In her noteworthy article “Mapping the Margins”, Kimberlé Crenshaw, the woman who coined the term “intersectionality”, discussed how she did so in order to address the various ways in which race and gender interact in order to shape the multiple dimensions of Black women's experiences with employment. While this text is very well-known within scholarly spaces, many scholars still misconstrue the meaning of this term. Regarding “Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance”, Cheryl Clarke shows that she understands that black men are capable of oppressing black women. She states that “now, as ex-slaves, black men have more latitude to oppress black women, because the brothers no longer have to compete directly with the white man for control of black women’s …show more content…
bodies.” (p. 245) And while the majority of her essay is about black lesbianism as an act of resistance due to the intersectional oppressions this group faces, she also suggests that under the paradigms of class and race, black men face intersectional disadvantages as well. Hancock, who believes that intersectionality “is a normative and empirical research paradigm” (p. 249) would agree that black men face intersectional disadvantages, since intersectionality can be used to research any group’s experiences. Floyd-Alexander, however, would disagree. Floyd-Alexander believes that intersectionality is specifically for black women, and states that this “universalizing tendency” further “de-legitimizes the study of racism, sexism, and the structural basis of inequality.” Although this is not the totality of Clarke’s argument, Hancock would respond to Clarke’s statement of black male oppression within a racist and capitalist society with confirmation that their experiences should be analyzed with an intersectional approach, while Floyd-Alexander would respond with the notion that labeling black male oppression as inherently “intersectional” would erase those who have coined the term, as well as those whom the term was originally coined for. After stating that black men undergo disadvantages on the grounds of class and race, Clarke then goes on to explain how the black man is “an overseer for the slave master”: It is important to analyze the rest of Clarke’s statement because it further explains her perspective regarding this subject, seeing as how the main and most emphatic arguments surround issues specific to black lesbianism.
Clarke is not only saying that black men face intersectional disadvantages underneath class and racism; she is also saying that black men’s advantages are solely contingent upon his power over black women. This means that black men’s disadvantages are also contingent upon his power over black women since, according to Clarke, black women have the agency to “leave” them and remove that power. Clarke is indirectly stating that black women, who face the brunt of intersectional oppression, have the power to place black men on an equal plane of intersectional oppression, which Floyd-Alexander would firmly disagree with. To converge the experiences of both black men and women as being equally intersectional, or even having the ability to be equally intersectional, erases the struggles that are specific to black womanhood. It erases the amount of sexism black women face, especially misogynoir, which is a form of sexism that is specific to black women. It also exponentially and ignorantly simplifies the oppression black women face, by framing it as something that they have the power to make non-specific to them. If black women had the power to make their oppression non-specific to them, they would also have the power to solely dismantle their oppression. To assume that black women have any control over the oppression they face is to refuse to acknowledge the systemic and institutionalized structures that keep black women in their oppressed status. Converging the experiences of black men and women also greatly overestimates black women’s agency regarding black men, since the U.S context in which they are treated still favors and enforces patriarchal values. Black women do not have access to certain bouts of privilege due to their womanhood, as this is
something only black men have access to. Black women’s agency is even further removed when they openly analyze how these patriarchal values have affected them, rather than focusing solely on racism. They are labeled as being betrayers of their race when they discuss how black men have harmed and oppressed them. Alexander- Floyd explains: The single-axis political approach creates a dichotomy that disallows black women access to both sides of the spectrum. Black women are either denied political activism within feminism and anti-racism, or are expected to devote themselves wholly to either one issue or the other. Regarding the objectification and hypersexualization of black women in black media, this exemplifies how, while capitalism does subjugate black men, black men are able to use their male privilege in order to subjugate and commodify women through capitalism. Black men are able to use capitalism as a tool to sustain their power over black women, which also places them in a privileged position above them. Even within communities of poor black people, patriarchal values still reign supreme and allow men to have control over finances, or directly use women for their finances (black women as sex workers, black men as their “pimps”, etc.). Also, to label black men’s experiences with subjugation as intersectional would be to erase the agency society has given black men to subjugate black women, thus creating an authentically intersectional experience of oppression. Black women, unlike black (cis-gendered and heterosexual) men, face oppression from other members of their own race. Even while transgendered and non-heterosexual black men face oppression from their own race, it is underneath the guise of black masculinity and enforced by patriarchy, something of which they have access to and, therefore, they still cannot claim to be on a plane of intersectional oppression that is equal to that of black women. According to Alexander-Floyd, “scholars who do not focus on women of color as political actors should develop new terms, concepts, and approaches in order to illuminate other experiences” (p. 19) rather than using a term that is specifically for women of color, in order to describe themselves or others who do not identify within that group. Hancock, however, would disagree. She believes that to withhold the usage of intersectionality for women of color would be to place women of color in an untouchable status as the winners of the oppression olympics while also describing intersectionality