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PHENOMENOLOGY AND ECOFEMINISM 207

the specific features of experience. Phenomenologists can help clarify
many aspects of the functioning of narrative. Each narrative grows from
a distinct constitution; phenomenologists have the tools for exploring and
better understanding the ways in which the world is constituted and
experienced. People who see the world as unjust, unfriendly, unrewarding,
threatening, or evil had to come somehow to see the world the way they
do. Coming to understand why these people constitute the world as they
do is the beginning of an appropriate response to them. The factors
which influenced their view of the world might be things which can be
corrected. If the view of the world is the result of misunderstanding,
confusion, or unreasonable expectations, this also indicates how the matter
should be approached.
Feminists have sought to understand the development of a feminist
consciousness. Important work on this has been done by Sandra Lee
Bartky.' Bartky holds that to be a feminist, one must become a feminist,
which is a transforming experience, including an altered consciousness.
She describes a feminist consciousness as an anguished consciousness
which recognizes the possibiUty of the transformation of an intolerable
condition. Feminist consciousness is that of undeserved and offensive
victimization. It is a divided consciousness which is aware of weakness
and of strength and experiences confusion and guilt because the victim
is also better off than most people in the world. The feminist conscious-
ness suffers psychological oppression; "harmless" things can become
sinister and social reality becomes deceptive. This consciousness suffers
category confusion, is unsure how to categorize things, including one's
own behavior. The feminist becomes vigilant, suspicious, and wary. She
realizes the deceptive character of social situations, which might indicate
opportunities to struggle against an unjust system, and which makes many
social occasions into tests.
This sort of consciousness has been largely neglected in phenomologi-
cal studies. It warrants study because it is the way life is constituted by
a large number of people. We see aspects of this throughout our society.
Some people are offended, even threatened, by what others consider
amusing or harmless. Women report feeling unsafe in situations in which
most men are aware of no danger. All of these aspects of lived worlds
must not be ignored or minimized as the results of women being "too

' Sandra Lee Bartky, "Toward a Phenomenology of Feminist Consciousness.'
Social Theory and Practice 3 (Fall 1975) 425-439