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Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon explains it so even I can understand: “‘Choice feminism’ is a derogatory word that feminists use to describe it when a woman wants her patriarchally approved compliant behavior to be declared perfectly independent of social influence, even when it is obviously not. . . . The most common form of it is, ‘Feminism is about having choices and therefore my decision to submit to my husband/get breast implants/totter around on high heels and giggle is beyond analysis.’ We’ve all invoked choice feminism out of misplaced guilt about our personal unwillingness to analyze our own choices.”
For women in this bind, the pressure is mostly social, not legal. For black people it can have more drastic consequences. In Chicago, the ongoing Gautreaux case forbids the Chicago Housing Authority from building any new dwelling in ghetto areas unless it builds a corresponding dwelling in a nonblack area. Since the agency barely has the money to build anything, this will make it very difficult to build even a small amount of replacement housing in, say, the former Robert Taylor Homes neighborhood.
