Patricia Hill Collins focuses on marginalized groups in her theory of intersectionality. However, even individuals not subject to systems of oppression, such as Skylar in Good Will Hunting, can be understood using Hill Collins’ ideas of controlling images versus self-definition. Throughout the movie, Skylar is seen in a particular way by other characters, but her own view of herself is more complex and she resists being seen solely through the controlling images she is associated with. Skylar’s resistance supports Hill Collin’s call to use dialogue and focus on concrete lived experience as ways to understand social actors. Hill Collins’ theory is built around the idea of intersectionality. She defines this concept as “systems of race, social class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, and age [that] form mutually constructing features of social organization” (Hill Collins, 2000, p. 299). Society attempts to categorize its members into groups and project “controlling images” that offer a stereotypical view of a person onto its members (Hill Collins, 2000, p. 69). These images are limiting and are unable to capture the multiplicity of individuals. Rather than seeking to pinpoint a single characteristic to describe and understand a social actor, Hill Collins calls for an analysis that considers how these various systems of classification come together and intersect – intersectionality. When intersectionality between these systems is not present or acknowledged, people tend to be classified by only a very restricted number of categories. These in turn impose controlling images on an individual and are used to define him or her. Hill Collins offers the example of African-American women whose controlling images include “mammies, matri... ... middle of paper ... ...can also be applied to other groups. She focuses on the experiences of black women as they respond to this limitation, but her underlying ideas can be used to discuss other peoples’ experiences as well, especially in terms of how they define themselves in relation to the controlling images associated with them. While Skylar is not part of the demographic Hill Collins discusses explicitly, she does illustrate the interaction between controlling images and self-definitions, including resistance, and using dialogue and concrete experiences to determine whether knowledge claims are accurate. Most people, regardless of their place in society, experience controlling images, or someone else’s “first impressions” of them, with consequential limitations imposed on their abilities to be who they really are. Thus, it is important to examine how to confront and challenge this.
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.
Collin thinks “race, class and gender represent the three system of oppression that most heavily affects African American women”. She also believes there are other groups than Black Women being affected by this oppression.
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.
Although it often goes unknown, Allison wrote Two or Three Things I Know For Sure and it shares experiences that reveal intersectionality and it addresses how her life experiences and environment shaped her into who she is now. This book also reveals the juxtaposition between how people identify themselves with intersectionality and how society or others view and hold them to specific standards. This book reveals how history can repeat itself, how others can be impacted by the intersectionality surrounding them and how they feel pressured to stick to a standard placed upon them such as the reoccurring idea of being “pretty”. The book ends with Allison and her sister addressing Allison’s niece as being “pretty” and Allison breaks down the walls surrounding her allowing herself to see the battles she’s faced in the
Within the book, she conceptualizes that black women are misrecognized while they endeavor to stay upright in a “crooked room” surrounded by stereotypes. Harris-Perry’s notion that “black women tilt and bend themselves to fit the distortion” of the “crooked room” staggeringly compares to W.E.B. Du Bois’ concepts of double consciousness and the veil. Harris-Perry uses a multitude of techniques from statistics to personal experiences to various examples of American literature within her book. The use of such techniques demonstrates that the standards of white America affect the instances in which black women are identified by society as well as the instances in which they identify themselves. This further showcases black women’s struggle of identity that is perpetuated by the paradigms of modern America. Therefore, “by studying the lives of black women” Harris-Perry showcases the difficulty of a black woman to shake off stereotypes and find her
About a month ago, a rather unique woman became the topic of discussion in millions of homes and social network accounts across the world. Rachel Dolezal, a former chapter president of the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), now claims to be a “transracial” woman that was recently exposed for pretending to be black for so many years. While she has gained many supporters, the naysayers were the ones that have really made her story a controversial one. What really seems to be the concern is why her story is such a big deal. Every day, we see people of different social and cultural backgrounds trying to pass off as a member of a community that they were not born into. This paper will be addressing why the media
The identities have tended to be divided into some different categories, such as gender, race, and class, and these sources have been judged in the different ways. In other words, the different determinant factors of the individuality have been considered separately, and these components have been regarded as a unrelated simple category. Under these points of view, however, it is hard to recognize the problems of interrelated individual component of the identity. Thus, to solve the disregarding crossover point, the new theory of the “intersectionality” are essential. This essay explores the key definition of the “intersectionality” from the viewpoint of gender studies, and how the concept is connected with the social system and individual identity
Settles 2006; Wilkins 2012). These stereotypes of black women describe positive characteristics that many black women tend to ascribe to and attain. I argue that even though these stereotypes may yield positive behaviors from black women, they are still considered stereotypes because the majority will utilize these stereotypes to negatively categorize black women. In the words of Pat Hill Collins (2004: 263), “African American women’s race and gender classification disadvantages them”. Thus, these stereotypes may inhibit black women’s own individual freedoms to become an individual woman separate from the stereotypes (Chavous et al.
