Of course, not all the consequences of being involved in this project had been positive. Both passive and active resistance forced a few women to confront the reality of their work from a different perspective.

In the beginning the students, particularly the male students and sometimes female students, were really angry that we were doing this. They didn't think it was necessary and they thought it was unfair to men for women to actually do something for themselves. Some of that ended up in a bit of violence and a lot of anger and threats. For a while there I felt like all I heard every time I was at the centre was some guy freaking out at me, usually very loudly, about what I was doing. I had a guy come in and scream at me and call me a feminist bitch and a lot of stuff like that. That wasn't so positive. (Robin Silverman Allcorn, Beat the Street)

Even where the men's response was less aggressive, it still raised difficult questions. For some, it was a question of program priorities and focus. For others, it became a struggle to answer that omnipresent question - What about the men?

One of the men in particular said, "I've been abused, too, and you're talking about abuse. Abuse is not a women's issue. It is an abused person's issue." (Diane Eastman, Brandon Friendship Centre)

Involvement in this woman-positive project raised questions among many women's family and friends who believed the women might be changing in ways that would affect their relationships. At times, these questions centred on the ways in which women might be becoming "feminist" or "liberated." Women not only talked about others confronting them with these questions, they realized they were asking some of the questions themselves. For one woman, the issue became how to reconcile ideas of "woman-positive" and "learner-centred."

I was trying to strike that balance between asking provocative questions so that we did see and view ourselves as women doing women's issues in writing and literacy, and not creating a framework, where that might be imposed. I wanted to be comfortable with the line that I was walking. And I had to feel that comfort for myself - where I felt, I am learner-centred but I can still ask those provocative questions, and then wait and see if learners want to pursue them or not. (Nancy Steel, Keyano College)

For another, the early months of the project led to serious questioning about her work.

One of the things that's been happening over the past several weeks - I guess since Christmas time when I finally had enough time to take four days off and do nothing but sleep - I've been seriously thinking of giving up teaching. So that seems to be a fairly negative reaction to the whole process. (Kate Nonesuch, Malaspina College)