Who is We?

This week in my feminist theories class, we read five chapters on the history of feminism and the different feminist movements.  There are a lot of things in those readings that seemed blog-worthy, but actually the thing that really popped out at me came from our other readings: in Ms. magazine. 

(View Ms. magazine at: http://www.msmagazine.com/)

One of the articles we read was Ms. Spring 2002 pages 96-98.  The article was a "flashback" from a 1978 piece in which Lindsey Van Gelder shared her experience of the National Women's Conference in Houston.  She used the term "We" throughout the article, suggesting that her article was intending to present the experiences of the collective of women gathered at the convention, in one voice.

Ms. Van Gelder wrote about the celebration of several advances within the larger feminist movement, such as the increased visibility and organization of ethnic minority women and women who love women.  She made reference to some women of color who caught her attention at the convention for speaking up about their feminisms.  It all seemed very celebratory and kumbayaish.  But it struck me as being rife with tokenism.  There are several examples, which I will not belabor (in an effort to keep this post concise)... but the one that bothered me the most was this quote:

Who is "we"?

I found this quote to be very othering toward minorities.  Ms. Van Gelder presents the experiences at the conference through an exclusively white (and maybe straight, since she doesn't clarify who the minorities she refers to are) lens.  The WE that this conference was about... The WE that experienced the conference... in Ms. Van Gelder's mind is a white We, and she tells the reader this while asserting that she has been "sensitized" to the Other Than We.

The other side of this experience is that of the women who LIVE those lives that the We "have only read about."  Were the women on that side of the experience present for the purpose of "sensitizing" the We, and not for the purpose of BEING the We? 

The history of feminism has been full of examples of this.  The readings this week discussed Mary Wollstonecraft's privileged slant on feminism, as she suggested that women have a host of servants to take over the homemaking responsibilities so that women could be free to pursue education and passions. 

But feminism has also been full of intersectionality.  Intersectionality is guided by the assertion that

r & Society, 18, 429–450.

(source: Risman, B. J. (2004). Gender as a social structure: theory wrestling with activism. Gender & Society, 18, 429–450)

As far back as Sojourner Truth and her famous "Aint I a woman?" speech, intersectional narratives have been a part of the story of feminism, and for me, intersectionality is where the heart of my own feminism lies.

On that note, I would like to share one intersectional feminist blog I follow.  Check it out!

http://crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com/