Happy New Year to all!
I’ve been meaning to blog about feminism for a while now. I am frustrated by a lot of the stuff that I find out in the blogging world and political world in general. Feminism has been an important part of my development as a political person, and as a human being, but I find myself arguing with a lot of “feminists” that I meet. The following is a comment I wrote to a post found on no snow here (which was quoted from $3.60). It’s a starting point for more writing.
As posted at no snow here:
The reason we so often think of feminism as ‘white,’ then, isn’t necessarily because all feminists are white, or because feminism necessarily excludes women of color– it’s because feminism just doesn’t know how to listen. How to pay attention to difference and to imagine women’s options accordingly. Historically, ‘not listening’ to others with less privelage translates to ‘being white.’ …
This is one of the reasons why woc [women of color] who might otherwise identify as feminists risk feeling shut out from feminism. And this is also why feminists must also remember that all things do not mean the same things to all people; that feminism might be more of a position than a movement; and that the work of looking out for women’s interests is ultimately ineffective if it misses or consistently misreads other elements that make up social our experiences of the world, like race, class, and religion.
My response:
Wow, this post hit me right in the gut. What you say is true. The mainstream feminist movement has been rife with problems since it began.
How to create a movement among people with so many different experiences is a challenge that all movement activists face. Basing movements off of identity politics can be convoluted and limiting, and for reasons that I can’t completely comprehend, this is particularly true for feminism. Some of it has to do with the fact that those most oppressed by patriarchy make up such a large percentage of the population. A lot of it has to do with who has been claiming the leadership of the movement–what you are talking about here.
I’m not quite ready to give up feminism as a movement. This position is definitely influenced by the fact that I am white. But it is also because I am really wedded (strange choice of words, I know, but I’m going with it) to the ideals of the feminist movement and the potential it has to become truly revolutionary. I have witnessed very close up the pitfalls and backwards thinking that many claim to be feminist philosophy and practice. I actually dislike the politics of most women that I meet that claim the title “feminist.” It is frustrating to me that many people still don’t understand that it is NOT feminism if it is not anti-racist, anti-classist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-etc. all forms of oppression.
What I’m wedded to has nothing to do with waves. It has nothing to do with women climbing the corporate ladder or running for US government (same thing). It has nothing to do with preserving some fucked up notion of womanhood based on anatomy, sexuality, social construction, or class. It’s the complete contempt for patriarchy and all of its ugliness that perpetuates our current structures and paradigms. It’s the fact that still, in almost all movements, the question of gender oppression is always addressed last. And it’s the fact that without confronting these issues, revolution will just be a word on paper and freedom will still just be a concept.
