Black Feminism: Equality and Challenges

Black Feminist Movement Our generation is a generation that is very closed minded when it comes to this word called “feminism”. Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes; it is not a word that women use to define themselves as people who are against men but rather people who want the same opportunities and rights as men. Being a woman alone is hard work; we are expected to look pretty and stand tall , know everything yet be ignorant, have a perfect body and clear skin, take care of a man, the children, the house, and be dependent on a man yet have an independent mind set. It’s all a big contradiction . But how does feminism affect African -American women? Do African American women face the same problems

“Racism and sexism must be confronted at the same time; to wait for one to end before working on the other reflects an incomplete understanding of the way racism and sexism, as forms of oppression, work to perpetuate each other” (blackfeminism.library). Black feminist struggles against institutionalized, systematic oppression rather than against a certain group of people, be they white men or men of color.While it often requires no stretch of the imagination to infer man-hating in some early (and some recent) feminist writings, the goal of feminism is the end of sexism. It is only a sane response of an oppressed people to work toward their own liberation. Finally, the assumption that feminists are nothing but lesbians reveals the homophobia which persists in many black communities as well as a misunderstanding of both lesbians and motivations for joining the feminist movement”.For a single movement to deal with all of the issues listed requires multi-focused, strategic action, which is exactly what was needed for black and Third World women”(blackfeminsim.say). It was important for black feminism to address the ways that racism, sexism,classism and heterosexism all worked to perpetuate each other. In these two definitions of black feminism/womanism, one can see the complementary nature of one's personal life in relation to one's political life. From the personal, the striving toward wholeness individually and within the community, comes the struggle against those forces that hinder individuals and communities unwhole. The personal is political, especially for black women.Black feminist writings were to focus on developing theory which would address the simultaneity of racism, sexism, heterosexism,and classism in their lives. In addition, the