Placing it in a historical and racial framework, both terms serve of major importance in the larger subject. For instance, self-definition, involves challenging the political knowledge-validation process that resulted in the construct and portrayal of stereotypical images of Afro-American womanhood. Whereas self-valuation stresses the content of Black women’s self-definitions, successfully replacing externally-derived images with authentic Black female images (Collins 2000). By presenting both definitions Collins provides an inclusive presentation of both affecting terms. To further explore some of the marginalized subjugation that Black women struggle with, Collins includes a passage from an interview conducted by Ms. White which aims to bring to light an image of a white woman as the white man’s dog and the black woman as the white man’s mule. Serving as a powerful image, the example portrays the stereotypes that women in general face in particular the class division within white and black women face under the white male dominant structures. In tying back the terms of self-valuation and self-definition, Collins explores the dynamics that are involved the themes in Black feminist thought, adding the interlocking nature of oppression, and the importance of redefining culture. Compiled together these themes are what Collins utilizes to question and critique the engagement of Black academics within the realm of sociology. In particular Collins explores “…how the combination of sociology’s paradigms and Black women’s outsider within status as sociologists” led to the questioning and research in various subjects (2000). This is a similarity that Du Bois and Collins shared in that the structure they were a part of—the study of sociology—allocated them and their research as less than, because it did
...nd attractive. It creates a double consciousness that is difficult to reconcile. Carla Williams argues that “given the legacy of images created of black women… it is an especially complex task for contemporary black women to define their own image, one that necessarily both incorporates and subverts the stereotypes, myths, facts and fantasies that have preceded them. (Wallace-Sanders et.al, 196) The root of the problem lies within our society. While very culpable, mainstream music and advertisements are not the only promoters of female objectification; the key is unwinding the inner tensions between these two groups. There is a need for the promotion of female solidarity, regardless of their skin color. We need to rid society of the evil of racism—only then will conceptions surrounding African Americans parallel and be as positive as those surrounding white women.
In an interview I composed with my mother, I asked her “What were some challenges you had to face being a black woman in the south” which she replied “As a black woman, it was hard because you would be considered last on the totem pole, and we were seen as stereotypes such as barefoot and pregnant.” It hard to challenge these thoughts which Collins described as “controlling images” that society puts on you because of your race or sexuality (pg.1). The author Rhoda Jeffries touches on some black women struggles in her article Editor’s Introduction: Fortitudinous Femininity: Black Women’s Resilience in the Face of Struggle when she says “Jeffries and Jeffries further explore the role of mentoring among Black women and challenge mass media to carefully craft images that positively depict African American women in the various roles they play in “Mentoring and mothering Black femininity in the academy: An exploration of body, voice and image through Black female characters.” (p.82) Media has a huge impact on society, which is because of what people see on television or read on social media, since people aren’t use to or don’t understand something they tend to place it on a certain race or
Gay suggests another way characters within pop culture are portrayed as unlikable or at least not powerful, is by being a person of color. As stated earlier, there exists a narrow conceptualization of womanhood and femininity, which primarily mirrors the privileged class, which dominates pop culture in terms of the books we read, television we watch, ads we consume, heroines we aspire to be, and music we listen to. However there does exist different identities of what it means to be a woman. In Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens. Cathy J. Cohen imagines the contemporary view and power of women to be in relation to their homogenized identity. This meaning, to be a woman also depends on other factors of identity; to be a woman in relation to if you are poor or rich, black or white, gay or straight, queer or fall into the dominant class. Luckily, this understanding of womanhood has somewhat expanded. The scope of racial expansion somewhat increases by moving to include Gay’s idolized Black Miss America. Unfortunately, this expansion follows the privilege trend where only a certain type of green girl is able to satisfy the role of Black Miss America. A large issue that Gay has with representation of women of color is that they are tokenized, they are stereotyped, and they are grossly generalized. Instead of this poor misrepresentation of women of color, both Gay and Cohen seek, “a new political direction and agenda, one that does not focus on integration into dominant structures but instead seeks to transform the basic fabric and hierarchies that allow systems of oppression to persist and operate efficiently” (Cohen 165). Gay concludes that inclusion of women of color in pop culture fails to portray them as more than one dimensional characters. This lack of depth is attributed to the lack of respect that women of color face in real life as well. While the
It should be understood that Morrison's novel is filled with many characters and many examples of racism and sexism and the foundations for such beliefs in the black community. Every character is the victim or an aggressor of racism of sexism in all its forms. Morrison succeeds in shedding light on the racism and sexism the black community had to endure on top of racism and sexism outside of the community. She shows that racism and sexism affect everyone's preconceived notions regarding race and gender and how powerful and prevalent the notions are. Within the community, racism affects how people's views of beauty and skin can be skewed by other's racist thoughts; sexism shapes everyone in the community's reactions to different forms of rape.
In a world where the media and popular culture can either have a positive impact on us or take a toll on how situations and individuals are portrayed – one of which is social norms – by marginalizing a coalition of people based on race, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, gender etc. It has been evident that the media for a long time has fostered the dominance of social norms by constantly displaying subordinated groups like women, minorities, the LGBTQ community and the working class with less importance in our society or by classifying these groups with stereotypes and demeaning expectations. I would like to address the ways by which the intersection of race,
While Hartsock acknowledges that her theory focuses less on race and sexuality, the Combahee River Collective’s argument revolves around the importance of acknowledging the intersections that create an individual’s identity; this acts as a mediating category. Since this theory emphasizes the importance of considering racial divisions of labor, the purpose of the standpoint becomes more complex as well as inclusive. When society considers the intersections that interlock with the structures of oppression, we can see that Black feminism is a mediating category that urges society to dismantle the idea that gender politics is solely determinative by gender. The oppression an individual faces for her race and sexuality can determine her “working [and] economic” status (Combahee River Collective, 213). They argue that there are certain consequences and disadvantages that affect an individual’s quality of living based on their race and sexuality, along with gender. Similar to how Hartsock shows the injustices of being a woman in a patriarchal, capitalist society, the Combahee River Collective argues that white feminism is “threatening to the majority of Black people because it calls into question some of the most basic assumptions about [their] existence” (Combahee River Collective, 215). The