Today’s readings all fall under the theme of black women in the feminist movement and their push to have race included as part of the feminist movement during the second wave. I understand that they are advocating for an all-inclusive fight for women’s rights (mainly by including black and lesbian women) but I was not totally convinced by their arguments. In my analysis of each text I will try to explain why.
Combahee River Collective
This piece gives an overview of the Combahee River Collective’s ideals and the issues they were trying to address at the time. I was surprised when I read that they identified as socialists; I never really considered capitalism as one of the sources of the problem. Its hard for me to envision a socialist society and how that would change how women are treated, especially how black women are treated. Some of the quotes I found most interesting in this piece that I just want to point out are:
“No one before has ever examined the multilayered texture of black women’s lives.” (328)
-I thought this was a very beautiful image of a woman’s life having texture and layers but the writers never expounded on this idea which left me kind of disappointed. I am not a black woman so I don’t know what exactly they mean by this layered life.
“If black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression…”(328).
-Again, I wanted to know more about what they were saying here. I can’t imagine how this thought would play out in real life. What events would take place to free black women? And would everyone else really be free afterwards? How can you be sure? Would these be social changes or legislative changes? What freedoms would they gain exactly anyways?
The Collective give examples of things its members have done to work on issues facing black women. They mention that one issues in particular they are dealing with is racism in the white women’s movement. They say that black women often don’t feel like they have any say or power in the white women’s movement. But there were no specific examples given. I’m not doubting what they are saying, I just don’t see a clear picture of their experiences of racism.
Lorde
I couldn’t enjoy reading this essay because Lorde’s tone is too spiteful and hostile. Most of the time I didn’t even feel like she had clear arguments going except that black and lesbian women should be considered when looking at women’s rights and that she was offended that only two black women were invited to speak at the conference she was asked to attend. I think her piece would be more compelling if she didn’t criticize white women for that one incident. She should be trying to appeal to white women to include her; this seems like it would make them push her even further away.
McIntosh
This essay is mainly a list of things that McIntosh found in her daily life as privileges she has based on her race. Most of them are true and I understand that she is saying that she gets treated better by others because she is white. However, some items on her list did not seem to relate to race (or only faintly). For example, she writes, “if I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.” If she means that she has a greater chance of finding someone to publish a piece of her work, then that is really based on her reputation as a writer. And if she means that a publisher would be more willing to publish a piece on white privilege than something else (I’m not sure what the opposite of this would be, probably not black privilege) then I don’t really know what she’s getting at. Next, she writes, “I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.” Well no one should talk with their mouth full anyways, and I don’t think that talking with your mouth full is a racial stereotype anyways. There are more examples that I found fault with but I won’t continue critiquing her list.
This essay really got me thinking about an issue that I don’t think many people talk about which is ageism. On both ends of the spectrum, people are discriminated based on their age. I feel like teenagers are discriminated because they are young and adults assume they don’t know very much and they don’t respect them as much as other adults. Yes, maturity, experience, and wisdom come with age, but is it really okay for people to treat younger adults and teens as if they don’t deserve the same respect as older adults? For example, I feel like doctors and nurses don’t treat me with the same respect that they give to my mother. They act as if I don’t know what I’m talking about and they just tell me what to do, give me a prescription, and don’t discuss my full options unless I explicitly ask. What they probably don’t realize is that my mom is usually the one who asks me for medical advice because that is something I’m interested in. So doctors should really give me the same respect they give my mother, regardless of our age, our knowledge, or our gender or race. Age discrimination is probably more visible when teens are applying for jobs or dealing with police officers. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m surprised that people don’t talk about age discrimination more often.
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