to be additive, rather than contemporaneous. She explains: Based on this, Hancock would argue that black men and black women can have the same intersectional experiences depending on the context, and so she would not argue that one group is particularly more disadvantaged or privileged than the other. One of the contexts in which this may be true would be Clarke’s context in her explanation of how black women directly influence whether black men are disadvantaged or not. If black women are able to leave and, thus, remove the power black men have over them, then black women and black men would both face equal oppression underneath “the ruling class white men”. Black men and women are also usually equalized by their class status, and poor black people are likely to be grouped as battling the same oppressions, since the black man’s poor status removes him of his patriarchal power and influence. Hancock, rather than simply stating that black men have an intersectional experience, would expand this by using an “intersectional approach” to describe the levels of oppression that vary within each community of black men: upper-class, working class, homosexual, southern, northern, etc., and could juxtapose this data with data from different facets of communities of black women, which would then allow scholars to posit specific black woman experiences as being more privileged as black male experiences. Hancock has essentially taken the concept of intersectionality and warped it to a point that it is no longer recognizable in its original form as a concept that is specific to women of color, but is now something different that can be used to encompass and compare any group’s experiences. She has also warped it so that it could legitimize quantitative research within different disciplines, spanning social policy literature, political science, governmental leadership, and other institutions (p. 253) rather than individual and social structures of oppression. In response, Alexander-Floyd states: To find ways to force intersectionality to apply to black men is to remove the strength of impact this concept has in bringing forth the testimonies of black women. Centering black women, as well as other women of color, is the only way in which intersectionality can be explained, used, and applied. According to Alexander-Floyd, the lived experiences of women of color cannot be removed from empirical data, since “as philosophers have long noted, empirical refers to knowledge derived from experience and/or observation.” (p. 17) There is nothing to “gain” from intersectionality without centering the experiences of women of color, and there is no way to “distinguish among intersectional research and women of color studies”, as Hancock inquires. (p. 253) Clarke’s statement that black men still face intersectional oppression through racism and classism is well-meant, but misguided. Hancock’s confirmation of this and complete re-vamping of intersectionality only further contributes to the erasure of black women and the demolishment of their scholarly authority. While Hancock would agree with Clarke’s statement, Alexander-Floyd would contest it by using the term of “intersectionality” as it was meant to be used in the first place.
A careful examination of the sexual violence against african-american women in this piece reveals imbalances in the perceptions about gender, and sexuality shed that ultimately make the shift for equality and independence across race and class lines possible during this time period.
In many contemporary spaces, intersectionality is taught and consumed as a static concept of merely listing identities carried by one person simultaneously. It’s used more often as a checklist than a place of analysis or resistance. However, the use of intersectionality as just an apolitical tool, rather than a theory born from the knowledge of Black women experiencing a “triple jeopardy” of oppression and seeking liberation by deconstructing the institutions that bind them, is reductionist at best. In “Intersectionality is Not Neutral”May communicates that intersectionality pushes us to question and challenge the relatively mundane or acceptable norms in society that lend themselves to a continuous legacy of systemic inequality.
Elsa Barkley Brown focuses on the intersectionality of being a black woman in America, in “What Has Happened Here?”. Black women experience different forms of oppression simultaneously. Indeed, racism, sexism, classism, as well as heterosexism, intertwine and form layers of oppression.
In Mignon Moore’s piece, the familial expectations of an understudied group of people is measured—that of African American lesbians. Prior to this research, most studies tested the ideas of middle-upper class white lesbians who found relationships with feminism in mind. What differs with this article is that it focuses
Being a black woman in this society and seeing how sexism is the number one seller in this society makes it really hard for Mclune (2015). Mclune (2015) discusses “Notes of a Hip Hop Head” by Kevin Powell stating “Socioeconomic” is the reason for the sexism in the hip hop field and it is a way to keep the black females quiet (p.222). Kevin Powell states “But just as it was unfair to demonize men of color in the 1960’s solely as wild-eyed radicals when what they wanted, amidst their fury, was a little freedom and a little power...” (Mclune, 2015, p. 221-222). Mclune (2015) clarifies that Powell completely overlooks that females also have a hard life, yet they still have to overlook the objectification that black men bring to the table. Even though sexism is not the answer, it will always sell no matter
Collins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York, NY: Routledge, 2000
On Being Young-A Woman-and Colored an essay by Marita Bonner addresses what it means to be black women in a world of white privilege. Bonner reflects about a time when she was younger, how simple her life was, but as she grows older she is forced to work hard to live a life better than those around her. Ultimately, she is a woman living with the roles that women of all colors have been constrained to. Critics, within the last 20 years, believe that Marita Bonners’ essay primarily focuses on the double consciousness ; while others believe that she is focusing on gender , class , “economic hardships, and discrimination” . I argue that Bonner is writing her essay about the historical context of oppression forcing women into intersectional oppression by explaining the naturality of racial discrimination between black and white, how time and money equate to the American Dream, and lastly how gender discrimination silences women, specifically black women.
