But getting back to my original point about feeling a bit self-conscious reading this piece. I'm afraid that most of what I do and talk most about is just too white feminist-y. As Collins puts it, am I failing to see how my thoughts and actions uphold someone else’s subordination? Of course I want to say 'no', but since I've never been in the Other position, at least in being a girl, how can I be sure? I'm white, cis-gendered, and middle class. At this point, it could seem as though there is a competition for who is the most oppressed of them all, but that's not what intersectionality is about. I think it's about adjusting the lens that we see the world, and especially our privilege through, in order to better suit everyone. Educating yourself and being aware of both how you're oppressed and how you're not is a great step in the right direction. I feel it needs to be made more aware that in the world, and specifically the feminist movement, we're not all white, middle class, cis-gendered, and able bodied!
Monday, November 23, 2015
Am I Just A White Feminist?
The Matrix of Domination, written by Patricia Hill Collins, made me think a lot about myself as a feminist and the kind of values I like to base 'my feminism' around. Of course, most all feminism is good feminism, but discussing Collins' piece and its key points made me more aware, and a bit self-conscious, about intersectionality. As ideal as it would be for all the people in the world- male, female, whatever- to come together seamlessly to unite for equality for women's rights, it's not that simple. As a white female, that automatically gives me more privilege than a black female. As Mr. Heidkamp demonstrated in class with his privileges chart, the usual binaries of man/woman and black/white etc. get a little blurred when it comes to intersectional feminism. I think that this something that should be addressed way more than it is today. I can understand why it isn't, though. The idea of feminism alone gets bashed enough - "why not just call it humanism?" and "but what about men?" - so to push another sect, or simply another layer of feminism, to the world could be too much.
But getting back to my original point about feeling a bit self-conscious reading this piece. I'm afraid that most of what I do and talk most about is just too white feminist-y. As Collins puts it, am I failing to see how my thoughts and actions uphold someone else’s subordination? Of course I want to say 'no', but since I've never been in the Other position, at least in being a girl, how can I be sure? I'm white, cis-gendered, and middle class. At this point, it could seem as though there is a competition for who is the most oppressed of them all, but that's not what intersectionality is about. I think it's about adjusting the lens that we see the world, and especially our privilege through, in order to better suit everyone. Educating yourself and being aware of both how you're oppressed and how you're not is a great step in the right direction. I feel it needs to be made more aware that in the world, and specifically the feminist movement, we're not all white, middle class, cis-gendered, and able bodied!
But getting back to my original point about feeling a bit self-conscious reading this piece. I'm afraid that most of what I do and talk most about is just too white feminist-y. As Collins puts it, am I failing to see how my thoughts and actions uphold someone else’s subordination? Of course I want to say 'no', but since I've never been in the Other position, at least in being a girl, how can I be sure? I'm white, cis-gendered, and middle class. At this point, it could seem as though there is a competition for who is the most oppressed of them all, but that's not what intersectionality is about. I think it's about adjusting the lens that we see the world, and especially our privilege through, in order to better suit everyone. Educating yourself and being aware of both how you're oppressed and how you're not is a great step in the right direction. I feel it needs to be made more aware that in the world, and specifically the feminist movement, we're not all white, middle class, cis-gendered, and able bodied!
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You made some excellent points (that were totally on my mind, too!). I feel like being white middle class females puts us in this place where we could either be great intersectional feminists or to be reinforcers of oppression while thinking we are acting as feminists. It's definitely a slippery slope that can be navigated but it takes a lot of social awareness.
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