define sex. For each of their differences from women, what amounts to an affirmative action plan is in effect, otherwise known as the structure and values of American society. (p. 36)

Debate is an activity that has been designed by white men and until the structure is changed the organization will continue to privilege the white male debate experience.

I am not alone in making this point. Scholar and first female president of CEDA, Ann Gill (1994), explains that "If society is to embrace and to value all of its members, it must break the silence of women, ethnic minorities, and others in the margins of society"(p. 1). She emphasizes that "we must listen to all the voices, and individuals must find an authentic voice of their own." During exploration of how both male and female students develop voices in debate, Kristine Bartanen (1995, p. 10) found that "we need to incorporate more ways of knowing into our activity, to re-evaluate our use of authority and to supplement research on debaters' critical thinking ability with investigations of their intellectual...