This example groups females togethers and gives the impression that all women experience the same things. However, it fails to addressed the fact that a woman of color is more likely to subjected to oppression than a white woman due to factors such as racism and classism.
In the publication Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism, author Patricia Hill Collins, she discusses sexism, gender and the new racism. Collins discusses that heterosexuality operates as a hegemonic ideology that influences human sexuality, racism, and psychological processes (Collins 2004 p.37). This placement of heterosexuality at the top, positions it as the basis of understanding sexuality. For example Collins illustrates that the term sexuality itself is used so synonymously with heterosexuality that schools, churches, and other social institutions treat heterosexuality as natural, normal, and inevitable (Collins 2004 p.37). This in turn facilitates stigmatization of individuals who engage
In her novel called “Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center” one of the many areas bell hooks speaks of is the perpetual racial confinement of oppressed black women. The term double-bind comes to mind when she says “being oppressed means the absence of choices” (hooks 5). The double-bind is “circumstances in which choices are condensed to a few and every choice leads to segregation, fault or denial” Therefore, this essay will discuss how hooks’ definition of oppression demonstrates the double-bind in race relations, forcing the socially underprivileged minority to “never win,” and as a result allowing the privileged dominate “norm” to not experience perpetual segregation.
African-Americans often are discriminated against, suffer from a barrage of racial remarks, and even endure racially based acts of violence. Unfortunately, this crime against humanity goes both ways. Those being oppressed may retaliate as a matter of self-defense, sometimes becoming that which they despise most. In many cases the Black man is forced into developing racist mores against the White man due to past history and to the fact that Whites discriminate against them. The victim of oppression can become the oppressor and, in fact, this 'reverse racism' may easily develop into a feeling of superiority for Black people. Although both parties, Black and White racists, suffer from the belief that their own race is the superior one, it could be said that the Black community is oftentimes more justified in their beliefs. Black writer, Sapphire is quoted as saying "One of the myths we've been taught, is that oppression creates moral superiority. I'm here to tell you that the more oppressed a person is, the more oppressive they will be" (Walker, Fall 2001). I believe it not only creates a more oppressive group of people, but a group that believes they are morally superior. This moral superiority is evident in the writings and the personal lives of Olaudah Equiano, Toni Morrison, Sapphire and Maya Angelou. These writers display a common point of view held among many African-Americans in their views of Africa versus America, morality among Whites versus morality among Blacks, and racial inferiority versus racial superiority.
The sociological issue depicted in this video, Separate and Unequal, is the topic of the intersectionality. Intersectionality is defined as “…the idea that members of any given minority group are affected by the nature of their position in other arrangements of social inequality” (Ritzer 230). There are two types of intersectionality, the matrix of oppression and the matrix of power and advantage. In particular, this video depicts how individuals are affected by the matrix of oppression. One is oppressed when they are part of a minority group of a society. When one is a part of several different minority groups such as, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, social class, or religion, they are considered to be in a matrix of oppression.
...e and gender, were by default always arguing for universal equality. In no instance could black women argue specifically for their rights and freedom, without necessarily raising up the all blacks and females. As the famous phrase declares, black women were “lifting as they climb” (Brown, 44). In their fight for enfranchisement, they were advocating for universal suffrage; in their movement to end lynching, they were urging, “that every human being should have a fair trial;” in the demand for fair, living wages, they were insisting that all people should have the capacity to live honestly and adequately from their pay (Brown, 34). Black women, not only assumed a peculiar position in society, where they had to band together to fight for their own rights, but also they were in a powerful situation, which granted them the capacity to fight for everyone’s rights.
Hunt’s essay may be difficult for some to understand at a level that goes beyond what is said in the passage. I believe that a critical message that readers should take away from this work is the concept of black feminism. Black feminism is the interpretation that race and sex are inevitably linked together. Some acknowledge
As Tamsin Wilton explains in her piece, “Which One’s the Man? The Heterosexualisation of Lesbian Sex,” society has fronted that heterosexuality, or desire for the opposite sex, is the norm. However, the reason behind why this is the case is left out. Rather, Wilton claims that “heterosexual desire is [an] eroticised power difference [because] heterosexual desire originates in the power relationship between men and women” (161). This social struggle for power forces the majority of individuals into male-female based relationships because most women are unable to overcome the oppressive cycle society has led them into. Whereas heterosexual relationships are made up of the male (the oppressor) and the female (the victim who is unable to fight against the oppressor), homosexual relationships involve two or more individuals that have been freed from their oppressor-oppressed roles.