Intersectionality or GTFO
September 6, 2016 10:35 AM   Subscribe

 
Thank you for posting. We should all aspire to be as enlightened and forward thinking as Lara Witt. A short read that is worth a few of your moments.
posted by Fizz at 12:47 PM on September 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


Good essay.

But my mind is kind of blown: is intersectionality seriously just the realization that there is more than one type of oppression? (And how has that not been obvious since forever?)
posted by heatherlogan at 6:18 PM on September 6, 2016


how has that not been obvious since forever

On Watching ‘White Feminist’ TV When You’re A Black Girl
Now, what do you do with that, when you’re a fan of these shows, but you’re also a conscious woman of color? How do you reconcile your issues with the flawed ways these shows approach race, no matter how benign, with the fact that you’re also entertained by them? Are you a hypocrite? Are you a sell-out? Are you just overreacting?

When it comes to this particular slate of female-led comedies, this internal conflict women of color may feel when watching is probably most applicable to the work of Tina Fey, patron saint of “smart, funny women.” An appraisal of Fey and her history with race makes one thing very clear: she doesn’t give a f**k."
Meryl Streep’s Divisive Feminism: How White Feminists Silence People of Color
So when Meryl Streep totally ignores issues of diversity, and instead chooses to compliment herself and her all-white panel on their feminist victory, we’re looking at more than just a clickbait-y story or a trumped-up offense. We’re talking about centuries of white women hogging the microphone and steering the conversation. We’re talking about wait your turn feminism and the women who are tired of waiting, about the questionable intersectional credentials of a presidential candidate who has lobbied congress to expand the drug war and mass incarceration, and who has consistently recommended military force abroad (which hardly ever bodes well for black and brown communities worldwide). And we’re talking about a world in which Harriet Tubman musing about the impenetrability of white female privilege, as quoted by Viola Davis at the 2015 Emmys, is as relevant now as it was then: “In my mind, I see a line. And over that line I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me to get over that line but I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line.”
Erica Jong and Why Critiquing White Feminism is Necessary
It also re-writes the ways that Steinem herself has tried to work in solidarity with black women, including Dorothy Pitman-Hughes, Flo Kennedy and Alice Walker. Steinem recently acknowledged “black women invented feminism.” Jong seems to have in mind the iconic image (below) in her vision of feminism. But, even if we only take the second-wave of feminism into consideration, that image of Gloria Steinem and Deborah Pitman-Hughes is more aspirational than reportorial. And, it’s an image that represents a very narrow view of racial diversity, and reinforces cisgender women’s place at the center of feminism.
or, alternatively, see the history of black feminism:

Black feminism and intersectionality
Thus, Crenshaw’s political aims reach further than addressing flaws in the legal system. She argues that Black women are frequently absent from analyses of either gender oppression or racism, since the former focuses primarily on the experiences of white women and the latter on Black men. She seeks to challenge both feminist and antiracist theory and practice that neglect to “accurately reflect the interaction of race and gender,” arguing that “because the intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated.”11

Crenshaw argues that a key aspect of intersectionality lies in its recognition that multiple oppressions are not each suffered separately but rather as a single, synthesized experience. This has enormous significance at the very practical level of movement building.
posted by runt at 6:36 PM on September 6, 2016 [20 favorites]


Intersectionality isn't just realizing there's more than one type of oppression, it's also realizing that Type A oppression + Type B oppression doesn't equal Type A+B oppression but rather Type C.

For example, it can be sexist to have a narrative about a white woman that revolves entirely around her love story. But for black women, who are regularly treated in media as sexless and certainly not romantic and vulnerable, that same story could actually be revolutionary...
posted by Cozybee at 9:09 PM on September 6, 2016 [10 favorites]


On a podcast I was listening to this morning briefly touched on Lena Dunham's bone-headed comments about Odell Beckham (yes, she has apologized but she seems to keep making the same mistakes), white women like Dunham (to a lesser extent, imo) and Amy Schumer are held up as the New Faces of Feminism, but it doesn't escape me and many others like the face of feminism is always always a white woman. Feminism needs to be intersectional, and the fact that it often isn't is a huge problem.
posted by Kitteh at 6:20 AM on September 7, 2016


I've been having an interesting conversation with another Mefite about how mixed-race people are often literally where racism and sexism intersect - SO much of the powerful prejudice (historical and current) against us comes from the notion that we are living proof that men of a particular race have failed to control "their" women and stop them from outmarrying. (To which I say, neener neener boo boo.)
posted by sunset in snow country at 8:44 AM on September 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


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