We try to tell the truth when the truth is difficult
The chapter called "Exploring Learning and Identity," for example, deals with the pain and violence, both emotional and physical, that many learners experienced in early school lives. Since this early pain may well affect learning in adulthood, making it part of the curriculum may enable some learners to move on to a more fruitful learning experience at this time.

We encourage women to speak in their own voices
The activities in this book encourage women to state their opinions, recognize the truth about their lives, what is good in them and what is not so good; the activities encourage women to talk to each other about their experiences, to see similarities in spite of differences, to make alliances and to work for change at a personal and/or a political level.

What a feminist curriculum is not!
Finally, a feminist curriculum does not tell women what to think, how to live or what to do. It does not tell them they must change, or in what direction to move. Instead, it invites women to look at their lives and at the lives of others, to make connections between them and to think about issues of invisibility and power. A feminist curriculum does not tell women that everything is all right. It does not encourage women to change themselves in order to fit in better or to lie to themselves in order to feel better. A curriculum that suggests we change the women instead of changing the system is not a feminist curriculum.

What do you do with a feminist curriculum?
A feminist curriculum, of course, is more than a series of chapters, more than reading material for students. The instructor who chooses to offer such material to learners and the learners who agree to participate are the ones who animate the curriculum. We offer it to you, knowing that you will adapt it to the learners and the situations where you work. You will insert your favorite readings and activities into our chapters, and use parts of these chapters in programs you already have in place.

Warnings
We offer this curriculum to you with some trepidation. We believe that the activities and the readings presented here encourage change and we know that change may be initially unwelcome, both to those doing the changing and to those around them.

The more you work to encourage change, the more repercussions there may be. If you are a seasoned worker for change, you will already know that you can expect resistance or backlash, as well as more positive effects. If you have never worked with learners using material that encourages them to think about their lives and to make changes in them, you might want to reflect on the following ideas as you are getting started:

• When you invite people to take part in the activities in this book and make the class a place of safety and risk-taking, you can expect learners, both women and men, to come to you with issues from their past that they have never dealt with. (To get ready for dealing with some of this, please read "Responding to Disclosures of Abuse in Women's Lives," page 15)
  
  
• People make changes in their lives in their own ways and at their own paces; they will be at different points of readiness for thinking about change and making change. They will do only what they are ready to do.
  
  
• Resistance to your using this curriculum will come from many sources. It will come from learners themselves, especially from men who do not see themselves reflected as they might expect. Clearly, you cannot force learners to use this material. They will not be forced, and there would be no point to trying to do so. However, do not be fooled by the loudest protesters into thinking that everyone in the class does not like the material you are using. If you offer the material in such a way that those who want to participate can, and offer alternate activities to others, you will not have to deal with so much resistance directed against you and you may find that the size of the group working on these activities gradually grows.
  
  
• Resistance will also come from administrators and other instructors or tutors. This will vary in type and strength, but will always be less if you are working with learners who have chosen to work with you on this curriculum. Make the learners your allies. Find some other allies as well - a mentor, a counselor who works with the learners in your class, a librarian who will help the learners with research and get to know your program.
  
  
• You will almost surely find resistance coming from within yourself. You may hear voices saying, "It's not real literacy work," "I can't measure what they are learning," "I'll get into a lot of trouble for rocking the boat," "It's too hard to figure out how to adapt these ideas to my situation, and the repercussions are huge if I do it wrong," and so on. Don't beat yourself up. Some times and places are more fruitful than others. Work with the learners and with your other allies. Start slowly and watch what happens. We offer you this curriculum also with pride and hope.