Beyond the Rhetoric of "Dirty Laundry": Examining the Value of Internal Criticism Within Progressive Social Movements and Oppressed Communities

Part I of this Article discusses examples of resistance to internal criticism within progressive social movements in order to demonstrate the extent to which such opposition operates as a barrier to constructive dissent. Part II argues that resistance to internal criticism may often result from the embrace of heterosexism, patriarchy, and racism within oppressed communities and among progressive intellectuals, and that any remaining explanations for such resistance are outweighed by the value of internal criticism to progressive theory and politics. Part III offers suggestions-to both internal critics and to the objects of their critiques-for minimizing the potentially negative effects of internal criticism and for advancing a more inclusive conceptualization of justice.