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A TYRANNY OF INTIMACY? 233

exclusionary mechanisms and propose the recognition and appreciation
of differences instead, we can hardly replace it with a new universal, be
it feminist, norm for public life. We need to allow for contradictions
within our own feminist public discourse as well.

I would like to thank my students Wiet van Hoorn and Connie van
der Molen who collected material for this paper. The comments
of my colleagues Joke Hermes, Pieter Hilhorst and Ien Ang on
earlier drafts have been very useful.

NOTES

1 This figure is based on the August 1989 situation.
2 Refers to August 1989.
3 In most expressions of liberal feminist discourse the concept of the public
sphere refers to all non-private or non-domestic instances. Elshtain
(1981) argues strongly against such an inflation of the concept.
4 This argumentation is not reserved to liberal feminism. Elements of it can
be found in other feminist discourses (e.g. radical, socialist) as well.
5 Note that this formulation constructs ‘femininity’ as deviant. Rephrasing
the question as ‘are men simply the same, or obviously different?’
implies a whole different status quo.

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