But these 'special rights' are just access to the same rights everybody has. That language is used to mean that whenever any group advocates for itself, it's somehow a special plea over and against other groups. That has been a very effective manipulation of language, and we have to counter that manipulation. Bunch acknowledged that many groups have left themselves open to such charges by adopting a single cause and failing to form alliances. That language has been successful because too many women's groups have worked in single issue ways, without speaking enough about how that issue related to others.
Groups can help their cause by showing that they are lending their support to other struggles.
Bunch's lecture was presented by the McGill Centre for Research and Teaching on Women. The Muriel V. Roscoe Lectureship was established 10 years ago as a centennial project by the Alumnae Society, in honour of the second woman to be named a full professor at McGill.